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EVENT: BAMBO NATURE BLOGGER EVENT AT KELMARSH HALL AND GARDENS




A few weeks ago we were invited along to a blogger event to learn all about Bambo Nature UK and their brand and products. 

We were invited along to Kelmarsh Hall and Gardens in Northampton for a wonderful afternoon of activities. The day included learning all about the brand and their products and how the brand is really eco-friendly. We also got to learn some Reflexology and baby massage with Tiny Toes. We had a wonderful buffet lunch which was really tasty and they also had a photographer there throughout the day taking photos not just of the event but also of the babies and families which was lovely. You can see from my blog post that we got some absolutely gorgeous photos of Amelia.  The event was really well organised with the kids in mind so there was really good facilities and lots to keep the kids entertained. 

 Bambo Nature is a Danish Brand of eco-friendly disposable nappies and gentle baby skincare. The Bambo Nature range is accredited by several certification organisations that guarantee the safe use and environmental friendliness of the products. The Nordic Eco-label on the Bambo Nature range is your guarantee that the products are certified to be environment-friendly. 
The brand are not just accredited by the Nordic-Eco Label but also Asthma and Allergy Denmark and Dermatology tested. This means these products are less likely to cause any irritation, eczema or allergy on babies skin. Unfortunately for us we have found that Amelia does seem to be allergic to the nappies and wipes but she has very sensitive skin and i'm actually allergic to a lot of more natural products so I wouldn't let that put you off. We have tried some of their skincare range which so far so good... no allergies. The brand have actually won loads of awards for their products which you can check out  here on their website.

At the event we got to take part in a little taster session of some Reflexology and Massage with Tiny Toes, they are a based in Northampton and offer lots of services aswell as baby reflexology. We got to learn about massage and ways in which you can use this to relieve baby and comfort them when they feel unsettled. It's also a good way to bond with baby and soothing simulation through massage is scientifically show to aid childhood development. 


 The brand also have a range of skincare products which includes their brand new Splish Splash Bath Oil, a Snuggle time body lotion, Love Balm Soothing Cream and Bath Buddy hair and body wash. We are so excited to try the range and I will be featuring the products in a full review once we've given them a proper try for a few weeks. The range is all suitable for sensitive skin and full of natural and organic ingredients. They are free of perfumes, dyes and parabens and certified eco-friendly, vegan and dermatologist tested. So far we've only tried the bath oil and we love this so far but we are super excited to give the other products a try. I love the packaging and the products are really affordable. 

 We also got to learn massage on their feet and how this can also comfort baby, we got to learn a shorter routine just for their feet which you can perform anywhere. I really liked the baby massage and reflexology and have been looking into local groups as it's something i'd love to do with Amelia. She seemed to really enjoy it and i've actually had a look online at some other reflexology and massage videos as Amelia's been a little unsettled this week as she has a cold and I really feel that this is helping her to relax and actually helping her to wind down to relieve her congestion.

 Also throughout there was a lovely photographer Natalie from Imaging Eye Photography who took some amazing photos and we were lucky enough to get some really nice shots of the three of us and some lovely ones of Amelia. 

 We had such a lovely day, lunch was amazing. We got to learn loads about the brand, the PR girls were so lovely and everyone really loved Amelia and it was so nice to bring her along to an event and mingle with other mums. There was crafts going on for the older kids and lots of tea and biscuits for the mums, it was fab. Kelmarsh Hall and Gardens are beautiful and we will be returning as the grounds were amazing and i'd love to go back and have a good look around. 
Thank you to Bambo Nature UK for the invite, we had such a lovely day! 
SIGN UP TO THEIR EMAILS FOR 15% OFF YOUR ORDER 
PHOTOS TAKEN BY NATALIE - IMAGING EYE PHOTOGRAPHY 

BAMBO NATURE UK - TWITTER : @bambonatureuk
                                        - INSTAGRAM: @bambonatureuk
                                        - WEBSITE : www.bambo-nature.co.uk















We were invited along to the event and have been gifted products to feature. I have not been paid for this post
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LIFESTYLE: THANK YOU MIDWIVES


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? You can share your birth story and thank your midwives using the #Thankyoumidwives hashtags and tag Smart Cells, head over to the Smart Cells site to find out more about the campaign. 




