PJ kind of Day

Today me and Miley are a bit under the weather. Both coughing and the runny nose ordeal! But we will survive. So today we thought we would have a pj day.

I love days when we can stay all cosy in our pjs all day and be warm! 

So we are cuddled up on the sofa under a big fluffy blanket having snuggles. What are you all up to today?

Miley likes to nap on her play mat in the day so when she gets tired we cuddle down!

Who else loves pj days? 

Xx

Miley's Birth Story!

Miley Hope's Birth Story!

So before I start, I just want to give a warning... This include too much information!

It all started on Wednesday 25th September 2013, I had been feeling off for a few days, but this morning in particular, I was swollen, had a headache and hadn't felt any movements from baby in a while. So I rang the MAU (which is the Maternity Assessment Unit for anyone who doesn't know) and they told me to go up for monitoring. This was a regular thing by now, as baby was pretty lazy somedays and I had maternal anxiety, the two mixed equals PANIC STATIONS. 
My dad took me to the MAU and we sat there whilst I was linked to the monitors for approx 2-3 hours. The doctor looked at the monitoring form and requested a scan. By this time my mum was on her way to the hospital, to swap with my dad. (My husband was at work during all of this). By the time my mum got to the hospital, I had been for my scan and was on my way to MAU again to find out the results. My dad sat in the waiting room as we all presumed that I would be sent home to wait longer. (I was 37weeks and 5days pregnant) 

I got taken into a side room and was told "Baby is doing ok, but due to your maternal anxiety we are willing to give you a sweep, but the probability of it working at 37 weeks is quite low." So I agreed, my mum waited outside of the room. From this moment I can only remember one thing... the midwife's face. She was about to give me a sweep and actually popped my waters with her finger! She went pale. I went pale. My mum was called back in. What was running through my head? "I'M GOING TO BE HAVING THIS BABY SOON!" and that was it, I panicked. The midwife went to tell the doctor as I broke the news to my mum. I was then told, that my body was clearly ready to have the baby as my waters broke with a slight brush against them, when usually they use a plastic hook thingy (Sorry for the technical term). I got sent home as my waters were clear and was booked in for an induction the following morning at 9am if I hadn't started contracting.

After a long walk back to the car, we drove home and I was repeatedly walking up and down the stairs. I was having this baby without induction. By 9.30pm I was fed up. Nothing was happening and i'm not the most patient person. So I went to bed.

I woke at 1.30am with pain, told my loving husband who replied "go back to sleep" so with no arguement I did?

I then woke again at 3.30am with major pain -- but had no idea that it could get worse than this. At this point Dan (Hubby) rang my parents, as my mum was my other birth partner. I was contracting every 4-5 minutes, so when I rang the hospital they told me I couldn't go in yet. So I continued to be in pain until approx 5.30am when I rung the hospital again and they told me I could go in. 

I got to the hospital at around 6.30am and was admitted onto MBC (Midwife Birthing Centre) where I had a internal and the midwife said the dreaded words "you're only 3cm, I woudn't class that as active labour yet" So I broke down, I cried to Dan saying it hurts! Not my favourite part of labour. I then did something that no-one ever believes, I slept through my contractions, waking occasionally. It all gets a bit blurry from there. I'm told that I had two paracetemol and demanded the Epidural, I was always against having it so my mum did the "are you sure it's what you want?" after saying "Yes, I can't do it without it" they arranged for me to be moved upstairs to the High Risk Ward as that's the only place you can have the epidural. On arrival to the new ward they give me Gas and Air. 

This next part I call "My new best friend"

Gas and Air- what a beautiful thing, all I remember is that I felt I had drunk my own body weight in alcohol. I was on top of the world. The morning doctor came around at 9.45am and said that they will come and do an internal at 1pm and see if I am ready for the epidural. By this point I didn't care about the epidural. At 10am I had the urge to push. My midwife "Sarah" said she would do an internal to see where we were at. I was fully dilated and was going to start pushing. Sarah hadn't even finished filling in my paperwork. I was told it usually takes about an hour to deliver a baby from the first push. At 10.18am Miley Hope was born weighing 6lb 2oz. I was in total shock, I couldn't believe how beautiful she was.

