Don't just be in Oxfordshire - LIVE Oxfordshire
If you read my previous post – What is an Independent Midwife? – and were considering hiring one then you might be wondering how you would choose an Independent Midwife. I personally think choosing a midwife (if you’re lucky enough to have a choice) is rather like selecting a partner from a dating site – it’s that level of compatibility that you’re looking for and if you don’t click then that’s fine, but it’s probably not going to work out.
What is an Independent Midwife? Well I’ll tell you, but first allow me to tell you a story…
I floated groggily up to the surface feeling disorientated, confused and deeply deeply frightened and sad. The general anaesthetic still ran through my system, pulling me down, but I must have made some kind of incoherent noise because there was movement in the corner of the room that drew my eyes to my midwife, sitting up from the armchair she had been sleeping in whilst waiting for me to come to. She came over to my bedside and started, once again, taking care of me just as she had been for the whole of pregnancy, the whole of my labour.
The Man and I have an ongoing in-joke about various TV programmes hitting certain cliches: a catch-phrase bingo as it were. Reality TV shows are the best for this. Take Strictly Come Dancing, for example (and this is the best known)”It’s been an amazing journey”, plus “I think this will be the best ever year”, “He’s such a fantastic partner, I think we’ll always be friends”, “I know we say this every year, but this year it really is too close to call” etc. (The X Factor is known in our house for the ‘dead Granny’ card – see if you can figure that one out).
Congratulations mum-to-be! You look great, really. Are you enjoying maternity leave? Not long until the baby arrives now, right? Well, maybe. He might come early, you might be hanging around for three weeks more than you thought. Whichever it is would you allow me to offer a little advice? These are things I want to say to every first-time mum when she announces she’s off on mat leave or approaching her due date, but often can’t because, you know, people don’t like being given advice out of the blue. But you’re looking for suggestions, aren’t you? Looking for what to do while you wait? That’s why you’re here. That makes you a captive audience so allow me to get this off my chest! Hurrah!
So we’re coming up to the five month mark since our little girl joined our family earthside and, since she and I are healthy and thriving you might be excused for thinking that I would have no lingering concerns over her arrival. Birth trauma is a bitch, though, if you’ll pardon my language and even the most outwardly straightforward births can leave a new mother with anything from a lingering sadness through to flashbacks, post-natal depression or even psychosis, because what so many people fail to recognise is that birth is not a purely physiological process.
Thanks for visiting from Adventures of a Novice Mum and welcome to my post for the Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt “Day 1 The Start of My Journey”.
Sponsors today include Boobie Milk with a £50 voucher, Cherub Chews who are offering a breastfeeding necklace and Loveyush who are offering a breastfeeding scarf for our Grand Prize winner. Over £700 worth of goodies are up for grabs entries via the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.
