Ohhh Fancy - Day out at the Polo

Hello Everyone,

We have recently had a lovely family day out at the Polo at Beaufort in Gloucestershire (I will leave the link for the polo club down below)

I spotted it on Groupon which was amazing - £19 for a car of 4 people normal price £49 great saving there!!

We had such a great day at the polo, we took a picnic and sat to watch the Polo, there was a large number of mini stalls which we fun to browse around selling things from Gi to Clothing and much more and a few old fashioned rides for the children

Here are some photos from our family day out.

Starting from the bottom-
Shoes - Orca bay shoes 
Black Jeans - Matalan 
Shirt - Next
Gilet - Beleno
Hat - Unknown
Watch - Marc Jacobs

Thank you for reading

Elyssia x

www.beaufortpoloclub.com

Indestructibles - Baby Books review

Hello Loves.

This is a quick review of the indestructibles books made for babies.
I bought mine from the Birmingham NEC Baby Show for Daphney, I believe I paid £10 for 3, the normal RRP is around £3.50 (I will leave the Amazon link below if you want to check them out!)

When I was looking at the books I do have to admit...I was a bit unsure as they sounded unrealistic but I take my hat off to the company…

THESE BOOKS ARE AMAZING!!!

The indestrucibles books are

• Rip proof
• Chew Proof
• 100% machine washable

There is a wide range of the Indestructibles books, which are beautifully designed, with bright colours which babies will love.

I know, I know sounds weird but it made me think...Daphney always tries to chew paper and books I suppose its the noise and texture but these books are so good! They don’t go soggy and gross and even better I no longer have to fish out bits of paper from her mouth! 

*BONUS!*

The books are designed to be used by babies to "read" by using their fingers and mouths (hence why they can be washed and are chew proof). They are printed on nontoxic material which feels like a wax paper...sort of(?)

As they can be washed they are great for teething/gumming, spills and being dropped or dragged across the floor.

I highly rate these books, Daphney loves them and I now always carry one in our changing back, I would give them 5/5, and you can pick one up from Amazon.

Thank you for reading

Elyssia x

Indestructibles books on Amazon -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Indestructibles-Baby-Faces-Kate-Merritt/dp/0761168818

Baby Recipe – Strawberry & Banana Smoothie

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Hey people!

I thought I would share a breakfast recipe which Daphney has been loving, smoothies are a great way for your little one to try different fruits.

This recipe can be adapted to suit your baby’s taste, you can also use frozen fruit to help with teething *High 5*

The recipe makes 1 portion – if using fresh fruit you can freeze these in ice-cube trays!

25g strawberries

25g banana

30ml your babies normal milk

1.       Wash your strawberries well and chop the fruit into small chunks

2.       Add your baby’s milk

3.       Blend in a smoothie maker or a normal blender works just fine

4.       Let your baby enjoy!

*Please note, if you’re using strawberries or raspberries please sieve them first to remove seeds and pips*

What’s your favourite smoothie recipe?

Thank you for reading

Elyssia x
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Things No-One Tells You About Pregnancy!!!

Hello Lovely’s

I thought I would do a fun post about the things no-one will tell you about pregnancy, I gave birth to my daughter Daphney on 11/11/16 via Csection – To read my story there is a post below!

