The all important topic of the bedtime routine. We started doing one for Léon quite early on but then stopped because I thought to myself "this is a lot of work", “is this really doing anything?” and “surely he’s too young?”. Now he's a bit older (15 weeks), we’ve reintroduced the bedtime routine and hopefully he'll sleep a bit longer. I really can't complain regarding his sleep. A lot of other mothers have had it worse e.g my sister! Typically, Léon would sometimes sleep for 4 hours, then 3, then 2 then 1. It always seems to get shorter and shorter as it creeps to morning. Then again some nights are up every 2 or 3 hours. He's been waking up 3 or 4 times a night and I assumed it is hunger as to why he is waking up, but last week, when he woke after 3 hours, I thought I'd try and stroke him back to sleep as opposed to feeding him and he went back to sleep. Clearly, he is capable of going for longer without food but just wakes up.
I'm reading a sleep book that my sister has lent me and it says that babies love routine and a bedtime routine is key for them to realise that when certain things happen, it means bedtime. It may be a bath, a song, a book, a massage or even all of these things combined. Our bedtime routine: If he woke up from his last nap at around 17:00 then we might start his routine at around 17:30. 17:30pm - feed 17:45pm - bath (I didn't want to bathe him everyday as its just not necessary but he loves the bath and splashing around which I feel burns energy which in turn will help him sleep) 18:00pm - moisturise, pjs and night time nappy 18:10pm - massage (mainly legs but might do a full body soon - lucky bugger) 18:15pm - put in his sleeping bag and start feeding again He may feed for as long as 40 minutes. It really does vary but I try and feed him as much as possible in hope he won't wake for a while. I also try and put him down in his bed awake but the past few nights, there is no waking him. If I am able to put him down awake but sleepy then I'd sing Frere Jacques (he's a part French baby, so had to be this song really haha) The results so far: 1st night: 6 hours straight!!! then up for a feed then 4 hours - he's never only had one feed in the night, I thought "omg its worked!" 2nd night: 4 hours then 4.5 hours then 2 hours - still a pretty damn good night 3rd night: 4 hours then 3 hours then 1 hour then 1.5 then 40 minutes - he randomly decided to stay awake for an hour during the night then the random 1 hour sleeps (those are tough) That's the findings so far. Lets see what happens tonight!
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I’ve recently bought Jamie Oliver’s 5 Ingredients recipe book and I’m loving it. My NCT friend Katy introduced me to it (she’s introduced me to everything). It’s a great cookbook if you’re looking for quick and easy meals. With a 3 month old, my husband and I are definitely looking for quick and easy food preferably not takeaways.
We flicked through the book and picked a bunch of recipes we’d like to start with. One being the Italian Baked Rice and it was divine! We added more parmesan and salami to ours though 😀 We also didn’t have a casserole pan, so Gus removed the plastic handle of our large Tefal frying pan 👍 #workwithwhatyouvegot You can get this book for £11.96 from Amazon. To buy, click here. My due date arrived (2nd October 2017) and no baby. You really do build up in your head that you’ll meet your baby on this date but there’s apparently only a 5% chance of this happening. My midwife offered me a sweep, which I declined. For some reason, I was really anxious by the thought of a sweep and really didn’t want it, so I just kept walking lots, bouncing on my ball and even made my husband have sex (poor man wasn’t really given a choice). He'd probably kill me if he knew I wrote that in my blog so lets hope he doesn't read this. The 8th October and still no baby but one of the NCT girls had overtaken me and had her baby boy (you know who you are). I had now been booked in for induction on the 15th October in case baby still hadn’t come by then. The 15th October and still no baby so I rung the hospital to see if they had space for me and I was told someone would call me to give me a time to come in which ended up being 5pm. We arrived at the hospital with our hoards of stuff (looked like we were moving in) but we couldn’t get into a room until 630pm (there many mamas in labour). First method of induction, the pessary. This was inserted at around midnight. The only way I can think to describe the pessary is a thin long tampon. So that went up there and is supposed to stay there for 24 hours. I had a few contractions but nothing exciting. The pessary then came out at 6pm the next day (easily happens when you go to the toilet). Instead of popping another up there, they decided to try the gel. Again this happened at midnight on the 17th October and by then another NCT friend had the quickest labour where she was in and out before me (are you kidding me?). I asked the midwife how much I had dilated, I assumed perhaps 3 or 4cm. NO, I had dilated 1cm!!!!! Clearly this baby did not want to meet us. With the gel, I felt more contractions and really thought something was happening but then they just stopped. I was booked in to be induced by the hormone drip but again we were waiting for a room to become free. I believe it was around 7pm when a room became free. I was examined again and by this point, only 2cm dilated! My waters were broken and oh my goodness, there was so much water. The midwife was lovely and she asked if I wanted an epidural before she started the drip. The drip can bring on contractions quite quickly and can be very painful. I declined and said that I’d like to try gas and air first (what an amateur). The drip started and my contractions really did come on and