Pregnancy for Melanie “May” Yoovidhya was tough, with morning sickness and a loss of appetite, and at times great pain, but this didn’t stop her from doing what 90 percent of Thai pregnant women choose not to do: give birth naturally. With very little medicine, and no incisions, May insists that the delivery itself was very easy, and by the next morning, she was able to walk again completely fine.

For the mother of seven-month-old Sherlyne, the first time she held her baby and looked into her daughter’s eyes was the first time she felt the real mother bond. The vice president of Breguet Thailand openly admits she felt more pain and discomfort than she did a real connection with her baby during pregnancy. But the minute Sherlyne was born, that all changed.

“You don’t see anything for nine months and then all of a sudden, the baby’s in your arms and in your life,” she goes on to say. “I love her so much, I never realised how much I could truly love another person until now.”

But then the “protective mother” instinct kicked in as well. Sherlyne was born weighing just 2.8kg, a very low body weight, and she spent the first few days of her life in an incubator.

“After she was better, I felt like I had to do everything for her and I wouldn’t let anyone near her, apart from my husband. I was very protective. Even when my own mother wanted to bathe my child, I wouldn’t let her.”

Yet, already in the first six months of her life as a mother, she has been able to grow in herself. “After three months, of doing everything, from feeding, to bathing, to sleeping with Sherlyne, I was finally able to let go a bit and let others in.

“My husband was a great help from the beginning,” she adds. “He was the only other person I’d let near her. Late at night, after work, he would help with feeding her milk, bathing, and diaper changes. I didn’t think he could do it, but he can and it amazes me.”

Now Sherlyne is healthy, and smiles all the time. She brings so much joy to the hearts of her parents, and May beams when she mentions it’s such a blessing to see her daughter smile.

“She gets very excited when she goes shopping, and she knows what she wants, mostly pink things! She’ll grab onto something and hold it tight, letting mummy know what she wants.” Sherlyne also loves trees, birds and being in nature, according to her mother, and she adores it when people sing to her.

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