Bank Holiday

I think every parent wonders what to do when Bank Holiday approaches and we all have these great ideas & there’s so much going on in the local area, yet I still find myself asking my husband “what shall we do!?” Yesterday we went out & bumped into friends which was nice & the sun was shining & riverfest was buzzing!

Today was ‘Beach Day!’ But the weather has had other ideas so we’ll just have to put West Witterings back on the ‘Bucket List’.

We decided to go for a walk but the wind was blustery, then before we knew it he had an explosion in his nappy! My stress levels have risen to boiling point & this is the second pooey nappy in the space of 5 minutes! only this time it’s leaked & theres poo everywhere!

So we decided to come home, all the while my husband is trying to defuse the situation & make light of the situation  “we’ll be laughing about this later” he says! (He’s probably right!).

We are home, in the warm, with Ralph’s butternut squash roasting in the oven along with our roast beef whilst my husband is looking super relaxed on the sofa having cuddles with our baby as he snores his little head off and it occurred to me that these moments are rare, that the three of us get this time together what with Ben working all the hours God sends and in the end I realised that this is what Bank Holidays are all about. Cheers!

 

Breastfeeding & Me

I have a window of opportunity, so I have to grab these moments while I can!

Scrum bum is having a nap, I’ve put the washing on the clothes horse and had a quick blitz around the house! So while its fresh in the memory here is my take on breastfeeding.

If you can do it and enjoy it, great! if you wanted to do it but couldn’t, then I feel for you, it’s a shame…formula is so expensive! Whatever you had to do or decided, I would never judge it’s not my style. As long as baby is fed and happy who cares right!?

My story is that I have been fortunate enough to breastfeed and I don’t mind doing It.  My story starts at my later stages of my pregnancy.

I really didn’t want my baby to be born on my birthday (for selfish reasons! I mean who wants to celebrate their dirty 30’s at a first birthday party!). So I started to express my colostrum onto a teaspoon, put it in syringes and froze it until Ralph’s birth day!  I was told that this would help bring on labour which was another reason why I did it and I have to say I was fascinated with this ‘liquid gold’ that my body had created, gone were the ‘fun bags’ my husband used to know, hello food source for our little baby!

Once Ralph was born he took to the boob straight away and was on them for a good hour, it wasn’t too bad for me at first, although I found it hard to hold him in position but the Midwife was really helpful and put me at ease.

Once home we administered the ‘liquid gold’ orally to the baby, it was nice as my Husband was able to do it too.

Then things to a dramatic twist, I was feeding the baby in bed when he pulled away with blood pouring from his mouth! I panicked and shouted to Ben to turn the light on and we could see straight away that it wasn’t Ralph’s mouth that was injured but my nipple…it was cracked!

Luckily I had already stocked up on Lanisoh nipple cream which had been recommended to me by my Sister-in-Law and what a saviour it was! I wouldn’t bother with anything else, if you need nipple cream get that one, its worth the £10!

So I had a nipple ‘out of action’ and decided to give it a rest for the night……bad idea!!!  I woke up the following morning and my left boob (the one with the injured nip!) was ROCK hard and so instinct told me to get my baby feeding on it asap! which is what I did and surprisingly, it wasn’t painful at all!

So we went about our day with our newborn with several visitors and cheese rolls later and I was freezing cold but soaking wet…! Hellloooo Mastitis.  I didn’t go to the Doctors but I knew these were the typical symptoms that I had read about.  I managed to catch it quite early, I made sure I had warm baths and massaged the boob  as much as I could and within a couple of days it had cleared up.

In the early days I swore by my pregnancy pillow that a friend bought me which helped take the weight of the baby when breastfeeding, but I didn’t find this helped ar night time feeds which is why Ralph and I ended up moving into the lounge at night (I have written about this in my previous post). When my Health Visitor came round she said “Amy your big busted. your baby is bigger, why don’t you try laying on your side with your baby next to you and let him feed that way” and so that night we gave it ago and we haven’t looked back.

