Hey Oscar!

You're now 20 weeks old, I really can't believe how quickly it's going. This week you've been trying more flavours out and you are having food with every bottle now. You have baby porridge in the morning followed by a savoury puree at lunch, fruit puree in the afternoon and baby rice in the evening. You are brilliant eating with a spoon, you've taken to it so well!

You had your final jabs (until after you're one) on Monday and you were so brave. You didn't even cry on the first one but you didn't like the second, you only cried for a minute or so though and then you were even smiling at the nurse! You were a bit sleepy for the rest of the day but other than that you were your usual happy self and it certainly didn't affect your appetite.

You are now also trying to sit up, I noticed it in Boots a couple of days ago when you were in your pram and you were trying to pull yourself up and you've been doing it every day since then, you even sat up unaided on Daddy for a minute or two! I guess you're going to skip the rolling phase (I did) and go straight to sitting in the next month or so.

We have been on a couple of mini trips out this week to the shops and on a walk and you are so observant now, you take in everything around you and make excited little noises, it's so cute! You are spending the night at Grandma and Grandad's tonight and they've bought you a brand new playmat for their house so we don't have to keep moving the one from ours. 

Love you lots!

Mummy xxxx

Week 19

Hi Ozzle!

I can't believe you're nearly 20 weeks old - 5 whole months! This week we've been branching out from baby rice mixed with your usual milk to trying you on a few different things. We tried you on a raspberry yogurt and a banana and peach breakfast which you did not approve of - either of them. Then we tried you on banana puree and baby rice and apple puree and you enjoyed both of them apart from a couple of faces at the beginning!
You love watching the spoon come towards your face and you open your mouth as it gets near in excitement.
You've been getting fed up in your bouncer and prefer to sit on people or play on your mat. You're not a huge fan of rolling at the moment, you only do it occasionally and tend to complain when you're on your side and want to be rolled back.
You enjoyed sitting on me and watching Baby Einstein and you kept on looking at me as you watched and smiling, it's so adorable.
Daddy is off on a long weekend this week and we are enjoying spending more time together as a family, because he works all day you only get to see him for an hour in the morning and 1/2 hours in the evening.
You have your final set of jabs on Monday which I'm not looking forward to, you were so brave last time though and only cried a little bit, I hope you're ok, I'll be glad when they're over and done with and I know you're fine.

Love you lots!

xxxxx

Grandad took this picture of you!

Photo Friday #1

I thought I'd upload a snap (mostly unflattering I imagine.. heheh, what are mums for if they can't have a stash of embarassing pictures for the future?) every Friday of what Ozzy has been up to. He usually goes to his Nana's for the afternoon on Friday's so it's tea time this week. I wanted to take a pic of his outfit but it was hidden under a giant bib most of the morning and then he went out on his travels.

Mesmerised by my high chair toy!

Winter Clothes

I was just browsing around looking at more baby clothes (as you do) for Ozzy. He already has quite a lot of clothes but some of it is still quite summery and he needs a few warmer items. I decided to have a look on Next as I have a few bits and pieces from there for him already and found these adorable little items. He has a coat that's 0-3 months at the moment and being 18 weeks, I'm not sure if that's going to fit him anymore... Not likely. 

I'm obsessed with dinosaurs for his nursery and all of his clothes so I couldn't not love the dinosaur jumper, so adorable. He looks great in jeans and the braces just add that extra touch. However, for those days when he's not going out and just needs some super comfy clothes, the plum coloured joggers add a bit more of an autumnal feel compared to his usual grey/navy ones and he can relax in them too.
Finally, this little snowman jumper is lovely, I already have Halloween clothes prepared for him, so I've obviously got to plan for Christmas (yes, I said it!) too.

Tips To Help With Pregnancy Aches & Pains #1

I know that I've now had my baby but I follow quite a lot of ladies who are currently pregnant, most for the first time. I remember feeling quite overwhelmed at first with a lot of different advice and what symptoms I may or may not have. Funnily enough, most of my symptoms were ones I was not expecting to get! Disclaimer yada yada: No, I'm not an expert or medical professional, these are just things I found worked for me and probably would be worth giving a go if you're inclined :-)

1. One of my first symptoms was probably trouble sleeping, I'd find myself constantly tossing and turning. My hips would ache after a while on either side and I could not get comfy. Add this to the crazy vivid dreams during the 2nd trimester and night times were not fun. I invested in a body pillow from Argos, not specifically for pregnancy but it did the job by wedging it between my legs and lying with my arms wrapped around it. My boyfriend wasn't too happy with the new addition but it was a lifesaver for me! The Dreamgenii also comes highly recommended but the Argos body pillow is almost half the price (I actually got mine for a tenner in a sale) and it did a great job.

