Lucy Gordon
Tell us a bit about yourself?
I am originally from Melbourne and met my husband while he was living in Canberra. We travelled all along the East Coast and finally settled in Canberra in 2020. I am an Early Childhood Teacher turned Vocational Trainer/Assessor. My side hussle is a small photography business which I set up during maternity leave! Combining my love of photography and early childhood education, I focus mainly on families but also love maternity/couple sessions!
What were you doing before babies/children?
I was working full time, enjoying all the free time I now realise I don’t have!
How did you come to be a mum?
It took roughly half a year to fall pregnant, but after that, it was smooth sailing! I loved being pregnant and only had a few little issues throughout the 10 months. I suffered some low blood pressure, and extreme varicose veins. I ended up being induced at John James Hospital, and after the common ‘spiral of intervention’ I had a forceps delivery, which left me with tearing and 1.5L blood loss. The first few days were rough because of that - but after 5 days I started to feel a lot better!
What has your feeding journey been like?
Feeding, again like (nearly) everyone I’ve spoken to, was hard at the beginning. But now, 9 months on, we seem to have found our groove and feeding has been something I feel like I will treasure forever. The connection I feel to my daughter is something I never imagined. At around 7 months (when the sleeping was just getting better) we introduced a formula bottle at night which really works for us.
What has sleep been like in your house?
Sleep has probably been our biggest challenge so far. We experienced a lot of sleepless nights early on (as does everyone!) but that unfortunately continued for around six months until we got some help from Jen at Sleep, Love, Grow. She taught both my husband and I how to recognise tired signs, how to establish a ‘flexible’ routine and how to adjust this based on age.
The hardest bits…
The sleep deprivation is pretty challenging. But once you get yourself into a bit of a routine, it gets much easier.
The best bits…
How much love you have for your little person. I don’t think you realise until you have children how much you really will love them, and how much of an impact they have on your life. When they smile for the first time, when they make their first attempts at crawling… it’s an amazing thing to watch and lock away in your memory forever.
How do you make time for yourself?
I make sure that I schedule time to do things in advance. One of the most important things for me is exercise, so I always ensure I have pre-organised a time for my husband to watch our daughter. I love running, walking, or either of those if the end result is to a coffee shop.
What’s next for you and your family?
Enjoying our daughter - that’s our plan! We would love to add to our family down the track but want to invest all our time now into our daughter while she’s still little. We have been loving all the baby/child based activities around Canberra (the things you find when you have a small child!) so we have been busy exploring all of them. We love the Museums Discovery Centre!
If you could talk to your pre baby/kid self, what advice would you give?
Two things:
Feeding hurts - a lot of people will try and tell you otherwise, but it does. And it gets better.
You do you - I live by this now, but at the beginning you are so bombarded with information and the sense of overwhelm that you might find yourself clinging to any sort of advice/routine. Now I’ve learnt that it’s best to just do whatever feels right for you and your family.