This weeks World Mama is from Wirral, UK. Becky is a stay at home mother of two adorable girls. Her husband is away for four weeks at a time for work and then at home for four weeks. In this post she discusses her experiences with birth, sleepless nights, tantrums and figuring things out as a new mom. But also the incredible reward, the happiness and the blessing that is motherhood!
Motherhood as a Calling
I was so pleased to be asked to write something for Kari’s World Mama series: the stories are so inspiring. So, a quick intro about me: I am 29 years old, from England and I have two little girls, Ellie (2,5 years) and Olivia (10 months). From as early as I can remember all I ever wanted to be was a Mum, I have always loved children and before becoming a parent I used to work in a pre-school. So I was used to children, although not used to babies! I’m sure as any new mum I felt extremely nervous about everything that was about to change and of course excited!
65 Hours of Labour
My journey into motherhood started with a 65 hour labour! It was the longest few days of my life. I had gone into labour with no real birth plan: I just didn’t know what to expect. Well, it turns out my pain threshold wasn’t as good as I had hoped. So, when the midwife offered me each type of pain relief my answer was yes yes yes! I don’t think I could have got through without it. But even with the pain relief helping, I was feeling exhausted. Nervousness and worry kicked in as my baby’s heart rate kept dropping and I knew something didn’t seem right. Eventually I had an emergency section and here she was!
Settling into Motherhood
It was the most overwhelming feeling: I was suddenly responsible for this precious little baby. After two nights we left the hospital and brought our beautiful girl home. Now the fun would begin. I think the first couple of weeks felt like a blur, between sleepless night, endless visitors, constantly changing Ellie’s clothes or my own as she was sick ALL the time! I started to settle into motherhood and my confidence grew. Ellie was the best sleeper, she slept through the night from 6 weeks old, so no complaints there. I think she was tricking us into having another baby so soon because when Olivia came along we were in for a shock!
Laughter & Tantrums
Ellie is now two and a half years old and she is just the funniest little girl, at least I think so anyway! She’s always making me laugh. She is still a good sleeper, thankfully. Overall she is well behaved, but of course occasionally she likes to throw the biggest tantrum. She usually saves the worst ones for when we are out in public, I think she likes an audience. At first I used to get so embarrassed, feeling everyone’s eyes just burning into me.
The worst time for me had to be when we were in a queue for a checkout and she threw herself to the floor screaming, and at the front of the queue was a group of four mums, all with babies. Every single one of them looked at me judgingly and I just felt like saying ‘you have all this to come’. I think it’s awful to be judged by other mums, we should all be there to support each other as we are all on this journey together! But one time, another mum gave me a sweet little smile and a look as if to say ‘I’ve been there’ and I thought, I’m not alone in this. She’s just a two year old, and unfortunately two year olds have tantrums, at least I’m yet to meet one that doesn’t, so if you know any send some tips my way! So, now I just brush it off and don’t let what other people might think get to me.
Mother of Two
There are 19 months between my girls, Olivia is now 10 months old. There have been tough times, but seeing them grow up together and their bond growing each day is so special. I know they will be the best of friends. The thing I have struggled with most is the lack of sleep, and sometimes no amount of coffee seemed to help. Olivia has only recently slept through the night since she was about 8 months old. They seemed like the longest 8 months ever!
Stay at Home Mum
The amount of times I would get her to sleep and try my best to sneak out of her room unnoticed, if being stealthy was an Olympic sport I would definitely be winning gold! It seemed like such a stressful time, but perseverance and consistency really seemed to help and now I actually have two good sleepers, which is amazing.We are lucky that I get to be a stay at home mum, so I can spend every day with them. My husband works away for four weeks at a time, which is hard for all of us. However it means he is then home for four weeks, where we have so much quality time to spend together as a family, so it makes it worthwhile.
A Supportive Community Online
I think it was during his time away that I really started to get into Instagram. I discovered so many mothers from all over the world and they are all so lovely and uplifting. It is a real community of inspiring people, there to share experiences and advice, but also sometimes just some adult interaction, which is great. It has become a hobby of mine, to try and make creative photos with my girls and I hope they will enjoy looking back on them in the future, as much as I enjoy making them.
I absolutely love being a mother. It really is the best job in the world and it makes me smile every single day! I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.