Welcome Riley Jackson

Riley Jackson joined us in the world in a hurry on 23rd November at 6:51pm weighing 7lbs.

I’d been having contractions since late morning, but they were irregular anything from 15-25 minutes apart and not overly painful. So I just ignored them while carrying on with my day, throwing my son around and such. Trying not to get my hopes up because with Joshua I had contractions like this that then went away for 24 hours. By 4 – 4:30pm my contractions were every ten minutes apart and a lot more painful, I would have to stop what I was doing bend over and grip something while breathing through them. Once the contraction was over I was able to carry on with what I was doing so part of me doubted that this could be the real thing.

We sat down and ate dinner and by 5:15pm when Ant was deciding he had to go to work I was saying look you can’t this is happening. He called work while I rang the hospital about 5:30 and my contractions were five minutes apart. They advised me to come in so they could check me over. Ant called my parents to come and watch Joshua and twenty minutes later we were on our way to the hospital. The car journey was bloody agony, with my contractions coming every 2 -3 minutes. By the time I waddled across the car park, up a lift and along the worlds bloody longest corridor to the labour ward the contractions were coming thick and fast. I wasn’t having time to recover from them before the next arrived. No one was answering the bell on reception as stupidly they had no one manning the desk, people had been there longer than me waiting and I was getting a bit panicky.

Ant followed someone through the doors when they opened and told the midwife my contractions were coming fast and would someone come. She dismissed him and sent him back out. Finally after what seemed like a life time but in reality was probably no more then 5-10 minutes someone appeared. Right as my water broke and I yelled ‘I need to push.’

The midwife told me to follow her and I honestly didn’t think I could walk, she got me in a wheel chair and rushed me to a delivery suite and told me to take my trousers off and get on the bed. I swear she wants to bloody try climbing onto a bed while your body is screaming at you to push. Somehow I managed it and by the time I had the head was half the way out, the midwife then preceded to make me stop pushing, I have no idea why but I told her after that was she mean. The head was then out, and again I had to stop pushing. The cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck – she didn’t tell me this till afterwards thankfully or I would have panicked. Before I had pushed his body out he was crying which is the MOST amazing sound. She scooped him up and plonked him onto my tummy and I was so relieved.

I have no clue of times, neither does the midwife really but there was no more than ten minutes between my waters breaking and Riley being placed in my arms. Little squid didn’t hang around that’s for sure.

I lay there feeding him thinking, wow that was fast and scary and I realised I actually panicked and thought I was going to give birth in reception in front of a room full of people.

Unfortunately the next stage wasn’t so simple, even with the injection to help speed up the delivery of my placenta didn’t want to make an appearance. Crazy that I managed to deliver a baby with no pain relief but needed gas and air for the placenta. To be honest I think part of the reason they gave it to me was to calm me down. My entire body was shaking, shock I think. An hour later and lots of poking around by the midwife, (child birth really isn’t glamorous) and my placenta still hadn’t arrived. So in comes a doctor to take a look, and they are talking about trying something to help.
Injecting whatever is in the injection into the cord. I think all that talk scared my placenta and an hour and ten minutes later it made an appearance.

Finally it’s time to focus on Riley again, who’s been wrapped in blankets and placed in his cot. They weigh him and get him dressed, but he’s really cold. He’s given a warming mattress once I’m taking to the ward and this is left on all night. Meaning even if it was possible to sleep on a ward with crying babies, and a woman moaning she was in pain there was no way I was going to be able to anyway as I was so worried he’d not warm up enough, or he’d get to warm with the mattress that I had to keep checking he was okay.

Thankfully when they took his temperature again in the morning it was fine, so they turned off the mattress and checked again an hour later and he was fine. So we were discharged at lunch time.

Things have been going brilliantly at home, breastfeeding is going well and doesn’t seem as hard this time around. The first few days were, but once my milk came in baby became more enthusiastic and is now feeding about every two hours.

Midwife came out today to weigh him and he’s 6lb 15oz, so he’s barely lost anything... makes me a very happy Mummy.

Happy Due Date...

... To me!!! So today's the big day, the day I've been counting the months, weeks and finally days down to and well i guess it's all pointless really. I knew that though Joshua was late.. But it gives you something to aim for.

So my countdown is finished... Time to begin a new count. Counting the days I go over, except of course if by some miracle I actually go into labour later today.

So come on everyone give me your predicitions... Humour me and help me pass the time :-)

Ant predicts Sunday night so 1 day.
I predict Tuesday so 3 days.

What about you lot... The winner gets, well I dunno, the satisfication of being psychic or something.

