PRETTY YOUNG THING

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?

It was my baby shower yesterday so I thought i'd share a few pictures from the day. I thought it would be nice to document the day on my blog so I can look back at it but also so people who are planning a baby shower can get a few tips and ideas.

We did it on a Sunday afternoon as I felt this would be a good day for most people who work Monday to Friday,  on the invite I said from 3pm onwards so there was no pressure for everyone to arrive at 3 but most people came between 3-4 which was good. We had a few people who came abit later due to work commitments but as I work in retail I was expecting this to happen.

The day was pretty casual, I just wanted people to have a good time, eat some food and have a drink and mingle. We organised a few games but there was no obligation to play them and they were just dotted around for people to have a go. We did stick the dummy on the baby which went down well!
We also did Guess what's in the Nappy and Guess the baby food, These were good because people could play if they wanted to and they could do so at their own pace.

We also had some areas for people to leave messages for us, my mom had seen an idea on pinterest where people write on nappies so you have some fun messages to read when your changing the babies bum. We also had a little station with prediction cards and some note paper for people to leave messages, I think I'm going to make a little scrapbook of my baby shower and include these in here.

We had lots of amazing buffet food and my mom made my amazing cake and she also made the cupcakes. We had sandwiches, pizza, sausage rolls, and your usual party food, snacks, sweets etc. We wasn't sure if people would be drinking alcohol or not, apparently people don't usually drink at baby showers because the mom can't drink but it didn't bother me so we bought some wine, we did Prosecco with elderflower cordial which went down well and lots of soft drinks like juice, coke and more. I wanted to make a mocktail but we didn't have time in the end.

As you can see we had lots of decorations balloons, bunting, pom poms so everywhere was very pink. Everyone was really impressed with the decorations and it looked fab. My mom also made a nappy cake which was a really lovely gift idea as well as a gorgeous decoration.


We were very spoilt and my lovely friends and family went crazy with the presents, cards, balloons and vouchers and we are all very lucky and blessed to have such amazing people in our lives and bubba is one lucky and very well loved baby already. We had lots of amazing gifts and I have no idea where everything is going to go, little bubba has lots of clothes, toys and I don't think we will ever need to buy bubble bath, baby lotion or shampoo.

I need to get some Thank You cards for people to thank them all for their generosity. I also need to thank my amazing momma for pretty much organizing everything and making the amazing cake. Clint was amazing too, he was around in the morning to help us with food and last minute decorations and ended up staying all day he took photos and made sure everyone's drinks were topped up and he made sure I was eating and drinking. The day was quite overwhelming and we had alot of people in the house and I did struggle a little with being stood up and mingle-ing but I think we managed and i'm sure everyone had a lovely day.

Today's post is very personal and a bit different but it's something that i'd like to document and I thought I might be able to help someone in a similar situation so today's post is about Anxiety, specifically my anxiety during pregnancy.


I was diagnosed with Anxiety last year, I was having problems with my blood pressure and they thought it may have been down to my contraceptive pill, I was taking Microgynon which I had been taking for many years I was put onto a mini pill called Cerazette and I really didn't get on with it. I found it made me feel abit down and sad so I stopped taking it. Around this time I was having my blood pressure checked and then I started to get other symptoms like my chest would really hurt and I was getting pain in my neck and shoulders. After a few weeks I went to the walk in and was diagnosed with Anxiety, they now think that my blood pressure was also a symptom of my anxiety. I didn't realise that Anxiety caused physical symptoms. The doctor prescribed me a beta-blocker which is a tablet to reduce your heartrate which didn't do anything so I just put up with these physical symptoms for a few weeks/months. This was a very stupid thing to do because all that happened was it all got worse. I would get myself into such a state leaving the house for work that I would feel sick and panic. I actually started having panic attacks then I knew I needed to do something, I got signed off work for a few weeks and just stayed in bed, I stopped seeing friends and wasn't myself at all.

