CHRISTMAS: Gift Guide for Parents 2019

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Parents in our lives hold such an important role, whether it be your own parents, your parent friends or yourself as a parent. It's a role that is relentless, hard work at times, yet the most rewarding too. A pamper, treat, 'me time', practical gift that makes life easier, something you can enjoy with your children or a way of capturing a special moment are all perfect focuses when it comes to gift shopping for parents. I have tried to cover all of these areas within this Gift Guide, so without further ado... 

PREGNANCY #3: Preparing my Hospital Bag for the Third Time

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It's that time again...time to pack the hospital bag. This is when reality hits that there is actually going to be a baby here soon, a reminder of how small newborn baby clothes are and the excited feelings of what is to come. As we're expecting our third baby I'm certainly not new the packing a hospital bag, but it still feels like quite a daunting task to me. I think it's the unknown that makes it trickier; not knowing the kind of birth you're going to have, how long it will be, when it will happen, where it will take place etc. Obviously we all have some level of a plan in place, but babies are notorious for just doing whatever they want to, aren't they? When it came to packing my hospital bag this time around it is with the vision of giving birth in hospital and not having a c-section. Only time will tell whether I end up needing an emergency c-section, but at the moment it is not part of my birth plan so have therefore not packed for one. 

PREGNANCY #3: The Pressure of Keeping Everything Going.

There always seems to be a point in pregnancy when things start to become real, the anticipation peaks and the final preparations are being done. That is 37 weeks for me, when I'm full term and it really is a waiting game. It's a funny one really because I spend the majority of the pregnancy willing 37 weeks to arrive, so that our baby will be born when they are fully ready, yet the moment I get there everything changes. I become anxious, worried, unsure and most of all completely preoccupied with trying to guess when our baby will make an appearance. This is where I'm at right now. I'm currently two days off 38 weeks and feel like I'm crumbling under the pressure of everything. 

PREGNANCY: 8 Month Update - Low-Lying Placenta, Anaemia and Surprise Special Moments

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I can barely believe that I'm sat here writing an 8 month pregnancy update and the first one since the first trimester - where has the time gone? Pregnancy with two children running around, starting school, reaching milestones, needing attention etc. doesn't leave very much time to actually sit back and focus on the pregnancy itself. It's to be expected I guess; long gone have those days of my first pregnancy where I could enjoy a relaxing bath in peace, book in for pregnancy massages and have an uninterrupted conversation with my husband about baby names! The tiredness is certainly more intense third time around, but there have also been quite a few unexpected aspects to this third pregnancy that have made it so special in its own way. As soon as you have other children pregnancy isn't just about you, it's about sharing the experience as a family and that has been truly incredible this time around. 

PREGNANCY: How to Survive the Summer Heat when Pregnant

The summer. It is hot, sweaty and intense at times; some people love it, others aren't so sure. I'll admit I'm a 'not so sure' person; I'll spend the cooler/rainy days wishing for some sunshine, only for it to arrive then get all hot and bothered. This was me before pregnancy and is certainly me during pregnancy. It is the middle of July and I am 28 weeks pregnant, so my bump is getting bigger by the day and therefore my tolerance levels of heat are diminishing. Although I do have to say that I am feeling extremely grateful that so far this summer has been nothing compared to the incredibly intense heatwave we have in the UK last year. There have been quite a few things I've been doing to try and keep cool, calm and collected during the hotter days of summer, so I thought I'd share them in case you're also pregnant during those hot months.

PREGNANCY: Finding Your Own Spring/Summer Maternity Style 2019

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Finding out you're pregnant can bring on so many different emotions and then the moment your bump starts to appear there's a whole new challenge...what to wear? Despite having been pregnancy twice before I still find myself staring into my wardrobe at 15 weeks wondering what I am going to wear for the day?! I have plenty of maternity clothes from my previous pregnancies, but they were too big and my non-maternity clothes were getting too tight. Like a lot of women, I feel at my most body confident when I'm pregnant and am all about trying to show my bump from as early on as possible. Let's be honest, it's the only time I'm going to be wearing figure hugging clothes so why not make the most of it?

