They Grow So Fast....

It's true... they really do!

Freddie is still only 7 weeks old but already, I feel like he isn't my 'baby' anymore. He is developing at such a speed that I blink and I miss something. He's beginning to develop such a personality and is already a little character who is full of smiles.

Smiles all round...

He has inherited his daddy's laid back personality which, is most probably a good job as I doubt Mr C could have coped with two frenzied stress heads running about the house! He is however a nosh Parker like mummy, forever gazing around and people watching! He's beginning to establish a routine and, touch wood, has only woke once a night over the last week. I am in no way tempting fate and presuming that this will last however!

What really hit home this week was the fact that he no longer fitted into the majority of his babygro's and had to begin to wear his 'big boy' clothes. I despaired over the idea of dressing him in 'real' clothes as I felt he was still a baby and I didn't want to dress him in 'proper clothes' till he was older however, with a wardrobe FULL of clothes and a ever growing little man, I had to take the plunge or risk him being too big for the majority of them! Even at 7 weeks, he already fits well into 3-6 month clothing!

Sporting his 'big boy' clothes

It is true; they do grow up fast. Too fast. I am determined to cherish every minute, enjoy everything and make lots of memories.

Life after 'A Whole 9 Months': An Update

6 weeks ago, a whole nine months came to an end and a new era began. A whole life. So much has happened in the last 43 days, I can hardly believe! Some one said to me that you don't know what you do before you have children and, it's true. I can not imagine my life pre Freddie.

Freddie at just minutes old.

I know that my blog posts have slowly withered over the last few weeks so I felt that it was only right that I give you all an update. Taking this (not so) tiny baby home on 3rd September, we were embroiled in a whirlwind of nappies, feeds and sleepless nights. The first few weeks passed in a blur but once things settled down, we quickly got into a routine.

Despite his tender weeks, Freddie has already experienced lots! As a family, we have experienced some massive upheaveals but for once, everything has fallen into place nicely and we are enjoying having a whole new life together. 

We have enjoyed shopping trips, football matches and endless cuddles...

It's tiring being this cute!

Mum, all this shopping is hard work!

Come on you Reds!

We are all settled into our lovely new home after re-locating to the other side of the country to be near to my family. The decision to move and leave our jobs and home to be with family has paid off and we are elated with the decision. It was a risk but we've got ourselves an even lovelier home and Mr C found a new job straight away with great prospects. Touch wood, the future is looking positively bright.

Freddie is developing well. At our last baby clinic appointment, he weighed in at a massive 12lbs 10oz! He is already wearing 3-6 month clothes (& some are becomming a little tight!!) at only 6 weeks! I love his little chunkiness! He most definitely takes after his dad with his long figure. With a 6foot 7inch daddy, he is most certainly going to be tall, dark and handsome! He has just started to smile which makes the sleepless nights all worthwhile. I am truely blessed.

Sporting his 'Tigger' PJ's... Cosy!

Enjoying cuddles with Mummy




We've got lots to look forward to over the next few months. Freddie's Christening, day trips, our holiday next Summer. We will be making lots of memories and I am determined to enjoy every single second of my beautiful little man!

PilatesOD.com - Postnatal Pilates from your living room

PilatesOD is a great Pilates fitness website where you get unlimited access to a wide range of top quality HD video classes and workouts with the UK's best teachers. Whether you are already doing Pilates at a gym or studio and want to do more in your own time, or if you had been thinking of starting but never got round to it, PilatesOD.com has classes and workouts to suit everyone. From beginners to advanced, 10 to 60 minutes and special sections for pregnancy and postnatal Pilates - you are sure to find the class to fit your requirements and schedule. 

PilatesOD.com classes are ready whenever and where've you are - at home, on business trips or on the go with your mobile devices.

 

 

For all 'A Whole Nine Months' readers, Pilates on Demand is giving you a special offer of 20% off the price of a monthly membership for the first 3 months, which means that your membership will cost £10.37 per month! To benefit from this special offer you will need to use our special promotion code: THNMDIS when you sign-up.

Also, you can try PilatesOD for FREE for 14 days! To start your free trial please visit: www.pilatesod.com/register/ and don’t forget to use this promotion code THNMDIS!



