The Flying Mamma

I know. It’s been a really long fucking time. You’re probably thinking I got all hyped up starting this blog and then I got over it.  But it’s not like that. Actually I started writing this entry in October.  Yes. October. Honestly. Wasn’t it September just yesterday? Halloween spooked by. Then we were balls deep in Christmas deco’s. Now we’re halfway through January 2025. I just need an extra 3-4 hours a day. Please? Now it’s no secret I cried and complained the whole way through 2024. Anxious and unsettled. Finding peace only when I’m with my son. But I’ve made progress. Adjusting and accepting. Consolidating the pros and cons. Hating to admit that I know I have more time with my son flying around the world than working 9 to 5. That sugarcoats it until I have to leave in the middle of the night or go on a layover. Then poof! It’s all over. LOL I’m not ok guys. Anyways I want to carry on from where we left off a few months ago. Because if reading my blog may help you or someo...

You’re in a public toilet. You need to poo.  Thanking the Lord nobody’s in the ladies, you begin. Pooping in peace. Until, footsteps. The door swings open. Your bum clenches. Stage fright. Mid poo. You can’t go on. I listened to a hypnobirthing podcast when I was pregnant and this was one of the things I heard that I will never forget. Because it’s true. And it’s then and there you’re reminded of how much you take the peace and privacy of your own bathroom for granted. Because when we’re uncomfortable, when something doesn’t feel right, we close up (quite literally). Unable to continue per se. Labour and childbirth are no different. And going back to the checklist of birth preferences from my hospital, there were lots of simple, comforting things I hadn’t even considered before beginning my quest for a positive birth. Like the option of wearing my own clothes. Our sensory environment during labour and childbirth greatly contributes to our calm and ability to experience physiologica...

So off I went at 21 weeks. New hospital. New obstetrician - a queen in the delivery room I was told. “Have you thought about your birth plan?” Plan? Already?  I was surprised that she was asking me so early on. I knew at the very least I was aiming for a natural birth (now I know that “natural birth” is a massive umbrella term). But  she made me feel like my wishes were heard and taken seriously. That we’d be on the same page all the way through. Doc handed me a checklist of the hospital’s birth plan options as a guide for me to begin creating my own. That very night, I blew up Google with my relentless searches. Catherisation? What for? Labour augmentation? And what the fuck was syntocinon? I thought I just had to push and now I had all these things I might need to consider. Then I got deep. Deep into reading about physiological birth. Magical and euphoric. And then I got even deeper. Discovering the existence of obstetric abuse and traumatic birthing experiences. I always as...

An organised mess. That’s the way I’m writing these blog entries. All good, there are no rules here. Just sharing vulnerably in whichever way it comes out. Kind of how I do everything else these days.  Starting one thing here then seeing something else and getting a head start on that. Finishing what I originally started 2 days later. Drives my husband mad.  Anyone else? Yet somehow in my unconventional, systematic method it all comes together and shit gets done. But when I look at The Flying Mamma  Instagram page, I feel like it’s coming across a bit negative. Maybe it’s the monochrome mixed in with the emotional and fiery quotations.  I need you to know that there is truly so much passion where this is all coming from. I get so excited talking about all things pregnancy, labour, birth, breastfeeding, post partum and beyond! It just truly saddens me that a lot of women are cut short from the miracle of these experiences. Or haven’t informed themselves enough or at a...