One of the gang

We debated whether or not to do Antenatal classes when I was pregnant. We had a strong instinct that it was right for us because we wanted to make local friends who would be having babies at the same time as us. I am writing about this as the little WhatsApp group I am in with my Antenatal group friends is very much the backdrop to my day-to-day life, and also because something a new lady who babysits Coraline said, made me think about it this week. I had said to her, “I love my Antenatal group because with them I feel like I am just one of the gang,” and she replied, “you are just one of the gang”.

Her words actually really made me stop and think and reposition my own thinking. I think until she said that I had enjoyed the idea of "feeling" like one of the gang, but actually underneath feeling conscious of being a little different. But her words were as simple as turning that around for me, and were actually pretty pivotal for my thinking. I am, quite simply, a part of the gang!  

As Hamlet says, "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so". Or, as my old lifecoach says, it's all about the story you tell yourself, and you can choose to tell yourself a different story. 

The Antenatal classes have been really important to me to be, first and foremost, a mum in a group of mums who all knew each other from pregnancy, and who all have the same milestones coming up with our babies and we can chat away about naps and sleeping and feeding. 

It’s so funny how six sessions together can bond you so much. We did our Antenatal course with Noobies as their course was advertised at our hospital and is run by professional midwives. I am even friends with the Noobies organiser and the midwife who led our course. Both have been so personal and emailed me after we had Coraline and the midwife who led our course even came to see us in hospital after we had Coraline.

Kevin and I are very social and have a wide circle of friends but we knew this was something we wanted to do. We also did the National Health Service (NHS) Antenatal class which was two mornings, and was a wealth of information and we have even kept lovely friends from that.

The @noobiesantenatal course content was excellent; open and embracing to all our views of how we each perceived our journey ahead and, of course, run with spot on professional knowledge. 

Coraline is eight months old now, we are still as social as ever with friends who we see for a night out, or who come to visit Coraline. Added to this, is our new circle of Noobies friends, who I adore, and where we are one of the gang. Who would have foreseen the benefit for me of this. It was exactly what we had hoped for and far more.