This post is in tribute to my lovely friends I met through the NCT. For those of you outside the UK or those who have simply never heard of them, the NCT is the National Childbirth Trust and they are a "parenting charity" who offer support and services to young families and parents to be. Don't be fooled by the word charity though, these services do not generally come cheap! The most common form of entry into this world is through the antenatal classes they offer and when they were recommended to me by a couple of friends and colleagues I hesitated a little at the price (when I was already looking at a pretty scary spreadsheet of the things we needed to buy for the baby!) but I am so glad we did it, it has been worth every penny.
We took our classes back in October, two full days plus one three hour session on breastfeeding. The classes were great (although the breastfeeding one was not) but the real reason to take them was to meet other local couples. Let's not put any spin on it, we paid to find friends!! There was a total of eight couples and everyone was so nice. I was also amazed at how involved the dads were. I think Jon got something out of it, if only a dose of reality about what was to come! We kept in touch after the course and although our numbers have diminished a little, we have our core group who I see frequently and now consider good friends. As soon as we all went on maternity leave we started "doing lunch" and then one by one the babies were born.
Here's us a month later:
How cute is this bunch of little people?
No doubt there'll be many more photos as these guys grow old together! Although we have lost one mum and baby to a 6 month move to Boston, and when we get them back we will lose another to a permanent move to Boston, so we may not see all five of them together again for a long time if ever.
I don't know what I would have done without these guys. I am pretty certain I may have spent a lot more time fretting and worrying and feeling very lonely. I would have had a very different experience I'm sure. It has made such a difference having people in the same boat to support you, confide in, bitch to, learn from, and just people to lunch and have coffee with all afternoon sometimes. I love that we have known each other since we were pregnant and that our babies have known each other all their short lives so far. Alex is the youngest in the group (although he has a birthday twin who is five hours older) so we have the advantage of learning from the experience of the other mums.
I've met other people through various other NCT avenues since then (mum and baby groups, events and a postnatal group) but none I've gelled with as much as the original antenatal class. I think we got very lucky with the group we ended up in.
So anyway, I've probably gone on about it too much but if you're wondering what Alex and I have been doing with ourselves the last few months, you can blame this lot!!
