A Survival Guide For New Mums

Its been 11 weeks since Fletcher has been around and in those 11 weeks there are a few things I have found to be essential in surviving these first few weeks with a newborn! So I have decided to share those things in the hope it will help other current new mums or as a reference for people to come back to when they have their first child.

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1. Coffee. This is your new best friend. It will keep you awake when you feel you should be asleep. Its your fuel. You won't have time to eat like you were during your pregnancy. I cannot stress enough how good coffee has been to me. My advice, invest in a large jar of high quality coffee. You will not look back.

2. Dry shampoo. I love the person that first thought up dry shampoo. Batiste is a heaven sent tool. There is limited time in a day that you get to yourself with a newborn. Washing,drying and styling your hair takes a backseat. Dry shampoo therefore steps up to be a vital tool in making yourself look presentable day to day. (Smashing tool for a little daily volume boost too!)

3. Concealor - I have preference for rimmels wake me up under eye concealor. When I don't have time to put a full face of makeup on I just chuck on some concealor under my eyes to cover those sleep deprivation revealing bags!! Again a tool just to make you look more alive, even when you don't feel it.

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4. Biscuit/crackers - because you just don't have time to eat properly. I love a good Ritz cracker, something I can snack on throughout the day and gives me energy to get through till dinner time. Possibly here it would be more sensible to eat something like nuts that are healthy and provide you with the energy to get through a day as well. Or alternatively when you get a chance a bowl of porridge will also sustain you for a lengthy period.

5. Blankets - blankets for him (trust me, there are never enough) and blankets for you. To snuggle up under on the sofas to get that nap in, whilst your baby is sleeping too. After all they say you should sleep when they are. Which isn't always possible unless you want no clean clothes or a clean house, but you take it when you can.

6. Primark. Thank you primark for providing Cheap clothes to bridge the gap between maternity clothes and your old clothes. When your maternity clothes become too big, primark is smashing for cheap trousers that bridge the gap when you are still looking weight but nothing else you own fits!

7. Lush bath bombs and bubble bars. Perfect for that occasional relaxing bath you do manage to get when the other half is home to look after the baby. Lush particularly make my favourite bath bombs and bubble bars. I also love the seasonal varieties you can get. My favourite item from lush is 'the comforter' bubble bar smelling sweet like some candy I used to eat as a child.

These few things have literally been my lifesaver in these early weeks of being at home with a newborn. I hope it may help some other people in those early weeks with a baby. It does get better I'm told!

Is there anything else that has proved vital to anyone else during the early weeks with a newborn that I should know about?

Love,

Kelsie xxx

Review; Gro Hush Baby Calmer

The Gro Hush is a product by The Gro Company, a company i became aware of when i fell pregnant and began shopping around for items for my baby. I stumbled upon their Gro swaddles and have since fell in love with them. ( my favourite is the woodland print one which you can get HERE)

The Gro Company were kind enough to send me the Gro Hush to test out on my Newborn. I was super greatful seeing as i love sleep and knew i would be lacking in that once Fletcher was born. 

The Gro Hush is a baby calmer that plays white noise in the sounds of a mothers heart beat, rain on a tin roof and ocean waves. Me and brad have decided we could fall asleep to the rain one far to easily. The white noise is played at 75 decibels which is a tested safe sound level for babies.

Fletcher has a restless patch everynight from about 8 to 11ish! The perfect time to test out the Gro Hush on him. it takes a little while for him to be soothed and i have found he most prefers the rain sound (like his parents hey?! ) I have also taken to using it to get him into a deep sleep by leaving it near him on his bouncer. It turns itself off after 10 minutes so i have found it is great for this. So far the Gro Hush has been great, i am a tad concerned that he will just get used to it and it will stop having the same effect on him, but for now what a handy little gadget for every new mum! (And it comes in an adorable little travel case, reckon the grandparents will aporeciate this too!) 

You can get a Gro Hush Baby Calmer by following this link - http://www.gro-store.co.uk/gro-hush.html

Also have a browse at the other products (i have my eye on the Gro-Egg!)

Have you ever used anything from The Gro Company? Is this a product that you would consider using on your baby? Let me know in the comments! 

Toodles 

Kelsie xxx

Tiny Nails ; My Birth Story

Prepare yourself. Everyone knows labour isn't pretty, easy or painless. There is, however, a lot you do not get told. So here I am to tell you of those little things.  Prepare yourself for a lengthy post, but filled with truths you normally don't get told. Also don't let it scare you too much. Eductation is key, for some people knowing the ins and outs provides more comfort for a situation.

Now before I gave birth I did try my best to avoid other peoples labour stories, videos and generally anything that tells the truth about labour. That was my coping mechanism. What I didn't know couldn't frighten me or hurt me(I get crazy squeamish). Nor did I then have any expectations. I didn't do amazingly at avoiding everything I did watch Hannah Maggs birthing video ( HERE) and I also read Louise's/Sprinkle of Glitters blog post on her labour story for Darcy (HERE). Both of which put the fear in me. After reading them I did my best to forget them.