So here goes…

1. Every pregnancy is different!! You will have a different experience to another pregnant mums
2. *TMI* Constipation!! This is THE most annoying thing ever!
3. Hip/Pelvic pain also know as SPD (Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction) – towards the end of my pregnancy I struggled with this a lot and finally got signed off work at the end of 37 weeks, I ended up having physical therapy but in some cases woman end up with crutches or even wheelchairs!
4. Midwives don’t know everythinkg!!! I cant stress this enough, and yes most of the time they are right and you should listen to them but I used to hang on everything my midwife said. I was told Daphney would be small – She was 8lb 11oz, I was told she was engaging (late pregnancy) when Daphney was still breech and it was her bum engaged. I learnt to take everything she said with a pinch of salt! *AGAIN this is just my expericance*
5. Peeing, I normally sleep through the night but nope, not when I was pregnant, I would be up every couple of hours needing a wee
6. If your fuller figured like myself you might not show as quickly as other mums to be. I think I started showing about 24+ weeks
7. Hormones - I cried my eyes out over not having Thai curry for dinner...
8. Weird cravings – now this is something I was so excited by! I craved Limes, honesly I could eat a whole lime, but settled for REALLLLLY strong lime squash (I remember buying squash and having over a ¼ of the bottle per glass but I would add sliced limes to drinks and also I LOVED spicy foods, which is not me at all, I used to eat at Turtle Bay and order a curry packed with scotch bonnets! Needless to say I couldn’t eat it now
9. Teeth – where do I start on my teeth!!! My gums were constinatly bleeding, my teeth got so wobbly and just hurt. I had so many trips to the dreaded dentist and everthing was fine. I came to the conclution it was due to their being no Calcium in my pregnancy supplement and I don’t eat a lot of dairy so all the calcium I was taking in was going straight to Dapheny – easily solved by having a glass of milk a day!
10. Everyone will want to touch your growing tummy... this is something that really annoyed me... when I was fat you didn't want to touch my tummy, but when I was pregnant it was like I had a sign on my tummy which said "go on have a feel, don't ask me just do it!" URGH! And people would ask if Daphney was kicking, I would tell them the truth, if she was kicking if would be down near my vagina beause she was breech so you will have to feel very far down and that might make all parties uncomfortable!! 

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Questions about Csections

Hello Loves

I always get asked how my Csection went... So I thought I would talk to you about it and maybe help you if your having one, so here goes, just keep in mind these are my own views on my experience.

Myth #1 Epidurals/Spinal Taps or Blocks won't Hurt                        
Ok... so I had a Spinal Tap which is a injection which goes into the spine to numb the lower half of your body.  So did it hurt?? Simply no. It didn't hurt....just VERY uncomfortable!! I had to sit on the surgical bed with my knees up which when your 39 weeks pregnant - isnt the most easiest thing. I then a local anethetic to numb the area ready for the spinal tap. They tried to 45 minuties to get the spinal tap in, every time they missed and hit the nerves I would get a almost electric shock which ran down my back - again very uncomfortable but not painful as such. Finally when the spinal tap was sucsessful it worked straight away - So in short don't worry about the numbing side of things its just uncomfortable.

Myth #2 The room will be cold

Yes, the room I was in was cold, I was in a hospital gown with an open back – Who eles woudnt be cold?! I remember my teeth chattering but who knows if that was from the cold room or the excitement!

Myth #3 Movement in your lower body will be limited until the freezing wears off

This one makes me laugh! I couldn’t feel anything from the collar bone down – limited time –HA! I couldn’t feel my body proberly until the early ours of Saturday morning, then getting up felt so weird! Like I was walking again for the first time *picture Bambi on ice

Myth #4: You might feel a slight tugging sensation as we get the baby out.

People have said they felt their babies being born but if I hadn’t been told this or when it would have realised what was happening but as I did get told before it happened I was waiting for it! It felt like someone was using my tummy as a washing machine, as Daphney was breech and high up I did feel them pushing and pulling quite a bit but was only for a few moments!

Myth #5: As the morphine leaves your system, you might notice an itchy sensation.

YES! I remember feeling like a army of ants were crawling over my skin! I had itchy feelings during my pregnancy but nothing like this, but only lasted a few days

Myth #6: You may have less feeling and be swollen around the incision area for a while.

This is 100% true! This for me happened months after Daphney was born tho, my tummy above where I was cut open was SO sore, like I had just had her all over again. Still now nearly 7 months pp my insision is still numb and I’m still rocking the super sexy bridget jones knickers *yeahh buddy*

Myth #7: Holding a pillow over your incision when you sneeze or cough stops the pain.

Holding a pillow when laughing, coughing, sneezing and going over bumps DOES NOTHING!!! I took a soft pillow into hospital with the thinking I would concur the world when laughing but HOLY COW nope! This is 100% LIES! Its painful to laugh or any of the above. I remember telling john not to make me laugh because it hurt so much, if you know where we live you’ll know there is like 1 million speed bumps – these are also not fun!

s

Myth #8 You don't get skin-to-skin after the birth

Again this didn't happen with me! Once Daphney had be weighed and all checks had been done she went straight to my chest and stayed there until we went into recovery where John changed the nappy and we started breast feeding.

