Tag: new mom

6 min read

Baby

Routine

Zoe

March 19, 2019 2:01 pm March 19, 2019

6 min read

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6 min read

Before I had Mole… The word routine had a very different meaning to me. I would wake up for work, eat, head to the gym and sleep. Anything else added…

Before I had Mole…

The word routine had a very different meaning to me.

I would wake up for work, eat, head to the gym and sleep. Anything else added into my day would be another self orientated activity like nails or my tan.

And then I had Mole.

it was impossible to get her into a routine

As Mole was a reflux baby, it was impossible to get her into a routine the first few months of her life as she was constantly being sick and having to be bathed 10 times a day. She couldn’t lie flat on her back without screaming in pain, so at night we rarely got any sleep. Thats no exaggeration. I would see every hour of the clock go by whilst comforting her. If you would like more advice on how we got through her reflux read this blog post here.

Introducing a routine

I’d say I started to introduce a strict routine when Mole was around 4 months old, when her reflux stopped.

We stayed in for a few weeks to really nail everything in the head and make sure we were following a consistent pattern. Not only for her, but myself too. As I wasn’t use to living by a strict time frame, I would slack with the routine and wonder why it wouldn’t work. So yes, staying in for a few weeks till everything became set in stone in both our little brains did wonders.

Our Routine

7:30am Wake up

Mole wakes me up with her chirping and sound practicing. I always enter her room shouting “Good Morning!” and she gets the biggest smile on her face. We have cuddles and move on to getting ready.

I always enter her room shouting “Good Morning!”

7:47am Getting dressed

I change Moles nappy straight away as its always stinky first thing in the morning. Most of the time I will get her changed into her outfit for the day now. But, if we are going somewhere really nice, or I need to capture photos for a brand, I will get her dressed after breakfast.

8:00am My turn

I’ll take Mole into the bathroom with me whilst I have a wash and clean my teeth etc and then she comes with my whilst I get dressed. If I want to do nice makeup for the day then I leave this part out and complete it whilst she has her nap.

8:15am Breakfast?

Mole has her breakfast, usually pancakes, croissant or fruit. I also have mine at the same time. I then make her a bottle and for some reason even though she eats loads for her breakfast she will still smash a bottle in.

9:00am Free time

This hour is spent playing with Mole and she gets all of her toys out. The main purpose of this hour is to really tire her out. Sometimes we even do crawling races around the house together. I’d say this hour is the best time of the day with her.

We do crawling races around the house

10:00am Nap

Bang on the dot every day I take her up for a nap in her cot. Her bedroom is pitch black and I believe this helps her get to sleep. I place her down with her favourite teddy and walk straight out of the room. I have learnt that if I fuss over her, she gets excited and will not nap.

At the start of implementing this routine, Mole would cry after I put her down. As horrible as this sounds, I would ignore it (obviously if it went on for a long period of time e.g. 10 minutes i’d go and reassure her) but, mainly I wouldn’t make a fuss of her. This was really hard to do and make me feel very guilty.

1:00pm Wakey wakey?

Mole wakes up from her nap around this time. The length of her nap can vary, sometimes its short and sometimes I have had to go and wake her up at 2:30pm.

Nappy and then we both get dinner straight away. She also has a sippy cup of water with her meal, nappy after meal.

3:00pm bottle

Mole has another bottle of milk around this time or a snack. sometimes both if she is hungry and a nappy change if needed.

4:30pm Prepare Tea

I prepare tea usually at this time however, recently Jay has been home at this time and offers to make the tea. Win!

5:00pm

Mole has her tea with another sippy cup of water.

6:00pm Bath time

I bathe Mole every single night as she gets so dirty through out the day. I try not to wash her hair every single day but she always ends up with so much food in it I shampoo her hair too.

6:30pm Bed time

Mole goes to bed in a sleeping bag with her teddy. We give her a warm bottle of milk and turn her humidifier on. I give her a cuddle and kiss and leave the room straight away. She falls asleep within 10 minutes and we don’t have to see to her until the next morning.

If she does wakeup, we leave a fresh bottle in her cot and leave the room again.