My next problem was more of an inconvenience, I have a heavy milk flow so on occasions it has been known for my baby to choke on the flow of milk and when he unlatches this can result (quite often) in my husband getting milk in the face!

I had gone through several brands of nipple pads to get to the right ones, I even resulted to cutting nappies in half and wearing them in my bra at night, aswell as using incontinent pads in bed, it was ridiculouss.  Then I found Tommie Tippy Closer to Nature breast pads and I go through a box a week, so you get the idea of how much milk flows!

I have given a go at hand expressing and managed to get 4ozs quite easily into bottles and so my Husband was able feed the baby and feel more involved, I was worried that my baby would get nipple confusion with a bottle (which is why I didn’t use a dummy until he was 8 weeks!), but he isn’t confused by it at all, which means when the day comes that I will want to leave my little scrum bum I know that I can express my milk into bottles and leave him with a sitter knowing he will still benefit from my breast milk.

I remember my first ‘public’ breast feed and although nervous, once I had conquered it I felt as though there was no stopping me. My car is often the ‘place to feed’ if out and about with my scrum bum.

The first car park we did it in was B&Q, since then we’ve been to Lidls, M&S and I have been known to sit in the shop window breastfeeding whilst my Mum shops!  I’m not one of these Mum’s that flaunts it, I’m big busted so the last thing I want to be doing is getting my big baps out and offend anyone, which is why I always make sure I have a super size muslin with me, to cover my modesty and to save embarrassing any members of the public, although I am just feeding my baby; people shouldn’t take offence to that should they!?

Before I close this post, I just wanted to point out that I started this yesterday morning!

A personal thanks to my Sister-in-law Cheryl 🙂

 

Photograph by Krista van der Niet

http://www.kristavanderneit.nl

 

 

 

 

Explosives!

I mean the nappy kind…!

Like you, I’ve been through all the brands of nappies and our favourites are Aldi Mamia or Lidl Toujours, not only are they affordable but on most occasions they keep baby comfortable & dry! (There will of course always be that one poo that makes its getaway!).

we’ve all been there cuddling our little bundles when out of nowhere the biggest explosion happens from this tiny tot’s bot!

Those who know me would say I usually talk …… (Complete the blanks accordingly) and in this occasion it’s literally!

This morning we were about to go out the door when I heard this almighty sound, followed by the sweet smelling scent from my scrum bum’s nappy!

I was praying for a little one, but as I undone this lovely striped baby grow that still had the wonderful scent of the fairy non bio (which my husband had only commented on this before he left for work morning), it hit me….!

“Whoahhhh” this is the by far the worst one we have ever had, it came out the back of the nappy, up the back, onto his neck & into his hair! Impressive!

This was going to need a bath!

We had something  similar happen when we saw family in Portsmouth & we went to My Husband’s Nan’s!

Dressed in his Sunday best, baby blue trousers & little white baby grow with anchors on it! Well on this occasion it was there for all to see, seeping through his lovely little outfits (one of Mummy’s favourites!) and this resulted in being washed in the kitchen sink!

My advice to you would be, make sure your changing bag is fully stocked with nappies, nappy bags, wipes, spare clothes etc! No one likes to be caught short not even a baby 😜

 

Sleep

I actually can’t remember the last time I had more then 4 hours sleep! Even when I was pregnant I was either suffering from awful migraines whilst I was sleeping! Or towards the end I was being kicked in the ribs at 5am!

When Ralph was born the first couple of weeks were so tiring! The first night home my husband stayed up with the baby in the living room watching him all night in fear that he might stop breathing but this gave me the opportunity to catch up on some sleep!

Ben took 2 weeks off work when we had the baby we literally had people over everyday it feels like such a blur now & it was overwhelming but also a relief as we were able to go for naps, like a tag team!

