http://adserver.adtech.de/?adlink|3.0|311|1072359|1|16|AdId%3D6699352;BnId%3D1;link%3Dhttp://www.askamum.co.uk (They love my blog, ooo-errr how exciting!)

After a rather relaxing week staying with my Mum I have made the decision to stay for another one! Well, Jonny’s working this weekend and then he has lots of work for his degree with the Open University as he has an assignment due on the 11^th so it kind of makes sense in more ways than one. We are missing him but if we stay a bit longer it gives him the chance to get on and work without distractions and for me, being at my Mum’s means I get to have lots more sleep. She’s really good to me and is taking Florence in the evenings as soon as I go to bed (that’s always before 9 at the moment) and keeping her until around 3 in the morning! She’s helping me so much because not only am I getting some much needed slumber but for the first time in her life, Florence isn’t feeding to sleep! Hopefully then, it’s also helping towards the weaning process and getting her to sleep without me, which will be more of a result than me getting 6 hours sleep in a row! I know for most people having 6 hours sleep in a row isn’t a big deal but seriously, I haven’t had that in 2 years so I can’t tell you how amazing it feels! I’m also having the odd afternoon nap which is a total luxury! It’s not often that we don’t have lots of commitments to rush back to London for so for once I’m going to take advantage and extend my relaxing stay! Wooohoo! Thank goodness for Mums! I MUST remember to be this kind to Florence when she needs it in the distant future! Before long I’ll have another one and I’ll be back to being up most of the night again so I’m taking all the offers of sleep now! This pregnancy is going so quickly that I’ll be giving birth before I know it!

I’ve been reading the news about C-Sections with great curiosity this week. I simply cannot believe the newly proposed action to ensure all women can have the choice to have a C-Section if they want one? I know people who have had a C-Section and it’s not at all an easy option so why would new government guidelines insist that because women feel scared of pushing they can choose to have this major operation? If women feel too scared to push then they should either pay for this major operation privately or better still, not get pregnant in the first place! For goodness sake, yes it’s painful but women have been giving birth since humans walked the earth and it’s entirely something that’s safe and possible! If anything goes wrong they will be whipped straight in for an emergency Section anyway which in my opinion is the only type of Section that should be happening! Nature intended our bodies to go through child birth, it did not intend for us to be cut open. This, like most medical practices is a measure devised for an emergency! We wouldn’t just pop in for any other type of operation because we fancied it rather than a normal healing process so why should we be given the choice here? We don’t have to have babies and we all know what we’re getting into when we do! This is all just too easy if you ask me!

The recovery is long and aside from everything else it can make the bonding process and breast feeding that little bit harder. Surely it’s better to push a baby out naturally and have that baby on your chest to feed immediately than have to be sewn up first? When I gave birth to Florence I was taken in to the hospital and missed out on my home birth because my labor had gone on too long. Fair enough, that was the safest option so I went with it; disappointing but I had to do what was best for my baby, I’d never argue with that. I almost ended up having an emergency C-Section, again that would have been fair enough. Luckily that didn’t happen, I was fine immediately after giving birth with no scars and I held my baby and fed her within seconds of her being born, I was lucky I didn’t need that emergency operation. I found out afterwards that due to a skeleton staff and a lot of emergencies that New Years Eve, the Doctors were prioritizing people for surgery. While it was entirely safe to leave me monitored and try and get me to have a natural birth, had it not been busy and a normal day they would have taken me down to theatre straight away. If people are now able to choose, how will we know for sure there will be enough theatre space for real emergencies? How will Doctors be able to make the prioritizing decisions if Mrs X is already half way through her Section, because she couldn’t be bothered to push, when Mrs Y comes in with a real emergency and there is no more theatre space? I’m left completely baffled by this whole suggestion and wonder how the logistics could ever work successfully; then I am baffled by most of what the ‘Con-Libs’ suggest and that’s the reason I didn’t vote for either of them.

