According to the WHO, “Self care is the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health care provider”.

So why don’t we value our own self-care as mothers? Read a short blog all about self-care importance as a mother.

What could I have done better as a mum this year? Read my top parenting lessons of 2019.

Is it okay to not be okay? Is it okay to put your own self care first? Read a blog on ‘mum guilt’.

After giving birth to our first born, Oliver, it is safe to say that my life transformed within an instant. I know that many mums and dads feel the same. However for me, not all of this change felt positive. If I’m being honest, becoming a mother for the first time stripped me of my whole identity.

Will my second baby come early? A question I was continually asking myself (and google) throughout my third trimester. Never did I think that having a premature baby the first time, would make me constantly be on edge when I was pregnant with our second.

Here is Episode 2 of “Honestly Parenting” Blog – Coping with pregnancy and terrible twos. Be sure to give yourself some time to watch this one, whether it be with your feet up and a cuppa one evening or whilst doing some household chores. So much happened this trimester, and I didn’t want to cut any of it out.

Never did I think after a relatively straightforward pregnancy first time around, would I  experience anxiety during my second one. I was not aware that the experience of having a pre term baby affected me at all, until I hit the second trimester in this subsequent pregnancy.

In honor of  #NICUawarenessmonth, we asked NICU Mum Vicki Cockerill to come and write a guest piece for us. Here is her story...

I do chuckle looking back at my pre child self, I had no idea how the sleep deprivation was going to hit me. Before becoming a parent, I used to say to my business friends with kids, “Can’t you just do your business mindset in the middle of the night to make the best use of your time”? or “Why don’t you just work every night when the kids are in bed?”. Now I know why they laughed at me!

I am genuinely envious of those mum's who experience no sickness or queasiness during their pregnancy. When I was pregnant with our first Oliver, I think in hindsight I had Hyperemesis gravidarum (severe morning sickness), as I could not keep water or food down until week 17. I remember just opening an eye whilst laying in dark room and I was instantly sick. I couldn't get in a car, in fact I couldn't leave my bed. 

Parenting was a struggle for me. Just getting my children off to school in the morning and to sleep at night was a battle. I was stuck on parenting ‘autopilot,’ going through the motions and dragged down by guilt and overwhelmed.