Tell us a bit about yourself?

Hi! I’m Bec. I’m 26 years old and I was born and raised in Canberra. My husband and I met in high school and we have been together since we were 14. My mum passed away when I was 17 and ever since that day, I knew I wanted a daughter so that I could share a bond like I had with my mum. Now we have a beautiful 6 week old baby girl called Matilda and two Kelpies who are also our babies! Pre baby, our favourite thing to do was take our dogs out for a coffee (or beer) and we have now continued that with Tilly.

What were you doing before babies?

I worked as a community aged carer for over 6 years before moving into admin work with the same company. I loved being a carer but it certainly takes a toll on you physically and emotionally. Now I am in the office and love being on the other side of things. I’m definitely enjoying mat leave though and am in no rush to return to work!

How did you come to be a mum?

I have Endometriosis and PCOS so we were expecting a long journey to parenthood. I have had 2 surgeries for Endometriosis and my last laparoscopy was in Feb 2020. Before this surgery we had talked about wanting to start trying for a baby and also discussed this with my specialist.

After I had fully recovered we started trying and we were very surprised (and delighted) at how quickly we got a positive result!

I didn’t get any morning sickness at all, however, I did get SPD (Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction) quite early on. It gradually got worse so I started seeing a Physio & Chiropractor but I ended up spending a night in hospital when I was 26 weeks pregnant due to this. It was so severe that for the last 3-4 months of my pregnancy I had to drop to part time at work and I couldn’t even go to the grocery store or take my dogs for a walk because it was too painful to move.

Advice for anyone who thinks they may have SPD - see a good physio/chiro early on & follow their advice on what not to do! I wish I had slowed down earlier but being such a fit person before pregnancy, I just pushed through and kept exercising, taking the dogs out for walks, doing housework etc.

I think if I had taken it easier early then the outcome would’ve been different. Also, a maternity support belt helps significantly so get one of those.

We ended up opting for induction after I was almost 40 weeks due to the pain and we were booked in a few days later! We went to the hospital on a Tuesday to start induction using the balloon catheter, on Wednesday morning they removed it and I was only 1.5cm so they put in cervical tape, they had trouble putting this in due to my cervix being so posterior and after only 5 hours the tape fell out. The tape had put hormones in my system so the doctors said they couldn’t do anything else on that day and we would wait to see if it progressed. A few hours later the doctor came and told my husband and I to take a walk and have a chat about what we wanted to do next, saying that all options were on the table. We did just that and I said I would not go through with the balloon catheter again (I had a very traumatic experience with this and the doctor is being investigated) and if the tape had done nothing we would opt for c section. We asked for one final examination to check how dilated I was and again, I was 1.5cm! On the Friday we finally found out the gender and met our Matilda via c section. She was a huge 4.38kg (totally unexpected). She also had 2 knots in her cord and the surgeon said to us if I had laboured the contractions would’ve pulled tightly on the cord and it would’ve been distressing for both baby & I. We didn’t plan for a c section but we are so relieved that she arrived safely!

What has your feeding journey been like?

From the start Tilly latched beautifully. Being such a big baby, she just wanted to eat constantly. For the first 2 nights before my milk came in, she screamed and screamed! We had taken expressed colostrum to the hospital but after the second night we had already run out. As soon as my milk came in, she was a different baby. She slept for longer and was a lot more content. Ever since then, she has eaten like a superstar. I feel really lucky that the feeding side has been so easy. The only thing I’ve struggled with is very fast, painful letdowns- I used to need to lay back to feed her or else she would choke but now I think she’s used to it.

What has sleep been like in your house?

We’ve had a few nights of waking every 45 mins or so and cluster feeding- those nights are hard! Apart from that though, Tilly will go down really easy after feeds during the night and usually will go 4-5 hours between.

The hardest bits…

Those looong nights, and the nipple pain in the first 2 weeks! Pregnancy for me was so bad and painful that nothing postpartum is worse- even the c section recovery felt like a breeze.

The best bits…

Oh the smiles! She started smiling at about 5 weeks old and doesn’t stop now. It really makes everything better. Even the hard, long nights when you look down and see a smile, it’s impossible not to smile back.

Also seeing my husband become a dad- he was that guy that never held babies and had no idea how to haha! He was really thrown in the deep end after my c section and did everything for the first few days, even taught me how to change a nappy! He does so much to help and wakes up to change her nappy before every feed. It has been hard and there are definitely times I wish he had boobs lol but I couldn’t ask for a better dad for Matilda.

How do you make time for you?

After a feed when I know I have a few hours before I’m needed, my husband will hold Tilly while I go do something like paint my nails, tint my eyebrows or just sit down and relax!

He has asked if I want to go out and get a coffee or go to the gym but at the moment I’m enjoying being able to all hang out as a family, with our dogs too! I’m sure as she gets older and the longer I’m off work, I will enjoy the alone times more.

What’s next for you and your family?

Enjoying Matilda! I love the newborn stage but also can’t wait to see the next stage and the one after that and the one after that!

We have always said we wanted 2-3 children but the doctors have said SPD comes back each pregnancy, earlier and more painful. There is no way I would be able to work as long as I did, and obviously we would have another child to look after that I wouldn’t be able to pick up or run after etc. so that’s something to consider.

Either way, we want 3-4 years between babies so that’s something we can worry about down the track. At the moment we will enjoy every minute of now 🥰

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about SPD!