Being a Mother (Part 2)

This is not the last post there is one more to come, I just have to find the time and let's face it motivation to do it!

Birth

Birth scares most women when they are pregnant, those who tell you they were not scared are probably lying because at some point either before or during labour they are scared. I know with my first I was terrified and then with my second I was scared but I knew I could handle it. Obviously different people have different pain thresholds, I was expecting to be a wuss with my first as I find silly things painful. However, I handled both my labours beautifully and I was lucky - not everyone is. Both my labours were straight forward, I was induced due to lack of movement from both and with my last I just had gas and air. I did ask about other pain relief in my weaker moment  but never took it. With my first I didn't know a lot because I was never told and I will probably miss out a lot on here as well.

Active labour  - This is when your contractions are two minutes apart and the midwife starts counting from because those contractions you have at home or randomly spaced out - don't count! They count to you of course because they hurt like hell but you wont be going to hospital nor getting any pain relief (unless you count paracetamol) until active labour.

Pain relief - If you don't need it, good for you! However don't be afraid to ask for some, if you are stressed so is your baby. They will offer you paracetamol first, then gas and air which can make you feel sick (with my first it did but not my second) and then they go higher unless you say I want this.

The ring of fire - When your baby's head is about to pop out - you will know! They don't lie about it feeling like you are on fire... DO NOT push until you have a contraction though otherwise you will rip!

Pushing - I was lucky, my body had the urge which I couldn't control. Others are not so lucky - Listen to your midwife if you don't have an urge and don't give up because it is easy to do so sometimes.

I will do after birth on a separate post - feel free to add as every birth is different!

Being a Mother (part 1)

I know I haven't posted in a very long time so firstly I am sorry but for the past 8 weeks I have been looking after my newborn son. He is obviously adorable to me, I am not sure how others perceive him and nor do I care. This particular post is not about the upsides of having a newborn, I don't want to scare any body nor put them off having children but this is what you need to know.

Pregnancy

Do you think it will be a fun time? You are thinking it will be a wonderful joyous moment, first kick and that pregnancy glow! Well let's say it is not like that for everyone...
Morning sickness - It doesn't just last the morning and you don't always throw up (I just had nausea)
Indigestion/Heartburn - It can feel like you are having a heart attack and it can be so serve you throw up (which I did have)
Blood tests - You should only have a few but then they will find you have low iron or something else so then you need to have a billion blood tests
Jabs - Now you have a flu jab and whooping cough. The flu jab gives you a sore dead arm and the Whooping cough makes you ill so you feel like shit
Expanding body - now if you are slim its more than likely people will assume you are pregnant. However if you have an average or above it is more than likely people will assume you are getting fat until your bump improves (I had someone say to me "Oh you are pregnant? I just thought you were getting bigger" aka fat)
Break outs - spots appear at the worst time, sometimes single other times clusters (I have always had spots but being pregnant makes mine go away)
Endless appointments - you have quite a few with your first and with your second its normally less (unless you are me and have issues so get a lot of appointments that you feel like you are taking the piss with work)
Scans - These you can dread, you worry that something will be wrong but when it is all ok you sigh with relief
Hormones - people think it is an excuse or that it is something they will be fine with and ok sometimes that is the case but then you can get the other end where you cry for no reason.
People - the worst of it is other people. They think when you have this big pregnancy bump they have the right to touch, push and poke your bump. They think its ok to ask "oh is there more than one in there" when it is just one and the scans TELL you it is one (it is VERY unlikely you have a second or even third in your bump without someone noticing)

There is SO much more and some I did not experience so feel it would be unfair to say about it I cannot give a true reflection. Part 2 will be about birth and just after...

News articles getting to me

I was going to blog about the cake I made my friend (it turned out really well!) but after reading the news I need to blog about something else...

