PREGNANCY: MY LABOUR AND DELIVERY STORY








This is my labour and delivery story, It might be a little TMI so if your squrimish or don't really care about my labour then don't read this post. I really wanted to document it so I have it to look back on for myself. I had planned to film my labour for my vlog channel but that didn't end up happening so i'd rather write it down and then if I plan on having more kids I can read it back but also i'm sure some people will be interested, I know I read some labour stories and watched videos to prepare me for my own labour.

So i'd been feeling uncomfortable for a few weeks. My pregnancy wasn't great and I felt exhausted and in pain most of the time. I'd suffered with sciatica quite early on and towards the end was having alot of pelvic pain, which i'm actually still suffering with. This along with the twinges and back pain made the last few weeks of pregnancy really hard and going overdue really took it's toll on me mentally, honestly I just couldn't be bothered anymore and I didn't really do much in the last few weeks I just waited for her to come.

On Saturday 11th November I was at home for most of the day, I was actually making some frames as the next day I was supposed to go to my friends baby's 1st Birthday/ Christening and also my sisters baby shower. I'd managed to finish my friends frame and made a good start on my sisters one, my living room was covered in craft bits and I felt uncomfortable and fed up. We needed to go to Tesco and was going to my moms to help her with some last minute bits for the baby shower so we left and around 6:30pm in Tesco I was feeling very uncomfortable, like something was happening. I actually needed to sit down so I sat on a bench and waited for Clint to get what we needed. We then headed to my moms and I was helping by putting some sweet bags and putting favors together, I was siting on the floor on a cushion because I needed room for the stuff, I couldn't keep still and kept getting up and pacing because I was very uncomfortable. My mom was watching me and asking if I thought I was in labour but I really didn't know. The pain was bareable but it just kept coming and going which made me think it was contractions but my water hadn't broke so I wasn't sure.

As the night went on Clint and I decided to stay at my moms for a little longer as she was going to be my birth partner alongside Clint and I did feel like this could be it. I'd started timing the contractions at about 9:30pm and they were very frequent, about 3 minutes apart and lasting a good 30-50 seconds. We had phoned the hospital at around 11pm who said to stay at home and to phone back when the pain was worse. I decided to have a bath at this point as the pain wasn't bad but I thought it would make me feel more relaxed which it did. After my bath I dried and straightened my hair, I was still breathing through the contractions every 3 minutes and they were getting longer and lasting about a minute. I was in pain, it was still bareable but we phoned the hospital again as we had a good 30-40 minute drive ahead of us and i'd never actually been to the labour ward so wasn't too sure where we were heading. They told us to come in so we jumped in the car and made our way in. Luckily we had all the bags in the car already, we went via our flat to pick up my pregnancy pillow and birthing ball. (pregnancy pillow was amazing in hospital as their pillows are pants and ball stayed in the car) The car journey was actually okay, I sat in the front and adjusted the chair so I was more comfortable. We arrived in about 25-30 minutes and got parked up. We left all the stuff in the car and decided to see how far along we was and my mom and Clint could go back and get the bits later.

We arrived at the hospital and went round the the entrance that I'd seen on the hospital website ( as I said i'd only ever been there for scans, never to the labour ward) The door was locked and no one was answering the buzzer, finally someone answered and let us in, they told us to take a seat in the waiting room.

Someone came over and got us after about 10 minutes and in this time i'd had a contraction but I was worried they seemed to be slowing down. They put us in a lovely room, with the birthing pool. It was really big and I was quite excited about having baby in here. A midwife came in and got us hooked up to the machine and we were on this for about 30 minutes, she came back and the baby had dropped off a little so she needed me to stay on for abit longer. She came back and examined me and I was at 2cm, she explained that the contractions were frequent enough just not strong enough. She said we would need to go home until the contractions got worse. Before we could get discharged she explained that she needed to have a doctor look over the moinitoring before they could let me go as the baby had dropped off. The doctor wouldn't discharge me and wanted to monitor us again in a couple of hours so I got put onto a ward at about 4:30 in the morning and my mom and Clint were sent home. I was still having contractions and they were still every 3 minutes or so and were getting stronger. I was on a really dark ward, I think it was an induction ward. There was a big ball so I was sat on it and leaning over it, just breathing through the pain.

Clint came back up at about 7am, he's brought me a sandwhich but I couldnt think about food. I hadn't slept at all and I think he got about half an hour.
The midwife came round at about 8am and hooked me back up to the monitor. I think the midwife came back with a consultant to check my progress. Baby was all good on the monitor so they were happy with that. They examined me and I was 3cm, on the cusp of 4cm so they were going to get me moved onto the labour ward soon. The doctor said once I was on the labour ward he would get them to break my waters to speed things along. By 11am, I was in quite alot of pain, i'd gone to the toilet and I was loosing alot of blood so Clint went to get someone. They were just about to move me to the labour ward anyway and didn't seem concerned by the blood. 

We walked around the the labour ward, again we were in a nice room, (no birthing pool ) I met my midwife and I was asked if I minded having a student present, I didn't mind. My midwives were so lovely and made me feel really comfortable. They put me on a wireless monitor so I could move around and because baby had dropped off they seemed pretty happy to monitor me the whole way through labour. The doctors were happy with baby's growth so my labour was considered low risk so I didn't need to be monitored but I didn't mind. The examined me right away because I was in quite abit of pain, and possibly due to the blood. At this point I was 9cm dilated. I was so happy that i'd got so far by myself without any intervention or pain relief. I was then offered gas and air which I took. They decided against braking my waters because I was so far along so decided to leave me to labour naturally. I got to 10cm pretty quickly and felt like I needed to push. What I was actually pushing was my waters. They came out intact, they didn't break and just hung like a water balloon in between my legs for awhile. Apparently this is rare and good luck, Sometimes baby comes out into the sack but Amelia didn't. Her hand was up by her face so I was struggling to push her out. I felt the gas and air was working really well and really helped with the pain. I was all fours on the bed for most of the pushing stage. We had to change position to try and get her hand out of the way so I went onto my side, with my leg up in the air. Clint actually held my leg up for ages. She then started to come out. Everyone was saying she has loads of hair. After about 1 and a half hours on the labour ward Amelia was born at 13:18 weighing 6Ib 5oz They passed her to me and it's such a surreal feeling holding your baby. It doesn't feel real, it's really weird. They confirmed she was a girl and it was amazing. We did skin to skin right away and it was lovely having that time to just hold her and look at how perfect she was. It was all over, I was so proud and just amazed that i'd done it and honestly is wasn't that bad. They then took her to be weighed and got her dressed and then we got more cuddles. She was born small and on the 2nd centile so they needed her to feed, we tried to get her to latch but she wouldn't so she had a bottle as they needed to check her blood sugars due to her weight. She had to be monitored for 24 hours and she was fine and we managed to get her blood sugars up and was discharged on the tuesday, she was born on the Sunday. I am going to be writing a blog post about my feeding experience so I will go into more detail in that.

My midwives were great, they made me feel so comfortable, I didn't feel stupid at all. I'd worried a couple of times if the monitor went quiet but they reassured me that it was all fine. I felt very comfortable and was half naked for basically the whole labour, I did have a sheet over me at the start but this didn't last long. I had some funny moments on the gas and air for example I kept repeating ' I just feel like i'm shitting myself' and apparently I was asking the student about her course and how long she has left before shes qualified? I also described gas and air as the feeling you have when you are drunk and have your head on the toilet door.

 Overall I had a really positive labour experience, the whole thing from having contractions to giving birth took about 18 hours. Pushing was around an hour. I got to 9cm without any pain relief and only had gas and air towards the end. My midwives were amazing and made the whole experience very pleasant. They dimmed the lights to make the room feel more relaxed. They were friendly and chatty and just lovely. I had been very vague with my birth plan because I knew that not everything goes to plan, so I didn't get my birthing pool but I really don't mind. The pain was bareable, the only really painful bit was pushing her out as I did tear a little and needed a few stitches but I think I managed the pain really well and breathing through the contractions really helped. The gas and air really helped with the pain and didn't make me feel sick or out of it, I knew what was going on the whole time. I had the injection to deliver the placenta and this came away very quickly and I was stitched up quickly too.