When Ben went back to work I was mindful of the fact that he would need a decent sleep, after all he has work in the morning! So in the first few weeks we would all go to bed as a family & Ralph would go in the ‘next to me crib’ & would wake frequently for a feed!

I found it difficult in the beginning to breast feed in bed & so I would go into the living room & feed him in there & we would fall asleep together on the sofa & Ralph would be on my chest! Not ideal & there were risks involved with doing that but fortunately we had a big baby which reduced risks massively.

Although I loved snugling up to my little scrum bum under the duvet on the sofa the novalty soon wore off! I need to get back to my own bed, my back was starting to suffer!

So we moved back in and haven’t looked back, I cosleep with Ralph & he starts off in his crib & then when he wakes for his feed I lay him next to me in bed and he feeds until he drifts back off to sleep and although I’m aware he’s there I can drift back off myself and so now there’s 3 in the bed!

The first week of being back in our bed & I was extremely sleep deprived! I remember waking up in the middle of the night & saw my baby’s head had expanded into this big blue mass!

I panicked .. sat bolt upright screamed in fear & pulled his body by the legs, down the bed ready to resuscitate him; when my husband woke up to the commotion & I realised I was hallucinating due to being sleep deprived! Luckily for me Ralph slept through the whole ordeal & I had this same vision  for a couple more nights (which I tried so hard to ignore) until I had finally caught up on my sleep & thankfully this hasn’t happened since!

There’s lots of opinions/advice on how/what you should do when it comes to cosleeping, my advice would be do whatever works for you!

I may only get 4 hours sleep but I’m in my bed, my baby’s snuggled up next to me & he can feed to his hearts content & my husband!? Well he’s none the wiser until the morning when he peers over me to see this little bundle smiling up at him!

Can’t get a better start to the day then that can you!

Out of my depth..

As I sit here on my old sofa, with my 11 week old bubba sleeping on my lap after his bath & my husband tentatively running his fingers through my hair, I find myself looking through others people’s blogs; trying to find insperation, understanding, ideas!? When it occurred to me that my life is my Blog and you the reader are coming along for the ride!

Yet this is new territory for me & a million questions are running around my head! I’m on maternity leave, I gave birth to my beautiful Son only 11 weeks ago and in that time I have set up an online Facebook business, secured my domain name for the next 2 years, set up a blog and yet I can’t help but feel like I am out of my depth!

I feel passionate about this and I’ve found myself setting up a Business whilst juggling breast feeding, nappy changing, cleaning, shopping, cooking, washing not to mention all the lunch dates! Which of course are lovely, as I am getting to spend more time with my nearest & dearest but where is the ME time in all of this!

I think my husband has wet the baby’s head about 5 times and will be again this weekend and then AGAIN in June but this time he is going away for the Euros!!!

I can feel myself going off on a tangent, like us women do from time to time!

I just want the best for my baby and I guess; for now I’ll just have to make do with getting rid of the old sofa and getting our new one on finance! At least I’ll be comfy when it comes to breastfeeding time! 🙂

 

Car Seat Fail

Just when you think you’re getting the hang of being super Mummy! You lure yourself into a false sense of security without even realising!

So a couple of weeks ago Ralph & I were all set to go out! Until I noticed my nipple pads were so full they were leaking (again!), so I popped Ralph in the car seat which was on the bed & dashed to the bathroom for a quick pee & nipple pad change, when I heard the cries of my little scrum bum coming from the bedroom!

As I ran towards him I caught sight of the car seat which had, by this point toppled backwards on the bed with him in it, but he wasnt strapped in & so he had slipped up into the top on the hood of the car seat!

Luckily he was absolutely fine, I calmed him, had a little grizzle myself & spoke to my husband to confess that I had been a terrible mummy & felt like a failure!

lesson learnt 🙈

Labour Day!

So on 4th March 2016 my waters broke at 8am after having a shower! So this is it then, at least I’m clean I thought to myself!