PREGNANCY #3: Let's Talk About...Deciding to Have a Third Baby

When you decide to have your first baby it is often filled with nerves, anticipation and an understanding that you don't really know what you're letting yourself in for. A lot of people will ask 'how did you know you were ready?', but in reality are you ever ready to become a parent? You can't possibly know what it's going to be like before you become one, so it's almost too late to know if you were ready or not. We decided to start having children at what seems to be on the younger end of the scale these days, as I had just turned 25 when I gave birth to Isabella. I can't say I felt 'young' or that I had thought that far ahead into the future, but we were eager to start a family and then along came our first daughter. Those first few weeks, months, even years are such a steep learning curve as you question yourself more times than you thought possible, all of your independence is lost and your whole life suddenly evolves around this little baby that you love so much it hurts. You'll feel guilty for anything and everything, you'll quickly learn how to multi-task like a pro and you'll pour every last ounce of energy you have into keeping your little bundle of joy happy and content.

PARENTHOOD: What to Expect at The Baby Show at the NEC in Birmingham

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When Isabella was only around 4 weeks old we went to our first The Baby Show at the NEC in Birmingham and after hours of wandering around, using all of the baby-friendly facilities and filling the pram with all of the goodies we went home feeling part of a much larger parenting network that was new to us back then. It opened our eyes as first time parents to the incredible world of babies and toddlers, along with the vast array of products there are out there to support the exciting journey throughout those early years. Fast forward four years and we are so excited to be expecting our third baby; although we certainly aren't 'new parents' anymore the world of babies is always evolving and changing.

MOTHERHOOD: Slow Labour vs Quick Labour

In those final few weeks of pregnancy life is filled with excitement, anticipation and second guessing every twinge; it all becomes quite exhausting. Thoughts turn to labour, writing birth plans and how your little bundle of joy is going to enter the world. I don't know about you, but I found those thoughts terrifying as I just didn't know what to expect first time around. My image of labour had been from the films and One Born Every Minute up until we went to NCT classes. That was a shock. As our teacher told us all about what happens to our bodies during labour, the stretches and strains that happen were enough to make me nervous about what was to come that's for sure.

#LITTLELOVES: Preparing for her Little Sister, Party Bags and Twinning

It's been an alright week, due to the sad news of last week it has still been pretty emotional. Though the planning of Isabella's second birthday party is keeping me very busy, as time is even more limited now. It's reminded me how much I love planning events for our family and friends. The organisation, planning procedure and sourcing decorations is so much fun!

6 WAYS: To prepare for trying to conceive baby number two

Making the big decision to start trying for a baby is exciting, it's life changing too. Not only during pregnancy, but of course once your baby arrives. Having been blessed with our first daughter back in 2015 and lucky enough to now being pregnant again I thought I'd share a few ways to prepare for trying for a baby.

PREGNANCY #2: Early Symptoms

(Our early scan at 8 weeks)

I wrote this blog post back when I had first found out I was pregnant. Back when I had no idea what was to come.

A few days ago I found out some both exciting and terrifying news...we're pregnant with our second baby! Exciting because we're having another little bundle of joy, yet terrifying because life with two children must be challenging at times. This baby is very much planned and wanted, so when that faint second line appeared we were both so excited.

PREGNANCY: Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine

Two Christmas' ago I was pregnant with Isabella, the next I was breastfeeding and now I'm pregnant again. As this is my third Christmas in a row that I've not been able to drink mulled wine I've taken the matter into my own hands. This is such a simple way of creating the next best thing to alcoholic mulled wine, so whether you're also pregnant, choose not to drink or just want an alternative then why not make a batch to take to all of those Christmas social events?

PREGNANCY #2: The Struggle of the First Trimester

Just before we start I want to warn you that this post will involve a lot the hard experiences of the first trimester. Please don't think for one minute that I am not grateful and feeling ever so lucky for this pregnancy. I really am. But I want to keep this real and in all honesty I have struggled through the first trimester a lot.

PREGNANCY #2: Announcement

We are very happy to announce that we are expecting baby number two in June 2017!

CHRISTMAS: Parents-to-be Gift Guide 2016

The 'parent-to-be' bracket of life is full of all the excitement and anticipation of what is to come. How life will change and as a parent already I know the importance of products that make life easier. If you have parents-to-be to buy for this Christmas, or you are one yourself and are on the look out for wishlist ideas then this is the gift guide for you!

POSTPARTUM: Preparing for after labour - Padsicles

Back before I had given birth I had read and heard so many horror stories about labour and giving birth. I think the unknown is always scary and I was pretty scared, not of the actual labour but the aftermath from giving birth. I was worried about the pain and discomfort that there might be 'down there'. If you've read my birth story (read part one here and part two here) then you'll be aware I had a very long labour, which ended in an episiotomy. This became pretty painful after all of the amazing pain relief the hospital had given me wore off. Sitting, walking and generally moving was seriously uncomfortable in those early days and I was desperate for anything to relieve the pain. Let's just say ibrophen barely took the edge off in the couple of days after giving birth, don't worry though because the bad pain doesn't usually last too long. 

