Hello in There

Cora arrived four days early, wailing loudly and already aware that she was born into a mad house.  Throughout the pregnancy she had heard me talking and singing, her Daddy's low tones and her brothers' loud ones.  It felt like she recognised us all, and she probably did as it is now known that babies can hear in the womb.  The experts say it sounds muffled, like you are talking underwater, but she will still have heard the intonation, the difference in tones, the squeaks and sqwarks of the three boys and my wonderfully tuneful (of course) singing.  I didn't talk to Cora before she was born as much as I did with Dylan, but she probably heard me more as I was naturally reading books and singing songs throughout the day.

I recently took part in some videos with Aptaclub to highlight the importance of talking to your growing bump and they are now live on the website.  They were filmed only a few days before Cora arrived and looking at my bump is already making me broody! 

With Dylan I felt that I naturally talked to him as a bump and the same songs I used to sing whilst painting the nursery were the ones that comforted him when he arrived.  After the first it definitely doesn't come as naturally but with a toddler (or two, or three) around I was singing and talking all day anyway.

My babies have such a wonderful bond and I always wonder whether Cora is so calm around the rather heavy handed Finn because she recognises his voice as a comfort - something she has always known.  

In some ways giving birth is the first time that you get to meet your baby, but in other ways it feels like you have known them forever - all those one sided conversations, the kicks and rolls and the dreams of what he or she will look like.  Pregnancy is the perfect time to start bonding with your baby. 

Disclosure : This post is in collaboration with Aptaclub