Water Babies Swimming

I was keen to get Macy confident in water as soon as possible. I grew up a fairly confident swimmer having started swimming lessons when I was about 7 but have never been keen on swimming under water. I always felt sorry for mum who couldn't join me as never learnt to swim (has now had lessons as an adult). I think the later you start the less confident you are. I also want her to be confident if she were to ever fall in etc.

So I discovered Water Babies where babies can learn to swim from birth. We had our first lesson Monday at 3 weeks old and second lesson today. We're on the beginner summer school which is a more condensed course of 8 lessons (opposed to 10) twice a week.

Macy wasn't keen on her first lesson and started off crying most of the time but towards the end she actually had fallen asleep! Today she was used to it and we didn't have any crying, she really enjoyed it! So far we have swum them under water a little and been taught how to hold our babies in the water and put them into a swimming position to teach them to swim.

I would recommend the course as it is great fun and is going to really teach them important skills.

As Macy is so young she has I wear a wet suit but normally it would just be a disposable swim nappy with a happy nappy over the top. The course is quite expensive but I think it really is important.

Buyagift's Next Pet Model

I have just entered Buyagift's Next Pet Model, it's a great cause as they are donating £1,500 to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.  A great cause, Cas and I performed a freestyle display at their annual event several years ago and had a really good day out. 

 

 

Between the 29th July - 30th August, Buyagift.com are on the hunt for furry fashionistas. Your pet could be the next Cindy Clawford or an up and coming Miranda Purr, or perhaps you've got the next Bunny Hicks at home - all you need to do is send in their photo to find out - the competition is open to ALL pets!

The funnier, the more original and more inventive the snaps - the more likely they are to make the grand-final and eventually become: Buyagift's Next Pet Model.

What's in it for you?

A professional pet photoshoot in London (or a photographer sent to you).

A pet pamper day at a top London spa.

A selection of pet accessories.

So head along to Buyagift's Next Pet Model NOW! :)

Purina's Pro Plan Duo Delice Review

We were asked to review the new Purina Pro Plan Duo Delice dog food. We were sent a 2.5kg bag of the Chicken & Rice, first off I loved the bag - it made life very easy as I didn't have to find any scissors to open it, there was a tear off corner. As well as this there is a plastic reseal strip to keep the food fresh which saves having to store it in an airtight container.

The food is "a unique combination of crunchy kibbles and tender shredded pieces" - I wouldn't say it was overly unique as we usually feed Supadog Beef Casserole which used to have beef pieces in it which were crunchy but turned chewy when hot water was added, HOWEVER this food no longer has the beef pieces in it which my dogs loved. So it is perhaps unique now?

The protein content is quite high at 25%, I have a 13 year old, 10 year old and a 7 year old who can’t take much exercise due to a condition he has.  So it wouldn’t be a food I would choose to feed as my dogs aren’t overly active so they need to be on around 20-22% protein at the most.  They offer a salmon and a beef variety which is the same level of protein, which is a shame as it would have been an idea to vary the protein levels per flavour.

 

The food was nice and smelly and included plenty of shredded pieces of meat – so often dog food companies will skimp on the best bits!  My older collie has to have water in her food and this food still maintained it’s crunch and the meat remained tender.  The kibble was big enough for the german shepherd to still crunch and not swallow whole, yet I think a small dog could also eat as the pieces aren’t huge so it would be suitable for all sizes of dogs. 

All of our three dogs enjoyed the food and the chewy meaty bits did slow them down which is a good thing as the german shepherd suffered a torsion over winter so anything that slows her down is a good thing! 

Here is a video review:

Overall I would recommend the food, I wouldn't personally feed due to the protein level of the food however that is just my personal preference.  Otherwise the dogs loved it and I thought it was a good food.

It's a Bibble Review

I came across these bibs I think via a recommendation on a foum somewhere.  I wanted something that looked good and soaked up milk dribble for my newborn and these seemed to meet that criteria.

I ordered 10 for £20 as I just couldn't make up my mind on designs - they were all so pretty!  They arrived just a couple of days later - fantastic service.  My daughter had arrived hours before the bibs arrived so the timing was spot on.

They are fabulous bibs and I use them every time I feed, the material sort of ruckles up under her chin so it catches any dribbles and she doesn't spill milk under her chin.  No matter how soaked the top layer gets, the bottom fleece doesn't get wet and ruin her clothes.  They look pretty cool, I love the bandana style and they come in sooooo many colours there will be something to suit everyone - you won't be able to decide which to have!!  Finally they don't swamp a newborn and have two adjustable poppers for growth.

Visit them at their website or on facebook.

Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep Machine Review

We decided to buy the Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep Machine as we were given lots of conflicting opinions on how to make bottles up so we thought if we do every bottle fresh we can’t go wrong!  So we put our hands in our pockets and forked out a best part of £100 to buy this gadget!!

I have to say we wouldn’t be without it and friends who have had babies have said they wished this had been about when they had a newborn.  I was a little annoyed when it arrived as it is not able to make 3oz feeds which is what they recommend for a newborn, we had to make up 4oz feeds so we ended up wasting a fair bit.  This information isn’t detailed anywhere so I emailed Tommee Tippee to complain and they did say they agree it should be detailed in the product information, the reason the machine can’t make 3oz feeds is to do with the hot shot of water and the water then required to cool it – the measurements for this can’t be made smaller than 4oz.

So basically this machine has a reservoir to hold your water, in which is a filter which will need changing every 3 months (the machine will let you know when it needs changing).  There is a dial where you choose the size of the feed from 4oz upwards.  You take a bottle and add the formula, then place the bottle under the water dispenser, press the button and it dispenses a boiling hot shot of water which is designed to kill any bacteria in the formula.  You then give this a swirl in the bottle to make sure the formula is dissolved and put the bottle back under the dispenser for the machine to deliver the remaining water which makes up the correct feed and ensures the milk is then at room temperature.  All of this takes about 2 minutes, so when you get up in the middle of the night you can make a feed freshly and quickly every time! 

 

Some reviews say it is bulky and takes up a lot of room but personally I felt it was quite compact and doesn't really take up that much room, it is quite slim.

 

I wouldn’t be without it, here are the pros and cons:

Cons

·         The audible signal to confirm water has been dispensed is quite loud – we live in a bungalow and the bedroom is only across the hall from the kitchen so it tends to wake up the person who has stopped in bed!  Some people will put the machine in their bedroom or the nursery (save going to the kitchen) so I think this is something everyone will find a little annoying.

·         The smallest feed you can make up is 4oz – very wasteful when you have a newborn.

·         Struggles in hotter climates – the machine flashes indicating water is too hot and will not let you make a feed up, we just added a couple of ice cubes into the reservoir.

Pros

·         Makes up every feed fresh.
·         Feed is made up in a couple of minutes.
·         Feed is always exactly the right temperature.

Newborn Photography

I wanted to have a go at taking some proper shots of Macy, I am not one for the posed shots really, I prefer them natural with the hat props etc. Macy discovered yesterday she likes to roll over onto her side, it is where she is most comfortable, so this is how we shot. Here are the results, my favourite is the top one :)

The Maternal 'Type'

I never considered myself as 'the maternal type' - whatever that may be. I have never gone gooey with babies, never rushed to want to 'have a munch.' I never grew up wanting to play with dolls and pretend they were babies - I could normally be found climbing a tree! I never had any experience with babies as we didn't have a big close family.

Considering all of this I was a little worried about embarking into motherhood, it was always after birth that worried me and never the actual birth. After all this is the biggest part - having a life in your hands to look after and love. Would I love a baby?

So along came Macy and the love I feel for her is just amazing and how natural it feels to care for her. I instinctively know what she wants and how to do it, I have never fed a baby and I know when she wants feeding and how to do it - I am bottle feeding. 

I can't stop looking at her and feeling so in love. Here she is just 3 days old.

Our Little Family

Macy is so good, she only got us up twice in the night and went straight back to sleep.  The community midwife has been to see her and is very impressed with her, she is such a chilled baby!  We have had to resort to a dummy as she has been sucking her arm and was born with a sucking blister on her arm, I figured in the long run it will be easier to wean off a dummy.  Also sucking her arm was creating a very wet and red face!

Macy's first day at work

Will post soon about her arrival but today she is a day old and had her first day at work - she didn't sell any caravans though!!

Our New Arrival!!

Announcing the arrival of Macy!  She arrived at 2:41am Saturday 6^th July at Bridgnorth MLU – a real positive experience.  I will share my birth story and I hope it will inspire other first time mums and make a nice change to all the negative stories there are out there – you quite often get to hear about how bad it can be but not about how good it can also be!  So if you don’t want to know all the details don’t read on as I have given a really detailed and long account, I would have found this helpful before my first labour.

The Previous Few Weeks

According to the NHS my due date was 27^th June, which made me 40 + 9 when I had her, I personally think I was due more like 1^st July and the midwife said she looked like she was only a few days overdue.  We had had a rough couple of weeks as they had been worried I wasn’t growing properly and sent me for a growth scan where they estimated her weight at 39 weeks to be 7lb 8 (+/- 20%).  At 40 weeks they couldn’t offer me a sweep as I wasn’t favourable, I was a bit gutted as I had been up for 6 hours a few nights earlier having contractions which the midwife believed was her moving her head into place.  At 40 + 5 they gave me a sweep and I was a cm and soft but still quite long.  Then at 40 + 9 we had another sweep and I was 2cm but still quite long. 

At Home After the Sweep

During the afternoon I had a couple of aches and pains but nothing to write home about.  Then from about 7pm they were probably a little more regular but I still wasn’t sure whether they were the real thing or not.  We started timing them at 9:30pm and they were about every 4 -5 minutes and lasting 30 seconds but still not really particularly uncomfortable but we put the TENS machine on in case it was the real thing – in hindsight it should have gone on earlier to be fully effective.  At 10:30 they had started coming every 3 minutes or so but lasting only 30 seconds or so and again not really overly painful.  By 11pm they had started lasting longer (about 50 seconds) and becoming a little bit more uncomfortable so we rang the MLU and decided to go in.  During most of my time at home I had walked around and sat on my yoga ball not wanting to lie down as I wanted gravity to do it’s job! 

Into Hospital

We arrived at Bridgnorth Midwife Led Unit at 11:40pm only for the midwife to examine me at about midnight and her tell me I was still only about 2-3cm but I had now shortened – I was gutted as wanted to be at least 4cm!!  My contractions has shortened down to about 30 seconds again and we were told based on my dilated and length of contractions I could go home – I was in too minds as I though if I stayed I could be there till the next night still but they felt strong and the car journey had been uncomfortable so we decided to stay and moved into the air conditioned labour room – which was a bit of a relief on one of the hottest nights of the year!  We had said all along I need to keep active in labour and never lie down, I stayed on the birthing ball and walked around the room, got up and down to the loo and made sure gravity was doing it’s job!  Mark was just about to call the midwife to take a urine sample when I said I feel like I want to push!!  The midwife had been popping in and out to check on me but left us to it.  I had mentioned I would like a shot of pethidine as TENS wasn’t really helping the pain (it had gone on too late) as long as the timing was right.

The midwife examined me at 1:30 am and I was surprised to hear I was 7cm!!  So she said she best give me pethidine then to time it right, I said right gas and air please now.  After a couple of gulps I was then violently sick and wasn’t keen to use it again but I did try as although it didn’t really take the pain away particularly, it helped me to concentrate on something else and made me a bit happier!  The pethidine kicked in after about 20 minutes and again took the edge off the pain a little and made me sleepy so I was a lot more relaxed but doesn’t slow down labour,  At this point I had been on all fours on the birthing ball but the midwife asked me to get on the bed so she could keep an eye on me better (and unbeknown to me to deliver her as I thought it was still going to be hours away, she knew better!) – so I stayed on all fours on the bed with the backrest of the bed up so I could lean forward onto it.  Mark stood next to me to hold my hand and ply me with water when I wanted it – the midwife had turned the air con off as she didn’t want to make the baby cold so I was very thirsty!!  Midwife had said if you want to push then push it’s my body and to listen to it, another midwife has to be present at birth and she called her to bring her in.

My waters hadn’t gone and the hardest part was pushing those out enough to try and pop them which they wouldn’t so the midwife had to do that but she needed me to push them out a bit for her to do it as Macy’s head was right behind them!  The second midwife walked in at about 2:30 when she was just arriving and a few pushes and she was here at 2:41 and bawled her little eyes out for ages!!  I had the injection to deliver the placenta which was done in 5minutes and felt a little strange but didn’t hurt at all.  After examination I had no tears, didn’t need any stitches, just a little grazed.  Macy was healthy and well too and lay on me for a good hour suckling away. We left hospital for home at lunch time, in and out of hospital within almost 12 hours!

In Summary

I know it’s a long post but I wanted other first time mums to read about what a good experience it can be.  In total I was in first stage labour for 1 hour 55 minutes, second stage for 16 minutes and third stage (placenta delivery) for 5 minutes – overall 2 hours 11minutes to delivery.  I do believe that a lot of the speed and ease was down to not lying down at all and staying upright giving gravity a chance to work it’s magic – I delivered on all fours on the bed.  Mark was an absolute rock and encouraged me all the way, he was amazing.  The midwife said I am the only woman who she has known to smile through labour and stay so happy through the whole process and that it didn’t seem like it was my first time.  I am sure this has helped and my baby is so happy and contented.

What Helped?

So for me what helped was to not worry about the birth at all – at the end of the day it’s not a lot of time to be in labour no matter how long yours lasts as just think of the amount of hours in your lifetime – it’s not any length of time really!  Keep active and upright, use the ball and walk around, let gravity do it’s job.  Before labour from about 37 weeks every other day I had used perineal massage and evening primrose oil, also took raspberryleaf tea from 34 weeks – whether it all helped I don’t know but it didn’t do any harm – look into it and make your own mind up, I am only telling you what I did and not implying you should.  I also took superdrug’s own version of Pregnacare throughout as well as Omega 3 as recommended by the midwife.  I think I was taking about 5 pills every day for the last couple of weeks as well as Tumms for acid reflux – I felt like I rattled!!

Pregnancy Symptoms

I was one of the lucky ones and didn’t have any stretchmarks, neither did I use any creams or oils on me as I am just too lazy to keep doing it!  I did however have quite bad SPD and it got better towards the end after she had moved down but again got a bit worse towards the end.  It is still there and I can feel my pelvis is still quite wobbly so hopefully with rest and starting some gentle walking it should get back to normal.  Things like the acid reflux have completely gone which is great!

Make it Your Race 2013

I have entered Abarth's Make it Your Race 2013 and would be really grateful for your votes, just have to click on my page and vote! :)

My Abarth Challenge Page

Here is my challenge video: