Moving back into the parents. Max on the move and Emma ready for school!!

 So we've all moved back into my mums. We couldnt live in the house anymore it was to expensive for a house that was falling apart and I was fed up of some of the people round there. We moved back in about 3 weeks ago we have being frantically searching for a house but last weekend we found one. Its perfect!!  3 bedeoomed nice kitchen pretty garden and lovely area. We are saving like mad so we can make it perfect when we move in I cant wait!! Poor Grants having to get up to go to work at 5 and doesnt get home til 7!!


Maximus is 11 months old now!! Its gone scarily quick and at 10 months hes finally started crawling!! Hes everywhere I feel I need eyes at the back of my head with him hes everywhere he shouldn't be ans everything goes in his mouth hes totally different to Emma! He loves playing with balls hes starting to say words and can clap wave and high 5! Its so cute. Hes still not sleeping through though hes getting better so hopefully he'll start soon. Maximus is finally off consultant care both Oxford and locally im so pleased hes now on ghe 50th centile and Im so proud of him.


Emma will be 4 next month!! Shes had to give up nursery since living at mum's and I can tell she misses it poor thing im trying to take her out as often as possible but she wants to play with people her own age she cant wait for school!  Im going to miss her so much but I can tell she needs it now. She loves imaginative play baking gardening dancing and having her hair and nails all pretty shes such a girly girl! She is such a good big sister she plays with max all the time cuddles him she loves him its do sweet. She is my little princess.


I stopped breastfeeding a month ago it was such a hard decision but I knew it was time he constantly bit would suck for 2 minutes then fall asleep I was just a comfort to him I mis it do much and he found it hard for the first few weeks but hes fine now im still leaking a little bit I think ill be sad when my milk properly dries up but im happy as I sm training to help other mums. Im training to become a breast feeding support worker and im loving it!! Ive got 5 more weeks of training until I qualify!

Its mine and Grants 2nd anniversary this month im so excited we didn't get to do anything for our first so ive  got a feeling hes going to make it special this time! Im so happy with him we have the same sense of humour and we both love our little family so much!!

My Breastfeeding Tips

Everyone has there own tips but this is what has worked for me:

In the early days stay at home do lots and lots of skin to skin contact it is very important to get your milk flow up and feed regularly, concentrate on the latch.

Go to a babycafe within 4-6 weeks after birth, they can watch you feed and give you help and advice on latching, also you will meet other breastfeeding mothers who will be able to share experiences.

If you want to express get a good pump, some women are lucky and can express 4oz from word go but i like most wasnt that lucky. Spend a good week expressing as often as you can i did 8 times a day to get your milk supply up. I have a lactaline personal pump and it is worth every penny, expressing both boobs at once you can control speed and suction aswell.

OATS! If you worry about your milk supply fenugreek didnt work for me, oats did i ate porrdige every morning and i could see a huge difference within 4 days.

I have had mastitis 3 times, and it is awful. During the early days make sure your feeding regularly and if your lucky enough to have a sleeping through baby express before you go to bed and as soon as you wake up to avoid any blocked milk ducts.

Dont feel embarrased to feed in public, Breastfeeding is beautiful the and  best thing you can do for your baby .

The Art of Breastfeeding

My breastfeeding experience has being like most mothers, difficult, painful, happy and magical!!

As soon as Max was born i fed him, he latched perfectly, in the hospital he latched the first few hours.. then he stopped he was irritated so we decided to give him formula to top up. The weeks after were hard, getting your milk supply up means sitting down and feeding constantly every 1-2 hours at the age of 4 weeks i went to my local baby cafe where they observed me feed and they noticed he had tongue tie so gave me a nipple shield and it went so well he fed better and was more settled on the boob, they also gave me a lactaline personal duo electric pump which i would pump constantly for to get my milk supply up. At first id pump 8-10 times a day and get 3oz if that a day but after a while ive built up my supply and i get 5oz in 2 pump sessions.

I went to the weigh in clinic when Max was around 6 weeks old and he just wasnt putting on the weight, we did this for a few weeks and we had to go to our local hospital to see the consultant, at first they gave us a thickener to put in Max's expressed milk and then some infatrini which is a calorific formula to gie to him once a day, this didnt help much they got very worried and he got transferred to Oxford hospital consultant care they were so worried about him they mentioned admitting him and tube feeding him as he had severe reflux. They did brain scans, ultrasounds on his stomach a belerium scan and didnt find anything (thank god) he looked so ill and weak i questined my milk supply but i kept being reassured by the consultants and breastfeeding councillors that its not my milk it was the reflux.

I tried fenugreek to boost my supply up it didnt work, then i tried oats i ate porridge every morning and it did make a difference i felt more full, i could express more and Max seemed more satisfied.We started weaning him at 5 months and his weight increased dramatically we were so relieved in the space of 3 months hes gone from looking ill (picture above) to being a happy healthy bouncy boy (picture below) I am still feeding him and loving it! He has a couple of bottles 1 of expressed and one formula at night but the rest is down to me and im so proud of myself and thankful for the help i got off the baby cafe i wouldnt have being able to do it without there help. He is still small but he has gone from under the 0.9th centile to very close to the 9th i am going to do a open university course in September so i can become a breastfeeding councillor and help other women who have struggled. Breastfeeding is worth it and its helped me and Max bond together its something only I can give to my son.