After Miley was delivered it all got a bit tense. Miley got passed over to Dan and my mum grabbed my hand. I had been oblivious to what was going on and I kind of still was at this point. I had the injection in my leg to deliver my placenta and the next thing I knew, Sarah was calling for a Doctor. The doctor and the sister came in and I was told my placenta was retained. Apparently on delivering my placenta the umbilical cord had snapped. 

After various doctors/sisters/midwives trying to remove my placenta I was told to sign the consent forms as I needed to go to theatre. I freaked. I cried and thought I was going to die. I had no idea what was going on but I could see the faces of the people around me. I signed the form and off I went. Dan still clutching to Miley and my mum looking very worried. 
I got taken to theatre and had my placenta, manually removed. (YES, it is as gross as it sounds)
I was taken to recovery where Dan and Miley met me.

After a night in the hospital I was allowed to return home, Thank God.

See you all soon

Lauren x

Miley's 4 Month Update

Hey Everyone!

Miley is 4 months old today! How time flies...

[Miley only a few hours old]

And now....

                                       

From day one, Miley has been a pretty chilled out baby. Don't get me wrong, she cries and screams but compared to some babies, she's a dream. The first 4 weeks home, she was an angel, she slept all day and all night. But even when she suffered with colic, she was still super happy when she was awake.

We have been truly blessed with this little one!

Miley turned 4 months today and it got me thinking about how much she has changed and progressed. She has gone from a tiny 6lb2oz newborn who can't support her own head or even smile... to a 10lb10oz 4 month old who can support her head, roll over and give you the biggest smile I've ever seen. (Of course i'm going to be bias, I'm her mother!)

So I thought every so often I will post an update on Miley so I can document her progression with a few photos and also document some of our memories as a family up to yet!

Developmental Milestones

• Smiling
• Laughing
• Roll from front to back and back to front
• Sits up supported
• Can steadily support her own head
• Grasp objects in her hands
• Big kicks and arm movements
• Coo-ing (Chatterbox!)
• Eating 3 meals a day!- still puree'd food but doing well! [You can see the post on Early Weaning Here]

Some memories from so far...

• Visiting Santa at Christmas
• Going to Wonderland, Telford
• Going to your first christmas party
• Your FIRST christmas
• Getting Christened
• Meeting all of our family

A message from mummy...

You are my little angel, I love being able to spend all of my time with you and watch you progress and grow! You are such as clever little girl and an absolute pleasure to have in our lives. Mummy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know! xxxxx

Picture Perfect!

See you all soon

xxx

#Silent Suday

Saturday is Caption Day

This link up is really simple, look at the picture and leave a caption in the comment box!
If you want to join in go to Mamsaurus!

I can't wait to see your captions!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Pregnancy

Hey Everyone,
This is a TAG from youtube! But I loved watching a few different videos so I thought I would bring it to the Blogging world!
I basically have to write what I thought, the good, bad and ugly parts of my pregnancy were, and because everyone's pregnancy is different it makes it a fun TAG. Now before I start, I want to point out, I didn't enjoy my pregnancy that much. It was just a long waiting game until I got to meet my precious little girl.

[My favourite pregnancy picture - Huge belly and a funny face! Oh and my doggy Slinky]

The Good

• Baby's Heartbeat - This was one of my favourite things about my pregnancy, hearing that little heart beat for the first time! I recorded it on my phone too so I could listen to it whenever I wanted too.
• Movements - I loved feeling Miley move, it meant that she was ok and as I suffered with maternal axiety this helped reassure me.
• Decorating the Nursery - I loved choosing everything for the nursery and organising all of the baby things.

The Bad

• NO SLEEP - I barely slept during my entire pregnancy
• Maternal Anxiety - I am not an anxious person, but something changed when I got pregnant. I worried about everything and anything, this eventually led to me having a sweep early.
• Putting on weight - I put 2 stone on during my pregnancy and I am now finding it hard to lose again :(

The Ugly

• HEARTBURN - I hate heartburn with a passion, I suffered so bad from it. I was like a Rennie Junkie by the end of my pregnancy. The burning in your throat and chest is horrendous, but my little girl was born with a full head of hair!
• Hormones - Oh dear! I have no idea how my husband put up with me, I cried when I was hungry, I cried when I was full, I cried when I was tired. It was like I had been turned back into a baby. The worst was when I demanded pizza for tea then cried because I didn't want it. Hormones make you crazy!