Cherry Healey, a favored journalist of mine was talking on ‘Day Break’ this week about how women can feel totally inadequate after a C-Section and that there is a stigma attached to it; somehow making Mums feel like they’ve not done their job properly and I agree that this is utter rubbish. If you have to have a C-Section, then like me having to have my baby in hospital rather than home, it’s disappointing but if it’s necessary and safest for you and your baby then it should be a no brainer and because you’ve done your best for your baby then you absolutely shouldn’t feel like less of a Mother or as if you haven’t worked hard enough. There does need to be a fine line though! Encouraging women to not even try and push is utterly unacceptable and just as unacceptable as vilifying women for not being able to have a natural birth. We should encourage women to do the very best for their babies whatever that may be and to forget about their own personal preferences, that is, after all what being a Mother is about. Women don’t have to go through labor pain relief free, there are lots of options on offer and if they are educated well then they should be able to make the right pain relief choices for them. ! I also know women who feel inadequate for having had epidurals and like Cherry was saying about C-Sections on ‘Day Break” they kind of make excuses for it? Utterly baffling! I was advised all the way on what to do for pain, for strength and for the baby. I came away from my birthing experience full of positivity, empowered and ready and willing to do it again. I had superb care, just as I did with my breast feeding help and this is what women need across the board! More midwives and more one on one relationships with them, more education and more reassurance. Not this so called ‘easy option’ that will leave them in pain with a scar!

So, from one scary topic to another, what have we been up to this week? Well, it was of course Halloween and we had such fun! In the build up to it we took my little sister to the London Dungeons as a half term treat and I have to say it was really great and much better than I had anticipated! I wanted to go as I had recently run a competition to win tickets and I was so intrigued I just had to see it for myself. Although it’s not necessarily something for a young child it’s certainly not somewhere you actively wouldn’t take your small ones if you wanted to go! While it was geared up more for children my sister’s age (10) it had fun elements for Florence too! There were fairly scary elements to it and on the odd occasion Florence snuggled into my shoulder and said ‘I scared’ but it was nothing that I couldn’t laugh off with her and show her that it wasn’t real. I would say Florence is a very brave sort of girl in general so perhaps if your child is very nervous it might not be the best idea but if, like Florence, they are quite confident then I’d say it’s absolutely fine. I have to admit it’s really rather enjoyable for adults too so it’s a good all rounder for the whole family to have a trip together. Often things are geared up for a particular age but with something like the London Dungeons it’s quite fun for everyone. I wouldn’t take Florence on her own but as part of a family it was definitely doable and there was enough to entertain her so that she enjoyed herself even if it wasn’t necessarily specifically for her age group.

When you enter you are taken through the museum on a ghoulish journey by various different actors who are utterly fantastic and dressed in character for whatever part of the tour they are taking. It’s fairly educational as well, nothing is made up (apart from the character Stingy Jack – a special addition just for Halloween) and every part of the journey was born from London’s grisly history. Naturally this means the children are learning about historical events without realising. From the Great Fire of London to The murders of Jack the Ripper, we are taken on this journey through the ages of London and its darkest hours. With demonstrations such as the torturing devices with audience participation, and rides such as the spinning room within a spooky seance, its fun and always on the go! It’s definitely not a sit down and relax kind of affair! I thought the staff were very good and when we moved from room to room and tour guide to tour guide within our group they would communicate to each other that little ones were in the audience by saying things such as ‘small apples at the back’! I thought this was a really lovely way of not making the little children feel like they were being singled out and yet it made the next actor aware so that they could be appropriate in their part. Even though Florence didn’t sit in it, (what’s new?) we had the buggy with us and there were no problems getting around which means it’s obviously not problematic for wheel chairs either. There were two rides along the tour which were unsuitable for Florence and because I am pregnant the last one wasn’t one for me but the staff are great and help with parent swapping so that even if someone has to be with the little one you can all have a go, albeit separately. I can’t really fault it to be honest. I went expecting it not to be entirely suitable for Florence and was surprised at how good it actually was for her and Phoebe had a brilliant time and came away happy. Each tour around the dungeon lasts around an hour and a half and with on line prices starting at £18.52 for adults and £12.52 for children (under 4’s go free) it is affordable for a treat. Being part of the Merlin group you can purchase tickets for more than one attraction to make it even cheaper and it is included in the annual Merlin pass. For all information about the London Dungeons or any of its sister Dungeons including all price combinations then please see their website www.the-dungeons.co.uk.

Florence and Phoebe at lunch on our fun filled day!

With Florence having learned the phrase ‘I scared’ in the Dungeons she was all set for Halloween and we had a lovely Halloween Party at my in laws with Florence’s baby cousin. The children looked fab in their outfits and luckily the good thing about Florence being so little is that she often doesn’t grow out of her clothes for absolutely ages and her spider outfit from last year, which was a little bit big then, fits her like a glove now! Her baby cousin Arthur who is a typical boy and the complete opposite of Florence in stature had to have a bit of adjustments made to his outfit in order to get it on but the end result was a very impressive Pumpkin!

