Our Fairy Godmothers

Originally Posted on November 2nd 2016

Last time we left things on a bit of a downer, with me heading off to spend literally days trawling the Internet to find suitable commercially available equipment to help me with the day to day tasks that caring for a baby involves. Things like bathing, changing, dressing and feeding a newborn are scary enough for all new parents but when you have the balance of a beach ball in a wind tunnel things are even more interesting. 
I managed to find a good baby bath online (and I didn’t even have to sell a kidney to be able to afford it!) I also found a cool blanket with 2 handles on the sides designed to make it easy to safely lift and carry a baby.
I asked every health professional I could find if they could help me find a catalogue of living aids so I could see what was available and might meet my needs, each one in turn told me no such catalogue exists. 

Then, as in all good fairy tales, one day things changed. My husband and I had enrolled in an ante natal program with a fantastic organisation, Sure Start. Sure Start is a government led initiative aimed at giving every child the best possible start in life and which offers a broad range of services focusing on family health, early years care and education and improved well-being programmes to children aged four and under. 
Mary, the lady who delivered the amazing ante natal program to us really went above and beyond for us and truly has become one of our two fairy Godmothers. Part of the program discusses positive mental health for parents and baby and bonding with your baby before and after birth. During our many discussions over the weeks I explained to Mary the struggle I was having getting support and how important I felt it was that I was fully involved in the care of my son, both on a practical and emotional level. Mary completely understood my plight and agreed it was an absolute right of mine and Starfish. Not only did she understand but she pledged to do all she could to help us break through the barriers and get what we needed. We had another person on the team, I felt empowered to push on with my fight.

From then things really gained momentum and shortly after we gained another team member, our second fairy Godmother in the form of our health visitor Catherine. Catherine is one of the most amazing, kind and gentle women I have ever met. When she first came to see us before Starfish was born, she too completely understood where I was coming from. She assured me that no explanation was necessary and of course I wanted to be completely hands on in caring for my baby. She too took up the mantel and joined the team. Not only that but she put herself out on a limb saying she sensed we would be great parents and she looked forward to working with us! 

Finally we felt vindicated in our decision to have a family. We had surrounded ourselves with like minded people who believed in us and who could help us. It felt amazing!

Whatever happens in future and whatever challenges we face, we will forever owe Mary and Catherine a huge debt for believing enough to join us on Team Starfish

Love
Wheelie Momma xx