IDB

oblongdisposition wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:01 am So apparently adrian’s girlfriend was a phannie artist on tumblr...

Megancita75 wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 7:23 pm Anyone run across a post somewhere from someone who could access/read the Swedish newspaper that Cornelia & Martyn were featured in and that she posted about in her Instastories? The headline is something about "miracle baby" and I'm curious is she is sharing more about her pregnancy and birth story.

Cornelia Dahlgren and Martyn Lester, London, had a daughter named Freja on December 1st. Weight 3410 g, length 50 cm. Cornelia grew up on Öland.


The Golden Family.
“Our Freja is a miracle ”

Musician, actor and artist.
The Öland "Idol" participant has finally got her dream role, she has become a mother.
- Our Freja is a miracle, says Cornelia Dahlgren.

LONDON / ÖLAND
How is Freja?
- She is fine. The labor started a little too early, she was scheduled for December 11 but the labour started on November 30. At the hospital, it turned out that she was not positioned quite right. After a day and a half in hospital, we had to make a decision about a caesarean section. When she came out she was very quiet but now we know that she has fully developed lung capacity, haha!

Describe her, how is she as a person?
- Very stubborn and very happy. She is direct and straightforward. Though probably all babies are. But it's never hard to understand what she wants. She has started to smile now and we can see what she's in the mood for.

Freja is your first child, what is it like to become a parent?
- Wonderful. It has been such a long journey with miscarriages and anxiety and then a pandemic on top. Our Freja is a miracle.

That sounds tough, do you want to tell me?
- Yes, I have realized that it is important to talk about miscarriage. For our part, there were several factors that came into play. After several miscarriages and examinations, we received help with IVF. At the end of 2019, the treatment started with injections and medicines, it was a struggle. At the beginning of last year, the actual in vitro fertilization was performed. But it didn’t work out. We had a new time booked when covid struck. It was cancelled and we were not allowed to make any more attempts. It was hard and we were very, very sad.

Hm. But now you have Freja, how did that happen?
- We tried in a natural way and Freja came into being. She really is our miracle baby, in just about every way. But there was a lot of anxiety during the pregnancy. Martyn was only allowed to attend one ultrasound, on the other occasions he had to wait outside on the sidewalk due to covid. But we have received incredibly good support from doctors and midwives, the National Health Service, NHS, has been there for us and we are very grateful.

Did you know it was going to be a girl?
- Yes, but we decided to keep it private. Early in the pregnancy, we did a harmony test, a blood test where you look for the baby's DNA in the mother's blood to see if everything looked good. It did and we were told at the same time that it was a girl.

Was it easy to come up with the name?
- We actually had time to talk about boy names before we got to know the gender and the name that was at the top of the top list was Leif. My dad's name is Leif and we were into Nordic mythology and history and also thought of Leif Eriksson. We came to Freja when Martyn said that he liked the name Gaia, the goddess of the earth and fertility in Greek mythology. We have no biological or historical roots in that mythology, but the idea was nice and then I thought of Freja of Nordic mythology. Freja represents love and fertility for us and when she was born the name was so right.

Does she have any more names?
- Yes, she has a lot of names, haha! Her name is Freja Dorothy Gunnel Dahlgren Lester. Dorothy is after Martyn's grandmother who he has always described as a fantastic person, and Gunnel is after my grandmother. Neither Dorothy nor Gunnel are alive anymore, but it felt natural to choose their name. The funny thing is that Freja has the same hair color as my grandmother and me.

What about baptism?
- The idea is, depending on how everything develops with the pandemic, that we will be able to have baptism on Öland in July. I have been on Öland every summer since I was four years old and when I was ten we moved there, I see Öland as my home.

Is Freja a British citizen?
- We are applying for a British passport and later we will apply for a Swedish passport. We might try to see if she can have dual citizenship later on. The plan is also for her to become bilingual so that she can speak to all Swedish and English relatives and therefore I only speak Swedish with her.

If you search for Cornelia Dahlgren in Barometern-OT's archive, you get lots of hits, you have been in the band Popshop and ”Idol” in 2004, you have been on the stage of Dramaten and everything. How did you end up in London?
- I was at Red Bull Music Academy's bootcamp in Barcelona in 2008 and got to know some British musicians who invited me to London. I thought I would try to live there for a year and well, I met Martyn through the music, we started talking and got to know each other. Although it took me a while to get that he was interested in that way, haha!

How does it work with parental leave in the UK?
- Not so great. You have two months with full pay, then it drops significantly. And if you look further ahead, when it's time for childcare, well then it's tempting to move back to Sweden. But Martyn is self-employed and would have a hard time moving. In London, it is difficult to get a preschool place, the prices are so high, it is cheaper with daycare. Then you can have a nanny but it is not for people with regular incomes.

What do you do?
- I started as an event manager in my partner's company, IRL Digital Ltd, and am now a brand manager and work with marketing, entertainment and merchandise that is not just fast fashion.

What do you miss from Sweden?
- It’s been over ten years since I lived in Sweden but I miss the cleanliness, nature and the right of public access. I also miss the good tap water. And my family of course, my sister and her family in Stockholm and my mother and her husband, and my father and his wife who all live on Öland.

What are you looking forward to?
- Oh, that's so much! I look forward to playing and singing with Freja, that she will share Martyn's interest in skateboarding. But, and this sounds so cheesy, that little piece that was missing in my life has finally fallen into place. Becoming a parent means not prioritizing yourself first. I look forward to meeting myself as Freja's mother. Of course I want to see Freja grow up and get to know her, but I have not allowed or dared to think of myself as a mother and I look forward to meeting myself.

Anna Mi Matzén

kavat wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 8:49 pm Such an iconic move to announce the pregnancy three days after the baby was born.

Levitating wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 9:06 pm I am actually getting confused. She was publishing getting-ready-for-the-baby posts up to the 21st of December?
I completely understand their desire to announce it after the birth and do not care about social media in the midst of welcoming a baby, but still don't understand why to pretend it hadn't happened yet?
I am not entitled to anyone's life and do not have any word on what amount of information they desire to share, but I think I expect people to be at least sincere... anywhere?
Of course, it's her job now, but still. It should be clear that it is fiction or it is the same as unfounded publications of British tabloids.

kavat wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 8:49 pm Such an iconic move to announce the pregnancy three days after the baby was born.

shan wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:32 pm Good on them for announcing it in their own time. Martyn said in his stereo....

plinthofmylife wrote: Tue Feb 02, 2021 1:05 am The American in me is laughing at Cornelia saying that the UK's 2 months of paid leave is "really bad"

plinthofmylife wrote: Tue Feb 02, 2021 1:05 am
The American in me is laughing at Cornelia saying that the UK's 2 months of paid leave is "really bad"

shan wrote: Tue Feb 02, 2021 10:21 am Not really relevant to anything but I saw Phil's hometown in the news for hosting super wholesome goat zoom calls

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-55887368