Luck????

I don't really consider myself to be lucky. But the stars were definitely aligned when our local council arranged my Mother's Group.

We did the standard 6weeks at the community centre with a maternal health nurse discussing young baby issues. At that time, it was great to talk about the milestones and diffilculties of new mums and bubs, knowing that we weren't the only ones having troubles.

After the initial community centre visits, we decided to keep things going, alternating houses each week. Originally there were about 12 mums/bubs. Some mums have returned to work, others have moved or drifted away. But there are still 7 or so regular groupies, still meeting each week, more than 3 years on!

I'm actually really surprised that such a random selection of women who just happened to have babies around the same time have clicked as friends so well. We come from different backgrounds, different careers, different ages. But I consider these mum's among my best friends.

Despite losing some families, our group has grown and grown. Everyone has had (or is about to have) baby number two, and no doubt number threes will appear soon too!

We still do group birthdays and a Christmas party with presents each year and even the dads are getting to know each other more and more. I even deliberately set my day off from work to be mothers group day, so that my kids didn't miss playing with their friends, and I didn't miss the chats and laughs with my good friends.

For no other reason than peace of mind at such a full on, uncertain time with a newborn baby, I would recommend ALL new mums join a mothers group. Who knows, it might turn into rich friendships like my group has!!