Building a Support Network

When I was preparing myself for conception before Henry, I was worried about my lack of a solid support network in Houston, since our families are more than a 1,000 miles away in opposite directions, and most of our friends did not have children. I speculated that I would be able to build a network over time, once I joined the neighborhood list-serv for families and started prenatal yoga. 

And boy did I ever fall into a network! My prenatal yoga class was the most amazing thing. Once a week, we did yoga for an hour and then the instructor served us a vegetarian meal as we sat in a circle and socialized. But honestly, we weren't really a support network until one of the participants created a list-serv among us and started planning monthly brunches. And then the support network deepened when a different participant e-mailed a couple of us after our babies were born to go on a weekly walk and eat lunch together at one of our houses. From that point on, I had a standing play date every week that got Henry and me out of the house and into the company of other new moms who were going through the same struggles. Our babies went from lying on a blanket next to each other and staring up at mobiles to wrestling and now walking (and hugging--see photo above). 

Those friends are a huge part of why leaving Houston and moving to Austin were so hard for me. But rather than wallow in my separation malaise, I'm going to take inspiration from those friends who went out on a limb to create community. I'm going to intentionally seek out and create community among pregnant women in Austin (who live on or near the east side). It starts by inviting the two pregnant people I know to join me for prenatal yoga and brunch on an upcoming Saturday. 

I'm looking forward to it! (If you know anyone who is pregnant and Austin and looking for other moms-to-be, please feel free to send them this post and have them e-mail me. For those of you who responded to my request for community in Austin a long time ago, I'm sorry but I lost my Life Binder which had my list of people to meet!).

And to the woman who e-mailed me about setting up a "Subscribe to E-mail" feature on this blog, it's done! You can find it in the right-hand column...

Share |