As a new mummy, I am eager to give Postnatal Pilates a try! Once I have been given the all clear by my doctor at my 6 week check up (on the 18th!), I will be reviewing postnatal pilates on a regular basis for 3 months to let you all know how I get on! In the meantime, take full advantage of the brilliant offers above and let me know how you find it!



Having a Newborn Baby: Surviving the first few weeks!

I am very lucky that, touch wood, Freddie has been a wonderful baby since arriving. I don't know whether it was his large birth weight (10lbs 1 1/2 oz) or the fact that he's inherited his dad's laid back genes but he's a very contented baby. All he does is sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat and so on. He really has the most perfect life (& one that i'm rather jealous of!)

So far, the first few weeks have gone extremely well & we've all settled into our new lives very well considering the massive changes that we've experienced. Here is some of my 'top tips' so to speak!

Don't be ashamed to accept help
I have no shame in admitting that my mum has been heavily involved in Freddie's life over the last four weeks. Once i'd come out of hospital, she stayed over and helped with not only his care, but took care of me and Mr C by making dinner, doing the ironing, running the hoover round etc etc. Does this make me a bad mum? Does this mean I can't cope on my own? Of course not. It means that I was able to snatch a few hours precious sleep where I could that in turn, meant that I was more human to look after my son. If you are lucky enough to be offered that sort of help, take it!

Plan ahead
I didn't want to be stuck in the house for weeks after having Freddie however, I found it a little daunting the first time I took him out, especially on my own! I found that being prepared helps lots and the positive is that, Freddie seems to sleep more whilst out in the car or the pram which means he'scalm and contented too. He's been on lots of trips out since his birth and is a frequent visitor to the Trafford Centre! (he shares his mummies love of shopping!) I bottle feed Freddie so I try to plan our visits so that he feeds before we set off so he sleeps in the car and then I have time to find somewhere suitable to sit and feed/change him when he's next ready. Places like M&S and large department stores often have cafes where you can feed baby and excellent changing facilities.

Be prepared
During the night, the last thing you want to be doing is traipsing into the cold living room to heat borrles and find nappies. Freddie has ready made Aptimil cartons at room temperature (a god send!) so I don't have to worry about warming bottles.I find that having a basket of things that may be needed at the side of the bed means that at 3am, when you're bleary eyed and yawning, that poo explosion is not as daunting!

Take time for yourself
Take a few minutes a day for yourself to remember who you were before you were just 'mum'. I like to wake up half an hour before Freddie to shower and do my hair or pop him in his bouncer whilst I paint my nails. I find that I feel much better in myself and develop an ability to cope with the fact that i've had 2 hours sleep if i've got my make up on and set of freshly painted nails. It's small things but they seem to make a world of difference.

& finally... Enjoy it!
Freddie was a month old yesterday & it's true what they say... time flies. I just know that it won't be two minutes till i'm throwing his 1st birthday party, then taking him for his first day at school followed by university then, as stupid as it sounds, meeting his children. I'm determined to enjoy every minute, make thousands of happy memories and cherish him every single day.

My Labour Story (Part 2)

Once I'd moved across to the delivery room, it suddenly hit me that I was going to have a baby! Much to my dismay though, I still wasn't in that much pain and Mr C was incredibly calm and composed. My first mistake however was getting onto the bed; once there, I didn't move!

As many people had told me prior to labour; my birth plan went well and truely out of the window. The midwife didn't even look at it and it was the last thing on my mind! Originally, I wanted an active labour where I birthed on bean bags on the floor and used a birthing ball to encourage baby to move down. At one point, I laughed at the sheer rediculous-ness of that & told the midwife that there was no way on God's Earth I was leaving the comfort of that bed!

I changed into my 'birthing outfit'; a beach dress from Primark, and the midwife asked me what I wanted in terms of pain relief. I opted for gas & air however, to be honest, I don't think it worked! I didn't really feel any different but the action of using and holding it in my hands during a contraction was a real comfort. Mr C even had a sneaky go but said that he felt no different! Further on into my labour when the midwife suggested giving the gas & air up, I laughed in her face and refused to let go! I was saying 'someone's turned my gas off!' and 'tell the woman in the room next door to stop using my gas & air because I can't taste it!'. Madness!

