Little L is 1 month

It's been a very eventful month for us all- we had our little L, had to adjust to a new life with a newborn which has it's highs and lows but we made it!

I have a lot to catch up on my blog but I feel that every moment with L is precious and I need to take most of it.

First few nights when we came home from hospital were the toughest as she was crying all the time and we didn't know what it means and how to calm her down, to be honest with you my husband panicked a lot, every day or night he would call midwives to ask them what could be wrong with our monkey.

Now 4 weeks later she is grown and got used to us as well as we got used to having her. She is a little madam at times and there are mostly nights when I feel very annoyed yet sorry for her. Last night was a struggle for both of us, we didn't have enough sleep, but as she is 4 weeks now we are allowed to give her  gripe water, I do hope it will help!

I think we are on the right path with breastfeeding and now I tend to express milk for our evening walks so that if we are somewhere where it is impossible (by that I mean no benches) to feed her she will take a bottle. Even though we introduced her to a dummy I hate it as I feel that she will be confused between nipple and dummy or what if she will feel the urge to bring up milk and her dummy is on a way or why would she need a dummy she is a newborn she needs to cry, but my husband is convinced that it's for hers sake and our sanity.

I am totally prone to her crying, it doesn't bother me (only when she screams I feel horrible and sorry for her) as well as having sleepless nights. Of course I am tired and at times don't have time even to go to the toilet never mind to do my hair and make up, but that's my new life.

Little L is very alert, she lifts her head and at times nods her had uncontrollably, tries to stand or sit when I wash her, pulls funny faces and looks at different objects or people. She managed to stay for 5 minutes in a swing which is great, but still not so keen on a bouncer. She has just one favourite rattle and hates the rest! And I think someone is trying to smile for mummy and daddy!

Clothing wise she still fits in first size/newborn outfits and looks so tiny in 0-3 months.

Health Visitor brought good news today, little L's heel prick test results arrived and all is well, as well as she passed her hearing test earlier. Can't be more proud and happier!

Happy 1 month, monkey!

Clair de Lune Moses basket review

Throughout my pregnancy I kept changing my mind if I want little L to sleep in a cot, moses basket or crib. But the more I was thinking about it the more I realised that cot would be too big for our baby and too big for our room, thus meaning I had to decide if it's going to be crib or moses basket.

Moses baskets have a certain appeal to me- rocking stand for soothing baby and hood which can hide baby from light, where as a crib is just a smaller version of a cot with one additional function-rocking.

When Clair de Lune offered to review one of their moses baskets I was the happiest person in the world!

Clair de Lune, designers and manufacturers of nursery bedding and accessories celebrate 70 Years of British Manufacturing.

Clair de lune continue to design and manufacture quality nursery bedding and nursery accessories after 70 years of business. 

With a team of talented, dedicated British designers, Clair de lune produce beautiful bedding collections, sheets and blankets and a range of pushchair and car seat accessories designed for the modern parents of today.

The most difficult job was to actually pick one,as some of you may know I'm very practical person and try to consider only affordable and practical products. In this case it slightly went wrong...price wise. I have picked Bedtime Story Natural Wicker Moses Basket with Quilted Liner (£79.99)- neutral colours, can be used for a boy or a girl (in case if we decide to go for a second baby), cute characters- bear and bunny and is available in palm, natural wicker, dark wicker and white wicker.

It is certainly a pricey moses basket, but with Clair de Lune you can always find something you like and for your “wallet.”

Moses basket came complete with hood, padded liner, mattress and stand. The set looks absolutely amazing and cute, fabrics are 100% cotton and stand rocks just as I thought it would. 

The only problem I found with the basket itself were screws connecting the hood and basket base, I couldn't unscrew them, which means that I can't wash the basket liner (it's white).

What Little L thinks about it?! She doesn't mind it during the day but hates it during the night. It has nothing to do with the basket itself, it just looks as if it's too big for our little monkey. We have tried putting comforter and my t-shirt at the top of the basket but it never worked and she wants to be with us more than inside the moses basket. But we are convinced that maybe in few weeks time she will stay there during the day and night, hopefully.

What mum thinks about it?! I like it a lot, it has everything I wanted, white liner issue is a little annoying, but I hope our monkey is not too messy. When little L can't sleep in a moses basket base we swap it with her carry cot, just put it on the basket stand which works great and helps to soothe her, I can rock her whilst standing, sitting down, lying in bed. The basket has handles which means we can carry the base to and from rooms. It is generally a great item and I'm a happy owner, but it is slightly over-priced in my opinion.

DISCLAIMER: I was sent the above item for the purposes of this review. All thoughts and opinion are my own. 

Little L is 3 weeks old

I can't believe that our little one is 3 weeks old! She changed so much since the day she was born and keep changing constantly.

Her skin is shedding and flaking on a forehead which means she looks cute but slightly weird.

We are finally discharged from midwife's care which means less pressure on me or little one, but we still struggling with putting weight.

She is slightly more settled at night (touch wood), and last night was waking up every 3 hours to feed, few nights before slept pretty much throughout the whole night.

We have problems with keeping L in her moses basket during the night, which was swapped with her carry cot from travel system and now she hates it as well and can only sleep on me or next to me in our bed. I am worried that it is not an ideal for any of us, but as long as she sleeps and alive (and I'm watching her like a hawk) nothing else matters.

We also found a new cleaning routing, when she soiled her nappy and if it is badly soiled I tend to wash her bits in the sink, some days she hates it and other days very calm. The same situation with bathing, in general she hates it, but when we try to entertain her with rattle she doesn't mind it.

Little L is still very alert but can't be bothered with toys, bouncer or swing just yet.

She is struggling sometimes with wind, burping and when it happens I feel so sorry for her.

Believe it or not sometimes when I look into her big eyes I see heart-shaped pupils, it's definitely love :-)

Little L is 2 weeks old

I am a little bit late with a 2 week update as I struggle to find time for anything else rather than little one.

She is a cute little girl, and I just love staring at her and in her big eyes.

My mum was helping out this week and will do the same next week which is amazing as I need some time to catch up on sleep during the day.

I am extremely jealous of my in laws when they spend time with her and my first grocery shopping without her left me absolutely lost, my husband said that I was completely useless at shopping as I had little L on my mind all the time.

This weird jealous of mine brought new emotions and feelings toward my mother in law in particular, I hate when she is around, I hate when she comes without a call and invites her daughters around without telling us, going through my and little L's postnatal notes, I am jealous when she has little L in her arms, I watch her when she is with my baby and tend to find lots of negative things, as you can imagine all these affects my family life.

As for little L:

- she is 40g away from her birth weight

- spends more time looking around

- slightly more settled at night

- her neck muscles are getting stronger this week

- keeps smiling when sleeping

- hates nappy changing or bathing

- likes to spend time sleeping outside and our walks in the park

- had a taster of a dummy

- she can be wriggly at night even though looks like she is sleeping

Giveaway # 4 Hattie Elephant Baby Girl mini photo frame

Here is my 4th giveaway and I'm giving away a baby girl mini photo frame.

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

P.S. giveaway starts on 11 July 12:30pm and ends on 25 July 12am

Good luck to all and please share this giveaway! 

Little L is 1 week old

I didn't realise how life changing it is to have a baby and very appreciative that I have my husband around for these 2 weeks to help me out and to adjust to new life.

Little L is not your typical straightforward baby, at least that's what we think. She can be changed, fed, talked to and still cry non-stop for hours during the day or night. First few days at home I (we) literally had no sleep as she was constantly crying and nothing could soothe her, which means we have no time for anything else. If we have any visitors she is good as gold and by the time they leave she starts crying again. 

From birth she has dry skin and rash all over her body, dry skin is treated with olive oil, and we are yet to find out what our midwife thinks about the rash, as we think it might be eczema (condition my husband has). 

I would love to find out a magical phone app which can tell us why baby cries as sometimes it is so hard to understand if she is unhappy, bored, in pain, hungry etc etc.

So far, yesterday (I guess as a way of saying thank you) she allowed us to have some sleep during the night!And today we are back to lots of crying, even during the day.

Regardless of tiredness, soreness, lack of my own time she is the cutest baby in the world and I just love watching her and lots of facial expressions she makes.

1 week milestones:

- she lost weight according to day 1 weight in she was 3600g., day 4- 3260 g. and according to day 6 weigh in she put on some weight-3360g.

- umbilical cord fell of on day 4

- she has minimal head control when held upright

- very alert when awake

- spontaneous smile

- tries to focus on objects but not for long time

- has lots of wind

- lifts her arms if hears sudden noise

- her stool colour definitely changed from dark back/brown to yellow/mustardy colour

- she doesn't require burping and spit up very rarely

- she had her first bath at home and to our surprise didn't scream at all

- she is definitely a screamer and a crier and sometimes it's hard to soothe her

- pulls funny faces when awake and asleep

Importance of pelvic floor exercises and how to do them

Source

To my embarrassment I didn't do much of pelvic floor exercises during my pregnancy due to the fact that others were telling me it's normal to have leaks and my midwife never stressed a point how important it is to do them.

I feel that after birth I need to do them properly that I will fail in my own eyes if at least I won't give it a go. Plus after labour physiotherapist visited me in the ward and explained that to return to my normal shape and get rid of soreness I would need to do them. So here is my written promise that I will try and do my best.