People always say when you go into Labour you WILL know. I questioned this. 'How would I know?' ' what if I had a pain already in my life that was similar to an early contraction meaning I didn't recognise I was in labour?' 'how was I to be sure my waters had broken?'. Well I was right to question it. On the 27th October I was feeling just a tad under the weather, a little bit run down and went to lay in bed at around 9pm. I woke back up around 11pm when my brad came up to bed. Now my knickers felt a bit damp, but they did a lot by then anyway due to my constant trips to the bathroom I just wasn't sure. about half hour later and about 3 more trips to the loo I thought it maybe this is it, maybe they have broken. I stated to get very light stomach cramping pains (much like intense period pains). Still I wasn't all that sure. I sat and tried to see if these pains came and went regularly, which they did. So I called the midwife, she told me to try get some sleep, which was not happening at all. This is what they don't prepare you for in child birth the growth of pain. it starts uncomfortable and just gets worse and worse.

For me the contractions grew rapidly. I called the midwife 3 times that night, nothing she suggested eased the pain at all. it just got more and more intense. (I sent brad to bed for a bit to try get some sleep) at half 2 I just couldn't wait around any more. walking around was all I could do to ease a bit of the pain. Alas I was no going to be able to do that for long.


We arrived at the hospital at 3.05 am . I had gotten no sleep, the pain was just getting worse. I was popped into a room and then a stream of midwives and doctors started coming into the room. It suddenly felt quite serious. Fletcher's heart beat was far to high and they didn't know why. I was put on a drip to hydrate me and him, his made his heart beat drop but lower than they wanted it to.This meant that along with the monitor attached to my belly I wasn't moving any where! the c word was chucked about, doctors telling me all this stuff in medical terms. What they don't tell you before labour is how many people will look at your vagina (and not bat an eyelid) They also don't tell you that you will end up with some ones hand in you vagina. I would like to point out by this point I still had been given no drugs. I almost threw up at one point through the pain and was then offered gas and air (amazing stuff, I made brad try it too!)

I had my legs up in those things that Ross plays around with in friends, I couldn't see anything 'down there ' , Thank God. I was honestly the sweatiest person ever during this, fans were pointed at me and glasses of water continuously handed to me. I had people doing stuff 'down there' to Fletcher that I had no idea about (something was clipped to him for a more accurate heart rate?!?)

I always knew my labour was going to be quick. I always liked to get things over and done with, and well so does my body apparently. It was too quick for me to be given any other drugs, so just gas and air for me (I told brad afterwards I reckoned I was a god for that!) I felt the need to push at some point and with the midwives help I was guided through each contraction, seeing as I had avoided everything to do with learning about labour, I felt like a natural and I kept being told I was doing very good (I do think they say this to everyone though).

At 6.32am on the 28th October, Fletcher was born, just 3 and a half hours after we had entered hospital. As he was placed on me someone jabbed an injection in my leg (thanks for the warning!). After giving birth to your child you have to push again and deliver the placenta, brad actually saw this and I think it is something that has forever been imprinted in his brain! I was also snipped (yay thanks for that one!) so I was being stitched up, something you really cannot feel but it is uncomfy for a couple of weeks after. Just another warning, you will have someone put a finger up your bum, probably more than once too. But by that point yo don't give a crap, you have a baby and have already have enough happen in that 'area' that you could no longer give a crap..

We were lucky enough that we were allowed home that very evening with Fletcher. We went through all that initial fuss having plenty of doctors coming and looking at monitors and my vagina to actually be very healthy with Fletcher feeding well and allowed out of hospital the same day!

Sitting here now recounting it, it is magical what a human body can go through and be recovered so soon afterwards. Fletcher's now sleeping in his bouncer right by me, filling my heart with joy with every little noise he makes.Me and Brad were fascinated by his tiny finger nails! It is all worth it, even if none of it is planned.

Toodles

Kelsie xxx

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Introducing Fletcher...

Some people may have noticed i have been quiet for a little bit. To be honest i havent even got a clue how long its been (its only a matter of days) but i also havent got a clue what day it is now. See on Tuesday 28th October, Our little boy decided to make his appearance and after a relatively quick labour at 6.32 am Fletcher Brian Day was born! I am now incredibly tired a little bit sore and tender but just enjoying spending time being a mummy and having a little family. He is currently happily asleep (like i should be too) and now is my time to finally settle down from getting my house back in order and give the world a little up date, as well as relax and start to learn my new role as a mummy.

Yes i do have a cracking narnia prince caspian pillow (the comfiest pillow ever)

I will be back with pictures, labour story and general other stuff i have learnt along the way but in the mean time i may just take a bit more time off the blog so i can recover a bit more and spend some quality time with my gorgeous little boy.

Im not entirely sure how much of my life i am willing to put on the internet and i am quite wary about posting pictures of my child so this may be the only picture of my child that will appear. This may change but for now i am quite wary of protecting him from the internet for now.

In the meantime follow my instagram for more regular little updates (this but minus the words really) HERE. So thank you for being patient with me. i have so many post ideas running through my head now which i am super excited to compose but im really aware that i have to just go a bit slower in my life at the moment, especially as i need to actually physically heal in the downstairs area yet! Again thank you for being patient with me.


Toodles

Kelsie xxx

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