Germ OCD

I fear I am becoming a little OCD on the germ front. Ever since enduring three weeks of broken sleep as a result of the Moomin having her first cold, closely followed by a flu virus, I am on red alert.

I met a fairly new friend and her baby for coffee this afternoon and apparently my face fell when she mentioned she had the startings of a cold, I didn't even realise I'd let my concern show, oops. I think I need to get a grip before winter hits, otherwise its going to be a lonely few months for me and the Moomin!

Saturday Night / Sunday Morning

Went out for a few hours last night, leaving DH in charge of the Moomin. Kicked it up on the dance floor for a bit and felt lovely to just have to focus on ME for a while, rather than the Moomin. But the needle came off the record when I got home to a frazzled husband and screaming baby, who, to make matters worse for frazzled husband, stopped screaming the moment I held her eek.

I think the difficulty is that DH works long hours and only really gets quality time with the Moomin at the weekends, so bless her little cottons, she doesn't have that feeling of security that she has with me, even though she has the best daddy in the world who loves her to pieces.

Soft Play / Germ Factory?

Ok, I didn't think I would be a paranoid mamma, but I pretty much know that the Moomin caught the flu virus that has haunted us for almost three weeks at her first soft play session and it has led to much debate amongst me and my mummy friends - we all want our babes to enjoy the fun of soft play and mixing with children other than those of our immediate social network, but is it worth the risk of our precious little ones being constantly ill from picking up germs? Not only is it miserable for them, its miserable for us mums, as we return to the days of mothering a new born who wakes up at all hours of the night howling. 

Honestly, with Moomin having got through to 8 months old without so much as a cough, its been such a shock to the system dealing with several weeks of sick baby. We've had to cancel a bunch of fun stuff, be super careful not to spread the lurghy amongst friends and oh the hours of sleep that we need to catch up on, but that I fear I never will. 

What is the consensus amongst mothers of babies and small children? What is the best plan of action for the winter months ahead? 

Back For Good

And I'm back, almost seven and a half months after my last post. I didn't plan it this way, but then if I've learned nothing else from being pregnant and giving birth, its that you really can plan all you like, but nothing is guaranteed. 

So why seven and a half months of silence? The answer is two-fold, the first 'fold' as it were is that despite everything I really wanted to do for the birth, I capitulated and went with an induction, which in the end took up just over four days of our life. And then our baby suffered trauma at the point of birth and consequently spent three days in NICU and a further three in transitional care. NOT FUN. 

However, from the moment she arrived home we have been blessed with a really straight-forward, delightfully happy baby girl. So, I decided to plan our wedding and there we have the second 'fold'. Looking back, I think it was a moment of madness, but once the venues were booked there was no going back and here I now sit just over a week away from becoming a married woman. The planning is done, the baby is sleeping and so there is finally no longer a good reason not to blog...

Still Waiting

So, the sweep didn't work. Starting to get a little frustrated now, the baby is still very happy inside and wriggling round plenty - particularly last night, when I had to get up and go on my hands and knees to try and get some comfort relief for a while, grrr!!!


We've not cancelled the induction for Friday on the advice of a midwife, but have arranged to go to the walk-in obstetrics department tomorrow to check on the health of the baby and to establish how ready my body is for labour, so we can make an educated decision about next steps - done of my own volition, as the Dr. would just have had us turn up for induction regardless on Friday.


I am still so keen to do things the way I would like - as naturally as possible - but I just can't shake the sentiment of the Dr. I saw last week, that we should get the baby out as soon as possible. It has caused me a lot of stress, because clearly the most important thing is the health and safety of our precious and much longed for baby.

Induction Madness?

We had our post-date appointment at the hospital yesterday - 40+4 or 40+2 dependent on which due date we believe. Having been following the Hypnobirthing methodology I was clear about what I did and didn't want to happen, or thought I was. What I didn't count on was the very sweet and attentive Dr. making us feel like we were taking the risk of our / our baby's life by not jumping right in for an induction. All this despite a straightforward pregnancy, healthy baby heart beat and growth rate and lots of baby movement. She literally said that we could jump in for an induction today if we wanted. She also managed to sell me on the idea of a membrane sweep, as it was just a little extension of the internal examination.

Within 2 hours of arriving home, with pain and bleeding and an induction date booked in for a week today - Friday 8th - I started to feel really angry and spent some time re-reading all the info I have looked at about being confident in going with what your body is doing and what your baby is doing - i.e. not panicking or being panicked into being induced. Looking back, I walked into the hospital feeling fit, confident and healthy and came out feeling stressed, in pain and bleeding, how on earth is that a good thing! Anyway, have managed to re-group with my OH and we're going to speak to the midwife Monday to cancel the induction date, request regular fetal monitoring instead and then let nature take its course unless anything significant indicates otherwise. 


It actually shocked me how the immediate focus was on pushing me into having an induction, before even examining me and checking on the baby. Its so easy for them to make it seem like the best option, but from anecdotal evidence from friends and reading up on the subject, going down the induction route can easily be a slippery slope from chemical induction to increased labour pains, drugs needed to cope with the pains, episiotomy and caesarian section, none of which in my mind are better for the baby or mother than being patient and taking sensible steps to monitoring the health of the baby in the womb and letting nature take its course.  

Rant over!

Snow & TENS

Had to wait a whole hour for my midwife appointment, luckily OH was with me to help pass the time. It was raining when we went in, by the time we came out we walked into a winter wonderland, with huge snowflakes falling all the way home. The baby's back has moved from left side to right side, but the head is still 2/5 engaged, so all is well. 

Today saw us try out the TENS machine that my dad has lent us, you're not meant to use it in pregnancy, so OH was the guinea pig and for a while I renamed the machine the TENSE machine, as OH just wasn't taking it seriously enough, whilst I was trying to establish if this was going to help my labour, but then I realised I was just being a moody old so and so, relaxed and we managed to get it all set up and working and I'm looking forward to using it as part of my birthing experience, along with the Hypnobirthing and the birthing pool - though clearly not mixing the TENS and the pool. 

Starting to get a tad impatient about labour kicking in now, its very tempting to spend the day doing power walking, bouncing on my swiss ball and throwing some yoga poses, but instead I directed my efforts towards a spot of home baking - first attempt at mince pies, ended up with the pastry so short it crumbled as you eased the pies out of the tin, still they tasted (yes, that is past tense) good.