To help me and others (apparently not only women need to do this exercises but men as well) to understand how important these exercises are here is a little bit of information from official resources.

According to NHS website:

What are pelvic floor exercises?

The pelvic floor muscles are located between your legs, and run from your pubic bone at the front to the base of your spine at the back. They are shaped like a sling and hold your bladder and urethra (the tube urine comes out of) in place.

The pelvic floor muscles support the bladder and bowel and give you control when you urinate. They relax at the same time as the bladder contracts (tightens) to let urine out.

Why pelvic floor exercises are important?

Weakened pelvic muscles can cause problems, such as urinary incontinence (being unable to control when you pass urine) and reduced sensitivity (feeling) during sex.

Stress incontinence is a type of urinary incontinence where small amounts of urine leak out during an activity. Doing pelvic floor exercises can help improve stress incontinence by keeping your pelvic muscles strong. Both men and women can do pelvic floor exercises.

How to do pelvic floor exercises

You can feel your pelvic floor muscles if you try to stop the flow of urine when you go

to the toilet. However, it is not recommended that you regularly stop your flow of urine mid stream because it can be harmful to the bladder.

To strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, sit comfortably and squeeze the muscles 10 to 15 times in a row. Do not hold your breath or tighten your stomach, buttock or thigh muscles at the same time.

When you get used to doing pelvic floor exercises, you can try holding each squeeze for a few seconds. Every week, you can add more squeezes, but be careful not to overdo it and always have a rest in-between sets of squeezes.

NCT website says:

Your pelvic floor muscles are made up of two kinds of muscle fibre: slow twitch for stamina and fast twitch for quick contractions. For best effect, you need to exercise both kinds.

Slow exercise option 1

1. Sit or lie comfortably with your knees slightly apart. Pull up the muscles surrounding your back passage, then pull up towards the front. Hold and count to four, remembering to breathe normally.
2. Double check you aren't pulling in buttock muscles by placing your hand on your bottom as you do the exercises. It's OK if you're tensing your lower abdominal muscles slightly.
3. When you find this exercise easy, try holding for a longer count, up to a maximum of ten.
4. With these exercises, quality is better than quantity: it's much better to do a few good ones at a time.

Slow exercise option 2

1. Imagine your pelvic floor is like a lift. Tighten the muscles around the anus and vagina, as if closing doors in a lift. Now tighten a little more as if you're going up to the first floor, then the second, then gently come back down to the ground again, making sure you keep breathing normally throughout.
2. Try coughing or blowing into your fist. You will feel the muscles of your pelvic floor being pushed down. This will also happen when your baby's head starts to move down the birth canal during the second stage of labour. Knowing how to relax these muscles will help you give birth to your baby.

Fast exercise

Try tightening and then relaxing your pelvic floor muscles as quickly as you can, 5-6 times in a row. These are the muscles which contract instantly when you cough or sneeze to resist the rise in abdominal pressure. Before you cough, sneeze, lift or laugh, try to take a moment to pull these muscles up.

According to Tena website:

• Carry on doing your pelvic floor exercises for several months. You should notice a difference within 2 to 4 months of regular exercise, but physiotherapists recommend you continue for around 6 months.
• Once you’ve got your bladder weakness under control you can then reduce the number of times you need to do these exercises. However, we recommend you carry on using these muscles every day, when you need them, to keep them working effectively.

Did you have weak pelvic muscles during pregnancy or after?

Giveaway #3 Keep Calm: The New Mum's Manual book by Dr. Ellie Canon

Ladies and gents, I am giving away Keep Calm: The New Mum's Manual, with an introduction by Jools Oliver, is the perfect antidote to inflexible, guilt-inducing parenting guides. Turning the tables on encyclopaedic tomes on parenthood and their often conflicting advice, GP and mum-of-two Dr Ellie will empower you to relax, trust your instincts and enjoy your new baby. 

Includes:

* Early days - looking after baby and listening to your instincts

* Sleeping - establishing a flexible routine that works

* Feeding - making the right, guilt-free choices

* Soothing - understanding crying and settling your baby

* Weaning - starting with a simple action plan for success

* Development - identifying key milestones and not worrying

* Health - recognising baby illnesses and when to call the doctor

* Vaccinations - understanding the facts and getting them without tears

This isn't a one-size-fits-all routine but a lighthearted, sensible guide that is full of essential advice to build your confidence and bring back mummy power.

a Rafflecopter giveaway 
P.S. giveaway starts on 04 July 12am and ends on 18 July 12am

Good luck to all and please share this giveaway!

Big news!!!

My Little bundle of joy has arrived on 30 June! Birth story to follow!