Standing there in the bedroom, waters falling like niagra falls…literally! My husband (Ben) & I nervously laughing as I stood on a handful of towels! If I move then the floorboards will end up like the Adur River!

A couple of tears as reality hits & then mild contractions start almost as quickly as the waters had fallen, each one were like a period pain, “this isn’t so bad” I thought to myself!

All the horror stories I had been told I pushed to the back of my mind, I’ve had several close friends who have given birth recently all had different experiences some good, some bad!

Right from the begining I was determined to have a natural labour without any manual intervention! I had a birth plan of course, but was also aware that this may not ‘go to plan’. I want to share MY positive birthing experience with expectant mummy’s to be!

My baby boy had a due date of 28th Feb, on 3rd March I asked my midwife for a sweep! Rest assured this did not hurt it was just a bit uncomfortable a bit like when you have a smear test I guess!

By 11am on Labour Day, Ben called the hospital & they asked us to go in so I could be assessed. Luckily for us Ben’s mum lives around the corner & came to pick us up, I made sure I bought my incontinent bed pads with me to save the car from being flooded out! As with each contraction I was having came the loss of more waters!

When we got to hospital we had to walk to the delivery suite, I had grey leggings on, which; by the time we had walked to said destination were now a dark shade of grey (in some places!) following the loss of more waters! So my advice to you, wear black! & make sure your partner takes your overnight bag with you, so you can change if need be!

We were given a room on the delivery suite & more contractions were coming & with each one I was breathing in for 4 & breathing out for 8, remembering all the Hypnobirth ‘self’ training that I had done! This really helped! & once out of the contractions I was able to move around & chat like normal & with that I jumped on the bed to be assessed!

I was only 2/3cms dilated & was advised to go home! “Do I have to, I’m here now” I asked, but Elle the midwife explained that being at home would be more relaxing & there could still be a long way to go! So off home we went, contractions whilst sitting down in a car are not easy that’s for sure! But I persevered!

Once at home Ben put some spa music on playing out from my I phone & I remained in the bedroom which is were I felt most comfortable, for me things seemed to escalate pretty quickly, although I expect for Ben the next 5 hours at home felt like an eternity!

During the time we were at home Ben ran me bath & when I caught sight of myself in the mirror I didn’t recognise the person staring back at me! Pale face, hair everywhere & eyes so drawn, I looked like a ghost of myself or just like I had been on a massive weekend bender at Wildlife! Either way by this stage I was ‘in the zone’!’ Or as Ben would say “like an animal”

Instinct really had taken over & I was constantly in a contraction, or a surge as the ‘Hypnobirth’ family would call it! I remember standing in my bedroom using my chest of drawers to lean on as i found this to be the most comfortable position & using my right foot to ‘tap’ through the contractions!

During this time Ben told me that he had to pop out as he left my maternity notes in his mums car! I didn’t think anything of it, until he came back and confessed that when his mum bought us home from hospital he grabbed some painkillers out of our hospital bags in the boot & when doing so he put my notes on the roof of the car….yes you got it! His mum drove away, my notes on the car roof! No doubt blowing in the wind down the Old Shoreham Road!

“Don’t worry the hospital will have a copy!” Ben reassured me! “No they don’t” I explained breathing through my contractions! “I had these for 9 months, you had them for 9 minutes!! You have to find them!”

no sooner had he confessed, we had a phone call on my mobile from a lady who had found my notes & collected what she could see & Ben ran to collect them! Phew!!! Panic over I thought!

Ben called the hospital explained the times of my contractions! “Sounds like things have progressed nicely, let’s get her in!” TO CHICHESTER!!!!

excuse me!? There is absolutely no way I can make it to Chichester! & with that I quickly whipped my washing out of my pink bucket & was sick! Right at that time my mother in law walked through the door & then helped cool me down with a wet flannel!

Ben spoke to the head midwife & said that you will have to accommodate us there’s no way we can drive to Chichester & SO they told us to come in!