My gorgeous spider daughter and equally as gorgeous pumkin nephew!

The next night Jonny and I had a Pumpkin carving competition (big kids) and we gave Florence a little Halloween treasure hunt (mostly organized by my Mum). She had enjoyed the Easter egg hunt so much when we did it that I wanted to do something similar and I think she was suitably impressed with the whole shebang! A little bit baffled that Mummy and Daddy were carving pumpkins or catpins as she calls them? But a thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all!

Before I leave you with my pregnancy diary I’ve got to mention my friends at Bizziebaby. Bizziebaby is a great website dedicated to bringing you reviews of all the baby products you could possibly think of. The best bit about the reviews on their website, www.bizziebaby.co.uk is that they are made by real families just like us! I do lots of reviewing for my blog these days but before that I started out being a reviewer for them and it couldn’t have been easier. You pay £5 a year and they then send you products to review and keep! How good is that! The first year I was a member I was sent some massage oil and a Lindham stair gate. The process is so simple: you become a member on their website, pay your joining fee, they send you a product, you use it and then they send you a form to complete with your opinions of it which are then uploaded by them to their site. It’s a great way to start reviewing and it’s so easy! If you don’t want to be a tester you can of course just use their website before buying anything to find out what other people thought of it. Also, Bizziebaby have their very own awards and as always they are voted for by us, the next set of awards for 2011/12 will be officially launched next week so make sure you stop by to see what things have been voted best this year! It’s one thing reading what a manufacturer has to say about their product but quite another entirely to read how real families found them. Invaluable I would say!

MY PREGNANCY DIARY WEEK 14

As I said earlier I’ve been having loads more sleep this week thanks to my Mum which has been great because I certainly needed it. I don’t think you can explain the tiredness in early pregnancy unless you’ve experienced it; It’s not really like anything else, you just can’t power through it as it’s all consuming! Now that I’ve reached week 14 I’m rather hoping it will start to ease off a bit now, the sickness has gone and I just can’t wait for the tiredness to follow. I felt so great with Florence when I hit about 15/16 weeks and continued to do so for the rest of the pregnancy so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for this time too! It is a rather different pregnancy though so I may not be so lucky this time… One thing that IS the same though is that I have at 14 weeks felt the first flutter of movements and that’s the exact same point of pregnancy that I felt my Florence. I remember with her I was laying on a beach in Menorca and the sunshine was beaming on my tummy and she started to wriggle around, it was the most amazing feeling! It’s no less amazing this time round either! I was lying in bed one night this week feeling really calm and nearly drifting off to sleep when all of a sudden the fluttering started. I kind of couldn’t believe it really, it’s such an amazing feeling and something that only I can share with my baby. He or she is too little for anyone to feel the movements by placing their hand on my tummy but I can feel it inside and that’s such a wonderful experience. Am loving it and it makes all the sickness and tiredness worthwhile and it makes it all the more real as well!

My growing tummy and changing body is lovely to see but like when I was pregnant with Florence I am worried about things like stretch marks. You can always lose weight but once those babies are there I don’t think there’s much that can change it so I like to try and do everything I can to prevent them. I never had any stretch marks with Florence and so far I haven’t had any this time either and I’d like to keep it that way. Every day in my first pregnancy I slathered my body in Bio Oil and do think it’s what ensured I never got any. It’s specialist skin care oil which you can use on the face or the body to reduce the appearance of stretch marks, scars and uneven skin tone and I firmly believe that it helps prevent the stretch marks in the first place. It could be that I am just really lucky and didn’t get any but I put on 3 and a half stone with Florence so that’s quite a lot of weight to not have any at all?! I had got a bit slack about using it this time because I very rarely seem to have time but this week I’ve been making the time and I’m going to continue. It doesn’t smell of anything and contrary to what you might think, it doesn’t leave your skin feeling greasy or make your clothes marked. It absorbs immediately and makes your skin feel really soft. I love it and it HAS to be my pregnancy product of the week! You can pick Bi Oil up in 3 different sizes and it’s in most chemists on the high street as well as readily available on line. The 125ml bottle is £15.17 in Boots and it lasts absolutely ages. Even when I used it every day a bottle lasted a good couple of months, its well worth it!

Besides, a specialist will tell you whether you should buy Viagra 130 mg or better to choose a softer version of the drug.

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading this week’s entry and I’ll see you back here for week 15 when hopefully I’ll be feeling even more rested!