So they are my experiences of pregnancy and now I tag you!- anyone who is reading, but if you do the TAG make sure you leave me a comment so I can go read! :)

See you soon!

xx

#FamilyPhotoFriday || Week 1 - Daddy Climbing Frame and Pool Fun

Hey everyone! 

You may have seen my post on twitter about me joining in with #familyphotofriday well here it is. Unfortunately I am too indecisive to choose just one photo, so I added a few. 

On Sunday we went swimming and you can't take photos in the pool anymore but we did manage to get these snaps!

 

Miley has particularly enjoyed being lifted into the air or sitting in strange ways on her daddy! Anyone else's baby do this?

That's our #familyphotofriday click on the picture below to join in the fun!! 

See you soon 

Xxx

Early Weaning

Hey Everyone!

I wanted to post today about our experience with Early Weaning and why we chose to wean Miley at 14 weeks!

Why did we start weaning early?

Miley has never really been a big milk drinker, we struggled to get 2-3 oz of milk in her every 2-3 hours. It has been a constant battle since day one and started to show in her growth. She didn't stop growing or lose weight, however, her weight gain slowed right down and the Health Visitor was concerned and kept telling us "if it doesn't pick up soon, we will have to refer her to her GP" After visits to our GP each time they said "she is perfectly healthy, don't worry so much." She began being unsettled and showing more signs she was hungry, but still wouldn't have her milk. I asked family for advice, they all came up with the same advice... Give her food! I left it and left it and then after many discussions decided it was the right time.

Now before you say... "THAT IS MUCH TOO EARLY!" My health visitor also agreed it was what was best for Miley, and now she is a different baby!

How did we start the weaning process?

We began really slowly with baby rice, once a day. Miley hated it as it was too bland, but she did show more enthusiasm to the spoon rather than the bottle. We then began to give her baby porridge and she LOVED it.

I was told -- Introduce one taste at a time. We soon realised what tastes Miley did and didn't like and we built it up from there. 

How is she progressing?

• Miley eats a range of fruits and vegetables.
• She explores textures during meal times
• She holds a spoon as I spoon feed her.
• She sits stable in her bumbo seat.
• She sleeps from 10pm-7am - rarely wakes through the night, but if she does it's generally down to teething.
• She is happy and alert when she is awake.
• She has recently started to drink cool boiled water from her beaker.

Do I stand by my choice to wean early?

YES!

Miley loves mealtimes and it provides a good routine for her too. She is a different baby and really enjoys eating from a spoon. She has more milk now than she was having prior to weaning, as we still give her bottles but also mix her formula milk in with her foods. 

Disclaimer

I am in no way promoting early weaning, this is just documenting our experience with our daughter. All health visitors and doctors will advise weaning at 6 months, but if you are unsure and have any questions always ask your health visitor or GP first. Every baby is different and in the words of my mum "babies don't read books".

I was really nervous to write about this on my blog, as people will often judge quicker on age. However, I thought it would be a good topic to write about so people can see different circumstances and different children.

Leave comments below about your weaning experiences or if you have any questions!

See you soon xxx

Ordinary Moments #1 -- [Early Mornings and Bibs]

Hey Everyone,
I am loving these link posts at the moment and this one is a new favourite of mine. I think sometimes we take for granted the "ordinary moments" in our lives and only concentrate on the big fantastic moments, like your baby's first roll or where you have been that day/week.
So when I saw this post I wanted to join in and document some of the "ordinary moments" from our lives.

Ordinary Moments #1 -- [Early Mornings and Bibs]

In our family, this is a very ordinary moment. Miley sitting on our bed whilst we get ready for the day. She loves being able to sit up and see us and is strangely fascinated with watching me straighten my hair! [Better be careful when she gets moving around!]

Also note the bib! - Miley has to wear a bib almost all of the time. She dribbles all of the time. We must get through about 10 bibs a day! 

I love these early morning moments and it's become part of Miley's morning routine to sit and watch me and my husband get ready and laugh for no reason, usually chomping on her fists as she refuses a teether.

If you want to join in with the Ordinary moments posts, click on the picture below!

See you Soon

xxx

Denim and Bows -- OOTD

Today I'm posting a baby OOTD instead of my usual crafty wednesday (my camera decided to die on me and I lost all of the photos!) 

I absolutely love the denim dresses that are available for little girls at the moment. Miley seems to be acquiring quite a few different styles. But this one has to be my favourite so far. 

I tend to put a denim dress with thick wooly tights but as Miley is getting longer but not chunkier, we get to use them as longer tops with leggings! 

But for now she has it as a dress. 

Dress: Tesco F+F Kids Range

Tights: Matalan

Headband: Mothercare

Miley also has a collection of headbands too but these big bow ones are my favourite at the moment! 

What is your favourite baby trend at the moment? Where do you shop for baby clothes? 

See you soon! 

Xx

Are we becoming Cynical?

Hey Everyone,
Today I wanted to write about quite a sensitive subject, but it is one that is indeed close to my heart.

Everyday we hear/read stories about children going missing and neglect cases, my question to you is...

"Are we becoming Cynical?"

You are probably thinking right about now... Where's she going with this?!?!

Well I will tell you.

As soon as these stories are released, we go through stages.

Stage 1 - Worry - either for the person in question or for ourselves (what is the world coming to?)

then...

STAGE 2 [Now this is the worst part] - OPINIONS.

Everyone has an opinion on everything, which is fine but around sensitive topics such as child neglect, people are always pointing the finger before they know the story. 

For example, last week a 3 year old boy went missing. What the public were told was... He went to bed and in the morning he was gone.

Well the bells rung in everyones head... STAGE 1 - WORRY - Where is he? I hope he is ok.

then...

STAGE 2 happens. I was in Tesco and I saw several people looking at the little boy's picture and saying "I bet the parents know where he is" or "why does a 3 year old run off in the middle of the night?" or worst yet... "He's probably dead". 

I find this quite bad that people instantly jump to these kinds of opinions and are especially voicing them in the middle of a busy supermarket.

On this occasion it seems they could have been right [as we are still waiting on the judgement call] and that leads me to my next questions...

"Why do we expect the worst? Are we a negative nation or is it just past experiences that make us like this?"

Unfortunately these things do happen around the world, not just in the UK and it does have an impact on our daily lives, maybe not straight away but in time...

When I was growing up, I spent 80% of my time outside, playing with friends, only returning to eat and sleep. My parents always wanted to know

1. Where I was going
2. Who I was with

After providing this information, they would decide whether I was able to go and if I was, a time I had to be home by. 

However, these days, I wouldn't want to let Miley out of the house, never mind the street (if she was old enough to obviously) due to the fear of what COULD happen.

I must say, studying childcare does not help in the over-protective mum zone. I had to study cases such as "Baby P"; "Victoria Climbie" and "James Bulger"

It saddens me to hear that these things do happen in the world and when you hear the negative comments from people it can often make it worse. People being wrongly accused and sometimes the comments end up being the truth. It's hard to break cycles of cynical behaviours especially when the news is made up of 99% negative stories.

However, I really enjoy reading the positive stories, not only about children but about people from all over the world and their accomplishments. So from this... I am going to try and post at least one positive story every week onto my blog.

So in the words of Russel Howard "It's not all DOOM and GLOOM!"

Let me know what you thought of this post in the comments below, I don't usually do posts like this but I've had a pretty reflective day today.

I can't wait to hear your opinions!

See you soon xxx

Baby's Firsts || Swimming

Today we took Miley swimming for the first time. We have been saying we want to take her for a while but never had the chance. So today we got up and went.

We put her in her swimming tankini and then off we went and walked to the swimming pool! 

(Daddy holding Miley!)

(In her baby ring! Too Cute!) 

Miley loved swimming. She thrashed around in the water and didn't stop smiling. It was lovely to spend time as a family with no phones ringing or visitors. 

We spent 45 minutes in the pool and she was so tired when we got out. 

(Sorry about the lack of make up and the messy wet hair!)

And then she dropped off to sleep! 

A wonderful day and we will definitely be doing it again soon!

What have you all been up to today?

See you soon x

Baby Haul || Mixed Items

Hey everyone!

I decided to take Miley shopping to get some swimming items as we are going swimming for the first time this weekend and the usual random items too. So off we went and here is what we brought...

First we went to Mothercare UK...

I got this pink floral hooded towel and a matching baby tankini set! - Both of these items were half price! 

The bottoms of the tankini set are the padded absorbant kind (but we are going to double nappy Miley anyway with the Swim Pants.)

I brought this set of 3 t-shirts as we seem to have loads of jeans and skirts and cardigans but not many tops to go with them. These were just basic tops and were £9.99 but I had a discount voucher for 25% off, so i got them for approx £7.50 :)

If you follow my twitter, you will know Miley is teething like crazy at the moment, so when I walked past these dummy type teethers, I HAD to get them! These were again £4.29 but with the 25% off, only £3.23.

The last thing I picked up from Mothercare was this Baby's first sippy cup. I have been looking for a sippy cup type bottle for a few days, as Miley is trying to hold her bottles now but struggling due to there being no handles. But I saw this and it is a free-flow bottle but it has a really small hole in the spout. But with supervision i'm sure she will be fine :)

Then I went to Boots...

Bickiepegs - Now my mum had been telling me since Miley started teething about these. I looked everywhere for them, even online and couldn't get them anywhere. I walked into Boots and they were there. It does say 6m+ and I won't be giving them to her until then, but as they are so hard to find and Boots didn't have many, I thought I would get them now as the use by date is ages away.

Whilst in Mothercare, a lady told me about these mats and said they always use theirs' and then told me they were cheaper in boots! So i went ahead and got one, it is a padded mat for changing baby/child at swimming. I thought this would be handy as our local swimming facilities aren't the best. It folds out to make a mat and then easily folds back into the bag and it is Non-Slip too. (I will let you all know how useful it was after we go swimming).

Then last but not least, I picked up a few clothes for Miley, they were mostly half price and only basics really. 

So thats it for my mini haul. Have you brought anything you particularly loved or was a bargain recently? Have you ever had an experience of the Little Swimmers Hygiene Mat?

Let me know in the comments or Tweet Me @lifeofmileyx

See you soon 

xxxx

Happy Winnie the Pooh Day!

As a child I loved Winnie the Pooh, I had all of the teddies, the bedding sets and toys you could imagine. 

So today I thought I would share my love of Winnie the Pooh with my daughter and my fellow bloggers. 

At every opportunity we get the paints out and create something. Today we made a Winnie the Pooh face!

Here are a few pictures from our crafty morning! 

We started with a paint brush, wiggling it around on the plate, but then resorted to hand printing! 

I then stuck on some ears and drew the face!

A Winnie the Pooh face!

Later we are going to be reading some of the Winnie the Pooh Stories! 

Have you done anything for Winnie the Pooh day? 

See you soon xx

What's in my Changing Bag?

Hey Everyone...
I have seen everyone doing the "what's in my bag" blog posts, but as I very rarely carry a handbag now, I thought I would do a "What's in my changing bag?" blog post instead. 

Please bare in mind that my changing bag is very "well used" and is in need of an update, I have my eye on a few different ones. Any suggestions for a new one?

So this is my changing bag, brown and cream (I chose the neutral option so my husband didn't have to carry around a bright pink bag). I found the changing bag set on amazon and it was a bargain. Good quality and very spacious, it does everything I need and it's just been mistreated and is in need of a good clean out. 

In the front pocket of the bag I have....

My purse- I very rarely use a handbag so I keep all of my essentials in the change bag. After my River Island Purse broke I decided on the cream/nude studded one from Primark.

My Phone - I have the Iphone 5

Thermometer - Just incase.

Our change bag has two side pockets where we put bottles, be it juice or milk. 

The main pocket!

Nappies- Approx 10 

Nappy Sacks 

Wipes - We use either Johnsons Extra Sensitive or Huggies Pure.

A spare vest; outfit and tights/socks. - for those mucky moments.

Our travel flask

Miley's Red Health Book.

Bibs- Approx 3 

A few toys- only a few teethers or a favourite soft toy, generally whatever we grab before heading out the door.

So that's it for my changing bag. What do you keep in your changing bag? What changing bag have you got? 

See you soon x