I went to my doctors and I asked for help, I was recommended CBT which is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I really didn't want to go onto medication, I don't have any problems with medication but I wanted to try talking to someone or a type of therapy before just going onto pills. Healthy Minds is a service within Birmingham and they provide a CBT course, this does mean that you have to sit in a room with other people but the wait for one on one sessions is so long on the NHS and I don't have the money to go private. I felt the course was brilliant, it was a 6 week course and each session was 2 hours. You didn't have to talk if you didn't want to, you could just listen but my group was really easy to talk to. I learnt ways to deal with my anxiety and why I was feeling like this and that it's normal to have some anxiety. If you are struggling with anxiety i'd say have a look into CBT and see if there's a similar course in your area, or even if you can afford to wait for the NHS or go private check out CBT before taking medication.

I felt alot better once i'd completed the course,  I felt like I had more control over the way I felt and I stopped having the physical symptoms. I honestly felt that because I could look at it logically and I knew that what I was thinking was probably never going to happen or my chest was hurting because I was getting myself worked up and I wasn't going to have a heart attack.

I found out I was pregnant a few months ago and i've noticed my Anxiety creeping back into my life, I had a meeting with a mental health midwife pretty early on and she was happy that the way I was feeling was completely normal and the level of anxiety I was showing was normal for any first time mummy-to-be. As the weeks have gone on i've found myself getting worse and again I didn't want to talk to anyone about it, I thought if I ignore it then it will just go away but it hasn't.

I find myself worrying about every little thing which I know is normal to an extent, i've never been pregnant before this is all new and different. A few examples include, the night before the scan I was tossing and turning, unable to sleep because I was that scared that they was going to tell me that there was something wrong with the baby or even that I wasn't actually pregnant. I've pretty much got myself worked up before every scan. I'm scared that something will be wrong but that hasn't been the case, shes been fine, wriggling and perfect in every way.

I finally told the Midwife a few weeks ago, I think it was at my 24 week appointment that I was struggling, that I was worrying about things being wrong with the baby. I think it's gotten worse since i've started feeling movements. My placenta is anterior which means I can have reduced movements, this has worried me a lot and i've gotten into quite a state on a few occasions because she hasn't moved for a while. We've had a few trips to the labour ward to get her checked over and each time she's been fine ( if you are pregnant and you are having reduced movements, even if you have an anterior placenta or not you should phone your labor ward/ midwife as soon as you start to worry and they will get you checked over, its better to be safe than sorry and they will check you, don't feel like you are being a nuisance or putting someone out the way. You will feel 100% better once you've heard that little heartbeat and they tell you that everything is ok)  If something is wrong this way they can monitor you and make sure you get any help you need.

After talking to my midwife we agreed that I would see her at 26 weeks instead of waiting till the usual 28 weeks, I knew that hearing the baby again in a few weeks instead of 4 weeks would make me feel a lot better and then if I had any questions etc I could ask her. At our 26 week appointment she measured my bump which they usually do between 26-28 weeks and bump measured small so she sent me straight for a growth scan which showed that she is measuring a little small. Since then we've had an appointment with a consultant who talked us through the scan and explained that we will have a few more scans and they would be keeping an eye on baby and myself. Today we had another scan so they could check the fluid around baby and the blood in the umbilical cord which is all looking good, they are going to keep an eye on this and we have another growth scan next week which will tell us if baby is growing ok, it's nerve-wracking but i'm glad they are keeping a close eye on us.

I am now seeing my midwife every week up until the birth or until I need to help with my anxiety and so she knows whats going on. She's really easy to talk to and i'm really lucky as I am very comfortable with her. I would say if you are struggling to talk to your midwife then do something about it because you need to be able to ask questions. You can phone your community midwife office and they will give you the details for a different midwife, it's very easy to sort out, (i've actually had to help my sister change midwifes and it's all sorted now and she is getting much better care.)

I am still struggling with anxiety and I know that talking to my midwife about my worries is helping, I am having another appointment with the mental health midwife and hopefully she will help abit, but the main thing I would say is have a good relationship with your midwife, talk to her about how your feeling because just having those extra appointments has helped me because I know I don't have a long wait until I next hear babys heartbeat or I can just ask the midwife next week if I have a quick question. I have also reduced my hours at work to 3 days a week which is such a big help and I've talked to my manager and she now knows how i'm feeling and I've been texting her about my extra hospital appointments etc so she knows exactly whats going on.

