Connecting

I live in Vanuatu which, for those of you not in the know, is a Y shaped archipelago of islands in the south pacific, east of northern Australia.

In many places Vanuatu is best known for having been the location for one American series and two Australia series of Survivor.

I've been here nearly 6 years and, only half jokingly, tell most people who ask that "I came for the volunteering, but stayed for the men" (but that's a story for another day).

The population here is about 200,000 people spread over 83 islands. The expatriate population is signficantly smaller than that, maybe several thousand, mainly located in in Port Vila nd Luganville, the two main urban areas.

As a result of being an expectant mummy in what realistically is not much more than a small country town, there aren't all that many people to connect with. I have few friends of my own age, and few women seem to be busy gestating around here at the moment. This has led to me feeling rather isolated and I've found the last few weeks pretty challenging, trying to find some way to make connections with people who understnd what I'm going through. That is the main reason why I started this blog. I desperately wanted to "meet" other Mummies In Progress, and build something that resembles a support network.

I have also joined two websites for mummies: What to Expect (an American site) and Bellybelly (an Australian site). Over the past few days I have been as happy as a pig in poop, trawling through message boards, finding answers to all the questions I didn't know I even wanted to ask, and lamenting having to buy new bras due to the rapid and painful growth of boobs!

It's so nice to feel part of something and to realise that other people are feeling the same things that I do. Especially in light of the emotional ups and downs of the last couple of weeks, it's nice to be able to touch base with reality and see that I'm not entirely losing my mind!

I'm really looking forward to "meeting" more people through these groups. It's nice to feel a little bit of belonging.

Does anyone else out there use these, or other, sites? How do you feel about them? I'd love to hear about other people's experiences using sites like these! Tell me what you really think!