The article I have read was about a 4 year old child who was starved to death by his parents, they would lock him in his room to get some peace and quiet – a room which does not sound suitable for a child of any age. The full article so you can all read: 4 year old starved by parents

I have a 5 year old son Joshua, in reception; I cannot imagine ever doing this to him. In fact I struggle to get him to eat at times, he’s a fussy eater like myself but he eats better than I do. I worry that he does not get enough food and when he tells me he is hungry I want to give in (before dinner/tea) but don’t since he needs proper meals. He does get snacks, he also weighs 3 stone (there about) which is normal for a child of his age.

The 4 year old boy weighed just half of what my son weighs; I want to cry just thinking about the poor boy who stole fruit and food from the school and the school kids. I will never understand how a parent could let that happen to their child, I hope that the parents are punished but at the same time I hate the fact that if they go to prison they will have a comfy bed, 3 meals a day and access to TV’s.

What goes through a parent's mind to say oh well it's just my kid, I can understand that some parents struggle with children but that's the point of discipline - you are the parent, you are bigger than they are and can control what they do. I don't mean beating the crap out of a child or no food what so ever. I mean a normal punishment like no TV, no sweets or sitting them in a naughty corner! Some Mums get depressed after having a baby and at times they have bad thoughts but they get help and learn to love their child! What is wrong with these people, some people cannot have children at all and they want them so badly. Can't they see they have been given a gift? It is not fair that some people who have children can treat them so badly! Seriously, its a responsibility that YOU have chosen, DEAL with it and look after your children properly!

I really need to stop reading news articles that involve children, especially those so close to the age of my son or soon to be son.

I haven't posted for a while

Why?

I simply cannot be bothered, it doesn't help that today I uber grumpy, anything is setting me off at snapping. Well snapping or the fact I could cry at something even more ridiculous, I guess it's normal for me at the moment being 38 weeks pregnant but I wish the mood would just fuck off... I need to be in the right state of mind because I have things to do.

I am going to try a proper blog post eventually, it's for the cake I am making for my best friend's murder mystery birthday party - she is an actual blogger where as I am a here there and everywhere sort of blog! You should check hers out though (if anyone read this her blog is Bee's blog ). I just have to remember to take pictures but I can't blog about it until after Friday (when the party is!), just wish me luck that it turns out how I want it! I am trying something which has been tested but I wasn't too impressed just hoping I will be impressed with the end result...

Feeling emotional

Today has not been overall easy for me, not due to any particular reason just one of those emotional up and down days! At this moment in time I am fighting tears so I don't go to school to pick my son up looking like a prat. I reckon it’s a combination of feeling ill, being in pain, work things, home things and most likely hormones.

 

I started off yesterday feeling proper rough - headache, nose running and sore throat. Basically caught Tom’s cold! I went in to find that work had decorated my desk; I got a balloon, flowers, chocolates and lots for the baby! They reckon I won’t be there till Friday the 24^th when my Maternity leave starts because I look big (which I will come to later). I came home, couldn't do any house work due to lack of energy but feeling okish. Then Tom and I opened the gifts work got for the baby, there was outfits, shoes, milk, juice, a record book, a voucher for mothercare, hand/foot print, bath stuff, even a big brother top for Josh and more! I then go bed early and sleep.

 

So I went and got Josh, meaning I am not loner battling tears before going to get him – I am also not crying!

 I wake up without headache (which I am glad of since I work with computers and the lights on them irritate the fuck out of me when I have a headache. However I still have a running nose and sore throat with cough. Go to work, talk to my friend about the package I received and how much I loved it. To which she replied that everyone at works loves me, I said I was surprised to how much I got and she said she collected a total of £150! I was a little overwhelmed but I just got one with my job and went to my midwife. She tells me the baby is back to back meaning I have to try and turn him before he comes out! It’s not a bad thing but can prolong labour, just got to spend a lot of time on all fours! This comes to my bump size, I am measuring fine and she is not worried about my size at all! My bump looks different recently and bigger because of the way baby is lying, she even estimated (but couldn’t say if she was definitely right) that the baby would weigh about early 7lbs right now.

