Alyce Mccabe

Tell us a bit about yourself?

Always been a hardcore romantic. It’s nice to share that with someone else. Huge on family. I have a very large family too, millions of cousins and currently 8 nieces and nephews. Very dedicated to my professional life. A bit of a sensitive person. I love food. Love music, Love to watch AFL. Love yoga and have always been a bit of a bookworm.

Two kids so far - Olive who is 4, Oscar who is 1.

What were you doing before babies?

Definitely still a lot of going out, drinking. Seeing friends always included alcohol.

Always spending a lot of time with family, nieces and nephews. Playing house in our new home.

How did you come to be a mum?

I guess the most important part of this story is when I was 25 (2015) I met a guy who wanted exactly the same things in life that I did, right from the start. We fell in love pretty quickly after that.

A year after we met, I had an irregular Pap smear which was followed up with some surgery and it kind of raised questions as to why would we wait if there was any risk we might not have children. So the story goes, in June 2017, Olive was born.

What has your feeding journey been like?

Much harder than I had ever imagined. I always brushed it off as easy.

Olive didn’t latch well right from the start. I had an oversupply of milk due to my hormones and also trying to listen to every bit of advice given to me by everyone! Even midwives doctors and nurses telling me the wrong thing. I was hospitalised with severe mastitis for several nights. My only saviour in the end was one MACH nurse who referred me to a lactation consultant GP. She was wonderful. I continued my breastfeeding journey for 12 months but suffered from mastitis requiring antibiotics on and off right through to my 12 months.

With my second the process was still scary but was made all the better by a good friend’s mother-in-law who is a lactation nurse. She taught me not to express! She was a hero, sat by me the first three days to make sure I got it right. I still had oversupply. But made it through this time only getting mastitis once or twice.

What has sleep been like in your house?

At the start I used to always think that if I used to chuck all nighters in clubs then I can certainly do this! It was a fun way to be positive about it.

Olive never slept through until she was two and a half. It was always hard because we were uninterrupted sleepers and slept in before kids. Second time around you have lower expectations and may already be getting up at 7 anyways :).

Oscar is great however and sleeps through from 7pm-730am every night.

The hardest bits…

With Olive I struggled with losing my identity for a little while. I all of sudden realised I didn’t have any hobbies or did anything on my own for myself. That was probably the hardest thing.

Next came the miscarriages between Olive and Oscar.

Other hard bits… gestational diabetes with Olive or dieting with Oscar when he had a dairy and soy intolerance even from my own breastmilk.

Or brushing olives hair in the morning!!

The best bits…

Realising that all the things you did in life before are so enjoyable when you share it with your kids. Like when we took Olive on our Europe trip at 15 months. We had both travelled single, travelled whilst in a relationships but without each other, so it was amazing to experience travelling together with kids.

Also just everyday life, The wonder and amazement and there is so much truth and love in this family. It’s the most wonderful time.

How do you make time for you?

Haha something I still forget to do sometimes. I still need to get better.

I try keep my regular yoga up but at the moment still have kids hanging off me if I do this.

What’s next for you and your family?

We are currently 16 weeks pregnant! Very exciting and it’s a whole different experience knowing this one will be the last so truly embracing and taking it all in.

A piece of advice for our readers?

Ask your husband/wife/partner for help. Don’t feel like you should be doing it all yourself, and giving up all the things you like to do. Don’t expect your husband to know what ways to help, you are both learning. Don’t try and be super woman all the time! Because by the time baby number two comes around you just can’t be angry with your partner when you suddenly are in over your head and because you have been doing everything yourself your husband doesn’t help you.

I’ve shared everything with my husband from day 1, and I am so lucky because now with number 3 on the way – we are such a good team and both feel supported and happy in our own skins.