Long time, no blog! (again!)

Hello!
Once again it has been a very long time since I wrote anything on here! In my defence we have had a very busy time! Baby Doggrell number two was a beautiful baby girl, Naomi Joy who arrived on 7th February in the end! Nathan is 3 and a half now and Naomi eighteen months! 
If two little munchkins wasn't enough to keep me busy we have also finally moved out of our flat! The unexpected twist is that our new home is in Bournemouth! It wasn't really somewhere we were looking to be but Andy got offered a job down here and we're settling nicely! So we have had a busy time! We still managed to fit in a lovely family hoilday in Bideford and a few days at the Paralympics in London!
We also have another addition to the family, a furry one! A couple of months ago we adopted a little black kitten which Nathan has given the name 'Shadow Baddow'. Mostly I stick to Shadow!

 

At the Paralympics

Our Bournemouth home

Nathan's first day of pre-school!

'Shadow Baddow'

My cheeky monkeys!

Another Little Doggrell!

Well, so much for me posting more often!

Anyway, just thought I'd share the news that we are expecting another little arrival in February 2012! This is the 20 week scan picture so about halfway through already!

I had been given due dates of 2nd, 3rd and 4th of February, then at the scan we were told that from the measurements the due date would be 14th February! But babies arrive when they want to anyway so a couple of weeks isn't going to make much difference I don't think! So looks like me in hospital for my birthday!

I must admit I do have the odd moment of wondering why I'm doing it all again! (especially walking past the labour ward to get to the scan department at the hospital!) But then listening to baby's heartbeat or seeing baby wriggle arond on the screen at the scan I forget all about that! I'm a little nervous thinking about looking after two small children on my own, and sharing my time fairly between them both, but I'm sure we'll all adjust to it soon enough and find something that works! On the whole I'm looking forward to having a little baby again, despite everything, especially now Nathan is very definatly growing into a proper little boy! I'll try an keep you up to date with how things are going when I can!

Bank Holiday fun!

Hello again!

We've just had a lovely weekend with my family in Shrewsbury. Thought I might share some photos with you;

Saturday was spent in Llangollen and we had a lovely walk along the canal there. It's a lovely little town, well worth a visit if you're in the area. Another place that is nice to visit (if you're into that sort of thing!) is Stokesay Castle, where we went on the Monday. It calls itself a castle but it's more of a fortified manor house. When we were there they had people there telling you about what life would have been like for the people that lived there when it was in it's prime, which was very interesting, but that was an event put on for the bank holiday and isn't always there. However, if you're interested in old buildings it's still a good little outing and there are some nice views from the top of the tower (especially if you manage to get some good weather!)

Pictures from the last year...

Update Part One...

Nathan has been keeping me busy and we've been without internet for a month so this is the first chance I've had to update the blog! So many things to write about so I better get on with it!

Firstly, Nathan's birth;
Well, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, I think I had built it up in my mind! It started on Friday morning when I woke up with some backache and had a show. Thinking nothing of it I went about tidying up the house getting it ready for my parents visit at the weekend. The backache came and went at intervals during the day. By lunchtime I began to wonder and got in touch with Andy. He didn't come home then because I still didn't think I was in labour, not until he phoned to say that one of the women in the office didn't realise she was in labour because she only had backache for a lot of it! So I got out my TENS machine and had a bath (not at the same time I might add!) I do have to say that I was a bit silly in not going to bed at this point, but carried on sorting the house out! I don't think I wanted to let myself believe that it really was happening, just in case it wasn't! I didn't want to get excited or get my hopes up I don't think having heard stories about women whose labour stops and starts.
Anyway it only took Andy one look at me when he did come home after work to notice that I was in labour. We had some dinner and tried to keep calm! I had another bath because the backache was getting stronger. It helped a lot as did the TENS machine which I put on when I got out of the bath again and I was able to rest a little. But by about 3am the contractions were getting too much for me and we headed to the hospital. I think Andy was a bit concerned at the noise I made when I got a huge contraction just arriving at the hospital! The TENS had come off by then and I couldn't walk around so I felt it really strongly. It seemed to take forever to get into the hospital, get into a room and get seen by a midwife, but Andy tells me it was only a few minutes! It was really hard trying to concentrate on the questions the midwife was asking me, I just wanted to walk around or, more preferably some pain relief! It wasn't so much that it was painful like cutting yourself kind of pain exactly but it's really really intense and takes all of your concentration. When the midwife examined me she found out I was 9cm dilated, so it was probably about the right time for us to go to the hospital!
Finally I was able to get some gas and air! It was great! But really weird at the same time! It doesn't exactly take the pain away, but helps you cope with it better. For me it made me feel like I wasn't attached to my body, like I was someone else! So much so that it felt like the noises I was making sounded to me like they were coming from someone else!! I didn't want to make so much noise but apparently I did!! My waters must have broke at some point but I don't really remember noticing!
Andy was great the whole time. He was really supportive and made sure I was breathing and drinking and generally looking after me! I'm afraid I squished his hand quite a lot when I got to the pushing bit!
They said they would only let me push for an hour and then next thing I know she's telling me that I've been pushing for an hour and a half! When they tell you that they you can be pushing for an hour, but it really didn't feel like that! Which is a good thing! They only let me go that long because baby was happy. In fact in the end he was too happy where he was! Because of that and something to do with him being back to back (hence the backache) and not turning round or something they decided to help us out! I was getting tired (it's about 7ish by this point!) and baby still hadn't arrived so they took me to the theater, gave me a spinal block and helped baby out with forceps! The spinal block was not something I wanted to have really but by that point it felt great to no longer feel the contractions and relax after so long! It was weird not feeling my legs though!
A couple more pushes and he was out! Our lovely baby boy! (not that he looked that great at that point if I'm honest!) They gave us a quick look at him and cuddle then they took him for a quick clean up and check over! At this point he decides to wee all over the place!
When he was all wrapped up (and with a nappy on!!) Andy got his first cuddle with his son!
After getting all sorted out and taken back to the room it was nice to have some time with just us three. Even if it still didn't feel quite real! All of a sudden I realised quite how tired we both were! But we had our baby boy and he was here and was healthy and that's what mattered! So tiny and perfect! And such beautiful big eyes! A bit battered and bruised from the delivery but that doesn't matter to new parent does it?! We couldn't get the smiles off our faces!

