Just Call Me Samantha…Without Magic

Ahhh what a wonderful weekend! I am being all domestic and not only have I paid attention to my blog, I’ve played around with some recipes and made my first ever Lemon Meringue Pie and I’m in the process of making a chocolate fudge brownie pie as well. I’ll post the recipe for that one later.

I feel a bit like Samantha Stevens (Of Bewitched) running around and doing the laundry. However I haven’t been able to hang them up as there is a rather horrid looking spider who has taken up residence on a heeeeeee-uge web across the line! So fuck that, the washing can wait. Shudder. Thank God for Bank Holiday weekend hey!!!

Sophie has been good as gold – clambering up and down the stairs at high speed and babbling away to herself. She can say duck and bird and sometimes confuses the two but that’s ok because she is CUTE. Sophie actually had a second nap today which she hasn’t actually done in a very long time. I wonder whether she is having a growth spurt now? I must look this up. Her hair is getting crazy long to the point her fringe is almost in her eyes so I’m going to have to invest in some clips!

The birth stories I requested are coming in thick and fast and I’m absolutely stunned by the social media response. I did get a rather funny message though from someone asking me to discuss circumcision – I think they want me lynched or something, but I said no – being the mother of a girl I have 0 opinion on boys’ penises and until I have a boy I won’t bother with that discussion!

Sometimes I hate the fact that I neglect this blog – I have loved writing it ever since it started in November 2012. I enjoy discussing the parenting issues out there on the very wide internet and other times I get so guilty because life is just getting busier and busier! I’d suggest I hire myself a ghost writer but then it wouldn’t be me, and I love to write!

I do have three other blog posts in the pipeline at the moment, one of which is going to be up tonight but the other two not just yet. I have to write several at once at the moment which isn’t easy especially with Sophie crawling at high speed!

Everyone who comes to view here, I now have a Facebook page for this blog, which I will now be making more  frequent visits to and posting discussions so please feel free to get involved.

Right – chocolate fudge pies are DONE and I have a dinner to cook so I shall wave my floury hands and sign out. My mother would cry – there is a teeny tiny bit of flour on the oven at the moment. I never used to be allowed to bake in her kitchen but that’s ok – I have my own one now mwahahaha! Ta ta!

Holy Hit Rating, Batman!

Earlier today, I made it public on Facebook that I would be featuring the real birth stories of real women. By this, I don’t mean 16 and Pregnant stars or celebrities with their too posh to push sections, but real down to earth women. Births which are traumatic, births which are textbook, some with sad endings, most with happy endings.

The reason for all this, is because of books and magazines. They do not showcase the REAL experiences of women. Of course they don’t; they don’t want to scare the shit out of their readers! Birth is a very raw experience. You are brought to your knees (literally) and stripped of any facade. As a woman you are down to the bare bones of your emotions. The experiences written in the majority of baby books, magazines and leaflets are those of a mother going in smiling and looking pristine, and then holding a baby in a clean white blanket and looking healthy and serene.

The reality is far from it. Sweating, mooing (yes, mooing), moaning, screaming, exhausting, exhilarating, heart wrenching. All these words barely scrape the surface of labour, birth and the aftermath. So I decided it was about time women got to share their stories; blood, stitches, the lot!

Some very good women I know of have helpfully shared their story with photos, anecdotes and excruciating detail. These are not for the faint of heart, not for those who are looking solely for fluffy experience. These are for women who want a true picture of how labour can be, who want a raw insight to the realities of childbirth and who want to grit their teeth and go in eyes wide open and ready for whatever gets thrown at them.

Not all of the stories are of easy birth; there is one on the way of a shoulder dystocia birth from a very good friend of mine who is currently carrying a second little miracle, her son happy and healthy after a traumatic birth. Another friend has bravely posted the story of her little girl, who was born sleeping at 34 weeks gestation. These stories do not show serenity and candles and mood music. They show emotion and bravery and courage from women who have carried on and had another child despite the traumas of the past.

A lot of my friends have posted hard but amazing labours, with gorgeous little bundles to show off and quick exits from hospitals (rather like Sophie’s story!)

These are the women who should be looked up to and emulated. These are mothers. Real, uncut and ready for you to read. Go on. Have a look. You’ll be just as amazed as I am.

Click here to read on!