I hope that once baby arrives that my anxiety calms down again, I've looked back through my anxiety CBT course papers and i'm trying to look at everything logically and not jump to the worst possible conclusion and it's hard but i'm trying. Just talk to people and make sure that your doctor and midwife knows how your feeling, don't keep it all bottled inside because anxiety is hard and it's not nice but talking helps.




I really hope this post has helped or allowed you to understand more about anxiety throughout pregnancy, everyone is different and anxiety can be different to everyone. If you have any questions or need someone to talk to, i'm happy to help just send me an email or leave a comment. I'm not a doctor and i'm no where near qualified as we are all different. I just wanted to document my battle with anxiety throughout my pregnancy and hopefully this will help someone who is struggling to come to terms with their anxiety and they might seek the help they need.

Hello! I thought i'd do a 24 week update as I want to document this pregnancy so I have it all to look back on and I know it will be helpful to others who are expecting or planning on getting pregnant.

As you may know i'm having  a baby and have been thinking about what i'm going to pack in my hospital bag. I have a little while to go but I know the next few months are going to fly by and I like being prepared. I have started writing a list of what I need to buy for my hospital bag.

I thought i'd put a blog post together to share a few bits that I will be including in my hospital bag and thought this post may help those of you who are having babies soon. I am having my baby in November so if your having your baby in summer you may not need all of the above.

This is stuff that will be in my hospital bag, I will do a separate blog post on what I will pack for the baby. I really like this travel bag from Cath Kidston and think it would be the perfect size for my bits and pieces. I think we are going to go to Bicester Village to have a look at the outlet for bags and baby bits.

First of all a few bits that you will need include your hospital notes and any birth plans, throw-away underwear/ old knickers. Maxi-pads, breast pads, and some water and snacks for yourself.

Nightwear, you don't want to spend alot on nightwear in case it gets ruined. I would reccommend getting yourself a few maternity nighties that you can wear throughout your pregnancy. I really like this strappy nightdress from Asda, it's lightweight so you won't get too hot! I also want to pack a nightshirt like this one from Asos. I want to breastfeed and feel this would be easy to undo the buttons to feed baby. The long sleeves will be abit warmer too as i'm having baby during the winter months. I'm also going to need a cosy dressing gown, like this lightweight quilted wrap from David Neiper would be perfect as it's lightweight so I wouldn't get too hot but adds that extra layer.

Again as it's going to be cold I will need some socks and new slippers for when i'm walking around. These ones from Next look really comfy and warm, I have a similar pair from Primark which were only a few quid so I will pick a pair of those up.

I want to get a decent nursing bra, I work in a bra shop and really like this one from Panache, I will most likely get one before bubba is born so I have one for whilst we are in hospital etc and then i'll get a few more once bubba is born and my milk has come in properly.

I will be bring my make up bag with me as I will be one of those people that wear make up during labor, I will only have a bit of foundation and my brows on, maybe some mascara. I hate going out without make up on and I want to have some photos of me during labor and when the baby is born and i'd feel alot more comfortable with a little bit of make up on.

A lipbalm is a must have as you can get dehydrated throughout labor and a lipbalm will stop your lips from getting dry and chapped. The Dr Paw Paw balm is a good all round balm, I have a little travel size tube which I think will be perfect. I am also going to pack my Avene Thermal Spring Water Spray, which i've mentioned on my blog before. This is a water spray which is perfect to cool you down and refresh your skin.

Finally, i'm not sure how much reading or listening to music i'll get to do but if I have to be induced or labor ends up taking a few hours I think bringing my kindle and some earphones will keep me relaxed and make time pass quicker. We will be bringing the camera too so we can film some of the labor and take some photos of the baby when shes first born.


What did you bring in your hospital bag? Am I missing anything?  I hope this post helps you if your having a baby and thinking about what to pack in your hospital bag.





