Back To Work – A Year On…

Facebook kindly reminded me that a year ago today I was filming a gorgeous bride and groom in the grounds of Oulton Hall near Leeds (In case you didn’t know I’m what they call as ‘Wedding Videographer’ and my company is called ‘Love Gets Sweeter Wedding Films‘). It was technically my first wedding back after giving birth to Paisley less than 3 months before. I say technically because I’d actually been editing a wedding that happened less than 2 weeks after she was born, along with other work that has carried over from before my brief maternity leave (2-3 weeks…that counts, right?).

This is Oulton Hall in the image I posted on the day!

I remember that day so clearly. I remember packing up my kit the day before and by belly filling with butterflies. I still get that before every wedding and always have but, this time my head was filled with all sort of extra worries and ‘what if’s’ as it was my first long day away from Miss Paisley. How would I cope? How would she cope? How would Dad cope? I climbed out of my assistants van, scooped up my camera and little bag of essentials (including snacks, water and all important Ardo breastpump) and was welcomed in to the bride’s parents home like I was one of the family. From that point it was like I’d never been away and had fun filming the family get ready for what would be an AMAZING day (you can see their wedding blog and Highlights film here).

During the day I’d made plans to pump and also brought in an additional assistant to be there for the core part of the day in case I needed more breaks that I’d made time for or simply needed a rest. He took over when I needed to express, the first break being when they left the church and enjoyed some photos in the grounds. I disappeared in to the back of my assistants van and sat on a bench, adrenaline pumping and attempted to ease some of the pressure of over 4 hours of not feeding! I sat there for what felt like forever and nothing was happening and I got even more worked up as I knew I had a small window to express. I checked my phone to see I’d been WhatsApp’ed some lovely photos of Paisley having fun with Daddy and even a video and suddenly my body kicked in and that bottle filled! That was the trick for the rest of the day and it worked wonders. Our bodies are amazing, aren’t they?

My first ‘negative’ experience did happen at the venue when I asked where I would be able to express whilst the guests enjoyed their day and I was directed to the only disabled toilet on the ground floor…I’d hope that if I had the baby with me the gentleman may have considered directing me elsewhere. I ended up going to the co-ordinator and she found me a little conference room and that was my private room for the rest of the day which was lovely. After that I tended to email venues ahead of the day to ‘warn’ them of my situation and they were always really supportive and it helped any pre-wedding nerves I had about where and when I’d need to express. Worth considering if you move around with work a lot too!

Wedding days can be very intense and I may leave the house at 8am and not sit down to eat until gone 5pm once guests have been seated. It was hard before the baby but add expressing and more calorie burning to the mix and a bag of snacks is essential to keep the blood sugar stable! That and lots of water…and comfy shoes!

Filming Laura getting ready for her Mottram Hall wedding back in 2011. Image thanks to the talented Mick Cookson Photography.

I’ve already had my first wedding back this year and I’m due to start the joys of an intense wedding season in a couple of weeks. Even a year on I still worry about those long days and how Paisley will get on and, although it’s easier it doesn’t stop that anxious Mummy voice kicking in and that wonderful Mummy guilt. Thankfully filming a wedding is something I love and that, coupled with the adrenaline, gets me through it even on those days I’m gone so long she’s asleep when I leave and when I return.

I know it’s hard being a Mum and going back to work. I’m not saying I’m having a tougher time or I’m a better Mum for going through all this self-employed craziness but I do hope sharing my stories and advice from what I’ve learnt so far will help someone out there who’s worrying about how they will manage. Even at the stage of discussing getting pregnant we were worried about ‘scheduling’ it in and how it’d work being pregnant and filming, then feeding a baby and working from home and long days away if I was still breastfeeding…there’s a lot more to consider when you work for yourself and although it can be overwhelming it’s totally possible and with careful planning it can be done (with a little stress but I think that’s part of being a new Mum anyway!). I have an older post you can read too about working with a baby, take a look.

