Welcome to my podcast by Stay Calm Baby Mama

00:00:01: Hey guys, my name is Karla and this is my podcast by Stay Calm Baby Mama.

00:00:08: It's to do with everything pregnancy related postpartum And everything in between and thereafter.

00:00:17: a little bit about me.

00:00:20: So I am the first time mum.

00:00:22: um i'm currently got a nineteen week old baby girl and I started back to work About five weeks ago now.

00:00:32: So I really just want to share everything that i've been through, things have helped me.

00:00:36: Things might help somebody else and this isn't...I'm not giving any sort of advice or guidance on how you shouldn't be looking after your children or babies or yourself so please don't take it as gospel.

00:00:50: these are little tips and tricks they've helped me in.

00:00:53: hopefully we'll be able to help along the way.

00:00:56: As you can hear, I do have my little girl in the background so most of my podcasts will be pretty real.

00:01:03: You'll hear dogs barking and baby in the backgrounds.

00:01:07: that's just how... My life is a bit chaotic but wouldn't it any other way?

00:01:16: A little about why i really wanted to start this podcast And why i started my Instagram.

00:01:22: Stay Calm Baby Mama.

00:01:24: My pregnancy journey was not a bad journey but I did feel quite alone, i suppose in fact or in a way that had so many unanswered questions and I didn't really feel like I had anybody else that could go to.

00:01:42: I had lots of friends who all have children again probably are quite older than mine now there's some difference between them.

00:01:50: So never felt anyone going through the same moment as me and of course everybody has different ways of how they're bringing up their children.

00:02:01: um rightly or wrongly.

00:02:04: And I also didn't feel like i had that much support from the government, whether that was my midwife doctors hospital appointments anything like that really.

00:02:16: so what I wanted to do is be able to share my journey might be similar to somebody else, and for them to realise that.

00:02:26: oh actually it's not abnormal.

00:02:29: It is normal how I'm feeling or my reaction or How My Baby Is Developing Or anything like That...is a very Normal Thing To Go Through!

00:02:39: Or maybe its Not Normal.

00:02:40: So i experienced reduced movements throughout my pregnancy And even the doctors were telling me things were normal when it wasn't normal or it could be my normal for me, or my baby might just be a lazy baby anything like that.

00:02:57: and I'm really glad i didn't listen to the doctors throughout my pregnancy.

00:03:01: And this is a topic I will go on later on down the line but this is sort of just a brief overview of...of my reasoning for why.

00:03:14: so yeah that's probably the main reason I'm constantly learning, there's never a day.

00:03:20: i think yes right.

00:03:22: I've got this parent in malarkey down to the ground and exactly what i'm doing... sometimes i am literally just winging it or recalling on some information i once learned when i was a child or how my parents looked after me or someone-my friends have looked after their children.

00:03:40: We've got a very busy household so we've got three cats, two dogs and four horses.

00:03:44: Thankfully the horses are not in the house!

00:03:47: So I'm not having to clean up but after them around the house as well.

00:03:53: my husband and i do have our own business so i am trying to balance work being among looking after animals and still being a partner.

00:04:04: all things again that will be topics in this podcast later on at some point.

00:04:10: So I'm really looking forward to divulging my life and sharing it all with you guys.

00:04:15: And, um...I think its probably a bit of therapy for me as well having-to be able share my experiences and knowing that there are people out there listening.

00:04:26: i've had some great feedback on Instagram so far.

00:04:29: I would also really like this podcast to be something that people can get involved with and so in the comments section or on my Instagram, i would love to know what people would like to hear more of.

00:04:42: I have a really good idea about what i would like share with everybody and what experiences um...I would like go through for me and that are important but..i will just include things like....my favourite brand of nappies stuff that I used to wash my baby in or my journey with her eczema, or reflux.

00:05:05: All things are fairly quite common and we all have different ways of knowing what we shouldn't be doing.

00:05:13: health visitors...I mean i barely see my health visitor..i think ive seen her twice!

00:05:17: My daughter is now nineteen weeks old whereas some people have been seeing them more frequently again.

00:05:28: Who exactly have you got to be able to ask questions too and that?

00:05:32: You don't feel stupid I mean, can talk to your doctors because these days.

00:05:37: You're having two booking appointment weeks and weeks in advance Or we can get one for a month's time if you want to pre-book anything.

00:05:44: so then otherwise You've actually gotten the book at same day appointments being able to talk them.

00:05:49: I know i had a couple of visits to The Doctors where felt like it might have been an emergency and they've said no, It's not or which is absolutely fine.

00:06:01: It's quite reassuring.

00:06:03: but then other times I've been to the doctors and they go well we're not pediatricians.

00:06:07: so actually you need to Go hospital And that'll have more of an idea because you needed a pediatrics specialist?

00:06:14: And i think sometimes in my head i think Well what's The point?

00:06:17: why?

00:06:18: Why Have We Got A system Where We don't actually have as much help than we need?

00:06:25: and people are always saying, Don't go to the hospital.

00:06:27: Don't waste the NHS's resources.

00:06:32: So yeah that is another topic.

00:06:34: I will go on too at some point.

00:06:52: But for me, actually having the time to be able to go and do something like that is not realistic.

00:06:59: You know I've not sadly had the luxury of being able take a full maternity leave.

00:07:04: i have had a few weeks downtime um joined personal preference more than actually being able to stop completely...I have been working just some reduced hours and hopefully a bit more at home but now I'm trying to get it back on a job and everything else that happens with life plus trying to go to classes is very difficult.

00:07:27: I will say though what i have tried to do, it's my daughter swims during the week and i have met a really lovely bunch of mums at our swimming group.

00:07:38: all the babies are the same age!

00:07:40: And we're all going through the same sort of milestones give or take at least a few weeks.

00:07:46: so i am actually would like minded people at the same time, so we have actually decided to go for a coffee morning just for a few hours or it could be half an hour depending on how much time we've all got.

00:08:00: I make time for this every single week and he has actually been invaluable for me.

00:08:05: um i really enjoy having people talk too!

00:08:09: So yeah its great and we're all sharing our own experiences in helping each other out with different things and when one baby cries nearly all the time they all tend to follow within a few minutes of each other which is as you can imagine, a harmony of babies in the middle of a coffee shop.

00:08:33: And for once not embarrassed!

00:08:35: With breastfeeding mums or we've got mums that don't breastfeed again... We're all in public doing this same routine.

00:08:43: so it's great.

00:08:49: I really can't explain how nice it is to have those kinds of people, but not everybody has that and i certainly did not have that until a few weeks ago.

00:09:00: So yeah...I must also say- I don't say this much in real life!

00:09:07: I've been trying desperately to write down my topics for this podcast.

00:09:17: it's not working.

00:09:19: I refer back to them and then still say um, i fill the gaps with um.

00:09:23: so also hoping that the further along i get with these podcasts...the better i will get at nothing!

00:09:32: Um well thank you guys.

00:09:37: welcome to my podcast and i hope this is the first of many more to come and i'm looking forward to sharing much more information in lifestyle with you all.

00:09:48: Thank You for listening.