This week meet South African mom blogger Simone who blogs at The Mom Who Changed Her Mind.
I am a mother, wife and medical doctor working in a government hospital in South Africa. I live in Mossel Bay, a small coastal town in the Garden Route. I am passionate about women’s health and want to promote a healthy body, mind and spirit.
I also have a passion for childhood development, which was fueled by the birth of my two sons, born in 2018 and 2020. I aim to give advice which is practical, simple and toddler-approved. My goal is to share not only activities, but also thoughts and information.
My philosophy is that healthy, happy mothers, produce healthy, happy children and families. I believe mothers have the power to change our society from the inside out.
Covid has completely changed the way I practice medicine. I now wear a mask and spend copious amounts of time disinfecting and washing things, but this unfortunately is only a small part of how things have changed. I am masked and miss the personal touch to patient care. I miss being able to crack a joke or pull a face. Lots of information is lost in translation. Examining a child has become a lot more difficult as children feed off our emotions and facial expressions. I can no longer lay my hands on a grieving patient and their family, though I must admit I still do at times. I see a lot of pregnant mommies and I miss having the daddies around when I do an ultrasound. Pregnancy is about a couple, not a person. I miss consulting families as I now have to deal with individuals to contain infection. I believe disease is, more so than not, a family affair.
I gave birth myself to my youngest near the end of February. Jean was about a month old when we went into level 5 lockdown. It was extremely difficult to have a not-yet-two-year-old and a newborn at home alone, that is when I started planning activities for my eldest to keep him busy during long feeds, nappy changes and nap crises.
I learnt a lot during the process. I soon started sharing my programme with other mommies who work and struggle through a Whatsapp group. This group grew rapidly and I realised there are a lot of mommies who need something to keep their preschool kids busy with. Some mommies work long hours and others decided to rather keep their kids at home than send them back to school under the circumstances. I also joined a mommy and baby support group to give advice, as mommies did not want to go to clinics with their babies unless it was absolutely necessary. My heart ached for first time mommies as even though I was struggling at times, Jean was not my first child and I had some idea of what to expect. I decided to start blogging our activities. I started my blog at the end of November.
I also share mommy wellness tips as I saw a lot of mental health problems at work during the pandemic. I share tips about being healthy during pregnancy and there after as well as blog about my spiritual journey. I feel times have changed and we all have to be adaptable, no different in the health sector.
The third division of my blog aims to educate mommies about the reason I do things a certain way and I share some insights into early childhood development. There is also some advice regarding things like potty training. I share what I read.
There is a lot of information available on the internet, but a lot of information is not research based. I like having all of the facts before forming an opinion and I truly believe all mothers should have this information freely available to them.
Lastly I also share some poetry. I have always enjoyed writing and have now formed a platform to do so.
I have learnt now more than ever moms need each other. I want to share what I know and what I learn on this adventure of parenthood. You could possibly some my whole blog up by saying it is about growing as a family unit.
Even though my blog is new I have had a lot of mommies thank me for sharing information and giving them ideas. I am still learning as I go as I have no formal training. It has been a steep learning curve but it has been worthwhile as even if I help only one family, I have made a difference.
Find Simone on her blog, Instagram and Facebook.
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I enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing.