Baby HAUL!

Well my little guy will be 3 months old on the 9th of July, oh how time flies, I honestly can't believe he's been in our lives for nearly a whole 3 months! Crazy. As if right on cue I'm noticing his 0-3 months clothing getting a bit tight on him, so before I take the tags off and start washing the stuff I thought I'd do a little haul of some of my favourite pieces in his new wardrobe. Some of the items were gifts so naturally I don't know/have all the prices, but I'll try and put the prices in where I can. 

First up are these vests. Not overly exciting but a necessity. When you go through so many vests and they're rarely ever seen I don't like spending a lot of money on them but I do still like a bit of quality and I think these Matalan ones are great. £5.50 for a pack of 5 and they're super soft and thick and feel really nice. Plain and simple and super.

Another few things from Matalan. I picked up this Zebra vest at the same time as the vests. I only went in for the vests but at £6 I couldn't resist this. I love Zebras and I love the unusual colours. I love Grey, navy and anything nautical in baby boy clothes but this was something different that will go lovely with a pair of jeans or chinos. This other outfit was a gift and I just love the trousers. The Tshirt is great quality as well and will be a lovely every day outfit.

Gap has never really been somewhere I've shopped, for myself or for Logan. I guess it's a bit on the expensive side for me. However we recieved these as gifts from a family friend and my boss and I love it. The baby grows are great quality and I just love that cheeky whale. I love the blue jumper, a typical GAP jumper, that I'm really glad Logan has because I remember having one when I was younger and the jacket is just gorgeous!

Somewhere I am loving for baby clothes is H&M. The prices are great for the quality that you get. These tops caught my eye when we first started shopping for baby stuff what feels like years ago!

So far my most favourite place for great quality baby clothes is Debenhams. The J by Jasper Conran range is beautiful. A lot of it is the Nautical theme that I love and the quality is fantastic. I know you can get similar stuff for cheaper in supermarkets, Primark and Matalan etc, but when you're washing some of this stuff every day I don't mind paying that bit extra to get nice stuff that will last a bit longer. These babygrow a were all £12 for a 2 pack, and I adore them. So much so I had the middle pack in 0-3 months and I loved it that much I bought it in 3-6 months! The 3 peice set was a gift and I can't wait to put him in it.

Logan has started dribbling. A lot. I didn't think he'd be much of a dribbler because at first he didn't. But clearly every else knew he would be because we got THOUSANDS of bib sets. However most of them were the generic round bibs that I think stick out like a sore thumb. I don't mind him wearing them when he's having his bottle cause they're flat and are more functional but when he's not feeding and needs a bib I love these triangular dribble bibs. I just think they look so cool. I picked up these 2 packs for £3 each in Matalan. Grey is my colour so these suit perfect.

Obviously with all this new stuff I've got to say goodbye to his old stuff. Logan weighed 10lb 12oz when he was born so there were a few items he never fitted into and because they grow so quickly there's just been a few bits that he's rarely worn so I've boxed these up to go into the loft. Although were not planning another baby any time soon there's no way I'm throwing this stuff out. It pays to be prepared!

Kirsty x

REVIEW - Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Essentials Set

A perk of being pregnant is people's generosity. I've at times been overwhelmed by people's kindness and generosity and the gifts the have given Logan. We were very kindly given  the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Essentials Set which includes: 

1 x Electric Steriliser

1 x Electric Bottle warmer

2 x Insulated bottle bag

4 x 260 ml bottles

4 x 150 ml bottles

6 x Milk powder dispenser

2 x Medium flow teats

1 x Pure soother

1 x Teat tongs

1 x Closer to Nature Bottle Brush

It was purchased from Mothercare for £64.99 if I remember correctly which I thought was a bargain for what you get in it. 

The only part of the whole set that we haven't used is the Soother as thankfully or unfortunately, I'm not really sure which yet, Logan is not a pacifier baby. The Teat Tongs and the Bottle Brush are a nice added extra but everything else has been essential for us. It claims to sterilise 6 bottles in only 5 minutes but it takes 3 minutes to heat up. But sterilising in under 10 minutes does me fine. 

