大蕃薯在英國薩福郡出生了！

(Scroll down for English)大蕃薯於 2019 年 6 月中旬抵達。直到此時，我都感到很滿足（請閱讀我之前關於在薩福克郡懷孕六週的文章my previous post！），直到有一天我的 Facebook 動態上出現了香港新聞。 突然，我感到非常遙遠和孤立（儘管我住的地方距離我們的家庭朋友只有 5 分鐘的步行路程，並且每晚都去他們家吃晚飯）。 我開始希望大蕃薯能早點到達，這樣大家都可以飛過來。我們的家庭朋友（Auntie J）提到她的兩個孩子在 36 週時就出生了，一切都很好。 他們現在是醫護人員，顯然也不會對智力造成損害！ 此外，我開始感覺到大蕃薯的體重了。一個大寶貝，想如果他準備好了，我希望他現在就出來… 這也能讓我在產假期間有更多的時間陪伴他，而且他在回程的飛機上也會更成熟（爺爺和我一直在討論和大蕃薯一起飛回來的可接受的安全年齡是多少……答案是年齡越大越好！ ）研究表明，未出生的嬰兒可以感覺到媽媽的感受unborn babies can sense their mum’s feelings。 另一種解釋（儘管並不互相排斥）是我下意識地誘發了大蕃薯出來。 由於我每天晚上都會泡澡（我的套房沒有淋浴），所以這並不是很難實行。 在大蕃薯出生的前一天晚上，我在洗澡時分心了，當我重新集中註意力時，我意識到我只是在一側進行乳頭刺激，我曾被警告過這可能會引發早產。 儘管這還沒有得到科學的明確證實（參見耶魯大學的這項研究Yale study），但誰知道呢？

大蕃薯咆哮著進入我們的生活，距離 J 阿姨在同一家醫院分娩正好 30 年（事實上，她的女兒那個週末回家慶祝）！ 沒想到，那天J阿姨也成為我的同生伴侶了！ 在這一點上，我想提一下產傷，兩週前在英國討論過這個問題，以提高人們在心理健康意識週期間的認識。 產傷有多種類型，但我認為最常描述的一種是創傷後壓力症候群（PTSD）（例如令人痛苦的閃回和嚴重焦慮）：

https://www.instagram.com/p/C662woWslt1/?img_index=1

下一個鏈接，如果你懷孕了，可以考慮等到產後再看。 在我的催眠分娩課上，我被告知只能聽正向的分娩故事。 作者出現在《切爾西製造》中，這是一部關於倫敦富有年輕人的真人秀節目……你知道，有點像現實生活中的《花邊教主》。 Netflix 有幾季可供觀賞。 我被迷住了，同時把我的妹妹Izzie也吸進去了。 我記得看過作者的兄弟（山姆湯普森）。 他們很容易沉浸在關於約會和友誼的爭吵中，並且出奇地放鬆（我通常不喜歡電視真人秀）。

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13409097/LOUISE-THOMPSON-barely-bring-look-baby-cries-think-bleeding-death-hospital.html

有很多嬰兒安靜睡覺的新生照片通常會與家人和朋友分享。 （“哇哦，太可愛了！”）很多人沒有看到的是，很多時候它看起來像這樣：

更多關於英國新生兒期的資訊（可能）在下一篇部落格文章中！

其他關於在英國居住 4 個月分娩的帖子

--分娩前在薩福克（英國）待 6 週

-懷孕32週獨自去法國尼斯旅行 (第一集)

-懷孕32週獨自去法國尼斯旅行 (第二集)

The birth of R in Suffolk, UK!

R arrived in mid-June, 2019.  Up until this point, I was feeling quite content (read my previous post on spending 6 weeks in Suffolk whilst heavily pregnant!) until 1 day my Facebook feed lit up with Hong Kong news.  Suddenly, I felt very far away and isolated (despite living 5 mins walk from our family friends and going to dinner at their house every night).  I started wishing that R would arrive earlier so that everyone would fly over. Our family friend (Auntie J) mentioned that both her kids popped out at 36 weeks and were completely fine.  They are medics now, so clearly to no intellectual detriment either!  Besides, I was starting to feel the weight of R.  That week, the midwife told me that R’s weight had jumped to 90^th percentile (probably too much good food!)  As I’m quite tiny, I was really worried about pushing out a big baby and thought if he’s ready, I wish he would come out now….  It would also give me more time with him during maternity leave and he’d be older on the plane ride back (Grandpa and I had been having discussions about what was an acceptably safe age to fly back with R…  The older the better!)  Research suggests that unborn babies can sense their mum’s feelings.  Another explanation (though not mutually exclusive) is that I subconsciously induced R.  During prenatal massage, I was given the tip that bilateral nipple stimulation while pregnant would improve milk supply after birth.  As I took baths every night (my en-suite did not have a shower), this was not very difficult to carry out.  The night before R was born, my mind drifted off in the bath and when I refocused my attention, I realized that I was only carrying out nipple stimulation on one side, which I had been warned might induce labour.  Although this has also yet to be definitively confirmed by science (see this Yale study), who knows?

R came roaring into our lives exactly 30 years from when Auntie J gave birth at the same hospital (in fact, her daughter came home that weekend to celebrate)!  Since it was so unexpected, Auntie J became my birth partner that day too!  At this point, I want to mention birth trauma, which was talked about 2 weeks ago in the UK to raise awareness during mental health awareness week.  There are many types of birth trauma, but I think the one most commonly described is PTSD (e.g. distressing flashbacks and severe anxiety):

https://www.instagram.com/p/C662woWslt1/?img_index=1

For the next link, if you are pregnant, you may consider waiting until after birth to read it.  I was told during my hypnobirthing class to listen to positive birthing stories only.  The author appeared on Made in Chelsea, a reality TV series about rich young people in London..  y’know, kinda real-life Gossip Girl.  A few seasons are available on Netflix.  I got hooked and sucked Iz into it too.  I remember watching the author’s brother (Sam Thompson).  It is easy to get absorbed in their fights about dating and friendship and surprisingly relaxing (I’m not usually a big reality TV person).

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13409097/LOUISE-THOMPSON-barely-bring-look-baby-cries-think-bleeding-death-hospital.html

There are so many newborn photos of babies sleeping peacefully that are usually shared with family and friends.  (“Aww so cute!”)   What a lot of people don’t see is that many a time it looks like this:

More on the newborn period in UK (possibly) in the next blog post!

Other posts about staying in UK for 4 months to give birth

-Solo trip to Nice, France when 32 weeks pregnant (Part 1)

-Solo trip to Nice, France when 32 weeks pregnant (Part 2)

-6 weeks in Suffolk (UK) before giving birth