Our first week

So Mila is actually one month old now but i've had zero time to write this post up - well I have had time but I've either been using it to sleep or eat a gazillion biscuits (definitely more of the latter). Anyway I wanted to start a little series of monthly updates for Mila to look back on in the future and also document my own recovery after pregnancy. Personally I don't think there is a lot of content out there in regards to postpartum recovery and when I was pregnant I had so many questions about what happens after you've had a baby, so I hope sharing my experience might  help others.

Looking back the first week was an absolute whirlwind of cuddles, crying and lots of cake (thanks family & friends for the cake, i've never seen our cupboards so full!) but it was also hard. Joe pretty much took it in his stride and was the biggest support to me whilst he was on paternity leave - cooking, cleaning and holding the baby so the I could have a bath and a break from the constant feeding. We also had lots of visitors and were so well looked after by friends and family when they came to visit Mila. I know a lot of people moan about having too many visitors and wanting rest and time with their baby but for me it really helped to see people so I didn't just feel cooped up at home. Plus lots of our friends brought food or were kind enough to cook us lunch or dinner when they came so that we could relax with the baby.

Mila's First Week Update

So firstly I just want to say having a baby is the most surreal thing I have ever done. I spent the first couple of days just getting my head around the fact that 'yes' she is mine and 'no' no-one is going to come and knock on the door and take her away. From day one it really has been mind blowing that she came from me. I'm definitely a bit of a neurotic mother and in the first week I was paranoid about everything, googling every symptom and just generally not being very relaxed. Looking back I wish I had chilled out a bit more but with motherhood being so new to me I just wanted to make sure she was all ok.

Sleep
Now i'm not going to do the whole 'she's such a good baby' because really what is a good baby? But if you're talking in terms of sleep, touch wood, we've been pretty lucky. In the first week she fell into a pattern of sleeping for a 3 hour stretch at night before waking up, followed by another 2/3 hours. On average I was probably doing about two night feeds depending on what time I put her to sleep at. At first I was setting an alarm for every 2.5/3 hours to wake her up for a feed because she wasn't waking up herself. It was taking me so long to wake her up and then get her back to sleep, I was sometimes up for over an hour just trying to get her back to sleep. After getting advice from friends and family, many of them saying 'WHY on earth are you waking a sleeping baby?', I stopped setting an alarm and just let her wake up naturally whether that meant she slept solidly for 4/5 hours.

Feeding
I've chosen to breastfeed Mila, I've not decided for how long we're just seeing how it goes but it definitely took some getting used to. At first my nipples were so sore and when my milk came in on around day 3 my boobs were very tender, but by the end of the first week we were getting into the swing of things with feeds every 2/2.5 hours and with the help of Lanolin cream it wasn't painful to feed her anymore. After 5 days she'd only lost a pound which the midwife was really impressed with and by her next appointment she'd put on 8lbs taking her weight up to 81bs5oz so we were discharged from the midwife. Whoo!

Everything else
As Mila was 2 weeks overdue she was born with really dry skin, so the midwives recommended that we applied olive oil to her skin to help heal the skin. We actually used rapeseed oil in case anyone was wondering and that worked really well. She's also a very strong baby and was already trying to hold he head up in the first couple of days, she loves looking around and taking everything in which means she finds it hard to nap during the day because she feels like she's missing out. When she was 6 days old we had a nightmare day where she wouldn't stop crying and looking back it was just because she was so overtired. I had a bit of a panic when she was 4 days old and her cord started bleeding, in a fluster I called the birth centre to be told that it's all normal and it just means that her cord is falling off. Phew. We've also started using a dummy (reluctantly). I don't even know why I feel so bad about giving her a dummy, but when she's being unsettled it's a god send, I've tried swaddling and much to my dismay she hates it! I had all these romantic ideas of pretty Instagram pictures of her in a swaddle and they've completely been dashed.

My First Week Update 

I haven't yet shared my labour story (it's coming soon promise!) but if you saw my last post you'll know I had a water birth. I managed to get away with one 2nd degree tear - which at first they thought might have been 3rd but thankfully it wasn't. For the first week everything was very sore and swollen, if i'm honest it was like my body had been through a massive trauma, which I guess it had. It was hard to walk and it was uncomfortable to sit as well. Whenever I did walk I felt like I had a horrible dragging sensation and felt a bit breathless and weak. For the first few days my tummy was still quite round - like a mini bump and it wasn't till the end of the first week that it started to go down properly.

What I struggled with the most was the massive change it was having a baby. I suddenly realised that I had this tiny human that was depending on me for everything and being the sole provider for food made me feel like my independence had been taken away a little. It was the strangest feeling and it's really hard to explain, but for a couple of days I felt really down, especially in the evenings and everything was making me cry and be emotional. I'm pretty sure it was because my milk was coming in but even though I was enjoying motherhood so far it was like I was mourning my old life. We ended up venturing to my parents for the weekend in her first week and that really helped as well as just getting out of the flat to go for walks around the parks. I've never really been the best at settling into changes at first, it takes me a little while so it's just time that I need to get into a routine and for everything to feel more normal.

So I think that's about it for the first week update, the next update will be our one month update. If you're reading this and you've had a baby I'd love to know how you found the lifestyle change of having a baby.