Myth #9 You can’t photograph the birth.

We did get told at Gloucestershire hospital that photos were not allowed.. saying that when we got to the hospital the morning of the surgery I kept asking and asking and they finally said to ask the surgeon as it depends how they feel about it and clearly mine where ok with it. I would always ask the hospital you go to and if they say no just ask the surgeon!

Myth #10 You won’t be able to breastfeed easily.
Right… this one I think is true, for me anyway! So because I didn’t go into labour naturally (IE no contractions, waters break ect) none of the hormones got realised until a lot later. Daphney was also 75% tongue tied which is high for a tie. She was having a lot of trouble feeding until she the day before we left a breast feeding specialist came to see us and she noticed Daphney’s tongue tie (Daphney couldn’t move her tongue out of her mouth) we were booked in for a procedure to cut the tie, which was pain free as Daphney didn’t have any feeling there yet. After it was cut breast feeding got slightly easier but Daphney stopped latching on after 9 weeks

Myth #11 C-sections aren’t painful.
….Who ever says they are not painful is lying! Having a csection is major surgery where 7 layers of skin, fat, muscle and tissue are cut and sewed back together. Even though you don’t feel anything during the procedure the few days I was in hospital we by all means were easy. The day after the surgery were painful as the nurses on wards tell you to start getting up and moving around, I walked as slow as a snail up and down the ward. Luckily I was the closes room to the bathroom so didn’t have to hike around trying to find one. They give you medication to keep the pain down but as the wards as so busy it took around 30-40 minutes for me to get mine.

If you have any questions about Csections feel free to leave a comment below 

Thank you for reading

Elyssia x

It's been a while Crocodile

Hello loves

So... it's been a while since I last posted, there is a few things to catch you up on and I know I always say "I'm going to be better at blogging and keep posting blah blah blah" but this time I mean it *brownies promise* 

I'm not too sure when to begin so this post will just be me rambling!

Daphney is now 6 and 1/2 months old, time is flying by!!! Everyone always says how quickly it goes and for those of you without kids it honestly does FLY BY. We are weaning now, so keep an eye out for some weaning posts and recipes which you might find helpful. 

Daphney is still in our room.... I just can't let go yet I love waking up in the night and seeing her next to me, she is however in her new crib which has been pasted down John's family for 100 years and is a lot bigger than her Moses basket.

We have been on a few mini holidays the most recent to Edinburgh which was beautiful and we went by plane so again watch out for a post on traveling with babies.

We are planning Daphney's christening for 15th July at Tewkesbury abbey so that has been keeping us busy!!

We still go to Tatty Bumpkins which is baby yoga and Daphney loves going! 

I have now fully healed from my csection, the scar is slowly disappearing which I think I must be the only woman ever to be sad about! I'm not sure why but I wanted it to stay and be a proper scar call me crazy! I will be doing an update etc on healing and tips to help heal quicker.

I am just rambling now so will leave this as is for now! 

Keep an eye out for more posts soon

Thank you for reading 

Elyssia x

  

Birth of my beautiful baby girl

Hello Lovely people

This post is going to be about the birth of my daughter….if you are squeamish don’t look at the photos as there are some of the birth.

So starting from the beginning, my daughter was breech from 21 weeks, we got told we might have to have a C-section if she didn’t turn but the midwife was convinced that the baby would turn,needless to say she didn’t turn by herself so we were booked in for a ECV (External cephalic version) which is where they injected me with something to relax the uterus and try and manually turn the baby from the outside…it was so uncomfortable and failed so we were booked in for a C-section on Friday 11^th November.

We went in for a pre-surgery meeting about a week before my section was booked where I had bloods taken, questions answered and I got re-scanned to see if the baby had moved(she didn’t) they then gave me some tablets to take the night before the surgery and the morning of (I think their like anti-acid tablets) and I got told what I could and couldn't do in regards to eating/drinking and wearing.

