Beyond the Birth
Hi I'm Kaz Buckley.
I've been a midwife for 30 years. I have 2 boys. One is now 22 and out of home 😢 and the other one is 17 and still at home 😁. I wanted to have home births but ended up having 2 c-sections for ‘naughty’ breech babies.
I guess what I wanted to bring to your attention is that far too much attention is given to the birth and not enough to the parenting. It’s like too much attention is given to the wedding day but not enough to marriage. Labour only lasts a very short time (so does the wedding). Yes, we do need information and we need to prepare. I highly recommend you DO NOT "WING IT" and you do engage in some birth classes. There are many available. I can send you a great list of wonderful classes.
But, what do we do to prepare mentally and physically for the first 6 weeks post-birth and what are the things to talk about and research for the first year? Becoming parents is FANTASTIC!!!! Best thing I've ever done in my life. But because I was a midwife, I knew what to expect and I set things up so I would have the support I needed.
My partner and I talked about breastfeeding, sleeping, sharing the workload, cleaning, cooking, family support. What would happen when your other half goes back to work? How can you get enough sleep? What is enough sleep? Demand feeding vs routine? What does that even mean??? Isolation. Overwhelm. Weaning, co-sleeping, expressing etc etc etc.
I am definitely not trying to scare you, I am just trying to encourage you not to build everything up to the birth and forget about the biggest part, which is parenting, for the next 18 years and sometimes beyond.
There is a lot of great support available. Mama Base has incredible professionals who can guide you in the area of support you need
Karen Buckley BASc, RM
Director - Braveheart Training ....now is the time to design your future
Author of Sweet Surrender
Keynote speaker