During the weeks prior to giving birth I had been researching ways to reduce the pain after giving birth and came across these padsicles. A frozen maternity pad, which is soaked in soothing products and can be worn after giving birth. The fact they're frozen helped to numb the pain and the soothing products were meant to aid healing. I can't really comment if they did that, but the frozen aspect of these padsicles did bring some level of relief. Be careful though, don't just put them on straight from the freezer, in fact it's best to wrap them in a towel/muslin cloth.

What you'll need:

Maternity towels

Distilled Witch Hazel

Aloe Vera Gel

Lavender Essential Oil

Method:
1) Evenly pour on about 3 capfuls of the witch hazel all over the maternity pad.

 2) Evenly spread about a teaspoon of the aloe vera gel all over the pad.

3) Next, add about 4 drops of the lavender essential oil over the pad.

 4) Wrap the pad in cling film or put into a sandwich bag, then pop it into the freezer. It's best to make these before you give birth, so they are ready to go if you need them post birth. 

Do you have any tricks/tips for pain relief after giving birth?

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

Helen x

MOTHER: How do you know what is best?

When we found out we were expecting our first baby I hadn't anticipated the changes in which others interact with me.

Stroking my tummy without being invited somehow became okay,

Asking when/how we conceived our child somehow became okay,

Asking constantly about personal choices like whether we're going to find out the gender of our baby somehow became okay,

Then frowning upon YOUR choice or decision somehow became okay,

 Whilst sharing every piece of unwanted advice with you somehow became okay,

Insisting you breastfeed because 'breast is best' somehow became okay,

Reeling off the negatives of giving your child a dummy somehow became okay.

I know that everyone has an opinion, that's fine. But when your about to become parents (or already are parents) you are constantly bombarded with advice/opinions/pressure - it can all get a bit too much! I'm naturally a worrier, it's in my nature, so being faced with all of this helpful advice has become very overwhelming at times. How am I supposed to know what is best for our baby? What is best for US?

Midwives, family members, couples at antenatal classes, work colleagues, friends, even the next door neighbour will have invaluable pieces of advice for you. Talking about raising children seems to be a discussion that everyone likes to get involved in, everyone has an opinion on what is best. As someone who is a new parent, this terrifies me. I don't want to ignore all of the advice - after all Mum's have been there and know what to expect.

Parenthood is new world for us at the moment. But at the same time our decisions aren't going to please everyone, yet somehow I do feel a certain pressure to try and please everyone. A pressure I wish I didn't feel and it makes me upset that I do. I know we should just ignore everyone else and go with what is best for us, but how do I know what's best? We are on the learning journey every new parent goes on and that excites me just as much as it scares me. I think that's natural, parenthood is life changing after all.

Has anyone else felt like this?

Feel free to share your experiences below!

Helen x 

BABY: Birth Story - Part 2

My birth story continues below (read part 1 in yesterday's post)...

However after a couple of hours the painful contractions were back, with a vengeance. It was pretty late at night now and I was making some level of noise thanks to the pain. I was very conscious because the other three women in the room weren't in any pain and just trying to get a good nights sleep before their c-sections. I asked the midwife if there was somewhere else I could go, so I didn't disturb everyone, but she said that it was an induction ward and noise was to be expected. I felt so bad for those poor women! The pain was increasing and I didn't have any other avenues of pain relief, other than two paracetamol. After a lot of begging the midwife finally agreed to give me half a dose pethidine, unfortunately this time it didn't do much and in fact made me sick three times. Being sick in between contractions wasn't the most pleasant of times!

At around 4am on Friday 3rd April 2015 the midwife did another examination and I was 5cm dilated - woohoo! That was my ticket to the labour ward, which meant pain relief!!! I asked how I was getting to the labour ward and the midwife said I'd be walking, to use gravity to help. I seriously don't know how I walked down to the labour ward, I was holding on to the rails screaming in pain. Everyone knew it when I entered the labour ward! It then becomes a bit of a blur - I remember demanding gas and air and an epidural. In what seemed like no time at all they had the epidural in my back and I was puffing away on the gas and air. The relief from the pain was heaven, I was completely exhausted. We now hadn't properly slept in over 48 hours. 

Finally, we were in the last leg of labour - I think I slept for a bit of time, took a lot of gas and air because the epidural didn't really work on my left hand side and spoke about a lot of random things. I was surprised because despite having an epidural I could still move my feet and lift both of my legs, it wasn't half as debilitating as I thought it would be. During my time in the labour room my contractions were starting to go away again, so they had to hook me up to an oxytocin drip to induce labour. Despite having contractions on and off for over 50 hours, my body still didn't want to give birth. If my waters hadn't broken there's no way I would have gone into labour naturally during those couple of days, she would have almost certainly been born past her due date. 

