Mamas in New Zealand - Page 2

[accountclosed2]

Hi Kloppenmum and nzheartmama! Welcome to our group!

[kloppenmum]

Thanks Aislin,

pleased to be here - always good to know I'm not the only kiwi mother thinking along these lines!

[CherryMum]

Hi All,

Nice to meet a group of mum's in NZ. I'm Joanna.

Have four children, youngest is one week old. She was born at home as planned, labour was less than an hour long. My first was born in hospital, water labour and lovely. Second born at home and in the water, third was six weeks early and waters broke so he was born at hospital luckily we made it. Labour was also less than an hour. Special care in Tauranga hospital for nine days.

We go to La Leche League to meet other like minded mums but also go to playcentre. Cosleep with all the children till they wanted their own beds. Our DS2 still comes to bed int he morning and he is still breastfeeding most days.

He is finding the adjustment to having a new baby inthe house difficult. Will be taking him to an osteopath on Wednesday. Trying him with chamomile tea, avena comp drops and rescue remedy - probably not often enough.

[nzheartmama]

Cherrymum, are you still in or near Tauranga?

We used to live in Te Puke and Papamoa and my now almost 15yo DD was born in Tauranga Hospital

We're in the Waikato these days, in "Hobbiton".

[accountclosed2]

Hi Cherrymum! Nice to meet you!

[kloppenmum]

Hi Cerrymum,

Welcome!

[vivalamama]

Just popping in to say hi. I'm an American living in Napier, and have 3 awesome daughters.

While I'm here, what is the kiwi perception of chicken pox? would it be rude to ask a fellow playcentre mum for my kids to come and play with her kids who have chicken pox? (asking here and not in the vax forum because I specifically want info on the NZ attitude toward chicken pox, not anything else, thanks Mods) Been here for a year and this is my first knowledge of an incident of the pox, so keen for them to get it if we can, just don't want to be rude/weird (or more so than usual )

[accountclosed3]

well, i suppose i should come in -- better late than never!

we moved to NZ in Feb 2010 and live in wellington. I pretty much hang out with Aislyn once a week at the play group, but now our littles are nearly too big for it. we live on opposite sides of wellington and bus everywhere, so we gotta figure out how our two will get together, since both are pretty sure that they are girlfriend/boyfriend. I think that Aislyn and I should have the papers drawn up now -- determine the dowry and everything. and, hopefully both children will be ok with their MILs. :) 

i did discover that it will take us two busses to get the kids together, and probably about an hour of travel time, which means when we do meet at each other's homes, it will have to be pretty much for the whole day. :D

anyway, we just moved into a cottage by the sea (at the opening of the harbor) and DS loves it. well, we all love it, to be honest. :) and we love running our business. we love living in NZ.

i was into all of this AP stuff well before I had DS -- about 5 years before I had him. Had a UP and UC, had a breastfeeding issue (strong tongue -- took a week to get a latch; 6 weeks to get to being nipple shield free; then going strong until January when i took him down to two feeds a day, and now he's down to one -- and that might just last until he's ready to let it go), did EC -- which was awesome! -- and cosleep. Also babywear, but now he's way too big for it, so he walks everywhere. :) He's quite the hiker!

we still cosleep, which some people find really strange. our cottage technically has a second bedroom, but we likely won't use it. we have a second bed (a day bed), but it's in the lounge (which our bedroom opens out to as if it's one big room), so it's not likely that he'll have his "own room" -- but I don't think that matters so much. :D lots of families have a "sleeping room" and what not. 

uhm, yeah, that's pretty much me. :)

[ReinetteRenee]

Hi Im an american Living in Dunedin

I wanted to have a hospital water birth, family history of complications leading to c-sections made me want to play it safe, glad i did. My sons heart beat was not ideal and i did not progress after 5 hours by 7 hours or no progression but actually regression I had a c-section and all was fine. AP parenting just came naturally and then i learned more about it and embraced it. Co-sleeping is kinda a necessity in Dunedin cause its so cold i keep my son with in arms reach (i turned his crib into a side car) so i can warm him up need be.

[rainbow dancer]

We just recently moved to NZ from the US and are now living in Kaiwaka, Northland.

We have a very spirited very freedom seeking dd who is almost 8.

Everything is so new here and a little overwhelming, so I am glad there is some consistency in my life -

like visiting Mothering.com.

Cheers to everyone

Margaret

[ReinetteRenee]

Rainbow Dancer how recently have you moved from the US? I hope your settling in Nicely and the culture Shock isnt to much. I wish i had Support when i first moved here as the Culture Shock sent me into a depression and it took a while to come out the other side. Ok this happened both times i moved here but the first time i didn't know it was culture shock. Interestingly enough for the most part the culture shock lasted around 6 months.

[vivalamama]

HI RainbowDancer
good luck with adjusting to everything. main thing-- remember to look both ways before you cross the street don't want to get squashed before you get a chance to really start enjoying everything.

[always hope]

Welcome to all the new NZers.

Chickenpox - I don't think there is a particularly NZ way of viewing chicken pox. The vaccine is available but not on the schedule and not subsidised. But it is part of the schedule in Australia now so might be in the future. There was a strong culture of pox parties when I was a child but health providers don't recommend that now due to how serious the illness can be. I figure it is pretty widespread so eventually my daughter will get it but I am not trying to get it. I think you could just feel out the other parent to see what their views are or if they have heard of pox parties before you broach it.

I have heard culture shock is really hard. If you are looking for likeminded parents then La Leche League is your best bet. Or maybe a Steiner playgroup? Some areas have babywearing groups. Maybe have a search on Facebook. I think Playcentre can be but have heard mixed things and since I am not at Playcentre I can't really comment.

I am continuuing to juggle the balance between work and home life. I work two days teaching teen mums and have just enrolled to study to become a childbirth educator. I am hoping I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. My husband is away overseas for two weeks at the end of August and then we move house. So lots happening and just trying to keep calm and look after myself. Also really keen to try for number two once we have moved but also really scared about the reality of dealing with pregnancy plus a toddler plus work and study. Not to mention having to care for a new baby plus Ella. Oh well I have to make the leap at some point.

[redskynight]

Hi everyone

I'm Alice SAHM to Noah (2 1/2) and Levi (5mnths) here in Dunedin also. My husband is almost finished his last of 4 years of university, YAY!!! I breastfeed, babywear and try to parent as my intution leads me to. I'm passionate about healthcare systems, mothering and crafting. Nice to meet you :)

[Vallere]

Hello, all!

I'm another American living in NZ. My name is Vallere and my family moved to Wanganui in January on a one year work visa for my husband. We. Love. It! I'm going to be so sad to go back to the States! NZ is absolutely beautiful, the people are incredibly friendly and helpful, and it doesn't hurt that Wangs is the second most temperate city in the world (really enjoying the mild weather after living my whole life in North Carolina!)

We are working on growing a larger family through birth and (prayerfully!) adoption, and, even though my hubby is a physician, we are a VERY naturally minded family. In the States I worked as a birth doula, we extended bf (I'm a LLL Leader), cosleep, babywear, and homeschool. We're also working towards a more self sufficient lifestyle - back in the States we always had a nice garden, I bake our bread, we eat virtually no processed foods, and I'm LOVING the fact that raw milk and free range eggs are so easy to get here in NZ!  

Ian is our oldest. He turns 6 in Nov. He was born in a free standing birth center. It was supposed to be a waterbirth, but after 39 hours of laboring with him in a very poor position, I ended up birthing him side-lying on the bed. He came out facing my thigh with 2 nucal hands. I'm so glad my mw was proactive enough to get me out of the tub, because my uterus was so tired after all that that it didn't clamp down well and I bled quite a bit, which in hindsight, could have been a lot worse in the water. Ian is my smarty pants, and is very sensitive.

Zollie is our middle child. He was a wonderful water birth in the same birth center as his brother - we got there 2 hours before he was born into my hubby's hands. That's been the only easy thing about him! He's been my "high needs" kid. Terrible sleeper, needed to be held constantly, virtually stopped growing at 9 mo. Was diagnosed with Growth Hormone Deficiency right around his 3rd b-day (he takes daily injections now - huge stressor for me as we don't vax, but I've had to just pray that Yeshua will protect my little guy and trust that sometimes pharma isn't all evil), and we found that he has a Chiari malformation in his brain when we did the MRI for his GHD diagnosis. Whew! Thankfully, he's grown to be a fun, lovable, perfectly healthy, active guy and he turns 4 in 2 weeks!

Ceirdwyn is our dose of pink :) She was my home water-birth baby, and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect birth! Labor was only about 3 hours, the midwife got to the house only about 30 min before she was born. My boys both got to watch their sissy be born (with Ian exclaiming "She's coming out your BUTT!"). She's been nothing but joy from day 1. She turned 15 mo today and this age is so much fun!

Between Zollie and Ceirdwyn we lost a little girl early in her pregnancy. We are looking forward to meeting our Anna in Heaven :)

We feel so blessed in Wanganui to have found an awesome community of natural minded, homeschooling families who have made us feel so welcome.

Well! Didn't intend to write such a novel! Looking forward to getting to know you ladies on the forums :)

[weegee]

I know this thread is a little old but thought I should introduce myself here. I'm Rachael, mum to a July 08 boy and July 10 girl. My daughter was a VBAC and my experience leading up to and during her birth was what led me to do my doula training through CBI - I am passionate about natural childbirth, and VBACs in particular. I am also a breastfeeding peer counsellor, still tandem nursing both my kids, and a babywearing junkie :-)

[Maac loce]

Hi all I know this thread is old but I'm a mama of little little ones who's just arrived in Auckland and wanted to see if there were any other mamas out there.:-)

[DanielleNZ]

Hi there Maac Loce, there are plenty of Auckland ap mummas scattered around the place. Sing out if you need some advice on where to find us!