 

So I feel a bit worried about the fact the baby is lying the wrong way purely because I don’t want prolonged labour but there is things we can do to resolve it! She made me get on the weighing scales too (which I will ALWAYS hate) but was surprised when she told me that I have put on less than the recommended (also made me feel happy). But I have sugar in my urine, she’s not worried but will check in 2 weeks! I am just so uncomfy and sick of puking when the indigestion/heartburn appears. Then I worry about how I will cope, with a newborn again, money and other things too… It’s easy to say take each day as it comes but my brain doesn’t process like that. I am not asking for people to comment, in fact if you want to comment -  please don’t give me some sort of patronising comment about what I can do! I know what I can do I just want to talk because it helps me stop worrying to get it all down. As one of the saying goes “A burden shared is a burden halved” 

Not a fan of mint chocolate? Think again!

It’s come to that time again where I review one of the bzz campaigns I get! In case you don’t know what a bzz campaign is check out www.bzzagent.co.uk, they basically send you free samples and you review them – it can take a while to get one or it can be really quick. As long as you follow what they say like doing all the surveys (if you keep on top of the you only do the odd one every now and then) and review products in different ways (blogs, pictures, twitter, Facebook etc) it doesn’t take long at all.

This time I got to review mint aero bubbles, I am a chocolate lover (a huge chocolate lover) and mint chocolate is not my favourite (I am more of a plain chocolate but do like the odd flavoured one). So bzz sent me 6 packets of mint aero bubbles, a few lucky people got a packet to themselves and I had one too. I did give some to mint chocolate lovers and they seemed to like them, my partner who is not that bothered about mint chocolate stole a second packet (very cheeky of him) but that usually means he likes it!

 

For me, I would not choose mint chocolate over normal chocolate and I tend to find mint chocolate a bit too minty which over powers the smooth chocolate taste. So I tried one to start off with, I do tend to let the chocolate melt in my mouth rather than crunch it so I was surprised when I let the aero bubble melted away in my mouth. The taste surprised me as well, I was expecting to be overwhelmed by mint but it was the perfect combination for mint and chocolate for me.

The packet although normal size you would not expect to get as many bubbles in as you receive, because of the taste as well I didn’t feel like I had to put the packet down and come back to them. In standard supermarkets at the moment you can get a big pack (135g) for £1 but they are normally £1.59, which I find considerable cheap since most bags of chocolate are now reaching the £2 mark if not over! The small bags tend to be the same price as a chocolate bar, which I find sad since the price of chocolate bars these days upsets me!

Mint aero bubbles are well worth the buy, especially for mint chocolate lovers but also those who want a fresh smooth minty chocolate taste without an over powering mint taste. If you are not too sure, please just give it a try, buy a small packet and be surprised!

Halls Bzz Campaign

I have been getting quite a few campaigns recently, which has been lovely since I have been rather bored with my computer, so yeah not been blogging as much. In case you have just looked at this blog the brief overview is I review certain products for www.bzzagent.com – I love it because I get to try new products as do my family and friends (when I get samples!) I would seriously recommend joining, even if you only get the odd campaign it’s still worth it!

I got to try Halls Lemon and Hall Peppermint, they came in small packets which my partner found hard to open. However, if he read the back of the packet rather than just tearing into it he would have realised how to open it with ease. The Halls were very small, just a bit bigger than a million (if you remember those sweets) but they were quite affective. You would have to put more than one to feel the effects on your throat which is a shame since a normal size you would need just one. Maybe that is not what they are for however because of the brand I assumed it was. The Lemon is a lovely flavour and my favourite, I have never been a huge fan of Peppermint but it makes me feel like I can breathe.

 

 

With bzz pack they sent me a pen and some sticky notes which surprised me but I found useful (even if my son claimed them for himself!) Pens are something I never have enough of and use at work so in a way I suppose it’s a great way to advertise, which leads to people asking questions then me giving them the story of being a bzz agent!

 

If I am honest, I would rather buy a pack of normal size halls than these mini boxes because I just want the ease of one rather than a couple of the little ones. Plus the regular packets are 45p where as these boxes are 55p in standard supermarkets, however my partner really enjoys them so I wouldn’t feel like it was too much of a waste of money (it’s cheaper than a regular size chocolate bar these days!).