Mothers on Mothering

This week…Georgina White, blogger, founder of Mama Tribe, and mother of one.

Georgie is a local blogger at Cotswold Create, and co-founder of Mama Tribe. She is a lover of Scandi and monochrome design, interiors, fitness, fashion, photography and her large crazy family. Brought up in Sussex, not far from the coast, she is passionate about the countryside and the Cotswolds, where she lives in the beautiful village of Broadway with her husband and baby boy.

My little Munchkin is…Rudy, one year old. He arrived in rather a rush and five weeks early. He is a total joy, a very calm and contented child – not at all like his mother in that respect! He’s definitely becoming more of a handful now he’s turned one and his determined, inquisitive personality is starting to shine through.

No-one ever tells you that…your hair will never be the same again and will grow in tufts for at least a year or two after the event, making any attempts at hair styling impossible.

Birth was…very traumatic, five weeks early and an emergency C-Section under a general anaesthetic as Rudy decided to wrap his cord around his neck twice having gone into a very slow premature labour! Thankfully I had been admitted to hospital a couple of hours prior to this. I can’t praise the services of the NHS at the Royal Worcestershire enough for their amazing work in delivering him in super quick time and for looking after us so incredibly well in the Transitional Care Unit.

I couldn’t have survived the first three months without… Custard Creams, Bourbon biscuits, tea and my tea-maker husband Sean, doubling up as the biscuit buyer!

I wish I’d known before that…it does go fast. I mean people tell you it goes fast, but it’s like lightning.

It used to drive me mad when people said…It’s your first baby it won’t come early. I always sensed he would and I was correct! And :‘you’re breastfeeding you’ll lose weight really quickly’ ….er NO!! The fact that you lose weight breastfeeding seems to me a total myth. If you are eating a packet of Custard creams in a single sitting just to keep awake then TRUST ME there’s no room for weight loss! It wasn’t until I had stopped breastfeeding that I lost weight – being able to get back into a proper eating and exercise regime.

The best present anyone ever gave me was….We had so many amazing gifts when Rudy was born, people’s generosity seemed to go on for months, but above all – my sister handed me down quite simply everything she’d been keeping since her three children had grown out of it all. Nursery furniture, clothes, toys, play pen, steriliser, and muslins galore. Without all of that we would have been lost and what’s more, her youngest is a boy, so the gorgeous clothes keep coming!

Our first holiday was…to Watergate Bay Hotel in Cornwall, it was perfect, and with its child-friendly facilities and ethos it suited us so well. Watergate Bay is a gorgeous hotel in a stunning location. It was the happiest of holidays as a new family and we plan to return every year and encourage Rudy to be a surfer!

The most important that I’ve learnt is.sleep when you can and don’t plan to much into a day or a week, especially in the first few months.

I worry about…everything. I’ve been a worrier all my life….but especially I worry about Rudy’s safety and not always being there for him when he might really need me. I expect that’s a universal mother worry!

I wish…time would slow down. I wish he could stay a baby forever…and I also wish I had started a bit earlier having a family.

Motherhood is… a gift and not to be taken lightly! It’s intense at times, when you are juggling work or study and a baby and it can all feel overwhelming – but at the end of each day, when I sit rocking Rudy to sleep a sense of perspective returns and that’s all that really matters, that feeling of overwhelming love and devotion. Motherhood shouldn’t be taken for granted and I consider myself truly blessed to have had the opportunity and with such relative ease, when many people around me whom I love have not been so fortunate and continue to struggle.

Work is…Mama Tribe (which launched yesterday!). My business partner Danni and I have just launched a Mama Tribe, a curated directory for mothers, encompassing a brand directory for independent Mama-run businesses and a comprehensive network directory of events or activities geared towards mothers and families across the UK. We have great plans for the business and our aim is to act as as a hub of information to support women through motherhood, in business and as a community.

I want my children to know that… they can be whatever they want, wherever they want and that they mustn’t feel they must conform to any rules. I should never have gone to university, and wasted my time there, something which cost me a small fortune, but I did it because at the time no alternative was permitted. They say ‘have no regrets’ and I am keen that Rudy doesn’t make the same mistakes! He also mustn’t smoke – and in total contradiction, that is a rule he must obey…!