After 10 hours in the labour room the midwife said that I was fully dilated and that she was going to leave me another hour, for the head to come down even further. I used the opportunity to put some make up on - madness I know but after so long without any sleep I wanted to look kind of presentable in photo's when our daughter finally arrived. The strangest part of labour was when the midwife said that I could start pushing - without any feelings I needed to push this was a strange feeling. I wasn't allowed to use the gas and air anymore, because I needed to concentrate on pushing, but I didn't let anyone take it off me!! I was told that I had one hour to push her out before doctors got involved. I was determined to not let the doctors get involved, I'd done so long I just wanted to give birth to her myself. However after what felt like 10 minutes, but was actually 1.5 hours, the midwife got the doctor in to examine me. She said that I was pushing really well but the baby was coming down at the wrong angle  -towards the bed rather than out. They said that I would have to go to theatre, at which point I completely broke down. I had wanted a peaceful water birth in the birth centre, not theatre! I was given a small amount of time to really get our baby pushed down before they'd take me to theatre - at which point I became VERY determined. I pushed and pushed and pushed, it wasn't enough to give birth but it was enough to not have to go to theatre. The doctor set up in the room and told me she was going to have to use forceps, as I was never going to push our baby out on my own. Luckily throughout all of this our baby's heartbeat was fine and she didn't become distressed at any point. 

Due to having forceps I also had to have an episiotomy (cue another break down when they told me that). Of course, I couldn't feel anything and was pretty unaware of what was going on 'down there'. Ignorance is bliss. After a lot of tugging, pulling and pushing a baby was placed on my tummy, our baby. That moment was the most surreal moment of my life, my husband and I looked at each other, then at our daughter, then at each other again. We weren't sure what to do, it was complete shell shock. She came out crying, so we knew she had a healthy pair of lungs on her. The paediatrician checked over her, which is standard procedure for assisted delivery, and all was fine. Within 20 minutes of giving birth I was breastfeeding her, I've been very lucky regarding breastfeeding as she's taken to it really well. 

The doctor then stitched me up and seemed to be 'working on me' for what felt like a long time, I had my legs in stirrups which wasn't the most comfortable of things. There was quite a lot of blood involved, I think I lost 700ml overall. I'm told that's a fair amount but not ridiculous, however as a result I did end up becoming anaemic. 

Our daughter, Isabella, arrived into the world at 4.15pm and it wasn't until 9pm we were released to go to the post labour ward. Unfortunately visiting hours were from 9.30am - 9.30pm, so my husband had to leave almost straight away. This was pretty scary - I was left with our baby and I was pretty uncomfortable thanks to all of the damage 'down there'. I fed her, set an alarm to feed her again in 3 hours and tried to get some sleep. Isabella had other ideas and was pretty teary - probably due to a headache from the forceps. After a forceps delivery babies can often have a bad headache, poor little thing! The midwives were available throughout the night, which was such a comfort and they were fantastic. Especially when I was changing her nappy on my lap (because it was too uncomfortable to keep getting up and down) and she started pooing everywhere - I was getting into a pretty big mess but the midwife helped me sort myself and Isabella out. 

9.30am on Saturday 4th April couldn't come quick enough, as it was when my husband could return. We then spent the rest of Saturday going through the hospital formalities before being allowed home. Isabella went to the baby clinic to have some standard checks, she had a hearing test, the bounty people came around and took our photo's and I had all the checks I needed to have. They also briefed us about going home, covering topics like sleeping safely with a newborn and various other safety tips. By 7pm we were ready to go home, the journey home was a nerve wracking one as Isabella was crying and I obviously couldn't feed her while we were driving. We also hadn't worked out how to put the car seat in the car properly, so we had to work that out in the hospital car park. I'd recommend knowing how to put the car seat in and out before your baby is born, save the stress! 

That's it, my very long birth story.

How long was your labour?

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

Helen x

BABY: Birth Story - Part 1

I can't believe I'm sitting here, with my daughter in my lap, writing my birth story. There was a stage a few weeks ago when I thought this day would never come - pregnancy seemed to be never ending! If you follow me on Twitter (@Treasure_E_M) then I'm sure you were aware of this, as everyday I was wishing to get labour 'over and done with' and to finally meet our daughter. I'm clearly an impatient person because in the end our daughter arrived the day before her due date, so I didn't have to wait as long as some. Anyway on to the rather lengthy birth story...