It's fairly compact and fits in the corner of my work top quite neatly. It fits 6 bottles in the bottom then has a removable top layer for the tests and lids. However with the way the layers are designed you can replace bottles with dummies or even the Tommee Tippee Electric Breast Pump without damaging the rubber stopper at the bottom.   Definitely a product I'd recommend, it's quick and easy to use and does a great job.

What steriliser do you use? 

Kirsty x

My 10 Hospital Must Haves

1. Comfy Pyjamas/clothesBefore and after birth for me style went out the window. It was all about being comfy. I had G's trousers, oversized tshirts, fleecy pyjamas. Nothing right, just lots of big baggy comfy clothes.

2. Big pants
Think Bridget Jones. The bigger the better. This specifically helped after a section but I imagine it to apply to natural birth too. I bought some pretty colourful ones from Asda so they weren't as bad, who am I kidding. They were pretty bad. But believe me when I say, you don't care. Comfort supersedes sexy. Always.

3. Boots maternity pads
They did the job. Large and comfy.

4. Tommee tippee breast pads
I read before hand that these were the best and now after trying a few I agree. They're comfy and the most absorbent I've found. If you're only in the hospital for a day or 2 they might not be a necessity. But as I was in for 4 days after my baby was born and my milk had came in, they came in very handy.

5. A good book
When being induced, if it doesn't happen straight away, which it usually won't, there's a lot of waiting about. If you are in need of good read, some books for holiday and you need some inspiration I suggest taking a look at my best friends blog erins-choice.blogspot.com for some great reviews on fabulous books.

6. Nice shower gel
The one thing I craved more than anything the day after my c-section was a nice warm shower. I used Soap & Glory's Scrub of Your Life the The Righteous Butter for a little mini pamper session. Admittedly after any kind of birth most of us aren't looking our best but it really helped me feel a little better about myself.

7. Comfy socks
I took 3 pairs of thick fluffy socks with me and they were feet heaven. Being in hospital for 6 days meant I didn't really move very far. When I did get out of my bed I didn't need to bother with shoes or slippers.

8. Nursing vests
In the first few days I felt like I was nursing constantly. The vests made this slightly easier. I used the vest from h&m they made life so much easier. It meant I could quickly and easily whip them out when I had a crying newborn. I had a nursing bra and a plain old T-shirt the first day but the T-shirt revealed too much and the bra was fiddely and annoying when I wasn't used to it. The vests saved all these problems.

9. Lots of vests and baby grows
3 days before I went in to hospital I had been told my baby was only just below 8lbs so I had pulled out all my 0-3 month baby grows from my hospital bag and replaced them with smaller ones. Turns out that growth scan was seriously inaccurate and Logan popped out at 10lbs 12oz. I had a few baby grows to fit him but not nearly enough for the amount of time we spent in the hospital. Luckily we only live minutes from the hospital so Gavin was able to pop home and stock up but I didn't like not having enough straight away. Pack for every eventuality.

10. Nappies and wipes
Unlike in America where the hospital give you everything, the NHS give you nothing extra. You have to take your own nappies which they clearly tell you before you go in. What they don't tell you to take is wipes! Being first time parents these kinds of things don't cross your mind. After a pretty horrific first nappy change using water and cotton wool Gavin immediately came back the next day bearing wipes.

These were just some of the things I took in to the hospital which I found made our life slightly easier. Did you take any life saving items that you could share?

Kirsty x

My 5 Newborn Must Haves

1. Although Logan's cot has been set up in his room since long before he was born he is still sleeping in his Moses basket in our bedroom. I know there are mixed views on when a little one should sleep in their own room. While most health professionals advise keeping them in your own room till they are 6 months old, I'm not sure I agree with this. I think within the next few weeks Logan will be going into his own room, but for the first 11 weeks I have loved having him in his basket beside my bed, so I know if anything goes wrong he is right beside me.

2. The Baby Bjorn carrier has been a godsend for us. From the word go Logan has always preferred being held up high, able to see the world. He's content to sit on his own, in his bouncy chair, for about 20 minutes, any longer and he starts to moan and its unrealistic to carry a 6kg baby about all day. So the answer to our prayers was the carrier. 5 minutes after he's put in the carrier he is usually asleep. I sometimes find my back getting a little sore after he's been in it for half an hour or so, but id much prefer that to carrying him around for hours.