The morning of the surgery we had to get to Gloucestershire woman's hospital by 6.45am and we were shown into our private room where a midwife came in and gave us a rough idea of what would happen thought out the day, I also got re-scanned as I got told I wasn’t aloud to have a C-section if the baby had turned but again she hadn’t which by this time I was glad as I had hyped myself up. 
I was so nervous as I have never had any type of surgery before.

We dressed in our surgery clothes and the anaesthetist came in and again explained what will happen and also inserted the canola into my hand, which I think looking back hurt more than anything! I cried - John took photos...It was great fun...

The midwife who came to see us earlier in the morning came to get us, me and John walked to the theatre, it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, id watched so many videos on what happens but I never expected it to look the way it did. Everything was so sterile and shiny, there was a bed in the middle of the room with massive lights above with all these woman looking excited at me.

I hoped onto the bed and the I had to hold my knees close to my chest whilst the anaesthetist gave me the local injection to numb the area, once that was in I had to hold my knees close to my chest for them to put the spinal tap into my back which took around 30 minutes every time they missed the gap in my spine it felt like small electric shocks which just felt a bit weird and uncomfortable. Finally they got it in and I was told to lie down on the bed.

Once that was done they started to put up a sheet so I couldn't see what was going on and I was hocked up to loads of machines and a blood pressure machine. 
The anaesthetist tested how much I could feel with an ice cube and I couldn't feel anything from the collar bone down, we were talking for a while to the anaesthetist who was stood to my right and John on my left.....I was getting a bit impatient and asked how long it would be till they started and to my surprise she said the baby was nearly out!!!
Moments later I we heard a swooshing sound and that was my waters being broken and sucked up, I was told I might feel a slight pulling sensation, I wouldn't have noticed if they hadn't told me!

Seconds later John was told to stand up and take photos as our baby girl was out... that is where things when wrong...

I could hear the nurses and surgeons talking and then all of a sudden "CODE BLUE" was being shouted across the room.I will never forget what happened next...The anaesthetist said "there is nothing to worry about your daughter just isn't breathing" she needed extra help and was placed on the breathing station with the little mask to help her breath. My heart stopped and then the room got very busy, around 7 Drs ran into our room then its all a bit of a blur after that, the same lady who told me she wasn't breathing was talking to me telling me what was happening but I wasn't listening, just praying my little baby would be ok. 

The Drs walked out and everything returned to being calm and our precious little girl was ok and breathing on her own. John walked over and cut the cord and she was placed on my chest whilst they finished the surgery.

The surgery in total lasted around an hour, she was out within 7 minutes and the rest was sewing me back together.

We named our little beauty Daphney Ann Stephens.

Daphney was born at 1.20pm on Friday 11th 2016 weighing 8oz 11lb

Csection update

Hello lovely people.

I thought I would quickly give you a update on how my Csection recovery is going.

I had my Csection nearly 7 weeks ago and I haven't had any problems so far, the cut is healing nicely and hasn't been a problem and the ends of the cut have started to turn into a scar. I have had a pain above where they made the cut started getting really sore and uncomfortable if I touched it or nocked kg but when Daphney had her 6 week check I spoke to the dr about it and they said it's fine!

I still have been wearing maternity leggings and nassive granny nickers to johns dismay but I'm finding wearing normal jeans really hard at the moment so I'm sticking with maternity for now! 

But all in all I'm doing great! I think the advice that the midwives say is true moving around early on helps so much! We had Daphney on Friday and by Tuesday we were walking around and doing everything we were doing before! Everyone is different though so listen to your body and don't over do it if you feel up to it! 

Thank you for reading 

Mummy Stephens 

Daphney 6 week update

Hello lovely people! 

I hope you are all well. I thought I would do a blog post about Daphney and her 6 week update! 

Daphney had her last visit from the health visitor this week and has put on weight which is great! 

Daphney is sleeping though the night now and has been from about 2ish week, it takes her about 2 hours to get to sleep but when she does drift off she stays asleep until about 7.30/8am! 

She's still having breast milk as a first feed and at her last feed and is bottle fed formula milk as the other feeds which is working really well for us. It means John can help with feeding and we're not tied down to the house

Daphney has started to really smile now which is soooo cute, and she looks around the room to the sound of our voices which I think she can tell it's us! 

D (Daphney) has been a lot more vocal now and gurgles away to us and seems to be awake and a lot more alert in the day times now which is nice, she's also grunting now like a little piggy which is adorable.

Daphney's started to enjoy baths now which is good as we have booked her in for a trail swimming lesion at the end of January! 

We went to the Dr for her 6 week update and they were really happy with her, they checked D's head and chest and answered the questions I had.

Daphney's been loving all the Christmas lights and she will turn to look st then and seems to be focused more on them now which is good.

She was getting a bit spotty but they seem to be cleaning up now, she's had colic but again clearing up and now I think she has slight cradle cap on her eyebrows so that's the next thing we'll have to sort out!

But all in all Daphney is on track and doing great!!

Thanks for reading

Mummy Stephens 

Long time no posts!

Hello Lovely people

Sorry its been a while since I posted anything, so much has happened but most excitingly I can now announce I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Friday 11^th November 2016. Ill do a serperate blog post about the birth so look out for that.

But this is just a quick post to say im coming back! Ill be posting blogs every Wednesday and Sunday, ill be doing baby updates, hauls, reviews and anything eles I want to talk about really.

I hope you all had a great Christmas.

Thank you for reading

Mummy Stephens x

Pregnancy update 18 weeks

Hello Lovely's

18 week pregnancy update, I quite enjoy making these. This week from the last time I spoke to you has been a weird one, as I've been feeling a little down but hopefully will snap out of it soon! I've also added a clothed bump photo as well so I can see for myself how much I am growing!

How pregnant are you? 18 Weeks – (2nd Trimester)

How many days until due date: 151 Days

Weight: Still not too sure! 

Pregnancy symptoms: Tired still but haven’t been as tired as I was in week 17, TMI constipation realllly badly, light headed and a little crampy!  

Stretch Marks: still no new ones

Cravings: nothing this time….so far!

Movement: I have no idea now! I think I feel a “popping” at night but I’m really not too sure as I’m so desperate to feel something I think I’m just feeling things that aren’t there!

Gender: 2 weeks until we find out and counting!!

Sleep: Myself and John haven’t been sleeping very well the last couple of days! I don’t think I can drink anything after about 7pm without me needing the toilet every 30 mins during the night – Which I never used to do before I was pregnant!

Worst moment this week: Just getting down and a bit frustrated that I can’t be sure that I’m feeling my little button move.

Best moment this week: Celebrating our friends 30^th birthday and getting together with friends for a lovely cooked meal

Nesting: Not really, we in talks about what we are going to do with the house before the baby comes 

Labour signs: No

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time: A little down the last few days

Looking forward to: I’m really looking forward to the weekend as I have it off with John and we are planning on going clay shooting at my favourite shooting ground!

22 week pregnancy update

Where is the time going? Can we just stop and take a second to realize i have 3 & 1/2 months left to go?!

We have had our 20 week scan, which didn't quite go to plan, I got the times muddled up! So we arrived 20 minutes late, which needless to say John was not happy about as he had taken the day off.

Lucky we still got to see our baby, but the Scan lady at the hospital was very rude to us and didn't explain anything regarding the health of our baby until I asked at the end, where she replied everything is normal. I left so upset, I know we were late to the appointment but I would have rather her say she didn't have time to scan me than be that rude!

We ended up going for a private scan... Ill do another post about that!
Here is my 22 week pregnancy update 

How pregnant are you? 22 Weeks – (2nd Trimester)

How many days until due date: 121 Days

Weight: I was reading the pregnancy app I've downloaded and it says our baby is over a pound! (A bag of sugar!)

Pregnancy symptoms: This week it has been BOILING! the temperature got to 40 degrees and now is 32 degrees! So hot, but apart from that nothing 

Stretch Marks: no new ones

Cravings: None this week.

Movement: Yes, still feeling movements and I love it! its so cute! I started feeling them around 20/21 weeks, she doesn't like the cold water or the hairdryer as she moves loads!

Gender: 🎉 ITS A GIRL!!!!!

Sleep: As i said above its been so hot! we have 2 fans in our room but still getting broken sleep!

Worst moment this week: The heat!

Best moment this week: Feeling our little girl move and being able to see her again 

Nesting: We have started organizing her room and the cot is up and the wardrobe is filling up! 

Labour signs: No

Belly button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: My mums wedding which is on Monday 25th, where I am a bridesmaid!

Bump Photo: OK so its not a bump photo, but thats a photo of our little girl with weirdly her eye open?!

Wiley's Finest Prenatal DHA

Prenatal DHA Wild Alaskan Fish Oil - £22.49 60 capsules (From Wholefoods Market)

I have been using this prenatal oil pretty much since I found out I am pregnant, and I LOVE IT! It has amazing levels of DHA which is so important for your little ones heart, eye and brain function, it doesn’t leave me with fishy burps like other oils I have tried and the company has great ethics behind them! So let me tell you a bit about it.

Wiley’s is manufactured in the USA (eastern united states – to be more pacific!) and is a family run business which started over 20 years ago and It is tested for Mercury and is mercury free.

Wiley’s is sustainably soured and meets the MSC’s Global standards.

The MSC is the Marine Stewardship Council which helps to regulate to number of fish being caught. (Ill link their website below if you want to check out MSC)

So now for the supplement itself. This is a 2 capsule’s a day supplement which contains 1200mg concentration fish oil (Alaska Pollock) which provides the following.

780mg Omega-3 Fatty Acids

120mg EPA (cognitive function and a anti-inflammatory)

600mg DHA (Which is an amazing level of DHA, which helps babies brain, eye and heart function! Pretty cool hey!)

Pregnant woman and lactating woman should aim for a daily intake of 200mg of DHA in addition to the remaindered daily intake for omega-3 fatty acid in adults.

Wiley’s also do lots more great fish oils in their range so go check them out!

(This is not sponsored I just love the product)

Happy Ready

Much love

Mummy Stephens

https://www.msc.org/about-us/what-is-the-msc

http://wileysfinest.com/

Mothercare baby event

15/06/16(photos to follow!)

Today Myself and John popped along to our local mothercare for one of their expecting parent events which ran from 6pm-8pm.

We arrived and were greeted by the lovely staff at the Gloucestershire with a goodie bag which included a 10% off a shop! 

We walked around the store and talked so different local venders they had, swimming is something Myself and John want our little munch to do from an early age, so for us it was a really good to find out more about it.

The staff were really helpful when we were looking for crib/mosses basket . We have already bough a cot bed so the lady advised us to get a mosses basket, so we could make full use of our cot. 

We also bought some Mothercare own crochet shoes in cream for a new born which were so cute, plain white vests for sleeping, mosses basket fitted sheets and some Pregncare supplements which were cheaper than when I buy them from boots!

(I'll leave links to everything we bought below)  

All in all I am really happy we went to the event, it was great to speak to Kim (a shop worker in mothercare) as she had loads of good advise and tips as she had a 8 month old herself!

If there is an event near you I would highly recommend it!!

Happy reading

Mummy Stephens

Moses basket (on sale) 

http://www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-Bear-and-Friends-Moses-Basket/721652,default,pd.html&loadMoreCurrentStatus=1&returnCgid=nursery_cribsandmoses&returnSrule=null&start=&returnScrollPos=275

New born baby shoes £15

http://www.mothercare.com/Knitted-Booties/LF1068,default,pd.html?dwvar_LF1068_color=Cream&q=Baby%20shoes&loadMoreCurrentStatus=1&returnCgid=&returnSrule=null&start=10&returnScrollPos=289

Baby vests x7 in a pack

http://www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-My-First-Sleeveless-Bodysuits--7-Pack/641556,default,pd.html&loadMoreCurrentStatus=1&returnCgid=unisex_nightwear_underwear&returnSrule=null&start=20&returnScrollPos=303

Moses basket sheets £7.99

http://www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-Cotton-Fitted-Moses-Basket-Sheets--2-Pack-Cream/367601,default,pd.html&q=Moses%20sheets&loadMoreCurrentStatus=1&returnCgid=&returnSrule=null&start=&returnScrollPos=231

Pregnacare £13.25!!

http://www.mothercare.com/Pregnacare-Plus---28-Tablets/630603,default,pd.html&q=Pregnacare&loadMoreCurrentStatus=1&returnCgid=&returnSrule=null&start=&returnScrollPos=197