Life as a mother: From the Diamonds to the Dirt of Motherhood

By Chantelle Lambert

Life as a Mother is not your ordinary How to Guide.

Do you want to read real experiences from a real mother’s perspective that you can actually relate to? Or are you a mother-to-be and you want to know what it’s really like? We get the unrealistic perspective of motherhood everywhere, and we find ourselves going in blind. We se

• Language: English
• Publisher: Author Academy Elite
• Release date: Sep 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781640856134

Chantelle Lambert

Chantelle Lambert grew up on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. She spent much of her childhood on the Sunshine Coast before moving to Brisbane for her high school years. When she was nineteen, she moved states to the Central Coast of New South Wales where she met her husband, Ryan Lambert. They have a beautiful daughter together who inspired her to write a book about motherhood. Chantelle spent a lot of her time growing up writing short stories and going off into the imaginative world. She loves the magical fantasy world in particular. She has read so many fantasy books, which have been her inspiration over the years to keep writing and to follow her dreams. Her childhood dream was to be an author, and she made that dream finally come true with the support of her husband and family.

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Endorsements

Ms. Lambert touches on the less pleasant parts of motherhood. Eleven pages in, I was already crying; I related to a lot of what she was saying. My kids are 3, 10 and 23 and I’m still living like this some days. Raw, emotional and the absolute truth.

—Dawn Thomas-Cameron, author of The Path to Perfection.

Life as a Mother is filled with practical advice for the new or expectant mother. Written from a positive perspective of motherhood, it creates a happy but realistic picture for mom-to-be of what they’re getting themselves into. I’d put this at the top of my list for any baby shower gift.

—Suzanne V. Reese, author of Run River Run and ExtraNormal (Amazon Best-Seller in YA Science Fiction).

Life as a Mother is an encouraging book about motherhood. Chantelle Lambert takes her readers on a journey through her own struggles and achievements as a mother. Chantelle gives advice to new mothers from pregnancy through childhood. I wish I had this book when I was a new mother!

—Rikki Meister, author of A Perfectly Messy Life.

Chantelle is like a sister dropping in on an overwhelmed new mom. Transparent and direct, her experiences offer a path of relief from the isolation, emotions and fears of motherhood.

—Emily Grabatin, author of Dare to Decide (fall 2019).

From the Diamonds to the Dirt of Motherhood

Chantelle Lambert

Copyright © 2019 by Chantelle Lambert. All rights reserved.

www.chantellelambert.com

Printed in the United States of America

Published by Author Academy Elite

P.O. Box 42, Powell, OH 43035

www.AuthorAcademyElite.com

All rights reversed. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express written permission from the author.

This book was written by a mother, not an expert. It is based on true stories and experiences, not expert advice. Seek professional advice from trained doctors, psychologists, and the like.

LCCN: 2019902068

ISBN-13: 978-1-64085-611-0 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-64085-612-7 (hardcover)

ISBN-13: 978-1-64085-613-4 (e-book)

Available in paperback, hardback and e-book.

Book Manuscript edited by Stephen Ardern and Dawn Thomas-Cameron.

Book Interior design by Chris O’Byrne, JetLaunch.

Book Cover design and Illustrations by Claire Atkins.

Dedication

My family is my life.

I am dedicating this book to my husband, Ryan and my daughter, Leearna.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part One: Motherhood

What Does Being A Mother Mean To You?

Dream Or Nightmare?

Overwhelming Amount Of Work

Isolation

The ‘Blues’

Good Times

You’re A Teacher Too!

What Actually Makes You A Mother?

What Makes You Smile?

Discussion Points

Part Two: Preparation

Essentials

Baby Car Seats

ISOFIX

Compromising

Flexibility

Suitability

Recommendations

Baby Proofing

Holding Your Baby

Discussion Points

Part Three: Pregnancy

My Angels

Gone

Not Forgotten

My Pregnancy

Strange Senses

System Gone Haywire

The Marks Of A Mother

You’re Glowing!