What works for us

As you can see there is no fussing around her sleep times. That is something that works for us but not everyone. Even nursery have said that when they sit in the room waiting for her to fall asleep she just doesn’t sleep. I think it is because she is so nosey haha.

You may have also noticed that she only has one nap. Thats something that works for us too and has helped with her sleeping through the night for longer.

If we spend the day out we always try to give her a nap at home first at the same time or we plan the journey so her nap time is whilst we are in the car so she can sleep then.

I hope you found this useful, I’d love to know your routines.

Thank you

Zoe

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3 min read

Baby

Moles 11 month update

Zoe

March 3, 2019 6:31 pm March 3, 2019

3 min read

1405 views

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3 min read

One whole year with my baby Mole is approaching fast! I thought it will be nice for you for me to do a little recap of her personality so far….

One whole year with my baby Mole is approaching fast! I thought it will be nice for you for me to do a little recap of her personality so far.

I feel like I say this every single time but, as time goes on I just have so much fun. Each day gets better and better!

Nursery

Mole attends nursery 2 consecutive days a week. Me and Jay both decided it will really benefit her social skills to be around other babies for a full day.

At nursery she has also learnt to eat finger food to the point now where she refuses pur?ed food. This has been a huge advantage as it’s been cheaper and easier to get her a healthy meal. It’s even fun ordering off the menu for her when we dine out.

Nursery send me daily updates with pictures of what she gets up too and how each activity she does helps her development.

Weaning

Moles favourite food now is pancakes, cheese crisps and anything else cheese related haha.

I still work on her eating her vegetables but when they are mixed into a pasta dish or cottage pie she’s great with them.

I get most of my food inspiration for her off BLW Instagram accounts, or I give her a little bit of my meal. Ella’s kitchen do a handy range of frozen meals which are perfect for a quick meal.

Mole drinks water with her meals out of a regular Tommy Tippe cup. Nursery stick to the same brand and type of cup which has made her consistent with her water intake.

Walking

Currently Mole can not take steps unassisted but I’m sure she will soon.

She loves to walk around the room as long as she’s holding onto something.

Talking

Mole can say a couple of words like “mama” and “dada”. I’m really trying to help her say “hello” as she loves to wave.

Personality

Mole has the best sense of humour. She loves to play peek a boo with the curtains and blankets. Her favourite places to visit are soft play centres, especially when there is a huge ball pool.

She doesn’t like going to restaurants and gets very irritated when she’s in the high chair. It can be a little embarrassing sometimes as she will throw a huge tantrum and throw her food everywhere. We are finding a balance of going to places where we can enjoy a meal out and she has somewhere to play afterwards. If not then we just put some fun videos on our phones for her to watch.

Sleeping

Mole goes to sleep for 6:30pm every single night. She sleeps all the way through but, I always leave a bottle in her cot in case she gets hunger and wants a feed. If that’s the case, she feeds herself and launches the empty bottle out of the cot and goes back to sleep.

She wakes up from 7:30am.

Favourite toys

Her current favourite toys are the ball pit, books and a shape sorter. For her birthday I have purchased completely different toys I would usually go for to see how she gets on.

Thanks for reading!

Zoe

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3 min read

baby product reviews

Safety 1st Highchair Review

Zoe

February 24, 2019 7:15 pm February 24, 2019

3 min read

5134 views

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3 min read

We were kindly gifted the Safety 1st Timba Wooden Highchair for a review. Even though this product was gifted, I want to stress that I still have given my honest…

We were kindly gifted the Safety 1st Timba Wooden Highchair for a review. Even though this product was gifted, I want to stress that I still have given my honest opinion.

Packaging

The Highchair arrived in a large cardboard box. For some this may not be a concern but as we only have a small household bin that gets collected every 2 weeks, the advantaging of having recyclable packaging is a huge bonus for us!

All of the parts inside were individually wrapped to avoid damage.

Assembling the Highchair

There were a few more pieces to put together than I first expected but what is new with flat pack items.

I had Jay to help me assemble the Highchair but, I could have done it on my own. It was just easier with him whilst I could film the process.

The Highchair took around 20-30 minutes to build as we came across a problem trying to slot the seat in. This meant we had to unscrew half of the chair to slot it in and put it back together again.

I thought I would be honest in including that part as I know flat packed products are not for everyone.

