my ex went ahead and arranged mediation after we discussed it, I agreed it's a good idea to have an objective 3rd party to help us work out contact arrangements and divorce stuff. But I'm getting so stressed. Our baby is 9 weeks old and EBF, I can't take him with me to the meetings which are over an hour drive away (the only option because its a rural area here). So today I drove there, having put my 2yo into childcare, with my mum to babysit the baby for the hour I was in the meeting (initial assessment). But the mediator just didn't turn up.
I now have no confidence in the process, feel really let down, and can't see how I am actually going to manage to juggle two tiny children on my own (mum usually works 4 hours away) just to attend, let alone thinking about the actual issues. Is there anything else I can do? What do you do if you both want mediation but for practical issues you just can't make it work? We need to resolve things amicably if possible - desperately want to avoid more solicitors/court etc as I'm stressed enough - but this seems so unlikely to work out.
Can counsellors or doctors or anyone else offer a mediation service, or do you have to use a proper family law mediator if it ends up looking like conflict anyway? I'm feeling so worn down by all of this now :(