Mid Season Sale
What’s your maternity wear style been like this time?
“The first time around, I bought everything under the sun. It was absolutely crazy, not to mention terrible for sustainability. I mean, I've passed a lot of it on. But I bought so much maternity wear and, this time I am in my husband's shirts and leggings, and will happily wear those to my osteo and acupuncture appointments. You get so overwhelmed and you can get on the rollercoaster of , ‘Yeah, I need these shorts. I need these pants. Now, I need this,’ but the best money you can spend is on the essentials that your newborn needs and the essentials that you need. For me, I’d rather spend my money on osteo appointments at the moment!"
What about how you’re shopping for this baby?
“When I was a new mum, none of my really good friends were having babies yet, well not many. I was the first one out of my friendship group for a good few years. So I generally had no idea. I'd read this and hear that, and I'd just be like, ‘Well, I've got to get that,’ I didn't even know what I was buying. I’m glad I've learnt a thing or two now, and my girlfriends are now telling me all the new things on the market."
What’s the best thing to give a pregnant friend?
“I never buy things for the baby. I'll get a Blakes Feast voucher, or food delivery, or pay for a cleaner. I'm so into gifting the mum. The baby's going to get gifts and it wears grow suits for the first six months.”
What have your births been like?
"I love giving birth. I've had wonderful births both times and they've both been really similar. I am your epidural girl, straight up. It means I get to have a sleep during the labour and then, push, push, and they're out. I was always going to have the epidural, because I'm in so much pain through the end of my pregnancy and don't need to feel any more, as far as I was concerned. Everyone's birth is so different and we all have different birth plans and birth stories which makes our own experiences wonderful and special. I thoroughly enjoy giving birth, I love it. I don't know how this one will go, hopefully similar, but you never know. I mean, every pregnancy and baby is so different.”
What are your postpartum plans?
"I’ll have no visitors this time. Because, everyone that's had a baby in COVID said how lovely it was to not have visitors in the hospital. So I'm definitely going to put a ‘no visitors’ rule in for the hospital. When I had my two girls, I had two visitors a day with Arabella, I cut it back with Primrose. But I'm cutting it all back this time because it's the only time I'll ever really get with this baby, that’s just this baby and I.”
Have you been good at boundaries in your previous postpartum periods?
“I'll be good this time. That was something I didn't do enough in my first, maybe a bit better at my second, but I think the more babies you have, the more confident you are in your decisions, and what you need. Whereas the first, you're so excited with the adrenaline. But I have a real sense of living and learning and just knowing that I’m a bit wiser as I get on. And I probably wasn't as confident putting those boundaries up because I didn't want to disappoint people. I was a full head case with my first, thinking back. I went to a wedding 10 days after I gave birth. What was I thinking? I had to wear Havaianas because my feet still wouldn't fit in flat shoes. That was insane. I still had a pad on and I was struggling with feeding and it's like, no wonder, you're trying to go to a wedding when the baby is 10 days old. If I could go back, I’d tell myself, ‘you're trying to pump and feed, and you're still learning, and the baby's still learning, go home.’"