Having two, and plans for the future

Max is 6 months now, the past 6 months have being hectic, Max has 5lb4 at birth, and he wasnt putting on much weight he started going under the 0.4th centile and staying there, we were at Northampton Hospital under the consultant for a while, but he got very worried and we were transferred to Oxford hospital, he had loads of tests and luckily he does just have reflux, hes being on solids for a little while now and hes piled on the weight hes now on the 9th centile hes still small but a lot chunkier then he was! I am still breastfeeding and i am LOVING it, it is was very demanding at first but hes gone from feeding every 2 hours to having 4 feeds during the day. Max is a very happy baby he still doesnt sleep through but hes happy his laughs are so cute, he can sit up now he still has no teeth! He loves his sister so much he laughs at her constantly and he loves the cats too. He truely is a joy.

Emma started Nursery in September, she is such a big girl now it seems like shes grown up so much, shes a diamond she doesnt get jealous at all, shes making friends and Nursery, and shes doing great with her potty training, shes dry day and night now. I am unbelievably proud of my little girl! And i cant believe shes going to school this year!

Having two children is a lot more challanging then having one, the hardest thing i find is splitting my time up with them but i wouldnt change it for the world, I love children i want to have a big family, i recently watched '16 kids and counting' and i thought it was inspirational, i would love that many children, i would love to bring as many happy healthy children into the world as possible, but i dont think Grant is up for it! 
My plans for the future are to move to a nicer house, into a nicer area, for us to be able to afford a car, im doing a breastfeeding councillor course this year so i hope i can find a job helping other women and to have more babies!! 

Labour and Birth of Max!

On Wednesday 4th July me and Grant set off to the hospital at 8.30am i was so nervous!
We got to the induction ward, and i was monitored for a few hours, finally i got my pessary inserted at 11.30am i was 3cm dilated but my cervix was to the back so she felt she wouldnt be able to break my waters yet.
We were allowed off the ward aslong as we came back every 3 hours for Obs, so me and Grant went into town to do some baby and snack food shopping! at 2.30 we went to costa for a drink and i started getting slight niggles nothing major, so we headed back to the hospital, in the induction ward they had a sitting room with a tv some sofa's and a birthing ball so we spent a few hours in there with Grant watching Wimbledon and me bouncing on the birthing ball. At 8pm Grant went out to get us some dinner, i had my next lot of obs so got onto my bed and the midwifes checked Max's heartbeat, he had a major decelleration lasting 4 minutes, they got me on my side, sat me up but nothing worked, the lady pressed the emergancy alarm and tons of doctors came running in, i managed to text grant 'COME NOW' Max's heartbeat managed to get back up so the drs put me on the monitor and put a canular in just incase i needed to go into theatre.
Max's heartbeat was fine for a few hours so because i wasnt in established labour Grant had to go home at 10pm, i told him to keep his phone by his side because the pains were starting to get a little worse.
The midwifes ran me a bath but it made me feel worse so i got out after ten minutes, went back into my bed and started getting quite strong contractions so the midwife checked me and i was 4cm dilated my cervix was thin and to the front so she told me id be transferred to the labour ward soon for my waters to be broken but not to tell my partner just yet... of course i text him to let him know what was going on, he got in a taxi and its a good job he did.
At 1am they took me to the labour ward and broke my waters, as soon as they did i was in agony, contractions became so strong so quickly, i was sucking on the gas and air begging for drugs, i was only 4cm dilated i had a long way to go and i couldnt handle it, but the midwife refused to give me any, Grant was telling me to stay calm, he rubbed my back and was there for me. All of a sudden i felt the urge to push i lay on the bed, did 3 big pushes and Max was born at 1.45am on Thursday 5th July.
He was perfect, he was placed onto my chest straight away, Grant cut the cord and i gave Max his first feed.
He weighed 5lb6 and he is truly perfect just like his sister.

3rd Trimester!

My pregnancy was going so smoothly, until i hit 34 weeks when my bp started rising, every Monday i had a midwife appointment, and every time she sent me to the hospital to be checked over. 
At 35 weeks Max's growth decreased, i also began slow labour, i was admitted to hospital twice because i was getting irregular contractions, and my cervix had started to dilate i was given steroid injections and bp tablets.
At 36 weeks the drs finally decided that i needed to be induced, the induction was for Wednesday 4th July and i was so nervous!

My last bump picture :)

2nd Trimester!!

The 2nd trimester flew by!

At 16 weeks we had a gender scan and found out... ITS A BOY which Grant was very very excited about haha. We had such difficulty with names, i loved the names Reuben and Travis, Grant loves Frankie, but wer'e pretty sure we've come to a decision :) Max We both love it so fingers crossed neither of us will change our minds!

Emma is even saying baby Max, shes kissing my belly and she talks about him quite a lot. 

My bump grew pretty rapidly after 17 weeks!

We had a growth scan at 28 weeks and he is a little bit small there estimating him to be 5lb14 at birth which is still a pound heavier then Emma. My consultant has said as long as i dont develop Pre-eclampsia and stay the way i am now i will be able to have a home birth which i am thrilled about. I dont want to be away from Emma i want her to be able to see Max as soon as hes born really, i want the bond and i dont want to be away from her. Wer'e all very excited about his arrival only 9 11 weeks to go!!!!!!!!!!