3. While an Isofix base might not be a necessity for everyone, for a couple who use the car a lot it was definitely a necessity for us. Its so easy to put him in his chair and within seconds he is safe and secure in the car with just a few clicks. I don't have to worry about fixing seat belts and twisting about in the back of the car trying to get it sorted, especially if its raining. 

4. At first I thought the Aden & Anais blankets might just be a gimicky product that were only popular because of all the celebrity Mummies & Daddies that had them but when I was asked by Aunts & Uncles what else we needed, and couldn't think of anything else we needed I decided we could try them and see what all the fuss is about. I must say I LOVE THEM. I honestly don't know what we would have done without them. They can be used for a whole host of things but I mostly use them for swaddling at night. You might think £45 for wrapping him up at night, surely you could you a blanket from Tesco for a fraction of the price. NOPE! Nothing is nearly as easy, comfortable and successful as these blankets and the quality is second to none. I love them so much I'm contemplating buying another pack. I don't need them, but I want them.

5. Ok this is a bit of a cheat, its not really an essential item for a newborn, but I think I might have torn my hair out without my G-Tech sweeper. You will read everywhere and hear from everyone that house work can wait. Just leave the washing, let the ironing pile up for the first few months. Now while I'm more than happy to leave the ironing piling up for months on end its slightly unrealistic to do no housework, so anything that makes doing the basics any easier is great in my books. It takes me all of 2 minutes to dash around the floors with this light, electric sweeper and the floors look clean and dust free. 

Any suggestions of anything else I can add to my list of essentials that you can't live without?

Kirsty x

REVIEW - Bugaboo Cameleon 3

I first started looking at prams & travel systems before I even fell pregnant (I like to be prepared!) and quite quickly I fell inlove with the Bugaboo Cameleon 3. I'm the type of person that once I decide on something I don't change my mind so when I was only 2 months pregnant we ordered our Bugaboo. I had read plenty of reviews, the good and the bad and decided the Bugaboo best suited our needs. The Cameleon comes in a wide variety of colours and usually have some beautiful limited edition designs and patterns. We chose the black base with orange accessories, this was before we knew we were having a boy and thought the orange would be gender neutral. 

Price

It is one of the more expensive travel systems out there but I'm of the opinion you get you pay for. We opted for the carry cot and the push chair as I liked the idea of getting the use out of the carrycot in the first few months. I just love the look of a tiny baby in a carrycot. I think the quality of the pram justifies the price. We looked at cheaper prams to make sure we weren't just paying for a brand, but I didn't find one that felt as great as the Bugaboo. 

Practicality

The pram is so easy to manoeuvre. The one thing my mum always says when she pushes it, wether it be the carrycot or the car seat is 'it's a dream to push' the chassis on it's own is lightweight and relatively easy to fold so I can manage it on my own when I'm out without my boyfriend. The chassis fits into the boot of my Vauxhall Astra easily. My only problem so far is I can't fit the carrycot in the boot as well as the chassis without dismantling the carrycot which is too time consuming for my liking. This could also be down to the amount of other crap I have in my boot. However considering I've only once wanted to leave the house with both the car seat and the carrycot it's not too much of an issue for us. The wheels are nice and chunky which I like. It makes it feel sturdier but the front wheels are nice and small that it can turn quickly and easily. The mattress cover is black and fleecy which means you see every piece of dust and cat hair that it attracts. However it feels super comfy and baby seems to like it.

Car seat

We have the Recaro Young Profi Plus car seat which attaches to the chassis with the adapters. This is the only part which I think lets the Cameleon down slightly. I find the car seat quite difficult to get on and off the chassis. Firstly the adapters aren't marked left or right so I ALWAYS end up putting them on the wrong side, which is really annoying if I'm out on my own or it's raining and I need to waste time sitting the baby down to switch the adapters. If baby's asleep when I try to take the seat off the chassis I'm guaranteed to wake him up as it always takes a bit of a wiggle to get the seat off. I think we'd have the same problem with any car seat, I think the adapters are just difficult.