We were moved onto a ward after a little time just holding her and getting myself dressed and spending some time taking pictures and just taking it all in. I was crying and thanking the midwives. I remember saying ' I can't believe shes here' a few times. It really is an incredible experience.

I understand that not everyone has a great birth story and I haven't wrote this to rub in that I had a positive experience personally. But I found when I was watching videos or reading birth stories that they can be unpleasant and everyones quick to tell you how bad their labour was and you always hear about what went wrong and I personally wouldn't change anything about my labour apart from I wish Clint could have stayed on the first night when I was having contractions by myself but even that wasn't that bad. He was at the birth and thats the main thing.

Did you have a positive birth story?


CHRISTMAS: GIFT IDEAS FOR FOOD LOVERS




I thought i'd put together a little food lovers gift guide as I have a few products that didn't really fit into any of my other gift guide categories and they seemed to fit the foodie category. 

First up, if you saw yesterdays post you will have seen I featured a Luxury hamper from Prestige Hampers. Today i'm including this smaller hamper, this is a more affordable option and it contains lots of festive goodies. The Seasonal Treats Box retails at £22.99 and is full of lots of lovely brands and products. 

You get a range of products including jams, fudge, popcorn, tea and more... 

It comes in this really nice box which would be easy to wrap or you can have it delivered to the recipient in time for Christmas. 

As I mentioned in yesterdays post I think hampers are a great gift idea for those people that we struggle to buy gifts for. They look impressive and are usually full of lovely treats that most of us would be happy to recieve. 

Next is this cute condiments pot from Helen Russel creations, it's such a cute little pot and would make a lovely gift for Christmas for any food lover ( or penguin lover) I think this would make the perfect mint sauce pot or you could use it for another condiment on Christmas Day. I will use this all year round as I love it and think it's just so cute. Helen has lots of other lovely products including stationary, cards and other Christmas products so be sure to have a look. 

Finally I thought this was such an unusual product perfect for any Prosecco lover ( we all know one) With this you can turn water into Prosecco, I think this is really fun and a lovely gift idea instead of just buying someone a bottle of fizz they can actually make their own. You can buy this from findmeagift.com and it's actually on offer right now.  

A few more food gifts that I think would make nice gifts are, a voucher- getting someone a voucher for meal out or a night at the cinema can mean alot to some people. Maybe they are saving to buy a house or don't really have time to think about going for a meal. This gives people an excuse to put a date in their diary and go out without spending any money. 
Another idea is a ticket to The Good Food Show or a similar event a like market etc. Again it gets people out to events that they might not have gone to before and if they love food they will be thrilled to attend a foodie event. 
Experience days, there's lots of foodie experience days out there. You can go wine tasting or go on a course and learn how to cook. You will be surprised at how many food and drink experiences there are. 


I hope my gift ideas for food lovers has helped? What kind of gifts would you buy for the food lover in your life? 







* this post contains pr samples

CHRISTMAS: PRESTIGE HAMPERS



I have kindly been sent this amazing hamper from Prestige Hampers to feature on my blog. I don't know what it is about hampers but I associate them with Christmas, I don't really get hampers any other time of year. I usually get a hamper from work and Clint has actually got a hamper this year too nothing like this one from Prestige Hampers though. 

This is the Happy Christmas Basket it's a really decent size and packed full of goodies. They basket is lovely, it's a great quality and you could use it again and again. The handle makes it perfect for picnics or you could use it around the house for decoration, I actually use a basket like this to store things in my bathroom like bath bombs and shower gels so it looks tidy. 

The basket is full of lots of amazing brands and products. There is a really good selection of products and variety. This is a non-alcoholic hamper so it's perfect for everyone. I love the little lemonade and ginger beer, the bottles are really cute. 

Inside theres, tea, coffee, biscuits, chocolates, cake, Christmas pudding, and popcorn! It's just jam packed with lots of amazing treats. 

I think hampers are a great gift for employers to give to their employees because you can't really go wrong with a lovely hamper. I also this would be a lovely gift for my Grandparents as I usually struggle with what to get them but I know they would eat everything in here so it would make a great gift. I think hampers are a nice gift idea and great if you struggle to buy for someone. This one looks very luxiourous aswell because of the lovely basket.