Impatient!!

It's five days until my due date, meaning I could go into labour at any point. It also means that I could still have 15 days to wait... That's way to long. I don't want to be still waiting then. Send labour vibes my way please everyone.

He'll make his appearance when he's good and ready but there is no harm in hoping he comes a little early is there? Other than driving myself mad wondering if everything could mean it's a sign.

Not that I've had any signs, the only way I feel at the moment is completely and utterly exhausted. I had an hour nap the other day, then snuggled in bed with my little man for another hour while he continued to sleep. I even dropped off this afternoon while little un was napping.   My body is obviously telling me to keep it rested for when 'B' day arrives.

I'm going to have to start trying all the old wives tales soon. I'm not drinking raspberry leaf tea though it's gross. Fresh pineapple and curry I can handle. I'm even willing to go on a nice long walk... If the weather ever improves slightly otherwise I'm continuing to hibernate. I considered a walk today but the frost put me off, maybe tomorrow. Sex is meant to be a good one but I think i'll avoid that one until I'm overdue and completely losing my mind. Haha! Being the size of a whale and it being an effort to even move is hardly sexy is it?

I have the midwife on Thursday morning and I keep hoping I won't make the appointment but I am starting to fear I'll go over due.

So little squid Mummy, Daddy and your baby brother would love to meet you soon. In the next few days preferably.. Lots of other people would like to meet you to but I won't tell you about them incase you get shy and decide to stay put longer.

Although tonight might not be the best time since hubby is at work till 2am and his phone is sat here next to me. Muppet!!

Oh and just so you know the question 'have you had him yet?' drives me mad.
Yes I've had him, come home from hospital and not told anyone. Honestly!

Oh so glam...

... Or not! Cleaning up sick is definately one of the less glamourous sides to being a Mummy, but a side that comes as part of the job.

My little boy was poorly sick last night for the first time, impressive considering he's 17months next weekend. Obviously we had some milky sick but that was just because he was a piggy.

I actually feel incrediably guilty because  I have no idea when he was sick or how many times before I found him. The only reason I knew he was awake was because I heard him moving around his bedroom - poking my head around his door the smell hit me immediately. Joshua was searching for his dummy and trying to climb back into bed. Scooping him up he was shaking, so quickly I stripped off his nightclothes and got him in some fresh ones, giving lots of cuddles to warm him up. He's such a soilder not a single tear, I feel like crying when I'm sick. He watched in confusion as I stripped, hosed and stuffed his bedclothes in the washer. Although on inspection this morning the sheet is heading for the bin... Blueberries stain and apparently vanish does not remove it! 

Cuddling in my bed Joshua was sick again but I managed to move him and catch it in a towel before it went on my sheets. That was the end of it then thankfully. He eventually drifted back to sleep. However mummy stayed awake until daddy moved him back into his own bed just before 3am. A mixed of worry, squid making me uncomfortable and Joshua's endless wriggling meant sleep was impossible.

Thankfully he's back to his perky self this morning and so far has kept a small amount of breakfast down. Mummy on the other hand is avoiding a huge pile of ironing and dreaming of going back to bed when daddy wakes.

Hopefully it'll be at least another 17momths before we're cleaning up sick again. Ewww

Proud Mummy Moments..

I love proud Mummy moments! They make me feel like I'm doing something right and amazed at my little boy.

He's 16 and a half months now, and even though he's not talking he's able to understand really well. I did stress for a while that he's not talking yet after listening to my mum and sister go on about it endlessly but after talking to a few other people I realised there is nothing wrong with him.

He follows simple instructions really well. "Go find your shoes." "Go to your highchair." "find mummy your drink." he can find most things we ask for. I do it all the time with his toys to see if he can pick out the correct one and more and more often he can now.

He's started to answer us to now. He nods and shakes his head. Yes doesn't sound like yes but we know what he means and when he accompanies it with a nod of the head it's even more obvious. "do you want a bath!" is always followed with a yes and then him racing to the bathroom and throwing his toys in ready.
This morning we were lying in bed having snuggles and I asked if he wanted breakfast, he said yes and so I said "off you go then" and he jumped down off the bed and toddled away. Sooo clever.

The incident that made me want to write this post though was him being able to point out a giraffe. We had to invest in a new changing mat and the one we bought has animals on. I was trying to get Joshua to come get changed so asked him where the bird was... Which he pointed out. Followed by a monkey, elephant and then the girafe. I was so proud if not a little baffled where he'd learnt girafe but then realised it must be from the amazing book 'dear zoo' (thanks rachel - we do love it)

Every day he seems to be picking up things, tell him once and he seems to remember. Gonna have to start being careful or else one day he'll decide to talk and say 'shit!' or something.