Welcome Mila Winnie

We're three weeks in and i've finally found the time to put up a blog post about our new arrival. I say 'found the time' loosely, i'm currently writing this with my 3 week old child lying on my chest as everytime I try to put her down she wakes up #newmumproblems, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. Mila Winnie Smith made her entrance into the world to Beyonce's Lemonade album, on 6th May at 1.54am weighing 7Ibs12oz and we've been living in our little bubble of bliss ever since.I will share my full labour & delivery story in the coming weeks but I had the water birth that I wanted and I can't rave about the birthing pool enough, it made my labour so much more manageable and just heightened the whole birth experience for me. Like I said they'll be more to come on the labour story but for now we're just enjoying this time settling in to our new lives as parents, if i'm honest I just can't stop staring at her and even 3 weeks in I still can't believe she's the little person I carried for nine months.

The Waiting Game - 41 weeks

We took this picture last week when I was just 1 day overdue, fast forward a week and baby still isn't here and i'm now 41 weeks + 3. I always thought that she'd be overdue - Joe and I are known in our friendship group for being the late couple so I naturally assumed she'd followed suit, but I wasn't prepared for her to be 10 days late, i'm not going to lie it's been driving me a little crazy.

I feel like we've been living on borrowed time almost, in a state of limbo, not really wanting to plan anything in case she makes an appearance but not wanting to do nothing completely. But we're almost at the end game, if I don't go into labor in the next two days then they'll induce me.

Despite the anxiety and limbo of waiting it's made me want motherhood even more - right now I don't even care about the pain of labor or the sleepless nights I just really really want to meet her and want her to arrive safe and sound.

Baby's Corner

So much has happened since I last posted! Joe & I finally moved into our first place together, we're in South East London which is great as I have lots of family nearby and it's nice to not be in the hustle and bustle of London. We're in a one bedroom place so baby won't have her own room, so I really wanted to make a special corner for her, we got this lovely cat print from This Modern Life, the rabbits are from Jelly Cats and Marks & Spencers - both gifts from my baby shower, the bed sheet is from Mamas & Papas and the knitted blanket from Next.

I'm 39 weeks pregnant today, in general the third trimester has been a breeze apart from the occasional bout of heartburn, but this week I feel like my bump has grown so much! I just feel really heavy and starting to get the period like pains and back ache that everyone talks about in later pregnancy. Part of me is hoping that this is a sign that she'll be arriving soon, but the other part of me is hoping the complete opposite as I still feel like I have lots to get done before she arrives. I also tried my first pregnancy yoga session this week which was brilliant! I'd highly recommend - it's such a shame that I found the class so late in pregnancy as I would of loved to have gone every week.

As for the blog i'm not sure what route it's going to take - i'm sure it will be mish mash of things going in my life, from the end of pregnancy to motherhood with the odd bit of fashion, food and beauty on the side, so do stay tuned :)

27 Weeks

I feel like my pregnancy is going so quickly! I'm now actually 30 weeks, but thought I'd share some pictures that we took a couple of weeks ago on a rainy Sunday in Peckham. I've been reading other peoples blogs who are due around the same time as me and everyone seems so prepared, i've got 10 weeks to go and have everything to buy as well as a flat to move into, scary. We focused on our flat hunt in South London as I have lots of family in the area so we've been spending our weekends discovering new places - I never realised how much South London has to offer,  I feel like it's an area that is sometimes over looked unless people are buying, but we've discovered so many hidden gems in the area, i'm sure i'll do a blog post about it once we've officially moved.

Dublin Review

 Back in October I ventured to Dublin with my family to watch my mum run the Dublin marathon, i'd never been to Ireland so it was my first taster of an Irish city and I absolutely loved it. We stayed at The Dean Hotel, which i'd say is very similar to the likes of The Hoxton in London; a boutique hotel with bundles of charisma and personality. 

The amazing treats on offer in the room, I couldn't resist buying the pick and mix sweets.

 I stayed in one of the Punk Bunks, which can comfortably fit three people in as it is in a bunk bed format. The room had great quirky touches like interesting books to read and the best mini bar choices I think i've ever seen. If you get bored of your room then there's plenty to do in the hotel, there's a great bar downstairs and there's even a games room which you can book out to use.

In the evening along with all the other marathon runners we went to a restaurant called Fade Street Social. It's a tapas restaurant but not like any tapas restauarant that i've tried before, I can't recommend this restaurant enough, the flavour combinations were delicious and any 'posh' restaurant that serves chips and cheese is a winner in my book. We shared a combination of starters, including a really interesting dish that consisted of popcorn and chicken - sounds strange but trust me, it worked. For the main course I went for the chicken which was perfectly cooked and succulent.

I left Fade Street Social the night before pretty full, but I wasn't going to miss the breakfast at The Dean Hotel. We booked breakfast at the rooftop restaurant Sophie's, which not only has some great breakfast options (I was torn between the Irish breakfast and the pancakes) but being situated on the roof also has a pretty awesome view of Dublin. I didn't take a picture because it was a pretty cloudy day but you can see what I mean here.

We spent the last day of the trip getting in some well deserved shopping. All in all it was great trip and I'd definitely recommend staying at The Dean Hotel. My only slight downside to the hotel was that at night it is quite noisy as it's located in a popular clubbing area, but the hotel provides all rooms with earplugs so that was more than enough to help me get a good nights sleep. However it's definitely something I would consider thinking about if you're thinking of booking a nights stay.

Restaurant: http://www.fadestreetsocial.com/tapas-bar-dublin/menus-dublin/

Hotel: http://deandublin.ie/

New Year, New Beginnings

I've been thinking about starting a new blog for a while and felt like the time was right. So here we go i'm back to blogging and i'm really excited to get started.