10 Things You Don’t Know About Me

Hello friends! Welcome to my blog, whether you’re a first-time reader or a long-time lurker, I am doing blogtober this year in 2022, and part of it includes writing from prompts if you want to (want to join in? Join the Facebook group here). So today is the first of October and I’m going to tell you 10 things you may not know about me.

1. I trained as a Midwife

I did my nurse training first and then trained as a Midwife, which I did for 14 years. I worked in a hospital, birth centre and in the community. I enjoyed a lot of it, but it became too stressful for me after going back after having Daniel, my third child. You have to work on call shifts, and with a baby that didn’t sleep well, I couldn’t give it the proper attention. Luckily my blog was taking off alongside it and enabled me to stop.

2. I’ve had 5 children

I have three live children, but I had another baby before my eldest William, her name was Amy and she died at 2 yrs old from Tay-Sachs disease. I then had IVF with genetic pre-selection and got pregnant with twins. It didn’t quite work out to plan and one of the twins had the disease too and we had to make the difficult choice to terminate that twin whilst keeping the healthy twin alive. It was all very traumatic, but the healthy twin was William who is now 13. I then went on to have Phoebe and Daniel. I’ve written the full story in a book you can buy on Amazon for £4.99 or free if you have kindle unlimited.

3. I’m a Oncer

Something lighter! I’m a huge fan of the Disney TV series Once Upon a Time. If you haven’t watched it I really recommend it on Disney plus. It’s pure fantasy escapism and tells the traditional fairy tales in a new way I’d never seen or experienced before. I love all the characters and they are all easy on the eye.

4. I don’t have my shit together

You may think at times I have it all figured out, but I’m here to tell you I don’t. Some days I feel like I’ve cracked it, everyone has everything they need, we left on time, and I feel like I’ve achieved everything I needed to, but most days I’m just winging it.

5. I’m addicted to my phone

I think this is true of a lot of people if we’re honest, it’s like my little electronic friend that I carry everywhere and have a little panic if it’s not there or running out of charge. I like it for games, communicating with friends and family, social media, attempts at organisation, and information. I do think I love it a bit too much and I have to make myself put it down at times, but on the whole, I do believe it’s a positive invention.

6. I hate the summer

I’m an autumn winter girl through and through. I don’t like being sweaty, I don’t like sunbathing, the sun is too bright for my eyes, I don’t like light evenings and mornings… and that’s just a few things. There are things to love about it of course, but I am much happier at this time of year. I used to dread the summer holidays but now the kids are older I enjoy it more.

7. I have pre-diabetes

I had gestational diabetes during nearly all of my pregnancies, it seemed to get less each time, the first time I was on insulin, subsequent pregnancies were diet controlled, and with Daniel, I didn’t get it. It has left me with pre-diabetes for the last 5 years or so, and I know at some point in the future it will progress, but I do my best to keep my diet under control, but I am certainly no angel and could do better.

8. I’m an Actor

Well, a bit. I’ve performed on stage many times in amateur theatre, and I’ve worked as a film and TV extra on lots of different projects. I love it so much, but my health hasn’t been good lately leaving me tired a lot, so I can’t commit at the moment to the theatre, and my current job as a practice nurse does not leave any time for the extras work, but I’ll get back to that when I retire.

9. I’ve been a blogger for 7 years

And counting. I started it as a side project and I loved it so much that it’s become my main source of income. I started with midwifeandlife.com and then I wanted to share my knowledge and maybe monetise that knowledge, so I started parentbloggingsecrets.com and launched a blogging course. That bit has lapsed somewhat, the course is still available for free if you want to take it, it has lots of value in it but it needs updating and I probably need to focus it down more if I want to sell it again. It also needs a lot of promotion which I don’t have time to do. If you do take a look, give me some feedback on it. This blog has become the diary and personal side more because the original blog became the business. I also have a niche site noplasticpartybags.com but I always get shiny object syndrome and then don’t have the time or the inclination to spend time on things so it only has a few posts on it.

10. I’m a homebody

Hardly surprising given my love of the cold season but I love being at home. I love adventure and holidays, but I’m happiest at home and quite often being by myself. As long as I’ve got the TV and an animal or two, I’m happy. I do love my family really, and I do feel most complete when I know everyone is home together safe.

Well done for getting to the end of my self-indulgent list, I hope you know me a bit better now, I’d love to get to know you! Tell me more in the comments or come say hi on Instagram @lifeandthelords.