My Story

 

 

My name is Rachel Collins. I have 2 kids and have lived in Dublin all my life. When I became pregnant with my first child, I was so excited…. then terrified, and then excited again. This cycle of emotions continued every 5-10mins throughout my pregnancy. To calm my nerves, I would delve in to research about birth. The different outcomes, birthing positions, what to do, the questions to ask the midwives and doctors. I did an anti-natal course and followed GentleBirth on Meta platforms. I was so prepared for the birth that I completely forgot to think about my recovery.

I am sad to admit that, in my naivety, I honestly thought that I would be up the next day, with an extra heavy period. I thought breastfeeding would be easy……sure we have been doing it for tens of thousands of years. I knew how to look after a baby, there was nothing to worry about.

I was wrong!

My darling baby arrived abruptly the Friday night before Christmas. The midwife was amazing! She was really supportive, and I felt really looked after! (if you can access the care of the Community Domino midwives, I highly recommend it, I personally think all midwives should be trained the way they are). I had no complications, so I was sent home after 12hours. I managed to stuff a couple of maternity pads in my bag when I was leaving. I had assumed, like a lot of people that the essential recovery items would be supplied to me, especially with it being my first child.

They were not!

To be fair I was doing okay until the baby blues hit. The surge of relaxin, endorphins and oxytocin dropped off a cliff. It was too painful to breastfeed and my body felt completely broken and not my own and I had nothing at home to help my feel in anyway human. My partner was great and supportive but also completely clueless. The midwives were visiting me at home which was our saving grace. They were able to tell my partner exactly what he needed to get but it was also Christmas day so he had to go driving around Dublin looking for anywhere that was open. Thankfully family came to rescue with at least some of the things we needed till we could get to a large pharmacy when they opened on the 27th.

This experience has stayed with me. It has made me so aware of what mothers go through after birth, even though what I experienced is pretty tame compared what others have gone through.

When I became pregnant with my second, I was obviously more prepared. I started stocking up on the items I felt I had needed the first time around, but found that it was quite difficult to find some items. After my 2nd child was born, I stayed home, I only got up for visitors, but I was also much calmer because I had, for the most part, everything I needed to feel better.

This essentially had been the first Basic ReBirth Box. I decided to set this up as a business. I wanted to give new mothers a place to buy everything they needed to recover in one space. In my research, I found that 88% of respondents would have loved to have this exact product when they got home. The ReBirth box makes a great gift for new mothers too.