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Uniting mums and their experiences through writing. A page of hope for those suffering post natal depression or anxiety.

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Journeys out of postnatal depression

August 22, 2018August 22, 2018 MumVoice

A page of courage + hope. Stories about how women have fought postnatal depression, baby blues and anxiety. What they did and what worked.

June 27, 2018June 28, 2018 MumVoice

I won’t be THAT sort of mum…

February 13, 2019February 13, 2019 MumVoice

Grocery shopping with two kids

February 13, 2019February 13, 2019 MumVoice

Having a baby and hating my husband. How it’s absolutely not like a Richard Curtis movie.

January 21, 2019January 22, 2019 MumVoice

@ItsMostlyOkay talks to us about her journey as a blogger, how she got trapped in the numbers game and how she learnt to write for herself again.

September 19, 2018September 23, 2018 MumVoice

Tiffany – how she coped with acute depression after her second baby and how she found a way back to health and happiness

August 27, 2018 MumVoice

Frankie – taking a walk around the block was the start of something much bigger and more beautiful

August 24, 2018January 22, 2019 MumVoice

My journey out of post natal depression – by Antonia

August 24, 2018 MumVoice

Ruth – dealing with severe PND and getting an excellent well rounded care plan in action

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About Me

Hi! I’m Antonia, British blogger, Mum to two wild things and one very domesticated cat. Founder of MumVoice.com, a platform for opening up bravely honest conversations about Motherhood and championing Mumpreneurs.

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I made a choice at the beginning of this year that I would choose to make time for events and activities and experiences that made me happy. I took time to recognise I love new things. I like comedy, art, food, travelling (like so many of us do!), flicking through the Guardian supplements feeling pangs of jealously of what was out there but I was doing NONE of it because family and work took up all my time. But I was feeling empty because I wasn’t giving myself anything. Ive called it my joy-ride. I’ve been to secret cinema, I’ve had a trip away with my husband to another country, I went to the comedy festival, I’ve visited all those National trust places I kept reading about, I made dinner dates with friends, I’ve been on a cooking course evening. I’ve even been to the cinema !! (Once! But still). That’s meant more planning, more relying on others, more childcare. It hasn’t felt at all comfortable, natural or easy but has it been worth it? HELL YES. Sometimes I’m so busy surviving as a mother I forget to LIVE - to embrace and engage with the world. There’s so much out there that’s fulfilling. The other day during my lunch break I found a place that does a 20 minute massage for 20 minutes and I think it changed my life 🤣🤣🤣✌🏼. The day is never going to get any longer, I’m not going to grow another set of arms so it’s about prioritising, putting things in the dairy and trusting it will work out for the best. Of course this is only possible at this point because my youngest is now 2 and sleeps well. I’m absolutely not proposing people push themselves physically past what they can do. But asking my husband for lie ins after a boozy few cocktails with the mums or having a daytime nap whilst Oaty sleeps have also been a conscious decisions to help myself feel energised and nourished. I’m not a machine. I need 8 hours sleep. I need work breaks. I need more joy-rides. I’m EVEN going for a few nights away with some crazy good mates soon?? I’m impressed what can happen when you put suggestions into the WhatsApp ether. What else can I do that’s fun??#mun #mothering #mumdiary #workingmum #metime #imatter #selfcare #selflove #kids #children vv

I told Otis to stop shouting in the car. It’s infuriating and really hard to drive with all that noise. I said ‘it’s not ok in my book’. Lumen said, ‘you have a book mummy? Where do you keep it? Do you have one for Otis and one for me?’ Er, yes - I said. ‘Can I see it when I’m older?’ I love that she thinks I could possibly be that organised as a parent 🤣🤣🤣 #thereaintnobookkid . #parenting #discipline #kids #funnymum #daughter #5yo #2yo #funny #badmum #lostthebook

. A year into returning to my tv job and I still find myself trying to find the right balance. It’s been amazingly good for my self esteem to be working. I feel valued, I enjoy working with nice people and having office bants. I’m faaaaaaar more efficient at my job 🤣🤣🤣. It’s ludicrous how much you can get done before noon if you don’t do social media or daily mail or keep popping out for expensive coffees. I try and come in and get down to business pretty quick. Write my to do lists, dress professionally. But the hours are long and being promoted has been wonderful for my self worth but of course means I have more responsibility (work) and stress (work harder and faster). It’s hard knowing when this will get too overwhelming/ if the kids will be hurt by any of it/ if I’ll regret not being more involved in their childhood. On the flip side I don’t want to give up something that gives me my sense of purpose, value and self esteem. Something I’m good at and mostly enjoy. Something that makes me feel part of a group amd a mad old tribe of misfits. The only things I’ve learnt are 1) you can undo everything with 4 weeks notice. 2) always negotiate, always start with your dream scenario and let them negotiate from there. 3) don’t be afraid to leave early, make important appointments for the kids and even negotiate different working hours that fit better with your family. So often we’re so scared to even have these conversations but the more parents that do this the more we help bring about cultural change. I’ve learnt ITS OK to put my family first and to be seen to be doing so. I still rock up professional on Monday morning and get the work done. Have the hard conversations. Talk clearly and honestly about what will work best for you. Don’t be afraid to ask for more money - childcare is expensive and if you don’t ask you won’t get. 4) for me I’ve learnt to look at work in 3/4 month blocks. What’s going to work well for the next 12 weeks? It’s more manageable, reduces stress and gives me a clear line of sight of how to make things work. What else have you working mums learnt. Please share👇

