Mum’s the word as Gabriella, 29, writes Amazon bestseller!
Self-help guide was written in lockdown
YOGA studio owner Gabriella Buxton has released a bestselling book about parenting as a single mother.
Gabriella, aged 29, gave birth to Walter in February 2019.
Having navigated pregnancy and parenting alone, she was determined to support other single mums experiencing similar challenges.
The book – The Single Mama’s Guide to Pregnancy – became an Amazon bestseller just hours after its release, hitting number one in the parenting charts.
Garbiella, from Trentham, became a solo parent at just four weeks’ pregnant. In her book, she retells her story how.
She said: “It was 3am and I was standing on the sidewalk outside our Italian Airbnb, single, pregnant and crying my heart out.
“My boyfriend had just left me in a foreign country, because I wanted to talk about the option of keeping the unexpected baby.
“It felt like I was looking down on myself from above, watching us hug and cry, hearing him tell me that he loved me but couldn’t cope with the situation.
“I could see him getting into the taxi and speeding off into the night. And me, left behind, feeling the lowest I had ever felt, broken and alone, in shock, dumbfounded.”
The mum-of-one wrote the book during the coronavirus lockdown, and has since become an empowerment coach for single mums and launched her own podcast called Single Mamas Shine.
Topics covered in the debut guide include ‘healing mummy guilt’, ‘igniting intuition’, ‘selfcare’, ‘self-healing’, ‘bodies’, ‘birth plans’ and beyond.
She added: “There is a lot of mess that just doesn’t get spoken about when it comes to singledom in pregnancy.
“Experiencing depression during pregnancy, feeling like abortion might be our only option, or needing to bolster our self-esteem are just a few of the topics which are pretty much entirely avoided in pregnancy books. I was passionate that this book needed to be for single women.”
Gabriella feels that mums giving birth during the pandemic would find the book helpful in such a stressful situation.
She said: “Giving birth can be scary enough. Giving birth during the pandemic can be even scarier.
“Given our current lockdown restrictions – single parents and pregnant women right now are more isolated than ever – this brings with it a big risk to their mental health.
“For new single mums there is no let-up, and without the usual support systems in place they could easily slip through the net.
“They are also missing out on the social support from meeting friends for a cuppa or going to baby classes – often the saving grace for new mums.”
To coincide with the book release, Gabriella is launching a free five-day challenge on Facebook called ‘The Breakup Bootcamp’ – focused on healing, and empowering newly single mums or mums-to-be.
Gabriella said: “I am delighted that this has become a bestseller and hope that it helps readers across the world to navigate solo pregnancy and feel supported, empowered and calm.”