Luckily no extra tools were needed and the Highchair came with its on Allen Key.

https://pinkmole.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/medium.mov

Highchair Features

Above I have taken the features directly off the website.

My favourite part is that the Highchair is adjustable for the size of your child.

The Highchair we had previous to this one, was too big to attach the eating tray too, which meant Mole had to be against our kitchen counter to eat. I love how this Highchair feels is it build custom made to her size and she can have her own little tray.

The white shade matches perfectly with our kitchen and looks clean and modern in our photographs.

Price

The Highchair retails at ?70.00.

Do I think it is worth the money?

I would have liked it to have been a tiny bit easier to put together but for a wooden chair that is custom to her size I can’t complain.

Our previous Highchair retailed at ?450 and I can see clear advantages in the Safety 1st in comparison.

Final verdict

If you’re looking for a modern Highchair that looks sleek in your kitchen and blends in with the rest of the furniture (nothing bright and colourful) this is a great purchase.

My favourite part is how I can update the seating size for her until she is 10 years old so I won’t have to purchase another one as she grows out of it.

Mole looks super comfortable sitting in the chair and eating her food. There is also an option to purchase a cushion for extra comfort.

Another factor for me is the chair is wipeable. Cleaning it down after eating took less that 2 minutes .

Purchase yours here: http://int.safety1st.com/our-products/home-equipment/highchairs/timba-without-cushion.aspx

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1 min read

Weaning

Moles Chicken and Vegetable Mash | Baby Weaning

Zoe

January 15, 2019 3:51 pm January 15, 2019

1 min read

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1 min read

Chicken is an excellent source of protein for your baby. Babies also tend to love the mild taste of chicken combined with the sweet tasting root vegetables we will use…

Chicken is an excellent source of protein for your baby. Babies also tend to love the mild taste of chicken combined with the sweet tasting root vegetables we will use in this recipe.

Root vegetables are great to use as they give you a natural creamy texture.

The Good Stuff

Moles Chicken and Vegetable Mash is high in beta-carotene, potassium and B vitamins including Folate.

Preparation Time

Preparation: 10 minutes

Cooking. 22 minutes

Portions

5 or 6 portions and can be frozen

Ingredients

1tbsp vegetable oil
110g carrots, peeled and chopped
85g parsnips, peeled and chopped
250g potatoes, peeled and chopped
75g chicken breast fillets, cut into chunks.

Method

Warm the oil in the pan, add the carrots and parsnips, saut? until softened for about 7 minutes.

Add the chicken and saut?. Keep turning.

Add the potatoes and cover with boiling water.

Cover for around 15 minutes or until everything is fully cooked and softened.

Double check chicken is fully cooked.

Blend to a pur?e or leave for older babies.

I like to use a masher so it is a textured pur?e.

Let me know your little ones favourite meal!

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3 min read

Beauty

My guide to silky legs with Friction Free Shaving

Zoe

December 11, 2018 2:42 pm December 11, 2018

3 min read

2533 views

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3 min read

I am going to share my secret in achieving silky legs with Friction Free Shaving. I wear fake tan. I’m constantly in a battle with dry patches on my skin…

I am going to share my secret in achieving silky legs with Friction Free Shaving.

I wear fake tan. I’m constantly in a battle with dry patches on my skin where my fake tan clings to it and leaves speckled brown dots on my legs.

Previously, I always used one bladed Bic razors. They are cheap and easy to pick up from the high street shops. But, every time it came to shaving I would dread it! I would be left with multiple shaving cuts and my skin would still be rough.

I teamed up with Friction Free Shaving and thought well I might as well give it a go and see if it really is Friction Free.

Easier than the high street?

Friction Free Shaving offer a subscription service from around ?9 so you can get your fresh blades delivered straight to your door! What could be easier? They work out far cheaper than your high street diamond cut blades too.

Gift Box

They have now developed a beautiful gift box containing:

4 diamond cut blades, one for every month!
A stunning rose gold razor which can be engraved for an extra personal touch.
A travel pouch
A razor holder for in the shower.
Blade protector
Pre shave scrub
Shaving cream
After shave balm
A guide on how to use the products

The price for all of this is just ?30 and with the link below you can purchase this and get a free pair of rose gold tweezers to tame those unruly brows!

