Raising Babies Around The World

Hatch

Raising Babies Around The World

Hatch

Sara & Katya's Story

I met Katya and Sara through an excellent network I became part of when I lived in Atwater Village in Los Angeles. Some local mums introduced me to the Facebook group ‘Atwater Moms Group’ and and I loved becoming embedded in the day to day community of this village. It was also illuminating for me to see how this group worked as such a lifeline for the mums and to compare how differently we organise ourselves in Melbourne.

I guess Australians are lucky to have government arranging local maternal health care centre and mothers groups - because in turn we get access to information and health care for free that might be otherwise not as easy to come by - but what the Americans lack in Government services, these Californian moms certainly made up for in terms of how they self organise. From group drinks and park meet-ups to questions about breastfeeding and sleeping, to call outs for help around childcare, to welcoming new mums to the community, to promoting garage sales to good causes to asking questions about health and sex .… I loved the way the group uses every inch of that page as they say ‘a safe space for moms to connect’.

So, when I was last in LA and wanted to find some L.A moms to talk to - I of course, made a post on the group page and promptly found Sara ready and willing to talk. We got together on a stinking hot October day in her apartment and her friend Katye came along bringing her 11 week old baby girl Fais. I loved hosting this interview because it feels like more of a conversation and we got to talk a lot about how we manage our creative careers and our brains as new mothers to tiny babies.