with every contraction, more water came out. It was so distracting. All I remember saying was “there’s more water”, minutes later, “there’s more water”! I tried to breathe through the pain. Great British Bake Off was on TV, so I tried to focus on that. I tried gas and air and felt sick, so I quickly told the midwife that I wanted the epidural. Don’t try and be a hero, just take the drugs! The anaesthesiologist arrived minutes later (thank god). I was so distracted by the contractions (and water) that I didn’t even think about the epidural. Once that kicked in, I was loving life, nearly falling asleep and most importantly I had no pain. Apparently my contractions were coming on quicker so at this point the drip was increased. Once this happened though, baby was in distress so the midwife warned us that she was going to press the emergency button but not to panic. As soon as she pressed the button, 10 people came in and I was thinking “where did you all come from?” I wasn’t remotely worried though, the epidural massively relaxed me. I was being examined again and wow, the amount of midwives and doctors who have seen my cha cha 🙈. The doctor explained that baby was in distress and that a c-section was the best move. I didn’t object, I was cool as a cucumber (love you epidural). My husband appeared in scrubs and we then went to theatre. Everyone was so friendly and made us feel calm. I was asked what music I’d like, my response ‘Bruno Mars’. The c-section then began and I didn’t feel any pain, just some tugging. I had heard from other birth stories about feeling the tugging and thought “omg I don’t want that” but in my opinion, it was all fine. I just kept talking to my husband and eagerly waiting to meet our boy. In no time at all, Léon was born!! On the 18th October at 12:37am he had arrived. My husband got to cut the cord, which he really wanted to do. They weighed Léon and we found out he was 9lbs 2!!! Chunky chops. Kinda glad I didn’t push him out. My husband got to cuddle him and then I did once they had sorted me out and we were on our way back to our room. I then had skin to skin contact and tried feeding him. It was so strange being back in our room, but this time with our baby. A BABY!! I couldn’t stop cuddling him and just staring and thinking "how were you inside me?" When it came to dressing him, we’d realised we packed all baby clothes except sleepsuits 🙈🤣 - what are we like?! My sister visited later that day and brought us some. She also brought me.....what for it.....Tena lady nappies!! You’re probably thinking, that’s a strange present. To be honest, I was thinking the same until I realised how much you bleed after giving birth. They were a godsend. I looked ridiculous but did I care? It was comfortable and hassle free, so get on it ladies! It was a bit of a challenge and rather painful getting up and down from bed and picking up Léon, but with the painkillers and after a few days, it was getting easier. My parents, sister, brother in law, aunt and great aunt came to visit that day and the 19th October which was lovely. You never know how you’ll feel about visitors until baby arrives. I thought that I wouldn’t have any until I got home but then I didn’t realise I’d be in hospital for longer. I was grateful that they came (and brought food). We then got discharged from hospital on the 20th October 2017 at midday. It was so nice to be going home. My brother in law kindly stayed at our house for the week to look after our dog Yogi. We were home and it was starting to sink in that this is it now - our family. We’re responsible for our not-so-tiny newborn (SHIIIIIIITTT). A big thank you to all the midwives, doctors and nurses! They were absolutely amazing. First family selfie First selfie with just mama There's our chunky boy This was his going home outfit (milk drunk) Hope you enjoyed my birth story and it wasn't too graphic. If you've written a birth story then I'd love to read it, comment with links!
Slogans are all over tees and jumpers at the moment and I love it! I went a bit mad and bought 5 jumpers with slogans 🙈 Even bought a couple when I was still pregnant - so eager! Here are some slogan jumpers that are on my wishlist: Topshop £34 I can't get enough of stripes and a French slogan. This jumper looks slightly cropped so not sure how it'll look with my post-baby podge. Loving this navy sweat! A great throw it on jumper that would look great over a shirt dress, with jeans and gym wear. Joanie have a great selection of slogan jumpers and I'd like them all, but if I had to choose just one then this would be it. Love the grey and blue together. A bit on the higher end of what I'd like to pay but it's merino wool...oh and a French slogan!
We’ve just completed baby massage! We had 4 sessions and absolutely loved it. Katy (our baby class organiser) found Diana Beaumont’s baby massage classes and it was so much fun and the babies clearly loved it. It’s held at her lovely home in Matfield, so a really relaxed environment and Diana is just great. She’s very knowledgable and taught us all sorts of baby massage techniques. Techniques that can help your bubba poop (always a good one to know). You also get tea and biscuits! It really was a great experience and fun to do with your friends and bubbas. The babies clearly loved it too and it’s something you can introduce into your bedtime routine. Here's Leon about to get his back massaged (lucky bugger) Us mamas also got massaged by Diana. We all met at Diana's house and while one of us was getting massaged, the others were looking after the bubbas. A nice 30 mins of relaxation! If you're interested in booking baby massage with a bunch of your friends then you can get in contact with Diana via her Facebook page by clicking here.
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