Buy here and get a free pair of tweezers!

My easy 3 step guide!

Step 1

The pre shave scrub gets to work on your legs removing all of the dead skin cells. This step is essential if you want to avoid patchy fake tan. The pre shave scrub also helps to prevent any ingrown hairs.

I buff the scrub all over my legs as soon as I get into the shower.

Step 2

Then there is the shave cream. Paired with the Friction Free razor, this glides over your skin so effortlessly and silky. The cream feels extremely hydrating almost like your skin is having a drink.

I cover my legs in the shaving cream after I have washed off the scrub. Whilst my legs are coated in the shaving cream I then shave them and rinse.

Step 3

The after shave balm is a thick nourishing treatment for your legs especially if you are prone to shaving rashes. There is no stinging sensation just a cooling feel from the relaxing balm. The balm smells beautiful and feels so buttery but non greasy on the skin.

I apply the balm after my skin have been dried.

Gifting

This box is the perfect gift for every girl.

It’s even more perfect to treat yourself. One thing us girls forget to do!

Try yours and see for yourself how beautiful it is!

Shaving gift box and free tweezers

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3 min read

Entertaining

Myths About Mum Bloggers

Zoe

December 7, 2018 7:15 pm December 7, 2018

3 min read

1908 views

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3 min read

Becoming a blogger has been one of the best decisions I have made. I love having a way to express my main passion in life. Parenting. I have noticed a…

Becoming a blogger has been one of the best decisions I have made. I love having a way to express my main passion in life. Parenting.

I have noticed a few regular perceptions of mum bloggers where I have admittedly, had a little chuckle to myself.

“Mum bloggers spend no time with their kids”

Believe it or not, blogging has made me spend more time with Mole!

I love having my free time to play and admire her. I love watching her grow and being able to share our journey with the world.

I do my blogging as soon as she goes down for a nap or in the evening after she has gone to bed. Obviously if she is busy playing by herself I will check Instagram but what parent doesn’t nowadays?

If I wasn’t blogging I would most likely be back at work as I would have been desperate for something to keep my mind active.

“You’re only doing that so you can blog about it”

There has been times I’ll admit where I have done things so I can capture a photo. For example dressing Mole up in an outfit. But I think I would do that anyway even if I didn’t have a blog?

I also feel like I get out more and do more with her. I love sharing what we get up to online. I would still take her to as many activity days as I can so she can look back on her childhood and be happy.

Products have been a big one where sometimes I have been influenced. When I can see everyone talking about a product and I have got one too and felt the need to also talk about it. (Only if it was good of course.)

“You get everything for free”

I wish haha. I am kindly gifted products in return for a review. Reviews take a lot of work. You can easily spend hours making sure your content is up to scratch to impress the brand.

Some companies offer discounts for their products too which is handy.

The majority of the time I have paid full price for a product and I will be talking about it because I love it so much and want everyone to try it!

“You think you are the perfect mum”

No. I think I am talking on behalf of the majority of mum bloggers here. We do not think we are the perfect mum but we definitely try our hardest to be the best mum possible.

My life can look very put together through pictures. House will be spotless, makeup flawless and no baby snot on my clothes but that is probably for less than 5 minutes I can assure you.

I mainly spend my days in my pjs with a standard mum bun, tripping up over Moles toys left all over the floor.

I will also blog about my experience so far with Mole and any advice I can give I will do. This is to help as many people as I can, not to show off that I think I am a mother know it all haha.

What myths have you heard? I would love to know!

Please comment, like and share ? !

Thank-you so much

Zoe

Xxx

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5 min read

Weaning

5 Baby Led Weaning Mistakes

Zoe

November 26, 2018 9:00 am November 26, 2018

5 min read

2275 views

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5 min read

I’m going to confess to 5 mistakes I made when moving on to baby led weaning with Mole. Background I began weaning Mole at 4 months old after thinking we…

I’m going to confess to 5 mistakes I made when moving on to baby led weaning with Mole.

Background

I began weaning Mole at 4 months old after thinking we were both ready, turns out we was not quite ready yet so waited another month.