Overall

I think the Cameleon is good value for money. It's easy to use, a dream to push and lovely to look at. I think we will get a lot of use out of it for years to come.

What pram/travel system/stroller do you have? Any other recommendations?

Kirsty x

My Labour

At the time I thought 8pm was a really peculiar time to go into hospital but it turns out it's best to start an induction at night. We were shown to the ward and told to settle down and the midwife would be round shortly. Slightly bewildered and anxious I unpacked a few of my things and got changed into my pyjamas and we waited patiently. I remember not really saying much to Gavin at this point. I think both of us were as nervous as each other. I think we'd both prepared for things to go a certain way and so quickly we'd been shoved down another path and it was taking us a while to our heads around it.

So that night my induction began, I had the first dose of Prostin, the gel used for inductions. By the Tuesday morning the midwife told me I was 2cm dilated. We were over the moon! I knew it wasn't going to be a quick process but 2cm was definitely progress. I had another dose of the Prostin that morning and it was another waiting game. By the Tuesday night, the midwife from Monday night was back, she examined me and shattered all hope. She didn't think I wasn't 2cm dilated. She didn't think I was dilated at all. So after a difficult time, numerous examinations, a doctor thinking my waters were broke and he could feel the baby's head, a scan, umpteen doctors poking and prodding, it was eventually decided that no I wasn't dilated, my waters hadn't broken and the Prostin gel hadn't worked so far. 

That night they gave me the last small dose of gel, and I had the worst night ever. I couldn't sleep, I was so uncomfortable, i was disappointed, I was upset, I was sick. I just felt horrible and I was miserable. Each night through my whole stay at hospital Gavin had to leave each night as your partner isn't allowed to stay in the hospital. Through all my examinations I had been moved into a room on my own. So through the night I was lonely. I felt completely isolated and like a bit of a failure. My body want allowing me to have this baby. Through the night I had resigned myself to the fact the induction wasn't going to work. I wanted a section. At 6 o'clock on Wednesday morning a doctor came in to examine me (again!!!) she confirmed that I still wasn't dilated. Eventually, by the time Gavin had arrived 3 hours later it had been decided that I was to have a Cesarean section. 

Finally confirming the section was a relief. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. We were finally in control again. Even though the birth of my son was in the hands of a medical team and it was no longer up to me to get him out, I was so happy just knowing how things were going to pan out. After a lot of waiting about at 16:05 that afternoon, my beautiful son arrived into the world.

Kirsty x

My Pregnancy

I found out I was pregnant on the 24th of August 2013. We hadn't been trying for very long so it was nerve wracking but also super exciting at the same time. 

My pregnancy was pretty straightforward. Up until the end everything pretty much followed the normal course:

The First Trimester:
It was difficult. For someone who is very rarely sick I suffered from morning sickness pretty bad, but from week 16 it cleared up completely and never came back. The exhaustion was difficult, especially in the early days when there's not really any physical signs of being pregnant. When there's not much baby bump, or when there is one but it's still pretty small, telling someone you're exhausted doesn't always go down well. People that had no experience of being pregnant thought I was putting it on or exaggerating. Luckily I developed a bump pretty early on so people eventually understood why I was so tired all the time.

The Second Trimester:

As I said the morning sickness cleared up. The exhaustion went away too, though not completely, but I did find myself with slightly more energy than before. As predicted, through my second trimester was when I really started to feel the baby move. Round about the 18 week mark, I began to get the 'butterflies' feeling and around week 22 I started to feel him kick, and once he started he didn't stop! It was the most sensational feeling ever. It's so special finally feeling that tiny human kicking and moving away inside me.

Trimester 3:
This was where my problems began. During my dating scan in week 12, my sonographer told me I had a low lying placenta. Which meant my placenta was sitting at the bottom, close to the opening of my cervix as apposed to... well anywhere else really. Usually it sits quite high up your stomach. This wasn't a major problem, it can be quite common and usually it eventually moves up by itself. 

