Browsing Tag

present moment

Parenthood, Yoga

The tale of Henry Roy

“Haven’t you had that baby yet?” said the well-meaning lady at the gym, where I’d just been for a swim two days past my due date. “We didn’t think we’d see you back in here!” Little did I know that the early hours of the next morning would mark the start of our son’s intense journey into this world – arriving on the 17th June after 8 hours of labour.

That day I was feeling the need to be extra active and even slotted in an online yoga practice and a “prepare for birth” meditation that evening. In the video the man guided me to visualise when I would like my labour to begin – for some reason I thought 4.30am would be a good starting time, giving me a chance to at least clock up a few hours in bed first before having the stretch of the day ahead. I pictured the husband and I calmly driving over the hills to the hospital as the sun was rising – calm, idyllic, in control.

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Parenthood

Dear Mummy

(A letter from baby no. 2 about what we could do differently this time around)

First up, I must say, I’m really looking forward to meeting you. You seem like a pretty cool Mummy and I think you’re doing a fab job, even if you don’t think so yourself most of the time. I want to tell you not to worry about my arrival – it really doesn’t matter how I get into this world. I see how you still sometimes feel a little tearful about the birth of my big sister Molly. I know it wasn’t easy on your body or your mind, but all that doesn’t matter now – Molly doesn’t seem fazed at all – in fact she seems pretty cool too.

I know that you’ll be really tired in the weeks to come and I want you not to be so hard on yourself this time. I don’t mind if we cry a bit together, get things off our chest. I don’t want you to bottle things in at all like you sometimes did when Molly was little. Ask for help when you need it. Hand me over to Daddy. Tell Granny to give you a break. I’ll give you a shout when I need you again as I know it’s not easy caring for a tiny one like me, so don’t take it all on yourself.

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Parenthood

The Labour Party

“Think of the gypsies who just head out and drop theirs in the field,” says my mum cheerfully, in an attempt to reassure me following a bout of pre-labour jitters. “Or your nana. After all, she had seven boys and me, and remember – I was a 12 pounder.” Hmmm, I wonder what poor Nana, bless her soul, would have to say about all that now?

The day that I am posting this also turns out to be the magical day that my big sister gives birth to her second baby – a little boy, my nephew! Our due dates have only been 8 days apart, and she has ended up going two days over hers. From the information I’ve gained so far, her labour was only 3 hours this time around. The happy news is all a little surreal, with the knowledge that I might not be too far behind her!

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Parenthood

D Day

“It’s time for your check up,” says Molly brandishing her Doc Mc Stuffin doctor’s kit. “Yes Mummy. It’s a crocodile,” she concludes as she listens intently, waving her ‘stetta-scoop’ over my basketball belly. “Now. We make it POP out. Here’s your medicine,” she says gleefully, shoving the sparkly pink dispenser in my mouth.

Ah, if only it were that easy! With less than two weeks to go until my so called D Day (14th June), the reality that what goes in must come out is dawning big time. Maybe this one will just pop out. Maybe the bean will be a little smaller than the 10 pound 8 ouncer Molly was. Maybe my labour will be half what it was. Maybe my body will bounce back a little more easily.

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Parenthood

Unzipped

“Mummy. Your bum…” says Molly as she comes up behind me and places her hands on my hips. “It’s soooo big.” In despair, I turn to the husband. “Don’t worry about it,” he says, patting the derriere in question. “After all, you are nearly 8 months pregnant, it’s bound to be a little bigger.” Not exactly the reassurance I was looking for. Sigh. It has been one of those weeks.

Yes, it hasn’t been the most yogic of weeks. It has been a week in which Molly dropped the ‘F’ bomb. Twice. I’d like to say she learned the expletive from some unsavoury child at nursery, but instead I have to take full responsibility, having uttered it myself on at least three occasions that I can recall. Personally, I blame the raging hormones of the third trimester for making my fuse a little shorter.

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Parenthood

The Final Frontier

It was a strange feeling to get up today and not pull on my yoga gear to head out to teach my usual vinyasa class. With last Friday marking my final day of teaching for some months, the reality of what lies ahead is really starting to dawn. Next week I fly home at 34 weeks pregnant to get ready to nest down and wait for baby number 2 (gender of which is currently unknown!)

The decision to have the bean back in Ireland is as much to avoid the feeling of being caged in with an energetic toddler desperate to run around a 48 degree celcius garden, as it is to have the wonderful hands on support of grannies and grandpas! That and the fact that my big sister who also lives back home is due her second baby exactly a week before me! Yes, it is set to be a very eventful summer.

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Creativity

Feathering the nest

If there’s ever a recipe for grabbing the bull by the proverbial, then I find it’s a shot of second trimester pregnancy hormones. Yes, there’s nothing like the good old ‘nesting’ syndrome for peeling you off the sofa and making you want to make things happen.

Now that the fog of trimester one and its all day morning sickness has finally lifted, that’s exactly what is happening to me. I find myself wanting to create things. Actually craving the possibility of completing some home improvements. Gardening. Making small talk with strangers. Having the urge to buy new gadgets. Yes, it’s amazing what having another small bean growing inside you does to your brain, never mind your body. Continue Reading

Yoga

Dear Forgotten Yoga Practice

This is a personal letter to my yoga practice, published in Elephant Journal, Nov ’14…Cheryl x

Dear yoga practice: I miss you.

We used to be great friends, but lately I’ve felt you slipping away.

I want to be honest and tell you that I’ve been harbouring strange feelings towards you, to the point that sometimes I can’t be bothered to work at our relationship anymore. I know this sounds harsh, so I’m reaching out to you. What can we do? We used to have a great thing going. Do you think we can get this back?  Continue Reading