Sarah's Blog

A freelance journalist from Sydney, Sarah lives in South East London with her husband Dave and two children, Phoenix and Cassian. She likes raspberries, stars, lilies, butterflies, Blondie, Jack Bauer and the smell of coriander and garlic when it hits the pan.

She loves motherhood and sings a mean nursery rhyme but can’t help but wish that wearing Louboutins to soft play wasn’t considered bad form. Her favourite online stores are NetAPorter.com, Waterstones.com, SpaceNK.co.uk, & Plumo.com.

Baby Boom

Published on Wednesday 19th November 2008

In the last few weeks, barely a day has gone past without a text message or Facebook status update announcing that yet another friend has just had a baby.

All of which is very exciting, albeit polarising. There’s nothing like a newborn to make me feel, on the one hand, a longing for another baby and, on the other, relief (for me) and pity (for my friends) when I think that the days of sleepless nights and two-hourly feeds are, for the moment, behind me.

So I’ve been making good use of my weekly Sainsbury’s and Abel & Cole deliveries, cooking up casseroles, cottage pies and batches of soup for all the new mummies. Trust me, cute baby clothes are heaven (my favourite store for these is Lula Sapphire) but in the early days of motherhood, nourishment that you don’t have to prepare yourself is truly appreciated

Scenarios like this, however, are less appreciated: telling someone throughout their pregnancy that they are looking ‘fat’ and then barrelling through the door the day after the birth to crash tackle you out of the way in a lunge for the baby, throwing you a box of Ferrero Rocher (with all of its low-cal nutritional value and blood-sugar-stabilising qualities) in the process. This actually happened to me, although I can’t reveal the offender’s identity, other than to say that she is related to my husband in the immediately maternal sense.

Oops, did I just give it away?

Anyway, it may also be less than appreciated if you offer to help by “holding the baby while you make the tea.” Ahem, no. YOU make the tea and let the besotted and exhausted new mum revel in their baby without having to lift a finger, unless of course, they thrust it in your arms screaming “Get this spawn of Satan away from me, why won’t it STOP CRYING????”

And while you’re at it – pick up the vacuum cleaner, hang out the laundry, stack the dishwasher, SOMETHING. Or, if you’re not visiting in person, send flowers, which will detract from the gathering dust, pukey muslins and discarded breastpads littering the new mum’s living room.

For my less-local friends, I’ve chosen the Secret Garden Bouquet from Flying Flowers - it’s gloriously pretty, not to mention reasonably priced which, when you have so many people to buy for (honestly, what was going on last February/ March? And how did I miss it?) is a definite bonus. It even contains my favourite, a Stargazer Lily. You know, I would have much preferred these to those infernal chocolates ... you think I should say something next time? Oh god, here I go, thinking about a next time…

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