Mole began of smooth pur?ed foods and loved it!

I could feed Mole any flavour and she would eat the whole lot.

As mole reached 7 months I began to change up her eating routine to gain techniques with different textures.

However, this is when I made some silly and avoidable mistakes.

Baby led weaning mistakes

Eating hard foods straight away.
Giving up on foods my baby does not like.
Not judging the length of time correctly it takes my baby to eat their food.
Cutting the food into the wrong shapes.
Over facing my baby with too much food.

Baby led weaning mistakes explained

Eating hard foods

I never took a minute to think that Mole had mainly smooth pur?e. Moving on to hard food such as cucumber just did not work for her. She had no teeth and found it hard to break down. Mole would just gum the cucumber making no progress or just spit it out and gag.

After practicing with soft foods like croquettes and strawberries, Mole felt confident to have a go on harder foods. I also felt like she was enjoying eating and not getting as frustrated.

Giving up on foods my baby does not like

This one is my main mistake. Each time Mole would display signs of not enjoying a food I would give in and never feed her that food again. This also goes for pouches. However, I have now noticed that she changes her mind like the wind. One day she could love a food and the next day she will hate it. I just have to count my luck with her. Knowing this mistake has helped a lot with our baby led weaning journey.

I began giving her vegetables as this is the most healthy type of food for her. Mole did not like eating a piece of broccoli compared to eating broccoli pur?e. I switched it up to giving her fruits knowing that she will eat fruit. And she did. I tried again with her veg and suddenly she was eating it with no issues.

I do think that her mood and time of day has a big role to play too.

Not judging the length of time correctly it takes my baby to eat their food

A mistake I made was trying baby led weaning with her right before we had to either go out or be out in a restaurant.

I am sure some babies take to this okay but mine did not.

If we were out there was always far too much going on for her to even have any interest in picking up her food and eating it.

Compared to feeding Mole a pur?e, baby led weaning takes so much longer. Not my best idea if I had plans afterwards. Obviously you can not rush them to eat so you have to be patient. This was a little frustrating for me when all she would do is throw food on the floor or spit every little bit out.

I made sure that when we were doing baby led weaning, we had all the time in the world to eat. It was also nice as I could get a hot cup of coffee whilst she was still eating.

Cutting the food into the wrong shapes

I Googled what shapes to cut the food into when I first started baby led weaning. I did this because I was terrified of her choking. Every website I read said cutting into halves or finger sized slices.

I think this is one mistake that maybe more unique to Mole. She preferred her food in small bits. Mole seems to hold the food better and put it into her mouth better compared to finger sized foods.

Now she is getting more confident I am giving her food in bigger pieces.

Over facing my baby with too much food

Looking on Instagram for inspiration I would see beautiful plates full of colourful food.

I basically copied not taking into account that Mole had gone from a smooth pur?e straight to a plate of food would be too much.

She would not eat any of the food and try to throw the plate on the floor. I gave up quickly and I became discouraged after seeing so many other babies eat plate fulls of food online.

I still display all her food nicely on a plate for photo purposes but when it comes to giving her the food I just take a little bit off the plate and let her eat that. Once she has finished I give her more. I could not believe how much progress she made doing it this way.

Baby led weaning tips

Start off with their ultimate favourite foods such as fruit
Use kitchen roll to get rid of any excess juice which will discourage their grip
Use a knife with a serrated edge to help their grip
Start off with Ella’s melty puffs to build your confidence with them not choking
If your baby is still struggling then they might not be ready. Feed your baby textured pur?e instead for a bit longer.
Try again tomorrow. Don’t give up
Choose soft foods to begin
Feed them in your baby’s usual eating environment
Turn off any distractions such as the TV
Get a dog to help clean up the mess haha.

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5 min read

Baby

How do I get my baby into a nap routine?

Zoe

November 20, 2018 11:28 am November 20, 2018

5 min read

1428 views

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5 min read

Most new mums burning question: “How do I get my baby into a nap routine?” As soon as Mole hit three months I began working on her nap routine. I…

Most new mums burning question:

“How do I get my baby into a nap routine?”

As soon as Mole hit three months I began working on her nap routine. I felt like it was important for the both of us. I could get my me time back and Mole would be less grouchy in the evenings.

