"From the beginning in Babs club I felt very welcome and supported. "

Sabina Aliyeva
Doncaster East
I am Azerbaijani and live in Australia for more than 8 years. Being a well educated business woman, I always loved to learn from books. In the beginning of my pregnancy I read a lot about pregnancy and motherhood. In fact, “Borders” was the place where I was discovering more and more about my body changes.

I found a pamphlet about BaBs at Box Hill Hospital, and was so pleased to find this information. I started to come to BaBs since I was 7 months pregnant. My daughter is now 22 months old.

From the beginning in Babs club I felt very welcome and supported. It was and it is very important for me to be surrounded by people who’s not indifferent to my worries or concerns. No way you can find in any book what every women was sharing about their pregnancies and labour there. Plus in the group we have professional midwife who could and can explain what really happening to you. Having a midwife at BaBs with many years of experiences has been very important to me. So, before my labour I had discovered through BaBs group discussions and advices of some principles (tips) that became very important to me in giving birth. I learnt about the importance of being active, and using gravity to help my baby progress. Few weeks before labour I had a birth plan ready which the midwife in the hospital respected. My labour was painful, but I didn’t let to give me any pain killers (as I was concern about baby’s well-being after) and lasted for 16.5 hours, but I am proud that I managed to give birth myself. I did not want an episiotomy to be cut, as at BaBs we had talked about avoiding episiotomy if possible. My tears healed well in 40 days.

In the hospital I was in a room with three other mothers. Their babies had all been delivered by caesarean. Their babies cried all the time; my baby was happy. I felt sorry for them.

I have no family support in Australia. A social worker at the hospital helped me and write a letter to present to the Immigration Department, and my mother was able to come here to help me.

My mama, whose name is Rafiga, arrived during the last month of my pregnancy, and stayed for 6 months. I brought my mama to BaBs. Mama was so impressed over how everyone was so warm, and really appreciated each other’s company. Although they were not family, they cared about each other. Mama really loved BaBs. She does not speak much English, but that did not seem to matter. She was loved and easy could communicated with my friends.

As my baby grew I had encouragement from BaBs, helping me know it was OK. I was worried about breastfeeding, settling, introducing solids. I learnt from other mothers’ parenting experiences.

Now we have new and healthy “branches” of Babs – our Playgroup! We all came to Babs during pregnancy and as our babies grew up we - Mums become friends and our little one’s not only recognise each other but also love to meet every time when they have a chance – Once a week so far!