My Mums & Bubs Group Experience? I Never Actually Went to One

Here’s a little secret about my own Mums & Bubs group experience…

I never went to one.

When I had my eldest son, I had recently moved from Sydney. I was 31 weeks pregnant, knew no one locally and had no family in the country other than my husband’s family.

Although they have since become incredibly dear to me, at the time I didn’t know them particularly well.

I knew that if I was going to navigate motherhood well, I needed to build my village.

I also knew I was at increased risk of postnatal depression, so I was very intentional about trying to find connection and community early.

Unfortunately, my local Child and Family Health clinic only ran two intakes each year. I had just missed one, which meant the next group was five months away.

I was devastated.

Five months felt like an eternity when you were about to have your first baby and knew nobody.

And then COVID happened.

By the time the next intake came around, we were deep in lockdowns, and I never ended up joining a publicly funded Mums & Bubs group.

Instead, I was left with the advice to…

'Just Google it.'

Thankfully, there was an absolute angel working as a nurse at my local GP clinic.

She had another idea.

She set me up on a blind mum date with another mum who had given birth to her baby on exactly the same day as me.

We met for coffee.

Three hours, four coffees and a long lunch later, I had found my village.

I later reconnected with another mum I had met at a private birth preparation class, and these two women became my people.

They were the women who held me through those early postpartum days.

Through subsequent pregnancies.

Through losses.

Through first birthdays.

Through returning to work.

One of them was even there when my second son was born.

When COVID meant we couldn't see each other, we had socially distanced picnics and FaceTimed through lockdowns.

And all these years later, they are still wonderful friends.

Without them, my postpartum experience would have looked very different.

They weren't just people I met because we happened to have babies at the same time.

They became part of my life.

My village.

And that experience stayed with me.

I think even then, somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that groups like this would eventually be part of my future.

But when the opportunity finally came in 2025 to start running my own Mums & Bubs groups, I didn't immediately jump at it.

In fact, I was nervous.

Was this really for me?

I'd never even been to a Mums & Bubs group.

How was I supposed to run one if I didn't have any experience of being in one myself?

Would mums like it?

Would they actually connect?

Would it work?

I had no idea.

But I decided to give it a go.

And now, more than a year on, it has very quickly become one of my favourite parts of my working week.

I love watching mums arrive for the first time.

Sometimes they're quiet.

Sometimes they're nervous.

Sometimes they come in with a baby who won't stop crying and apologise for it.

Sometimes they aren't quite sure where they fit.

And then, week by week, something starts to happen.

They relax.

They chat.

They laugh.

They share the things they thought they were the only ones experiencing.

They start remembering each other's babies' names.

They exchange phone numbers.

They make plans outside the group.

They start to build their own villages.

And I love seeing the photos afterwards.

Mums catching up weeks or months later.

Coffee dates.

Playdates.

Babies growing.

Friendships continuing long after the series has finished.

Because that is what it's really about for me.

The activities are lovely.

The speakers are wonderful.

The morning tea is important. (Let's be honest!)

But none of those things are the real reason I created these groups.

I created them because I know what it feels like to desperately need a village.

I know what it feels like to become a mother in a new place and wonder, Where are my people?

And I know how profoundly different those early years can feel when you have women beside you who understand.

I never went to a Mums & Bubs group.

But I did find my village.

And now I feel incredibly lucky that I get to help other mums find theirs.

Because ultimately, that's what I'm hoping to create.

Not just a group you attend for a few weeks.

But connections that continue long after the babies have grown.

Friendships that become part of your life.

A village.

Because motherhood was never meant to be done alone.