Most three-to six-month-olds will sleep for around 15 hours a day, including regular naps throughout.

According to parenting experts your baby ideally needs three sleeps totalling no more than five hours.

Working on a nap routine

To get Mole to have three naps a day was well out of our reach. It was hard enough getting her to go down for one let alone three.

I focussed on her first nap and what ever else happened was an added bonus.

The key to her napping was to notice the signs of when she is tired. At around 9:45am I place her on her play mat if she is not already there and study her.

Signs my baby is tired

Rubbing their eyes
Cycling their legs
Clasp their hands
Rubbing their face
Begin to be vocal
Moan and groan
Shout
Cry
Loss of interest in toys

Morning nap

When Mole displays these signs I take her straight up to her cot. It’s a good idea to have a warm bottle prepared too (I usually make this at 9:40am).

The key is to take her up as she is displaying the start of these signs e.g. moaning not shouting. As you get use to what you need to look out for the whole process is easier. I can tell within three seconds of looking at her if she needs a nap now.

If you wait till they are shouting then you run the risk of them being over tired and getting them to nap in a cot becomes a nightmare.

Ensuring their room is dark is a signal to your baby that sleep is needed. I will give Mole her bottle and blanket. The majority of the time she falls straight to sleep after her bottle.

Afternoon nap

Mole’s afternoon nap is a different story. It is much harder to get her down for this nap compared to the morning nap.

She does not display the window of tiredness signs as she does in the morning so what I did was work out a time that is best for both of us.

2:00pm. I know that she has had her dinner, nappy change and playtime after dinner. I also know that she is probably ready for her next bottle. I take her to her room and place her in the cot and feed her the bottle. This time she rarely falls asleep on the bottle so I have to give her a kiss and leave the room.

50% of the time she will talk herself to sleep and I love listening through the door at her cute conversation.

Feeling like you are failing

The other 50% of the time she will cry and scream. I have learnt that if she has had all of her bottle I can leave her for 5-10 minutes and then I go back and check on her. Usually I have to go and distract myself and put the washing in or let the dog outside as hearing her cry upsets me and I give into myself and bring her down stairs. Luckily she ends up falling asleep. I have the lollipop baby camera so I can check up on her on my phone without going in and disturbing her.

If Mole is still awake and not settled then I will check her nappy, offer her more bottle and try again.

I never put pressure of myself to make the routine perfect. If the second nap fails I simply take her back down for more playtime and make sure she is in bed for the night at an earlier time.

What are good nap times?

Good nap times are around the “window of tiredness”. This tends to be 90 minutes after first waking in the morning, 30 minutes to 60 after the lunchtime feed and at 4-5pm in the afternoon.

You will work out what times work for you both.

Nap time tips

Look out for your baby rubbing their eyes
Have a warm bottle prepared
Make sure the room is dark
Lavender sleep spray can help them associate it is time to sleep
Consistency! I stayed in for 2 weeks putting her in her cot at the same time every day.
Do not give in straight away. Try to distract yourself whilst they cry and learn to self settle for the first 5 minutes.
Fresh nappy
You don’t have to change them back into their pjs.
Make the house as quiet as possible whilst they are trying to sleep.
Invest in a baby monitor

I hope you enjoyed reading! Comment below your nap time tips ?.

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4 min read

Motherhood Pregnancy

10 things no one tells you about childbirth

Zoe

November 14, 2018 6:15 pm November 14, 2018

4 min read

2112 views

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4 min read

When I was pregnant I would spend my time researching everything to do with childbirth. I wanted to be sure that I knew everything. Nothing was going to surprise me…

When I was pregnant I would spend my time researching everything to do with childbirth. I wanted to be sure that I knew everything. Nothing was going to surprise me when the time would come to go to the hospital. I would even spend nights watching One Born Every Minute so I was clued up on different scenarios.

But, from my experience there was 10 things no one told me about childbirth. I wonder if you agree with them too!

1.You do not rush to the hospital

From the first moment I experienced my first contraction I expected that my baby was about to come within 5 minutes. The race to the hospital was on! Wrong. You have to time your contractions until they are the correct lengths and time apart. This can take hours! I waited all day and when I turned up barely being able to walk, the hospital still wanted to send me back home.