This post is collaborative with information from Smart Cells
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REVIEW: ERGOPOUCH COCOON SWADDLE AND SLEEP BAG



We have been using the Ergopouch Cocoon Swaddle and Sleep bag with Amelia since she was two weeks old. Up to this point we were swaddling her with blankets. I was abit worried about using a sleeping bag with Amelia because she was so small I felt like they would just swamp her but the Ergopouch was perfect. It's a size 0-3 month so it's smaller than the other sleeping bags on the market that seem to be size 0-6.

The Ergopouch sleep bag fitted Amelia really well. It has poppers on the arms so I could tighten the arms so it fits her better and stops it from moving around. I like this feature because I could tighten the fit but also I have the poppers open now that Amelia is bigger.
It zips down the front and you can upzip it easily for nighttime changes. We found it really easy to change Amelia throughout the night. We were having to wake her up for feeds for a while so we were waking every 3-4 hours so we changed her alot throughout the night.

We have only just started using some of our other sleeping bags as Amelia is now 9lb 4oz and I think they fit her now. So she has only been wearing the Ergopouch pretty much every night since she was born. We have washed it nearly every single day and it still looks like new. It has bobble slightly but you would expect this with something thats been washed so much. The colour still looks great and all the zips and poppers look intact.


We have the 2.5 tog bag as we knew Amelia was due in November so would need a winter sleeping bag. This has been perfect, it keeps her nice and toasty but not too hot or cold. The also do a 0.2 tog so thats perfect for a summer baby.

We love the Ergopouch Cocoon, we've started getting Amelia into more of a routine so we pop her in at around 8pm for her feed and we pop her into her bed. She goes down so well, I think she sleeps loads better in her sleeping bag in the night, we tend to use blankets in the day and she just kicks them off and they bug her.

I'm going to look into buying the next size up in a summer tog for Amelia as she doesn't have a summer tog yet and we've found the Ergopouch so easy to use, it's washed up really well and Amelia settles so well in it. There's lots of other products on the Ergopouch website and they seem to have lots of promotions over on their site too so check them out.





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REVIEW: BURTS BEES BABY BUBBLE BATH AND SHAMPOO



Incase you didn't know I recently had a baby, (HELLO AMELIA ) and I'm hoping to start featuring some kind of parenting / new baby type of blog posts. I want to write updates about Amelia and document this time as a new parent. I also want to write product reviews and share products that I would recommend buying and products that I think are a waste of money. I will still be featuring beauty, fashion and lifestyle on my blog and I will try and alternate my posts so it's not all baby posts or all beauty etc. Please give me some time to get back into blogging as I've been pretty absent since having Amelia as sitting down to blog is hard when you have a needy newborn who doesn't want to be put down

Today I want to review some of the Burts Bees baby range as this is pretty much what we've used on Amelia since she was born. I did try and refrain from using any products at all, just water for the first couple of weeks because her skin is quite sensitive. I found her hair was looking quite greasy and wanted to use a shampoo on her. We had quite a big selection of baby products to choose from ( she literally has more shampoo, bath products, cleansers, creams than me) I opted for Burts Bees because they are a natural brand and I was hoping she wouldn't have any kind of reaction to their products.
I tried the shampoo first and she seemed to be fine so I continued to use this. It cleans her hair well, it lathers up well and you only need a tiny bit so a little goes a long way. It smells nice, the fragrance is very subtle and gentle. I only need to wash her hair once, maybe twice a week ( shes quite a sicky baby and manages to get sick everywhere) This is also a wash you can use it all over which is very handy. It leaves Amelia's skin feeling soft and clean. We have a few other shampoo products to use up but I think I will repurchase the shampoo and wash as I know it works really well for Amelia. Burts Bees products are easy to get hold of as they are usually stocked in Boots and Holland and Barrett

Once we had used the shampoo and was happy that she didn't have any reactions etc we tried the bubble bath, I pretty much use this everytime she has a bath, again you only need a little bit as they don't have much water in the bath. It's a lovely fresh, gentle scent. It creates some lovely bubbles which makes bathtime a little more fun for your little one. You can use the suds to wash baby. Amelia loves bath time so it's nice to have lovely products like these to use one her.

Both of the products are mild and tear free so you don't have to worry too much about it going in their eyes. I have a few other products from the Burts Bees baby range to try and i'm looking forward to giving them ago.






* This post contains pr samples.
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