I’ve cut down my days at work because it’s been heartbreaking not seeing the kids morning or night. I now get two full days with this chunk and it doesn’t seem a coincidence that his language has come on leaps and bounds. He’s also just started a little village preschool and maybe that’s help this developmental leap. He’s so excited about ‘school’. It helps that they have him a T-shirt to wear and a little red school bag. He cried when I said we had to come home 🤣🤣😭. Today in the car I said ‘what shall we do when we get home?’ Otis asked to do some painting. He told me he wanted to paint circles. But he needed my help. He wanted to start with blue circles and also try some triangles. Being able to communicate to this level is so wonderful, it really makes everything so much easier. So that’s exactly what we did. Rather than my usual Thursday of sitting in front of a computer or in a cold studio I was holding hands with this one painting blue circles. He also told me he had a sore hand, he missed his sister, he wanted chocolate cake and couldn’t be fobbed off by croissant. He asks for kisses and cuddles and to delay bedtime he’ll ask for hi fives whilst he laying in bed tucked up. He’ll go find his dad and ask if he’s ok. He asks me if I had a nice shower. The boy has a lot of chat ❤️. Here’s to 2.5 years of this human being. . #son #love #mum #mumdiary #language #learningtotalk #motherson

Birth; it is the definition of awesome. For me it was about opening up the center of my body to allow a human to pass through. You just can’t get more cosmic than that. Allowing myself to transform, to totally let go, trust in my body, trust in the pain, trust my baby knew how to come out. How often do we get to do something so primal and be congratulated for it? We spend our lives suppressing primal urges. We ignore our circadian rhythms, we release our bowels on a seat, we process our food and often avoid even touching it using knife and fork. We take painkillers for a headache. We have central heating and double glazing and warm duvets. We rarely feel too hot or cold. We don’t often feel discomfort let alone pain. I don’t disagree with these things but it makes birth a remarkable new and bold experience. But maybe all this civilised living unknowingly allows us to forget our true resilience and capability? To feel the edges of our existence in such a practical way. I don’t know but I suspect. Birth was such a life affirming experience for me. The hardest most grounding experience of my life multiplied by the number of stars in the sky. But i honestly felt the experience of the millions of women before me who had birthed my mother, grandmothers and it felt enormous. The huge power that is the woman’s energy. The bringer of life. And so for me birth is ultimately a spiritual experience. That doesn’t make it easy or painless (although for some it is). For me I carry that experience every day. I look at Otis and I remember those moments he was born, from water to air. The same with Lumen, the awe of her, of me, of this giant beautiful world. . #birth #newborn #mum #birthing #naturalbirth #waterbirth #love #motherslove

Parenting ...around other parents. It’s nervous business parenting with a playground full of mums staring at you. Watching/ judging yours and your child’s behaviour. I’m quite hands off when it comes to playground. I try and leave them too it and only intervene if they risk broken limbs. But I’m coming to realise this is not how most other parents behave. We were in the woods at this wonderful playground. Otis was up this netted tunnel. Another child climbed up so they were having a stand off at the top. Who was going to make way for who. One was going to win via physical or verbal coalescence. I didn’t think anything of it and just waited. The other mother kept apologisisng to me. ‘I’m so sorry he’s in the way of your child’. I laughed. I really don’t mind, I think they’re fine I said as I watched our child sat quite still and happy at the top. She was visibly distressed and turning pink in the face. She looked at me like I was all types of crazy. I figured direction of toddler traffic would shortly resume and it’s important process for my son to go through. As I’m mulling this over I see the other mum climbing up into the child’s cargo net. Clamouring all the way to the top to pick up her child and make the even harder decent in the unstable cargo net with a heavy and screaming child ALL whilst apologising from me up high. I kept trying to reassure her I wasn’t bothered, that I didn’t think this was a Lord of The Flies situation but I don’t think she could hear over the child’s screams. . A little while later I was back at the damn cargo net and ANOTHER mum who’s been watching the whole thing came over. She ALSO apologised for not helping. In fact to my total bemusement she said ‘sorry I didn’t climb up the cargo net and rescue your son. I felt I should have intervened’. Bewildered. Perhaps this is proper parenting but it seems horrible stressful to me. Meanwhile I must look a very useless parent standing at the bottom drinking my coffee smiling at ‘children having fun’ . #parenting #kids #toddler #toddlertantrum

Recent Comments

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