2. Heartburn. I was lucky enough to not suffer majorly with this until the later weeks, week 32+ and I found that Rennies did the trick most nights although I did have to use Gaviscon a couple of times. It's best to avoid eating later at night so you can digest your food before you go to bed and also avoiding anything overly spicy (easier said than done when I started craving curries!)

3. Backache hit me suddenly one day and after that it got gradually worse. It was fine if I was lying in bed but sitting down anywhere was trouble. I got a gym ball for about £7-8 and it was a miracle worker for me. All my back ache ceased to exist when I was sat on it, although I did get fed up after a while and went to lie down, haha.

4. For the extremely late stages - being overdue. Most ladies with their first baby will tend to go overdue and you really do not feel like being pregnant any longer when you get to week 40. I know a lot of them are myths and aren't really proven to work but even so, I found that Raspberry Leaf Tea really helped bring my labour on when I was overdue. I was drinking 4+ cups a day as I struggle with tablets (you can buy it in capsule form.) Mentioned before, the birth/gym ball. This is great for bouncing and rotating your hips on to help babies head engage and get everything started.

Week 18

I wish that I had written about the previous 17 weeks but sadly I didn't :-( I have written a couple of entries in my paper journal though. This is taking a little bit (ok, quite a lot) of inspiration from one of my favourite bloggers, Charlotte from Write Like No One's Watching.

Ozzy,

This week, you have still been doing really well (touch wood) sleeping through the night. We put you down at about 8.30pm and you don't get up until 8am, which is just amazing, we feel very lucky! I think it's partially down to the fact that you love to suck on your thumb now and you often spit your dummy out to have that instead!

We have spent quite a bit of time round at your Grandma & Grandad's and they love spending time with you. Grandad always has his camera out snapping pictures of you and Grandma is constantly cooing over you and singing you songs. Not to mention your Auntie, she can't keep her hands off you and steals you from your car seat as soon as you arrive.

You have definitely started teething, my poor little bean. You have adorable chubby cheeks that are bright red at times and you are always trying to chew on something, be it your hand, dummy, bib, bottle, one of our fingers or even a nose...

You have just started having one small portion of baby rice in the evenings and you are really enjoying it, opening your mouth waiting for the spoon to arrive and guzzling it all down. I'm not sure when we'll move you onto anything a little more adventurous, you seem happy with the rice for now.

You love watching TV after your morning milk and then having a little snooze before getting to roll around and kick on your playmat. You can roll on to your side now but you can't roll back and you get a little bit frustrated about this, I don't think it'll be too long before you manage it!

You have pretty much doubled in size from when you were born, and you were last weighed 3 weeks ago now, so you are probably over that now, I'm going to take you to get weighed next week.

Love you lots, little bean.

Mummy xx

A New Mum's Guide To Still Feeling Glam

Having a baby to keep you on your toes and work your day around, sometimes you can end up feeling a little frazzled. I thought I'd compile a little guide on how I try and keep myself feeling like, well, me.

I'm not going to lie, the first two weeks after having Oscar, I felt and looked like poop. I managed to step in the shower every day but that was pretty much where my efforts ceased. I lived in some comfy tracksuit bottoms and my maternity tops to hide my still inflated belly. No straighteners touched my hair nor a slick of makeup on my face. 

Then about 3 weeks in, I finally started to feel like putting a bit of effort back in. I got my boyfriend to be on baby watching duty whilst I took  hair dryer and some straighteners to my hair and applied some make up. I was only sitting about the house but I felt more like myself again. 

I'm fortunate enough to be a stay at home mum whilst my boyfriend goes out to work and even more fortunate enough to have my mum on hand whenever I need her. That's not the case for everyone though, so I'll try and make sure these tips can work for everyone whether you're surrounded by friends and family or doing it all on your own.

Tips

• Take advantage of the time when your baby is sleeping. You can fit in virtually anything you want to during their nap time, especially as newborns sleep most of the day.Whether or not that's getting some sleep, (I find that I can't sleep during the day no matter how tired I am, it's always early evening when I find myself wanting a rest and that usually isn't an option!) getting some cleaning and tidying done around the house, having a shower or keeping up your beauty regime. 

• Skater dresses have been the best thing for me. They skim straight over the top of your belly leaving you feeling slim and feeling feminine. Another bonus was that I managed to fit into quite a few of my pre-pregnancy skater dresses although a couple did become a little shorter due to my hips being wider.

• Floaty blouses have also been brilliant for everyday wear. I initially wore them over a pair of leggings but after wearing leggings for 7 months straight, I really wanted to find an alternative option.

• If you don't fancy floaty all the time, try a peplum top, they also skim nicely over your lower half. 

