Snaps that give a real picture of motherhood
I’M 32 and I’ve been a midwife for ten years. I work at King’s College Hospital in London. When I began my blog, Gas&Air, six years ago, I expected only family and friends to show any interest. I now have 8,000 subscribers and every time I blog, it triggers scores of comments and questions.
More recently, I started an Instagram account which is less pregnancy and more sharing the ups and downs of motherhood, in photo form.
It’s quite intimate – particularly in relation to raising twins – but I like to think that it lets other mums know that bringing up a baby isn’t an entirely sugar-coated experience.
Now I’ve written a book – a no-nonsense guide that I hope tells women the important stuff, the stuff other people might skim over and the things that many people feel embarrassed to ask.
Too often in the past, guides to pregnancy and childbirth have been dictatorial. As I see it, the role of the midwife is to advise and encourage but, in the end, it is the mother – and father – who must make the decisions about how they want their baby to be brought into the world.
My aim is simple. I want women to regard me as their friend.