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We are 14 weeks and 2 days today and it's been so long! I am going to do a first trimester update and I will go through all of my symptoms and how i've found the first 14 weeks.  Today I thought i'd just share our announcement and I also have tickets to the baby show to give away so you can read how to win those below!!

We have been trying for a baby so are really excited and happy about our news! I stopped taking the contraceptive pill back in September and just kind of decided to stop preventing pregnancy rather than actually trying to get pregnant, I was using the Ovia fertility app on my phone but this was more to track my cycle. In February I was late on my period (i'm never late) and I felt different, I was going to the toilet more so we picked up a few pregnancy tests. We did two pregnancy tests on the week that I was late and they were both negative so I thought it may just be down to stress that I hadn't started my period yet. About a week later I still felt a bit weird and said to Clint that I wanted to do another test and it had the faintest positive reading. So i did another test and this also had a really faint positive so I phoned my mom who was super excited and she basically said even if it's a faint line it still means i'm pregnant, she said she would bring me another test home from the doctors where she works. So Clint and myself just spent the day being excited but nervous as we wasn't sure if we were pregnant or not. We went round to my moms when she finished work and did the other test and this was even fainter than the two we'd done already so I was so scared that I wasn't pregnant, we had been doing the tests that show up a line so decided to go to Tesco and pick up a Clear Blue test that would say 'Pregnant' or 'Not Pregnant' so we took this back to my parents house and waited the 5 long minutes and up popped Pregnant 1-2 weeks!
It was crazy and for anyone getting a faint positive result just go and get a clear blue it's a lot less stress haha.

As I said i'm going to do some pregnancy updates on my blog and I really want to start doing outfit posts again, i've been abit paranoid incase anyone asked if I was pregnant. I'm already showing and have a nice little bump.

Thanks to everyone for all the lovely comments and likes over on instagram, twitter and facebook yesterday, my phone was going mental all day! I'm glad I can talk about it now!




This May get ready to enjoy a fantastic shopping experience at the UK’s leading pregnancy and parenting event of the year. The Baby Show with MadeForMums will be taking place from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st May, at the NEC Birmingham. Find everything you need for bump, baby and you - with amazing offers all in one place, for three days only!


The show is a great way to get hands on and try before you buy. Brand and product experts will be on hand to tell you everything you need to know, so it’s a great opportunity to compare products and find the right fit for you. There will be over 200 exhibitors showcasing a huge array of essential baby products from trusted brands as well as the latest innovations. All the major baby retailers will be there, alongside market leading brands such as iCandy, Stokke, UppaBaby, Chicco, Britax, MAM, Nuby, Mothercare and Italian brand Peg Perego! There will also be independent brands that you won’t find on the high street. And once you’ve shopped until you’ve dropped, don’t worry about all the carrying as you can take advantage of the free Emma’s Diary Collect-By-Car service where you can drop off all your purchases and continue until you’ve got a car full!


There will be a wonderful line up of speakers on The Baby Show Stage with MadeForMums including experts from the world of breastfeeding, sleep and nutrition! It really is a must-attend show for mums and dads to be, parents, friends and family members.

We’ve teamed up with The Baby Show to give away 2 pairs of tickets worth £20 each!


TO ENTER: FOLLOW @AMYPYT ON TWITTER AND RT THIS TWEET 




comp ends 9/5/17 at 9pm (uk time) 

The Baby Show is taking place on Friday 19th May – Sunday 21st May inclusive, open from 9.30am to 5pm each day. Standard on the door tickets are £20. For more information please visit www.thebabyshow.co.uk.

Ticket Competition Terms & Conditions
No purchase necessary. Entrants must be aged 18 years or over. Competition is open to UK residents only.Entry into this competition confirms your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions and your agreement to be bound by the decisions of The Baby Show.

Entry is strictly limited to one person per ticket code. The winner will be notified by email or phone call once the competition closes. The winners will be selected at random from all the correct entries received before the closing date and time. All prizes must be accepted as offered. There can be no alternative awards, cash or otherwise. Entrants will receive a ticket code which can be activated at http://www.thebabyshow.co.uk/. Tickets cannot be sold on to third parties.