Take The Good With The Bad

Don’t Expect Much Courtesy Or Favour

Had Enough, Need Inspiration

Discussion Points

Part Four: Birth

Pre-Birth

Things Get Real

Induction

Birth

Flood Waters

All Hands On Deck

Off To Surgery

A Rainbow After The Storm

Not All Was Well

Recovery

Post-Birth

Feeling Abandoned

A Hopeless Mother

Breastfeeding Failure

Observations

Asking For Help

Home Sweet Home

Getting Mobile

Scarred

Discussion Points

Part Five: Newborn

Newborn Stage

Daunting

Where Was Everybody?

Gone Too Soon

What I Wish I Had Known

Discussion Points

Part Six: Society

We Are Unique

Oh What A Gorgeous Boy...

When Are You Having Another?

Perception

Looking For Why

Perfect Mother

Is There Such A Thing?

From Another Viewpoint

Judgement

Discussion Points

Part Seven: Daily Life

Waging The War To Sleep

A Constant Fight

Routines and Leaps

Too Tired To Sleep

Night Terrors

Doing Everything Myself

Instant Daddy Myth

I Did Everything Myself

Self-Care

Diet and Exercise

When Your Children Are Playing and They Want Your Attention

Little Tweaks To Your Diet

Do’s and Don’ts

Clean House

Oh No Moments

Rolling Over

Getting Nosey

Getting The Top Off

Look Mum… I’m Painting!

Learning Can Be Painful

Cry Baby

Checklist

The Process Of Elimination

The Dreaded Teething Phase

Administering Help

Reflux and Colic

Quite Different Issues

Experimenting With Baby Formulas

Tips For Managing Reflux

Discussion Points

Part Eight: Mental Health

Depression

Too Common

Depression As A Mother

Effects Of Depression

A Positive Effect

Anxiety Disorder

Triggers For Anxiety

Sleep Issues

Anger Issues

Putting Pressure On Yourself

Personality Changes

My Head Hurts

Seek Help

Discussion Points

Part Nine: Fathers

Fathers

Not Always Instinctive

Supporting The Father

Ways Of Showing Support To The Father

Depression and Anxiety In Fathers

Common Reasons For Depression In Fathers

Discussion Points

Part Ten: Blog Posts

I Want To Go Home

Home Sweet Home

Caesarean Pain

Isolation

No Support

Feeling Like A Single Mum

One Month Old

Rotavirus

First Smile

Reflux

Trapped

First Road Trip

Cloth Verses Disposables

She Is A Mother

About the Author

Preface

Writing saved me.

It saved my sanity and my life. That is no exaggeration.

I have been writing since I was a young girl, but stopped for many years when I was battling depression. I was lost. My husband saved me from my depression, I owe him much for saving my life, but something was still missing. My husband and I had a baby girl. After I gave birth to my daughter I began suffering depression again, although I didn’t recognise it at first. Then anxiety took over my life, so I turned back to writing.

My daughter inspired me to write this book about motherhood.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my readers for picking up my book; you are the ones I wrote this book for. I wanted to help other mothers or mothers to be in your motherhood journey. Thank you and I hope this book helps you as much as it helped me from just writing it.

I want to thank my husband, Ryan especially for being by my side and supporting me while I wrote this book about my life, our life. You have given me support and all the love a wife and mother could ever want. I couldn’t have done this without you. I love you and I can’t thank you enough.

I also want to thank my daughter, Leearna for being my inspiration to write this book in the first place. You, my beautiful princess, are my motivation to keep going, to chase my dreams and live my life to its fullest. I love you baby girl.

To my mother and father, your success over the years has always given me the inspiration to do something with my life. I want to thank you for your guidance and support. I love you both.

Lastly, I also want to thank AAE for making it possible to make my dream come true.

Introduction

To help other mothers like myself, I began writing this book—thoughts and feelings of my Life as a mother. I was fed up with the expert parenting books and manuals, which are not the reality of the true Life as a mother. I felt they didn’t know the reality of being a mother. I felt they didn’t live through what we really live through. They gave us unrealistic expectations of what motherhood was really like and, like many of us, I believed it.

Very few of us mothers are actually prepared for the motherhood role—I know I wasn’t. I thought I had all the information I needed, but in fact, I was going in totally blind. I felt like I had lost my identity as a woman and I did not know how to get it back.

I spent a lot