There's still time to order before Christmas so head over to Prestige Hampers to check them out, they have a range of different hampers and other products to choose from and they vary in price so go on over and have a look. 












* this post contains pr samples

CHRISTMAS: DECORATING OUR TREE WITH AMARA



I love decorating the tree, it's one of my favourite things about the season. I always get so excited about decorating the tree. We make a night of it and watch Christmas films and have big mugs of hot chocolate with cream and marshmellows.

We've had our tree for a couple of years now, and i'm still happy with my colour theme, I went for a mixture of metals so there's lots of Gold, Silver, Rose Gold, Bronze and copper decorations. This year I decided to add a little bit of pink to the tree as we've had a little girl but also i've added some blush pink soft furnishings to our living room like cushions and throws so this ties everything together.

Most of our baubles were from B&M, we bought a few packs of baubles and then I picked up some unique baubles from places like John Lewis and Oliver Bonas.

This year i've kindly been sent a few gorgeous decorations from Amara.com They have a really lovely selection of Christmas Decorations to choose from and alot of them have now been discounted so you can get yourself some gorgeous luxury decorations for less.

The Angel Wings  came in a pack of two. They are a really decent size and a gorgeous gold/ silver glitter finish. They really stand out on the tree and lots of people have commented on them.

The two pink baubles are also from Amara, I love the fluffy one, it's so pretty and is really unique. The other pink one has sequins on and is also really lovely. The shade of pink is perfect and I think it really ties the whole tree together. I actually picked up the pink 'First Christmas' bauble from a little stall in our local shopping center but I think this works well with the pink baubles from Amara.

The personalised baubles are from Selfridges, I picked them up a couple of years ago, i'm not sure if they still do them but I've just ordered Amelia a personalised one from Notonthehighstreet.com and i've seen that Next have started a personalised range.

Make sure you head on over to Amara.com as I said they have discounted all of their decorations so you can get yourself some gorgeous pieces for your tree for less. Head on over and let me know what your favourite decoration is, they have a really cool pineapple decoration that I might have to order.












CHRISTMAS: GIFT GUIDE FOR HIM



I know some people find it really hard to shop for the men in their lives. I have a few men to shmen op for over Christmas, Clint, my dad, his dad and my grandad. I agree that men are difficult to shop for and I don't know if it's just the men in my life but they always say they don't need anything so it's super hard to shop for them. I tend to play it safe and stick to smellies but i've got a few other gift ideas below to help you shop for the men in your life.

As I mentioned above I tend to go for smellies, you can't really go wrong as men always need shower gels and aftershaves. This Crabtree and Evelyn Moroccan Myrrh Cologne is a really lovely scent, I really like the packaging, the Orange really stands out. There is a whole Moroccan Myrrh range so check that out too for other products like soap, shave cream and body wash.

Another brand that does some really good smellies and other mens grooming products is Bluebeards Revenge. They have a huge selection of products such as aftershaves, shaving products and haircare products. Their products smell amazing and Clint has actually been a fan of theirs for a few years now. He really likes their Matt Clay hair product. This gift set is a great value for money as it contains a 100ml size bottle of the Bluebeards Revenge Eau de toilette and a 150ml size of the shower gel. They come in this lovely gift box so would make a lovely gift.


Chemist.co.uk have actually put together some really great gift sets perfect for Christmas, they have a set for her, for him and one for the kids. There are some really great products in the set for him including a Dove For Men Moisturiser  and face wash. A Rock Face Body spray,  moisturiser  and shower wash  aswell as a Loreal Men Expert Shower Gel. It's a great set with lots of fab brands and products inside. You can also shop the products individually and the website also stock lots more brands and products at really good prices.

If you don't want to buy grooming or skincare products for the men in your life then here's a few other gift ideas that might help. Clint has quite a big DVD collection and he usually asks for some DVD's for Christmas. I knew he would want the new Fast and Furious film so i've picked that up for him, we've actually bought the other DVD Black Sails for his Dad as he likes DVD's too! The new Game of Thrones season is out this week too, I think that would be a good gift for those Thrones fans out there! I think dvd's are quite affordable so even if your on a tight budget this is a good option. If you don't really know what DVD to get someone but you know they would appreciate a DVD or CD you could get them a voucher for somewhere like HMV.