At 28 weeks I had a glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. I'm not diabetic but my dad is which meant I was at a higher risk of developing diabetes. The test results were a bit mixed. It's a 2 part test where you get blood taken after fasting for at least 10 hours, then get blood taken 2 hours after having a glucose drink to see how your body copes with the high levels of glucose in your body. My blood sugar level after the glucose drink were fine and completely normal, which is what they look for. However my blood sugar levels after the 10 hour fast were higher than the normal levels. My midwife asked a consultant to look at the results who said they were completely fine, nothing to worry about and I had to continue being treated as normal. Yay no diabetes! 

At week 32 we went back for an extra scan to check if my placenta had moved up, which thankfully it had. The sonographer decided to measure the baby and do a growth scan while she was at it. At 32 weeks my baby was calculated to weigh 6lbs 13oz. Which is pretty big for that age! 2 weeks later I had a pretty horrific appointment with a consultant, where he told me I would never be able to deliver my baby naturally if I went full term because he was so big, I needed to control my sugar levels because they were out of control and fluctuating sugar levels could cause still birth (yes he mentioned still birth to a woman who was 34 weeks pregnant!!!!) He told me I had to control my diet better and hope the baby came out soon or else he was going to be 11 or 12lbs when he was born! Obviously this worried me. Up until then my pregnancy had been pretty plain sailing and I had felt totally in control of the whole thing, and suddenly I felt like it was out of control. I was booked in for another growth scan at 37 weeks and if the baby was still big I would need to consider being induced or a cesarean section. Not the type of things you really want to hear so close to the end if your pregnancy. Because of the low lying placenta in the beginning, we had already talked about and considered a c-section so it was something we already knew enough about. But it wasn't something I necessarily wanted to happen. But ho hum I did what I was told and went for another growth scan where the sonographer measured him to be only 7lbs 7oz at 37 weeks. So with a sigh of relief I trotted back to the consultant at 38 weeks thinking things weren't quite as bad as first thought. Wrong. This consultant (a different one from last time) looked at my notes and immediately decided I had in fact had gestational diabetes and I need to go to hospital for an induction because this was going to be a biiiiig baby! Gavin and I looked at each other slightly worried, the midwife phoned the hospital to arrange a time for me to go in, as I thought to myself 'oh this won't be so bad, I'll have a few days to prepare myself' No no no. We had to go in at 8pm that night. So on Monday the 7th of April we grabbed my bags and headed to hospital...

Kirsty x

Me

I'll start with my current situation. I am a 24 year old, first time Mum to my ten week old son Logan. He was born on the 9th of April 2014 at 16:05 and he is the greatest achievement of my life so far. I am so unbelievably inlove with him it's sometimes scary. Being a new mother is by no means easy but it's the most rewarding job I've ever had. 

I live in a 2 bedroom flat in a small town in Scotland with my boyfriend/partner/other half/whatever you want to call him and our cat Minerva. Every day is an adventure, the ups and downs, the highs and lows and I hope to share some of them with you.

Kirsty x

My Introduction

Social media is our generations way of communicating, keeping up with current affairs and entertainment. During my pregnancy with my first child I probably did the most research I ever have in my life, I include school and exams in this. It is the most life changing experience I've ever had therefor I needed to be prepared for it. Blogs, YouTube and forums were my go to place for information, from morning sickness to placenta praevia, I googled it all. From reading and hearing about other people's experiences it allowed to me to become better acquainted with what my own experience might be like. It allowed me to prepare for different scenarios and it allowed me to catch a glimpse of what I was letting myself in for. Without these videos and blogs I don't think I would have gotten used to motherhood half as quick as I have. 

So through multiple late night feeds I began to think 'Could my experience help someone else?' And eventually I decided yes. My experience might help some of you.

So here we are. I intend for this to be a baby orientated/lifestyle/fashion/homey kind of blog which I will try and update regularly, but anyone with a newborn baby will agree, isn't the easiest thing to promise. It will be full of helpful (I hope!) reviews of things I've loved and loathed and the things I can't live without and some of my experiences of first time motherhood. Here is my story...

Hope you enjoy

Kirsty x