Welcome to Mother Bear

Today is one month from the due date of my first baby, and there is a whirlwind of excitement and nerves at play in my mind, which is hard at work preparing me for one of the biggest events of my life. At this point, my husband and I have taken hours of classes on childbirth and breastfeeding, but we know that no class will be more informative than the process of labour and delivery itself - let alone looking after baby - so we know we still have a lot to learn.

Amidst all the busy-ness, I wanted to take the time to set up this website and write this short article, in order to start setting up an initiative I have long believed to be important: supporting mums at all stages to be able to look after their babies, even in situations where it might feel impossible at first. I believe that the timing is in many ways perfect, as I hope to be able to offer insights from my own motherhood journey to this task, and I expect the initiative to grow as my own experience as a mum grows.

It's no secret that parenthood is one of the toughest jobs out there. It's a 24/7, lifelong occupation. It demands a huge amount of investment in time, attention and money. It can demand us to put aside our own wishes and desires for the sake of another. Unlike a normal job, there's no financial compensation and there is no reward like fame or power to make up for it. This great investment that parents have to make is probably a contributing factor to why in today’s world, the narrative we hear most often is that we should steer away from parenthood if we have hopes, dreams and ambitions, at least until we are old enough and established enough to be able to achieve all the plans we have for our life while also having bountiful resources for our children. However, this creates an ideal which is itself far from what most families can obtain, and pushes ordinary people to feel that they absolutely cannot be a parent until they have everything in just the right place. It changes the mindset from ‘how can I find the support and resources to be the best parent I can be?’ to ‘how can I stop myself from becoming a parent?’.

But in spite of its many challenges, being a parent is one of the most fulfilling occupations most of us can ever hope to undertake. To bring a baby into existence, to nourish him and watch him grow, to be responsible for teaching her about the world and how to flourish in it, is the closest many of us can come to living divinely in this life. And the fact that all this is achieved in the face of the pressures of life is all the more remarkable and rewarding.

As my husband and I take on the incredible gift of the journey of parenthood, I would like to embark on this additional journey of providing resources for other mothers, particularly for those who feel that accepting the gift of motherhood is too difficult or downright impossible because of their life circumstances. The vision I have is of a world where no mother feels backed into a corner, forced to run away from being a parent because she sees no financially viable route to taking care of a child, or she is afraid she will have to abandon her studies, or she doesn’t think she is capable of looking after a baby. Instead, the world should be one where every single last mother feels empowered to care for her child as well as looking after herself.

I plan to begin by offering what I can at my current stage of life as a new mum: sharing my own updates and advice based on my own journey. Eventually, I hope to build out Mother Bear as a resource hub for mums who could do with a helping hand on their own journey, whether that means help finding work that matches their circumstances, a financial boost, or a reassuring peer. Stay tuned to my website and Instagram channel for updates!