 

Cloth Bum Mum

This Cloth Bum Mum loves Real Nappy Week. After all, it was the same cloth nappy event last year that helped me take the plunge in to the fabulous world of cloth and real nappies.

I was very lucky that I actually had a nappy library based near me in Ormskirk (West Lancs Cloth Bum Mum). Being Miss Organised I actually rented a nappy kit off her before the baby arrived and she kindly came over to our house to talk us through the options. Lee sat on the sofa, arms folded and nodding at the correct times. Clearly thinking it was a weird fad I’d grow out of once baby had arrived…

Paisley arrived and was a little too skinny and small for a lot of the nappies so it took a couple of months to really get the hang of my favourites. I narrowed it down to a couple of brands but it was gNappies that really stood out for me. This is where the nappy library was so wonderful because I’d initially tried an online nappy questionnaire and been swayed by an All-In-One system for the ease of chucking it all in the wash. I was persistent and kept trying them but I always had leaks no matter how much I practised. Can you imagine how much I may have wasted buying a load of those for them not to be right for us?Do check out if you have a local library if you’d like to try real nappies.

We also rented a Cheeky Wipes reusable wipes kit from the Nappy Library and that was really handy to go alongside our new nappies. It was actually something my husband got on well with from the start as we found we could wipe up a whole host of mess with a couple of wipes instead of a couple of packs of disposable wipes.

Back to gNappies. If you haven’t heard of these they’re a super cool nappy company that are the only ones to offer biodegradable inserts. Sadly we didn’t get on very well with the disposable ones but we do love the cloth inserts. The terminology can lose some people so  I won’t go in to detail but gNappies themselves put it well…

“Using gNappies is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Pick a pair of colourful gPants, tuck in the insert, change your baby and hug”

It took a few months for us to become full time cloth users as my husband was still hesitant about the washing and getting the fit right. That was until one too many ‘poonamis’ in the disposables were being fully contained in the gNappies, he finally saw sense. Breastfed babies are known for their runny poos so changing to cloth was a godsend in that area, no need to chuck clothes in the bin after it shoots up the back….nice! Now they’re a little more solid we can literally shake them down the loo. No stinky nappy bins here. There’s the other obvious benefits too…

• Good for the environment – Less waste (a single disposable nappy can take up to 500 years to biodegrade in the landfill)
• Good for babies skin
• No chemicals
• Easy to use (not like the old days of Terry’s and pins)
• Beautiful styles and prints

The only downside I have found so far is that it can be a little addictive buying new prints that are released. But even then you can feel good about buying a new limited edition print as some are for charitable causes too, like Every Mother Counts with gNappies.

For me now I’m fully cloth I can honestly say it’s so much easier than I could have imagined and I feel really good about using them too. I always have people asking me about them when they see us in the changing room or she’s flashing a bit of her gPant (I can’t wait for the summer to show off her new frilly ones) and because they’re not as bulky as people imagine no-one even realises she is a cloth bum baby until I say or they see the pants!

Even now a year on I’m forever tweaking our ‘stash’ of nappies. She’s now on Little Lamb’s bamboo nappies with Blueberry inserts, again ones I tried and loved after renting from West Lancs Cloth Bum Mum. I’m tempted to invest in some new Blueberry wraps and make use of all the good offers on during Nappy week this year now I have a new love for night time…

Basically this weeks advice is to allow a bit of Real Nappy Week in to your life. See if it’s something you could consider, whether it’s for night time nappies or maybe only for day times at home. I’d love to know if you’d considered it before but never quite took the plunge, what had stopped you? Have you tried them but found it hard to find the right ones?

I know we’d go through about 6-8 nappies a day with disposables which is scary if you tally up the days, weeks and years they’re in nappies. There’s so many offers on this week you may find yourself where I was last year and I’ll warn you now, it’s an exciting and slightly addictive journey…

This is a pair of Good Fortune Red gPants that I had customised for Lee on Father’s Day. Pretty cool huh? The possibilities are endless when it comes to having a cloth bum baby!