At 11pm, as well as gas & air, the midwife gave me an injection of diamorphine. Originally, I felt reserved towards using this as it can pass through to baby and make them drowsy once born however the midwife assured me that I had time to let the diamorphine pass before baby was going to be delivered therefore it would be out of my system by then. I started to have all of my pain in my back (exactly the same as my mum's labour with me!) and it felt like someone was twisting a knife in it, causing me to writhe around the bed in pain so the diamorphine was a welcome relief from the pain! It was still there but somehow, I didn't really care that much about it and at points, I even fell asleep during contractions which meant I could re-fuel my energy before pushing. On occasions, I was that relaxed that I thought we were on holiday! Apparantly I asked Mr C if we were going to the water park and whether he was enjoying his holiday in the sun!

During the night, I dozed and chatted with Mr C whilst he ate Greggs pasties all chilled! I vividly recall looking over at him and he'd reclined his seat back and was fast asleep like he was at home!

I kept focussing on the fact that I could have another shot of diamorphine at 3am so watched the clock on count down mode. The midwife had turned the lights down and the whole atmosphere was strangely serene and peaceful. I remember thinking 'this isn't so bad afterall' whilst in a lovely diamorphine fuelled haze! As it wore off, I was asking for more so at 3am, the midwife performed another examination before she was to give me another injection. She asked us how far dilated we thought I was and myself and Mr C agreed on 7cm. We were overjoyed when she told us I was 10cm dilated! She informed us that baby C wasn't quite in optimum position yet but to get myself ready because it wouldn't be long before I was to push!

At that point, I proceeded to absolutely shit myself (not literally!) and begged her for an epidural even though I wasn't in that much pain! The midwife simply laughed and said I'd coped with the pain amazingly and there was no way I needed an epidural and besides, it was way too late! I'd convinced myself that I was going to have a shoulder distocia because of his predicted size and I was resigned to the fact that he was going to get stuck. Mr C was an absolute star at this point and calmed me right down whilst massaging my feet and spraying my face with a cooling water spray.

At around 3.45am, our lovely midwife came in accompanied by another midwife and told me that my baby was going to be born! I started to push at around 4am although I never actaully got that urge. I'd been told prior to labour that i'd feel an overwhelming urge to push but that never came. Pushing was hard, hard, hard work! At times I felt like it was never going to end and giving up was the only option. It seemed like he didn't want to arrive and even though his head kepy peeking out, he'd quickly retreat back inside, much to my frustration.

Mr C was such an encouragement and when I felt like I could do no more, seeing the excitement on his face made me summon up strength from somewhere I never knew existed. He kept telling me that we were going to meet our baby soon and our family would be complete which somehow made things easier. With a little help from an episiotomy (ouch!), I managed to give birth to my (not so little) 10lbs 1/2 ozbundle of joy at 4.55am on 2.9.12.

The midwife passed him straight up onto my chest and I remember saying 'hello Freddie, you're so beautiful Freddie!' The midwife said "don't you want to double check he's a boy first?" jokingly however I panicked and said to Mr C "I don't want a girl, I want my Freddie!"

I was elated to find that I did indeed have my Freddie and what I joy he is!

My Labour Story (Part 1)

Prior to giving birth I read countless labour stories in a feeble attempt to predict what my labour would be like. In the end I decided on the fact that i'd feel like I was dying and prepared myself for an unimaginable amount of pain. In reality, I was very lucky and it wasn't half as bad as what I expected! Here is my labour story...

My Due Date was Friday, 31st August however I was already booked in for a planned induction on Monday, 3rd September as a result of being large for dates. Once i'd got the date for my induction, i'd resigned myself to the fact that baby C would never arrive on his own accord therefore I never expected to go into labour naturally. Little did I know!

Friday 31st came and I felt fine at first. It wasn't till I got into bed to snuggle down to watch The Batchelor that I started to feel a few niggles of back pain. The pains seemed to last a few minutes and were, at times, painful enough to wake me. I woke Mr C up countless times throughout the night simply to have a whinge at him but not at any point did I expect that I were in labour.

Saturday 1st September - After a restless night, I eventually decided enough was enough and got up at about 6am. I had an urge to clean my kitchen cupboards however it wasn't strong enough and I fought it and relaxed on the couch eating giant Haribo strawberries instead! Once Mr C woke, we decided to go to Toby Carvery for a breakfast. I didn't think for one minute that I was in labour so off we went! Once we got there, the pains were getting a little stronger but I thought I needed a poo! Classy lady I am!