This leather belt is from Dobell, I really like brown leather belts and think they look really smart. It's always handy to have a belt and Clint's belts are all looking a little worse for wear so I thought i'd grab him a new one. I like the simple style of this belt and think it would go with most of his clothes. Dobell also stock black belts so if you prefer a black belt then check them out. The belt is really good quality and a good price. Sometimes its good to buy people the things they need, I always tend to grab Clint some new socks, underwear and this year a nice new belt.

A few other gift ideas for him include, a shaver - I bought my dad a shaver last year I think, I got him a dry or wet shaver and he uses it all the time.
Gadgets! Men love gadgets, my dad asks for a drone nearly every year! I always get him one but he seems to crash or lose them.
Clothing- My dad and Clint always need new clothes, why not get them a nice new pair of jeans like these ones from River Island.  I like the straight leg style and I think that dark navy jeans always look smart. I always buy Clint and my dad socks because you can't go wrong with some new socks.
Personalised gifts - It's Clints first Christmas as a daddy, I really want to get him a frame or a keyring that says daddy
How about some new car cleaning products, The Simoniz car cleaning gift kit with wireless mouse is a great gift idea for those car lovers out there.  


What do you get the men in your life for Christmas? Have you got any good gift ideas? Have you done your Christmas shopping already, I have loads to buy!













* This post contains PR samples.

CHRISTMAS: CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS FROM LUSH



It's Christmas which means LUSH have all of their amazing gift sets in store and online! I'm a huge fan of LUSH and some of their Christmas products are my absolute favourites! They have a huge range of gift sets and they vary in price so there is something to suit every budget.

I think you can't really go wrong with LUSH products as gifts. They do lots of different gift sets, or if your looking for a smaller gift you can buy an individual product such as a bath bomb or shower gel.
I know LUSH isnt for everyone but they actually do a huge range of products, even some very subtle ones with hardly any scent for people who don't like strong smells. They also sell massage bars and fresh cleansers so they have something for everyone.

I'm going to talk about a few of their amazing Christmas gift sets that are available this season. First is the Merry Christmas gift set, this includes 4 bath bombs so is perfect for any bath lovers. I love getting Christmas bath bombs, this set actually includes the Golden Wonder bath bomb which is one of my all time favourites because it' so pretty ( I haven't photographed it because it actually broke in the box but it's a gold present shape ) It creates lots of blue and yellow colour in the bath and has a really gorgeous citrus scent!  This gift set also includes the Shoot For The Stars gifts set which is a lovely blue bath bomb with gold glittery stars in, the Cocoa butter in this bath bomb leaves your skin feeling super soft and the gold glitter sits on top of the colbalt blue water like a midnight sky. I haven't tried Thundersnow before so i'm looking forward to giving that a try. Apparently it smells like peppermint which just screams Christmas to me so i'm so excited to try this one out. I bet it leaves you feeling so fresh. Finally the Christmas Sweater bath bomb which I also think is another new one, this one is a more spicy, gingery scent so another festive scent and it makes the water red, orange and yellow.

Next is the Snow Fairy gift set. Snow Fairy is an iconic Christmas Scent from Lush. It's super popular and I remember it used to sell out over Christmas because it was so popular. I think they hold better stock now to keep up with the demand but I know people stock up on it for the year as it's only around at Christmas. The set contains 4 Snow Fairy products including the shower gel, body conditioner, jelly bomb and reusable magic wand. The gift is perfect for a Snow Fairy fan. They also have a smaller set, Little Snow Fairy which contains the shower gel and jelly bomb.

Best Wishes is another gift set available this year and it includes Christmas Sweater bath bomb, a snowman bubbleroon and the Saucy Snowcake soap. This set has abit more variety of products so would be good for someone who hasn't tried any Lush products before but want's to give some a try.


The sets vary in price but they start off very reasonable. They are beautifully packaged in either a decorative box or wrapped in a lovely festive paper and finished off with a bow. They are a lovely gift idea. Check out the LUSH website to see what other sets they have and you can search by price making it super easy to stick to budget. The website is really informative so any product information / ingredients etc you can find everything you need.














*This post contains PR samples