I don’t remember much of the journey to hospital, I had my eyes shut all the way & continued to concentrate on my breathing!

Ben grabbed me a wheelchair & as soon as I sat in it, he nearly tipped me out of it in the panic of trying to get me to the delivery suite!

Fortunately when we got to the delivery suite Elle was still on her shift & was my midwife for the time we were there.  The room was huge with a lovely bed, big birthing pool & an ensuite! It felt like a hotel room (if you looked past all the ‘hospital stuff’)

Elle sat me on the bed to asses me….”well done Amy, your 8cm dilated!!” …..”fucking hell” I replied!

I had done the hard bit, only another 2cm to go!!! & as soon as the pool was ready I stripped off & got myself in there!

I found the pool took a lot of pressure off as I was carrying quite a heavy baby, all day I had felt like I needed a poo & being in the pool I felt no different! I was trying different positions kneeling for a time with my arms over the bath, when all of a sudden I had this sudden urge to push on my next contraction! Still concentrating on my breathing & using the gas & air, I just did what my body wanted me to, not knowing if it was right or not until Elle & Ben would say how well I was doing!

The whole atmosphere was so calm & Elle knew as soon as I was in the bath, that all I wanted was quiet & both her & Ben were both pretty silent throughout! “It must be like watching paint dry” I said in between contractions! “Not quite Ames!” Ben replied! Of course it wasn’t! I was having his baby after all!

Elle was due to finish her shift at 8pm & I was determined to have my baby before her shift ended! After all she had seen me through the whole labour & I was so close, it would be a shame to have another midwife! Although another one did come in ready to relieve Elle when the biggest urge to push came & Elle said she could see the baby’s head crowning! I wanted to push so much but I was told to pant it through, I just focused on Elle & realised this was the ‘ring of fire’ I had heard so much about from my friends! & Elle confirmed as much, then all of a sudden the head was out!!

“He has so much hair Ames!!” Ben said with excitement! Then I started to worry, as I could feel the baby turning inside me! “What’s happening, whys he doing that” I panicked! Elle reassured me that the baby was turning and getting into position ready to be born and with the next contraction I should give a big push and he will be here!

Before I did that I was asked if I wanted to feel his head, but I said no.  With my next contraction I was told to scoop him out of the water and as I tried to do so I panicked again!! “I cant do it” his body felt alien to me, I felt guilty but his body felt so strange to me! The midwife scooped him out and placed him on my chest and from that moment I looked down at this little baby boy who was letting out his first cry, totally reliant on me and my husband and it was a love I have never had before, to protect and provide for this tiny human being and keep him close and nurture, amazing!

After I gave birth to Ralph, Ben was given the option to cut the umbilical cord, which he did but it was so thick it took a while to cut through it! The midwife took Ralph to weigh and dry him and passed him to Ben  for skin on skin, whilst I got out the pool to give birth to the placenta.  I had an injection in my thigh which was my personal preference and usually it will take 20 mins for the placenta to come out but I had a problem with mine and I was told that I may have to go to theatre and have surgery to remove it! I couldn’t believe it, I had such a lovely birth there was absolutely noway I wanted to go into theatre and have an epidural! So the midwife tried emptying my bladder by inserting a  tube into my ureatha but that didn’t work, so a Doctor came in and gave another injection this time in the umbilical cord which was still hanging out inbetween my legs (such a weird feeling!) and then she massaged by belly, told me to push  and it came out! hurrah!

I then had my legs up in stirrups and a lamp shining into my noonie/lady garden/snippy (whatever you like to call it)  to see if I needed any stitches & I couldn’t believe it when they said I only had a graze, I was expecting to need a designer vagina, especially when they told us the baby was 10lb 10oz!!

I could go on but this was meant to be a short blog, I’m not saying its all plain sailing & I did suffer after the birth with the most horrendous piles but as birth experiences go, I was extremely lucky to have a really smooth ride and I hope you do to 🙂