• Don't feel too bad if you can't fit into your pre pregnancy clothes as quick as you'd hoped. I had purchased a few items whilst pregnant that I thought would be nice to wear once I'd had Oscar but found that they didn't fit me quite as I'd imagined. I was disappointed at first, but then I decided to pick myself up as friends and family reminded me that it takes 9 month for your body to change and at least 9 months for it to go back (unless you're super lucky!)

• Accessories are your friend. If you don't want to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe to accommodate any extra pounds, make the most of what you've got in the clothes department and buy a few floaty scarves and some nice statement jewellery to perk up your outfits and hide any mum-tum you might have. 

• Keep it simple with your makeup. If my boyfriend's at home or my mum's round, I can afford to spend a bit more time on my makeup whilst they keep an eye on him but if I'm on my own or need to be out somewhere and making sure I'm fitting in around Oscar's feeding schedule then I switch up the products I'm using...

• You can simplify your makeup by swapping powder eye shadows for something like Maybelline's Color Tattoo's or my current favourite - Collection's Work The Colour Eyeshadow Pencil's. A quick slick across your eyelids and your good to go. 

• Instead of applying a full face of foundation, apply concealer to any blemishes and under eye circles to keep your face looking fresh.

• So you don't have to spend ages making sure you've applied your lipstick perfectly, grab a tinted balm like Revlon's Lip Butters to apply on the go and mirror free whilst still keeping your pout pretty. 

• I found that I struggled to find a pair of jeans that fit me how I wanted to or flattered my new figure. They all seemed to fit low around my hips and just made my belly pop out over the top. Not a good look. I went for jeggings instead, so I didn't quite manage to fully escape the leggings I now at least look like I've got jeans on, no one else needs to know it's an elasticated waist, right?

• Primark have some good jeggings in at the moment for less than £10 but I got mine from Sainsbury's TU range for £12.50. They do a range of colours and fit exactly how I wanted them to, high on the waist keeping my belly under control and still skinny on the leg without any bunching around the ankle.

• Get a quick drying top coat for your nails so that if your baby needs you suddenly, you can have your nails dried in a fraction of the time. 

• If your hair could do with a wash but you don't have the time, spray in some dry shampoo and try braiding it or tying it up in a cute bun. 

I think that about sums up everything I've managed to do to still find some 'me' time to fit around the hectic life of being a new mum! Let me know if you find any of these tips helpful or if you have any extra ones!

Oscar's Birth Story

My due date was 25th May and I was pretty certain that the little man would not be making his arrival on this date. I was right and things didn't begin until 9 days later on 2nd June when I started getting mild contractions. They were really more like dull period cramps and not bothersome at all. When I went to bed that night I woke at about 2.30 am and I was starting to have slightly stronger contractions although still not anything that bothered me to any extent. I whipped out my phone as I'd installed a contraction timer app on it and started to monitor how frequently they were coming and for how long. I stayed awake for about 2.5 hours and they were coming every 7/8 minutes and lasting roughly one minute each. I was getting pretty excited at this point thinking that it might be the start of something. Sadly, it wasn't and they faded away when I got up in the morning and wandered around. I'd still have the odd one here and there but they were definitely not what you would call regular!

The next day on the 4th I was due a visit by the midwife to see how things were getting along. She told me that I was 2cm dilated and that she would book me in for an induction on 6th June if things hadn't moved along. She told me she didn't think that it would be likely that I would need the induction and that I would probably go in to established labour later on that evening.

Not long after she had left, I started noticing the contractions again. They begin to build throughout the day and by about 5pm they had started to become more uncomfortable. I tried to get some sleep but I was quite excited and found it hard to relax. By 10pm things were really starting to get pretty painful. I called the triage at about 11 to ask them when they thought I should come in as by this point my contractions were lasting between 45 seconds to 1 minute and coming every 5 minutes. They weren't very helpful and just told me to take some paracetamol and try and stay at home for as long as possible. Great.

After pacing around in considerable pain at this point, we decided (stupidly) to try and get some sleep at about 1am and head to the hospital for around 3am. This proved completely impossible as my contractions were really painful now and it was giving me the most horrendous back ache, my boyfriend had to massage the base of my spine every time I had one and they were causing me to cry out in pain, which is really not like me at all! I usually deal with things quietly so I knew that it was now time to head to the hospital.

Fortunately the hospital is literally 5 minutes away from our house and my hospital bag had been packed and ready to go for a good few weeks (after a scare I had a couple of weeks before where I was sent to hospital for a scan and thought I might need a C-Section because naughty Ozzy was lying transverse which meant if my waters broke the cord could prolapse... Yikes.)

When we got there, we buzzed to be let in but no one was answering so we had to wander around to the other side of the hospital and buzz round there, not great when I'm huffing and puffing every few minutes!
We were shown to a room where I had my blood pressure taken and after about 25 minutes the midwife in charge that night came and examined me and told me I was 5cm dilated. This meant I could now get in the pool as I wanted a water birth and also use the gas and air.

The pool really helped relieve my contractions when I first got in, it was nice and relaxing and that coupled with the gas and air had me foolishly thinking "this isn't so bad now!" I managed to deal with about another hours worth of contractions until I decided to give up on the gas and air. I found it distracting trying to breath it in when I was contracting so I decided to go it alone. The next few hours are a blur of contractions and I don't remember all that much in huge detail due to being so tired at this point.

I remember looking at the clock at 5am and asking when I'd next be examined as I'd been having the urge to push for a while. The midwife who was in the room with me the whole time told me not until 6.30am which was so disappointing. My contractions were horribly painful at this point and she was urging me to try the gas and air again but I just found dealing with it on my own easier. I was making a massive racket every time I had a contraction which I was surprised at but that was pretty much my pain management!

At 5.30 my waters broke which was the weirdest feeling, I felt a pop but obviously didn't notice the water as I was in the pool. My belly noticeably deflated a little and although the midwife said my contractions would increase in intensity at this point, I actually found it a relief and a bit easier to deal with. At 6.30 I was examined and she told me I was fully dilated and ready to push. I tried pushing in the pool for about 45 minutes but kept on nearly falling asleep in between contractions due to the heat and I'd been told all the windows now had to be closed so it was warm enough for when Oz made his entrance. This made the pool quite uncomfortable and it also seemed to slow down my contractions so I was told to get out of the pool to push.

After an hour and a half of pushing and getting nowhere, I was told to try the birthing stool and push on there. That did not work for me and I got a major (yes, even more major than contractions...) stitching, cramping feeling and asked to get off. When the midwife did her routine 15 minute check on Ozzy's heartbeat, after being 'perfect' throughout my entire labour, it was now really slow. I didn't even recognise it as being his heartbeat at first because it was so different. She told the student midwife to pull the emergency cord immediately and within seconds, there were people rushing everywhere and telling me to get in a bed and they were going to wheel me down to the delivery suite to help get Oscar out. When I got down there, they checked on his heartbeat again and it had fortunately gone up but he'd pooped inside me meaning he was in distress.

The whole team were lovely and amazing and I felt really calm throughout because I knew that they would deliver him safely. They told me to push whenever I had the urge to and that they were going to use the ventouse to get him out. I was given a couple of injections of local anesthesia and a catheter to drain my bladder (it makes me cringe even thinking about that, owwwie) and unfortunately had to have an episiotomy so that they could get him out as quickly as possible. Within 2-3 pushes I first felt his head come out and with one final push little Ozzlebean finally made his arrival at 8.26 am on June 5th 2013. He was checked over and then passed to me to give his first cuddle, he felt so tiny and he just clung onto me. His head was a little bit cone shaped due to the ventouse, but he was so perfect.

I have never been so tired in my whole life after finally giving birth, I'd been awake for 26 hours and I felt completely delirious at this point, I kept asking my boyfriend if everything was real, haha! I can't imagine what I would have been like had I had some drugs as I felt like I was in some weird dream world. After being abandoned in the delivery suite for about an hour whilst various people drifted in and out doing checks on me and Oscar, I was finally allowed to get up and have a shower and then I was wheeled back up to the ward to rest. My parents came and visited us and then I was asked if I'd like to go home later that evening (yes, please!) I was really stressing about having to have a wee before I left, I had barely drank anything in labour and so I was pretty dehydrated and I drank about 4 bottles of water before I even felt like I needed to go. It was mainly due to being kind of numb down there because I didn't have any problem going! We were finally allowed to leave the hospital at 9pm and I cried when I got home, I just felt so relieved. Relieved that I was home, that Oscar was born safely and soundly, that it was all over and I finally had my baby.

Although the birth didn't go exactly as I had planned, I'm still really proud that I managed to do it (not that you really have much choice in the matter, they've got to come out at some point!) especially without any pain relief, although not that it makes it any less of an achievement if you had every drug going, it's whatever works best for you.

Introduction

Hey,

My name's Kat and I am mummy to my gorgeous Son, Oscar. I currently have a beauty only blog but thought I would like to start a baby blog too and see how it goes! I plan to blog pictures and updates and maybe a few tips and tidbits of advice here and there. I decided to name it "Ozzy Was Born" because I thought it was funny how it sounded like Ozzy Osbourne (ha, not his namesake by the way) and also because my life changed when he was born and it's like a new chapter in my life. I hope you enjoy reading!