It all began at 8.45am on Tuesday 31st March 2015, my husband and I were watching TV when I got up to close the curtains. As I walked towards the curtains I felt a rush of liquid between my legs, such a strange feeling. I was pretty sure I wasn't wetting myself, despite being heavily pregnant I still had some bladder control! I ran to the bathroom and just sat on the toilet, waiting for my husband to follow me up and help - I didn't know what to do. I dug out the maternity pads, popped one in and rang the birth centre I was planning on giving birth in. They said that I'd have to go in to be examined, just to make sure that my waters had in fact broken, that baby was ok and hadn't pooed etc. The birth centre is about 40 minutes from our house and with the addition of roadworks it took us 1.5 hours to get there, lucky I wasn't in labour! They checked me over and all was fine, so I was sent away to wait for labour to begin. I was given 24 hours before I'd have to go back to be induced. I was told that if I didn't go into established labour (3-4cm dilated) within 24 hours then I wouldn't be able to give birth in the birth centre anymore (due to there being a higher risk of infection, as my waters had broken). So off we went back home, wishing and wanting labour to start. 

At around 4am I woke up with (what I thought were) bad contractions, but they were NOTHING compared to what was to come. I dealt with them by myself for two hours, before waking my husband for moral support. We both eventually fell back asleep in the early morning and upon waking again my contraction had completely gone. The first of many false alarms. 

For the rest of Wednesday 1st April I did everything I could to bring on labour - walking around, bouncing on the yoga ball, drinking raspberry leaf tea etc. I also painted my nails and did some of the last jobs we needed to finish before her arrival. At around 5pm I went for a nap and started getting contractions again, this time they were a bit more painful and were happening every 6 minutes, lasting 30-40 seconds. This time I rang the birth centre, hoping this was labour, but after talking to the midwife she was confident I wasn't in established labour because I could still talk through the contractions. A couple of hours later and once again the contractions had completely disappeared. We had our last meal as a couple (domino's for those that are interested) and headed back to the hospital for 9pm.

We went to the induction ward, where we were shown to a room with 4 beds in. When we arrived we were the only one in the room but during the night it filled up with ladies waiting for planned c-sections and a couple of other women being induced. I was hooked up to the machine to be monitored, where it was evident I was once again having contractions. This meant that they didn't start my induction, with the hope my body was naturally going into labour. I had a bath and we both tried to get some sleep, conscious that we both needed as much energy as possible for when labour did eventually begin. We tried sharing the single hospital bed, but with my big bump that was almost impossible, so we took it in turns to sleep on the bed or in the chair. I think we both got about 2 hours sleep and at around 4am my contractions had stopped again. Oh joy. The midwife did her first internal examination (which was pretty uncomfortable) and broke the news I was a 'fingertip' dilated - barely 1cm! Not the news we wanted to hear. I was given a pessary (a bit like a flat tampon) at 5am, really hoping this would kick start labour. We both got a little bit more sleep before breakfast. I have to say I was impressed with the hospital food - nothing like I thought it was going to be.

We spent Thursday 2nd April walking around the hospital, hoping gravity would help bring on labour. It was the same story as Wednesday though, I'd start getting contractions (which were definitely getting more painful) then they would disappear again. However, by the evening I was well and truly having contractions and they were incredibly painful, baring in mind my pain threshold is pretty low though. I had another bath to try and ease the pain, as well as two paracetamol. They didn't really have much in the way of pain relief on the induction ward. The pessary I had had fallen out, so I was given another one. Fast forward a couple of hours and I was squirming around the bed in pain, it felt like our baby was going to come out of my back - pain like I'd never felt it before. The midwife examined me again and I was only 1-2cm dilated, not much progress in 24 hours! My body really didn't want to go into labour. I was in a lot of pain by now and the only way to get comfortable was to perch on the edge of the bed and hold on to my husband for dear life!! The midwife finally offered some stronger pain relief - pethidine. I had written in my birth plan that I really didn't want pethidine because it can make the baby drowsy, which in turn can make breastfeeding hard. The drowsiness is only an issue if the baby is born within 2 hours after the pethidine injection, being as I was only 1-2cm dilated it was very unlikely she was going to be born within 2 hours so I decided to have it. It's fair to say my birth plan went out of the window, as they often do. The pethidine injection gave me a couple of hours of relief, so I got some more sleep.

Watch out for part 2...

Were you part of the 20% of women who's waters break before going into labour?

Feel free to leave me a comment :)

Helen x