Baby carrier or stroller the dilemmas and unknown tribulations of your journey into motherhood. Your personality, lifestyle, environment, finances, and physical strength can all play a role in determining what suits you. In this blog I share my thought process of choosing a baby carrier or stroller and why and how I chose.
Nesting time in pregnancy
When I was pregnant and third trimester was rolling I really kicked into nesting season but technical must have products, like baby carrier or stroller hadn’t really entertained my brain before birth.
I was much more interested in buying lego for a five year old than realistically looking at my present reality.
Really grateful to have had so many mother hens around me, asking me sensible questions like, have you thought about what pram you’re getting?. PRAM! uh i’m not using a pram, i’m a carrier not a pusher. I literally could never see myself pushing a pram. Thats how alien a pram felt for me.
Whats my beef with a pram
Theres pro’s and cons in everything, the positives and negatives, the yin and yang, the light and shadow, in all that is.
But for me having to navigate stairs, lifts, cars, buses, on top of my already socially awkward first time introductions, of my speech disability, just really didn’t appeal to my challenging ‘must have’ triumphs, back then.
I remember the countless experiences when working as a support worker and pushing a person in a wheelchair. The amount of frustrating times we were denied bus access, because the limited availability was full.
How commonly I witnessed, usually mums with a pram and wondering how long they’d need to wait in the rain before getting to their destination.
The thought of watching others struggle in so many countries and places, genuinely put me off using one. Of course its great for a jolly to the park,
but really, can I see myself pushing one?.
The obstacles were many to me, it felt very limiting in its function for my uses. But that’s me.
I understand why many mums use them. I get how functional they can be, especially with more than one kid and once a toddler gets heavy and travelling far.
How does it feel for others
But what about other people?
What if you’re needing an afternoon of sleep and a friend or family member offers to go for a stroll and all you have is a carrier?
How does it feel for them?
Not everyone wants, or can use a carrier.
What about their health issues? The wonky back, arthritis, sore shoulders.
Other people I love dearly and yearn to be a part of my babies life have other health issues.
So literally I went from an adamant no no no, to an ah, hadn’t thought about that, to a realisation that;
Having the pram as an option for other people to use, could help me as a single mum, cope with the unknown challenges ahead
Because that’s what it felt like as a pregnant new time mum, everything ahead, was so unknown.
Simplify with proactive motherhood
I needed life to be as easy and fluid as it could be as a new mum. Don’t we all at heart?
Being a backpacker and avid adventurer, since I was 18 and travelling all my life, with what I needed attached to my back, I was used to being a carrier.
I was used to seeing how it can be done differently.
There is no right or wrong way only your way of doing it and the lessons you learn from experiencing it.
I remember sitting at a temple, watching a rice field of farmers waking up, washing with a bucket of water, doing their prayers, working on the farm all day in the baking heat.
There were a few mothers working, stopping to breastfeed, then, continuing farming again. The very new babies were attached with a piece of cloth, wrapped around them. As I sat at this quiet temple overlooking this farm all day writing, I’d often pause and observe in complete awe, of how simple they made motherhood look.
Travelling outside my comfort zone encouraged me to ask,
Why all the fuss?
This question often enters my mind as a mum. Why am I making it even more complicated than is necessary.
Why add drama to the chaos?
How can I simplify my life to be the best version of me for my growing baby, as a forever learning mama?
I can do anything, but I cannot do everything
How can I exercise and manage my fitness and time better in motherhood?