2. Waters don’t always gush

In films whenever a lady’s water breaks there is the biggest gush of water leaving a pool on the floor. Not always the case. Some women only experience a little trickle of their water breaking. That’s usually down to the break being at the top of the sac. My waters didn’t even break on their own. The midwife popped them during the final stages of my labour. Other than my baby’s head crowning, it was one of the most painful experiences of my life! The pressure felt like I was going to burst open!

3. It feels like you need to go for a number 2

Is this TMI? I don’t know? But it’s true! No one told me this! When your contractions start it can feel like you need to go to the toilet. I kept going to the toilet but nothing was happening because that’s just how going into labour felt. I was also really embarrassed at the time thinking I had an off stomach that had come completely at the wrong time!

4. The waiting game

Labour can last for ages and ages. I was in labour for 12 hours. Whilst you are there on the hospital bed in absolute agony, whoever is by your side will be watching TV, eating crisps and just chilling. The time for you passes by and you are so focused on breathing techniques. But your birthing partner will feel the process is lasting a lifetime.

5. Placenta delivery

I knew after delivering a baby you have to then deliver your placenta. What I didn’t know what how painful this is. I also didn’t know that this can lead to more complications. Even after having a natural birth, you could still go to theatre to deliver the placenta.

6. Stitches

Ouch. I don’t have to tell you how much this hurts because I’m sure you can imagine. I had no idea that I was going to be lay down with my legs open for a good 40 minutes whilst the midwife figured out how to stitch up my complicated tear.

7. Blood

I was not prepared for the amount of blood loss. Even after birth. You will go through mummy pads as much as your newborn will go through nappies.

8. Birth plan goes out the window

You have no control and there is no point getting your hopes up. You have to go with the flow and trust your midwife. If you can get a say then brilliant. But do not be disheartened when things do not go exactly how you want.

9. Feeding your baby after birth

As a first time mum, I was unaware of how often to feed and how long for. During antenatal classes I learnt how to breastfeed. Daft right? I didn’t even have a baby to practice with. I assumed as soon as I had given birth I would begin to breastfeed. Little did I know that me and my baby would both need practice. And well, even after practice we both couldn’t get it. That’s okay! Other methods of feeding your baby are available with NO judgement. Just do what works best for YOU.

10. Pure emotion

People talk about how it is the best feeling in the world to give birth to your baby and that is so true. But I couldn’t believe the range of emotions felt. You can go from being scared to happy pretty quickly. Even after you have given birth you still feel overwhelmed with emotions.

Let me know what people didn’t tell you about childbirth!

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2 min read

Baby

10 things about Mole

Zoe

October 22, 2018 4:24 pm October 22, 2018

2 min read

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2 min read

Get to know Mole! I thought I’d share with you 10 different things about my lovely, little Mole so you can get to know her a little bit more 😀…

Get to know Mole!

I thought I’d share with you 10 different things about my lovely, little Mole so you can get to know her a little bit more 😀

Her favourite food is Cauliflower Cheese Puree. Its the one food I can always guarantee she will eat even on her fussy days.
She’s a nosey parker. Whenever we are in restaurants or cafes, she always has to swivel her head and watch what everybody else is doing.
Mole has a webbed toe. It is her little toe and i’m not sure what to do about it really. We have had the option for it to be separated but at the moment its not bothering her so I have left it be.
Mole is obsessed with my iPhone which has resulted in her getting a pretend VTech mobile off her Grandma
Her favourite song is Charlie and the Numbers from BabyTV. Even if I just sing the first number she smiles.
Her first word was Mama ?? and her second word was Dada.
When we went to Chester Zoo her favourite animal was the giraffe. She was mesmerised by how big they were.
Mole has visited 2 other countries. France when she was 6 weeks old and Majorca when she was 4 months old. Very lucky baby.
Mole hates peas. HATES them.
When Mole use to go in the sunlight she would always squint her eyes like a little Mole and her nickname stuck even more.
Ok, I know I said 10 things but I couldn’t miss this one off… Jay and I rarely call her Molly. If it’s not Mole, Moley or Mole rat then it’s Suzie because we think she looks like a Suzie.

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