Once we'd got our breakfasts, I stood up to go to the bar to get a coffee and as I did, I felt a trickle of liquid between my legs. I shouted 'I'm weeing and I can't stop!' to Mr C right in the middle of, a fully packed, Toby Carvery and ran into the ladies loo's where I promptly rang my friend who's a midwife. Mr C came running into the ladies toilets after telling the manager that his girlfriend was going to give birth! After finding out that I wouldn't be giving birth for a fair few hours yet, Mr C promptly relaxed and returned to eat his breakfast. I waddled out of the toilet still wearing my damp jeans to be greeted by Mr C calmly enjoying his sausages looking like he hadn't a care in the World! Men eh?! He was even more made up that we didn't have to pay as the manager said it was good luck!

Once home, I rang the hospital where a VERY grumpy sounded midwife proceeded to tell me that, my waters hadn't gone; I was in fact experiencing 'increased vaginal discharge'! (Sorry for TMI!) I was adamant that she was wrong however she told me that I wasn't to go to the hospital as I wasn't in labour. This infuriated me and I spent a good half hour stomping around the house telling Mr C that I knew my body and I most certainly wasn't experiencing increased discharge! Over this time I kept feeling slight trickles but there wasn't that whoosh that I imagined. I sat bouncing on the birthing ball watching TV whilst moaning (again!) at Mr C that 'the stupid bloody effing idiotic midwife' doesn't believe me and I'm right and she's wrong and blah blah blah! (I told you he deserved a medal!)

We went for a stroll around Asda to try get things moving and armed with a maternity pad, I was determined to prove that midwife wrong! Once we get home, I found that the pad was still dry and I started to doubt the fact that I was in labour at all. I got myself an ice pop (pregnancy life saver!) and sat on my birthing ball once again and there it was... a WHOOSH! I jumped up; splashing amniotic fluid all over my living room carpet and shouted for Mr C to come and see! I rang the hospital to be greeted by the same grumpy midwife again but was pleased to find that she advised me to go into the hospital to confirm that my waters had indeed gone. Excited, I took it upon myself to re-paint my finger and toe nails so they matched, plucked my eyebrowns and did my hair & full face of make-up. There was no way that I was going to give birth looking a minger!

We got to the hospital at around 5pm and I was hooked up to a ECG monitor to check how baby was doing. I was pleased to find that he was well and more than a little surprised when she told me that I was having regular contractions too; I still thought I only needed a poo! At this point, I wasn't in any great pain so when advised to go to the ward, I opted to go home and labour there instead. The midwife said this was fine as long as we didn't indulge in any intercourse! WHAT?! I was in labour, a quickie was the last thing on my mind! So off we went home...

Once at home, Mr C got himself comfty in front of the TV to watch Doctor Who. We thought we were going to be in for a long night so I laid down on the bed whilst the pains got more and more frequent (but I STILL was adamant I needed a poo!) . Once X Factor started, the contractions started to hurt a little more so I called for Mr C to come into the bedroom armed with his 'app' to time them. The strangest thing happened when the app showed that they all lasted exactly 53 seconds and they were 3 1/2 minutes apart. Mr C rang the hospital who advised us to go in straight away. This time, make up and sleek hair where the last things on my mind and I turned up at the labour ward wearing Mr C's Homer Simpson slippers!

The midwife said I seemed very calm to say how my contractions where going and I was a bit peeved as I felt she didn't believe me. When she eventually examined me, she found that I was 5cm dilated already! Bonus! I thought she was about to send us home again as she thought I was exaggerating so I was made up when she said I could have pain relief and I was going to be moved into a delivery room.

Part 2 coming soon!

Welcome to the World!

I haven't been blogging for a couple of weeks and I apologise for my absence, however... I have a VERY good reason.

Welcome to the World, Freddie Jacob!

I am ecstatic to announce that I gave birth to Freddie Jacob on Sunday 2nd September 2012 at 4.55am. He weighed a whopping 10lbs 1 1/2 oz and truely is, an absolute gem. The last 12 days have gone by in a whirlwind on complete and utter bliss and I am loving being a mummy! I genuinely do not know what I did when he wasn't around! Nothing can prepare you for the overwhelming, unimaginable love that washes over you the moment that you meet that little bean that has been growing inside of you and I am overwhelmed by the adoration towards him that grows in heart every second.