So far we have:
Mumma
Dada
Gone
No
Yes
And something that sounds like GO but he uses alot so we're not sure what he's trying to tell us.

The dummy dilema...

The lastest dilema in our household is the removal of the dummies. Sometimes they feel like a god send other times they are the bain of my life.

Some people agree with using them and some people are very against them. Before I was a parent I didn't have any strong feelings other than that my child wouldn't have one once they were walking. In realitly it's a whole different board game. Joshua has been walking since before he was 11months so he was still a baby. Even now at 16months he's still small enough to get away with it. He'll certainaly
not have it by the time he's at school lol!!

I think Joshua was about a month old before we gave him a dummy, he'd never really needed one and I was worried it would interfer with breastfeeding. However as a sufferer of colic I had to find something to soothe him. I'd gotten to the point where I couldn't take being used as a dummy for hours on end any longer. Where i wanted to pass him to daddy so i could take ten minutes to myself. We actually tried
3 types of dummies before we found one he'd take and well he's had one since.

Part of me wonders if we should have taken them away when he was still a little baby... But they were and still are actually a sleep aid and we dreaded trying to get him to sleep without his dummy.

Joshua would have a dummy in his mouth all day every day given half the chance. Generally out of sight out of mind though, but sometimes he just whines and whinges and points to where we sometimes put them and he will continue to whine until we give in. It's really hard to stand your ground when he's upset. Added to the fact he has a tooth coming through, so I feel rotten if I take his comfort away from him. You wouldn't take a comfort toy/blanket away at this age so I feel maybe we shouldn't remove his dummy.

One part of my though wants to hunt them all out and throw them all in the bin.. Face a battle for a week or however long it will take him to forget about them, but then we'd be free. A nightmare week this close to squid being due doesn't seem fun in the slightest, certainly not if it affects his sleep. I'm stocking up and banking some hours sleep now in prepartion I don't want two babies not sleeping when one of them is easily recified. Another problem we could face is that if we remove joshuas dummies and squid had a dummy then he'll just steal the babies.

He's not really old enough to understand 'your a big boy, only babies need dummies'. He's still my baby, he's not even a year and a half old yet. The solution I'm swaying towards at the moment is letting him carry on using them.. With monitored use. He's not allowed them all day no matter how much he whines. Then once he's old enough we get rid of them together. Leave them for Santa to take away for the new
babies. Leave them for the faires at the bottom of the garden.. Who will leave a present in exchange of them. Take them to the zoo and leave them for the baby monkeys. Or simply just get him to throw them in the bin. He'll probably still ask for them but least I can remind him what we've done.

Saying that he has actually gone to bed tonight with out a dummy, he didn't ask for one. He drank his milk then snuggled down to go to sleep, so I gave him his kiss and left. havent heard from him since but it's only been 30 minutes. Knowing Joshua though he had a secret dummy hidden in his bed and is up there sucking away on it now.

Anyone got any advice or experience?

Tried and Tested

Took my beautiful phil and teds pushchair out for the first time the other day. Took me a while to get it into an upright position for Joshua, and remove the 2nd seat though. I definately need more pratice.

I got there in the end, joshua nicely strapped in and ready for our walk. He looked really comfy and I think he preferred it to our petite star. Purely because he was sat more upright and had a good view of the world. He didn't moan once... But it was only the first outing. So time will tell.

It is much heavier than the petie star but then it wad always going to be. Yet it was very easy to push and steer... I just need to get used to it being a bit wider. Stupid wilko's and there narrow tills... Had to wait in the biggest queue cos it had the only till we'd fit thru. Soo glad we didn't opt for a side by side double pushchair or we'd have been completely screwed.

I didn't find a fault with it on this occasion but I've not had to put the raincover on yet... They always seem to baffle me a little. Maybe I'm just not smart enough for pushchairs or something!!

Looking forward to trying it out when squid makes his appearance and I can pop both my little men in it. I'm so never going into town via the road with the hill once I'm pushing them both... I fear it would actually kill me. Although it would be a good workout, perhaps if I walk up a hill every day I'll actually manage to shed some of my baby weight. Who am I kidding? I'm never gonna get back to a size I'm happy with!

Whoops I went a little of track there... But to recap I'm very happy with my purchase. Just desperately trying to sell my graco pushchair and failing. We really don't need three.

Reading List

This is the BBC reading list from 2003, and I aim to read all the books on the list.


1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie