I’m a bit of a sentimental old fool really, I keep everything which holds a special meaning to me and I have a memory like an elephant because I never forget a thing (we’re talking memories here – I’m rubbish at remembering special dates!!).
I still remember the first time . . .
- I went on holiday abroad with my Mum to Lanzarote and being amazed at the sight of the ground getting smaller and smaller as the plane soared into the skies. Staring in awe at the clouds beneath us and then the heat hitting you in the face as you stepped off the plane.
- My Mum took me out to a derelict airfield to practice driving and for the life of me NOT being able to turn a full circle ON AN AIRSTRIP!!! Seriously, I kept ending up in the long grass at the sides of the runway.
- I set foot in a night club and thinking I had landed in an alternate universe, I was instantly lost in the music and stayed on the dance floor for most of the night.
- I kissed a boy – it wasn’t all that!
- I had my heart broken by a boy – it hurt, lots, but my Mum was there to fix me.
- I took my driving test . . . and failed! And the second, and third and eventually passing on my fourth!! Hey, it made me a better driver ok!
- I got a mobile phone – it was a black brick with changeable keypad covers. I thought it was amazing but I looked like Dom Jolly!
- I saw my future husband . . . I thought he was gay! True story. He walked into the BMW Dealership where I was on my first day at work, he had a shaved head, tight bum, had a big smile on his face and a bounce in his step. He seemed way too nice to be straight – turns out he wasn’t gay afterall.
- I went Wedding dress shopping with my Mum . . . it turns out the dress you look best in is actually nothing like you expected it to be. I thought I would suit floaty, soft fabrics with an empire line but actually my fish tail dress looked stunning.
- I signed my married name on a document – it felt wierd!! And it took a while for me to get used to people calling me Mrs Green, I felt like an old school teacher.
- I saw the pink lines appear on a pregnancy test!!!!! It felt like it was happening to someone else, such a strange sensation knowing that a little person (Little Bean) was growing inside me, the best sensation.
- I saw Little Bean on the scan at Peterborough District Hospital. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!! It was true, there really was a tiny baby in my tummy. Up until now the only confirmation of pregnancy was the pregnancy test so it felt a little bit like we were pretending but it was official, we had a picture of this tiny little bean. We were having a baby.
- I felt Little Bean kick! It felt like I had waited forever to feel her moving and once she started, she didn’t stop. Feeling baby move in your tummy is without doubt the BEST part of being pregnant.
- I saw Little Bean’s big dark eyes staring back into mine. I cried so many tears of joy at having my beautiful baby girl in my arms and the feeling of love for her knocked me for six. I told everyone that I didn’t mind if she was a girl or boy but Hubby knew that deep down I wanted a little girl. I wanted to be able to give him a ‘first’ as he had already had a ‘first wife’ and ‘first son’, now I was giving him his ‘first’ (and only) little girl. We were over joyed.
- I breastfed her. It didn’t go according to plan but together we stuck at it and eventually we succeeded.
- I took Little Bean for her vaccinations and the piercing scream yet knowing that I was making the right decision. Within 10 minutes we were snuggled back at home on our sofa and hopefully the pain of the jab was a distant memory for her.
- I miscarried. Heart-breaking. #thatisall
- I held our boys, Beanie Boy and Jelly Bean and the rush of love which made me feel like I would explode. When pregnant with your second, third . . . you worry that you won’t be able to love them as much as your first, second . . . but you do. It’s as though your heart suddenly grows bigger and has all this extra capacity for his new person in your life.
- Each of my babies was poorly and I had to take them to the GP or in Jelly Bean’s case back to hospital at just 4 days old. Watching as a Consultant Paediatrician put a canula in his tiny little arms and feeling the tears roll down my face as he screamed out in pain.
The thing about this post is that life is full of firsts and as old as I get, I don’t think I will ever stop having new experiences. In the beginning my firsts were all about my Mum and the things we would do together and now I am the Mum and it’s all about the things that I will experience with or through my children. That’s the circle of life . . . but do you ever stop to think about other Mums and their children. About how their firsts can be so different from ours. Here in the UK we are mostly the lucky ones because we have access to free healthcare. If our children are sick we just pop them 5 minutes up the road to get them checked out. For mothers in third world countries this is not the case. I have told you previously about the great work that Pampers and Unicef do to rid the world of Maternal and Newborn Tetanus and once again I am a proud supporter of their “1 pack = 1 vaccine” campaign which has been running since 2006 and so far has erradicated this deadly but preventable disease in 15 countries. It is estimated that there are women and babies at risk in more than 24 countries so the fight isn’t over yet.
As the title of this post says, every time someone reads this post Pampers will donate the cost of 3 vaccines to UNICEF so by reading this post now, you have just provided 3 vaccines to help save lives. How amazing are you!?! Thank you. Now if you could just take 5 minutes to share this post with as many people as you can, together we can help to save more lives so that other Mums and their babies can go on to experience a whole lifetime of firsts too.
Once again, ex-Spice Girl and Mum of two Emma Bunton is proud to support the campaign. Last year, we met Emma (who couldn’t keep her hands of my little Jelly Bean) where she told us how she has seen the great work that Pampers and UNICEF were doing first-hand in Madagascar. Here she tells you in her own words . . .
There is another video you can watch on the Pampers Unicef campaign, which is extremely cute and again, for every watch, Pampers will donate the cost of one further vaccine so you could save the lives of 4 Mums and their babies just by reading this post and watching this video.
DISCLAIMER: I have not received any form of payment for this post. As a parent and a blogger I want to do everything I can to help promote causes which are close to my heart. Please help to support this campaign.