Ah, the daunting social situation every mother is familiar with: antenatal classes.
For many, they are a pleasant and nurturing environment to forge friendships with local women, all of whom share the bond of impending or new motherhood.
But, when throwing a bunch of strangers together who sometimes share little in common apart from pregnancy, in some cases, NCT (National Childbirth Trust)courses can become a hotbed of judgement, drama and infidelity.
Essentially, as is the case with many group situations, it’s not always PG.
‘The playgroups become this petri dish of these intense moments for everyone,’ Katherine Faulkner, journalist and author, tells Metro.co.uk. ‘It is where all your choices are on display and you’re expected to make friends – and if you’re not friendly then it’s: “What’s up with her?”.’
Despite writing thrillers for a living, Katherine wasn’t quite prepared for the realities and tensions of NCT when she stepped into motherhood herself six years ago.
Now, the mum-of-two has used her experiences to inspire her latest crime fiction, The Other Mothers, which tells the dark tale of upper-middle-class motherhood with secrets kept in the London Townhouses of mothers from a new playgroup.
But since writing her book, Katherine says her readers have been spilling their own antenatal group tea. Here, she speaks to Metro.co.uk about the most scandalous secrets she’s heard.
When the affair goes wrong
‘These two mothers in this NCT group had left their husbands, who they had originally come to NCT with, to be together,’ says Katherine.
‘The whole NCT group had no idea what to do.’
But that wasn’t the worst of it. Katherine goes on: ‘One of them had announced the affair but then the other woman changed her mind and wanted to get back with her husband.
‘So one of the couples got back together but the husband said “I don’t want you having any further contact with this woman or NCT group and we need to move to another country”.
‘The other woman was completely heartbroken that the affair ended, which had started over NCT coffees.
‘I can’t imagine there were that many NCT gang reunions after that.’
The ex-wife, new girlfriend and two babies
Katherine says: ‘A group teacher thought she would invite a local woman round who had had a baby to boost morale and talk about how it was for her.’
Sounds wholesome, right? Well, one cheating husband was about to be in a bit of a pickle.
‘It turned out that the woman was the ex partner of one of the dads in the group.
‘The dad was there with his mistress turned girlfriend who was now having his baby.
‘The mum probably regrets having anything to do with the group and I can’t even imagine the awkwardness for everyone involved.’
The cautionary tale
‘In one town there’s this bakery that everyone goes to all the time, and this mum was on her maternity leave so she was always popping in there to get a coffee with her sweet new baby girl,’ says Katherine.
‘But she started to notice that every time she went in there there was this weird woman staring intently at her child. This woman didn’t make any eye contact with her, just her baby.
‘The mum noticed this woman looking at other people’s babies too her Spidey senses go off and she thought: “There’s something not right about this person”.
‘A few days later she’s at the bakery again and this woman suddenly has a six month pregnant bump under her clothes, out of nowhere.’
Katherine says the mum rang the non-emergency police number to report it and the police took it extremely seriously.
Katherine says the police said: ‘Call again if you see her because that’s the modus operandi for baby snatching. It’s happened in the past.’
But, after that phone call, the woman with the mysterious baby-bump was never seen or heard from again. All babies were safe and accounted for.
Breast-feeding someone else’s baby
What was intended to be a nice gesture was a little too unusual for this mother.
Katherine says: ‘The dad was at NCT without his wife and the baby was hungry but not keen to take the bottle.
‘This other mother stepped in. She wasn’t asked, they were all having a meet up, the dad was struggling and she just put the baby to the breast and breast fed it.
‘The baby was happy, but I would be surprised if I was told that happened with my own child.’
The mother of the baby didn’t find out until after the NCT group meeting.
‘It shows you that people are so different and bring up their children so differently,’ Katherine adds.
The Other Mothers, by Katherine Faulkner, is out now.
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