It was nice that mum and dad were already on their way to see us and were able to come to the hospital to see us. Ben wasn't allowed to come into the ward so Mum, Dad and Emma had to take it in turns to stay outside with him! Tim was able to come in and see his nephew though! It was good to see them!

I went home from hospital on Sunday afternoon when Nathan (although he didn't have his name then!) and I had had all of our checks and they said we were fine! I felt like I should have asked someone if I was allowed to take him home! It was weird and a little daunting thinking that he was ours and we were now responsible for him! But it was nice to get home!

Since then it has been hard work sometimes and totally exhausting, but I am loving being a mum! He is generally a placid baby and already sleeps most of the night most nights! He has been quite jaundice but that is clearing up now and we are trying to get into some sort of routine and get the flat back in order!

I would just like to say thank you to all of our friends and family who have supported, helped and prayed for us. We are so grateful to all those people who have made us meals, given lifts, done housework and helped in other ways, it has meant so much and helped us out such a lot! Thanks to everyone who has been so generous and sent us cards and presents for Nathan we have been touched by how generous people have been.

Hope that wasn't too much detail for you! I better get back to looking after my little boy but I'll try and keep the blog updated!

A Name at Last!

We have now, after much disscussion, decided on a name for our son! His name is; Nathan Clifford Doggrell. We had originally narrowed our choices down to two name, neither of which were Nathan but we couldn't decide on the one we thought sounded best! Andy wanted Clifford for a middle name because it was his Dad's name. Neither of the names we liked for first names sounded quite right with that to us. So when my family came to visit us on Monday we talked about it a lot and ended up with Nathan, which I really like and seems to suit him I think! Well, just a quick note today, just thought I should let people know!

Baby Doggrell!

We are delighted to announce the arrival of our beautiful baby boy! Born 28th November at 8:53am, weighing 7lb! He doesn't have a name yet because we still can't decide on one! But we will let you know as soon as he has one! It was quite a long and tiring labour but we are all doing fine! More details and photos to follow!

A Year Already!

A year ago yesterday we were getting married! I can't believe it's a whole year already! And what a year, I never would have thought this time last year that all the things that have happened would have happened! A new baby due soon! I think that is the most surprising thing, we didn't imagine that a year ago! It been a good year, not always easy as there have been a lot of changes to get used to, but a good year all the same! I thank God for the past year and pray that we have many more together even better!

Very good news!!

Just a quick post to let you all know that I had my appointment to check what way round our baby is at the L&D today and thankfully baby is head down! So I didn't have to have it turned round after all! Thanks to everyone who gave me support and tips on how to persuade baby to go head down because if it wasn't already then they must have worked! The doctor had a feel of my bump and because sometimes it's hard to tell which bit is head and which is bum he also did a scan. So we got to see baby again too, which is always nice, even if it was brief! Baby is so big now that it takes up the whole screen! Not long now until we get to see baby for real! Just four weeks until my due date and I can't wait! I'm feeling really heavy and slow now and getting so impatient to actually have my baby, even labour seems less daunting!

Breech Baby?

Well, I had another midwife appointment yesterday. Everything was ok generally which is good news! However when the midwife had a feel of my bump she couldn't really tell which way around baby was. After a few (uncomfortable) minutes prodding and poking around the midwife decided that I need to go to the hospital to have it checked out properly in case baby is breech. (head up, instead of head down like it should be!) If they find out it is then they will try and turn it around because giving birth to a breech baby is harder and can cause more problems. I've got an appointment at Luton and Dunstable hospital next Wednesday and they will tell me then which way round baby is.
I don't really like the idea of them turning the baby around as it could be uncomfortable, maybe even painful, but if it makes the birth easier and is better for my baby then I guess it will be worth it in the end. (so long as it doesn't decide to turn around again as soon as they've done it!) If I'm honest I'm a bit nervous about it and I really hope baby is head down, but if not I'll cope with as and when I have to! Andy will be there to look after me though as always and with him to look after me what do I have to worry about?!! Seriously though, he has been wonderful throughout this pregnancy and I don't think I could have managed so well without him! I think he's going to be a wonderful dad too!




While I'm talking about baby things I might as well mention the antenatal class. We had our first class last thursday. Despite being a bit unsure of what was involved I enjoyed it and it was really good to meet some other parents also expecting their first child around the same time. What surprised me was how much I knew that other people didn't. I guess I took it for granted how much I'd picked up from Child Development at school, my training at college and generally from talking to mum and other people. I don't claim to know everything, not by any means! I still have lots to learn and even just that one class has helped, I feel much more relaxed about the whole thing already. I would recommend going to one of these classes to anyone, even if it's just to meet other new parents. I'm looking forward to the next one on Thursday now!

Baby Brother!

Here's a few pictures of my baby brother Ben that I took at the weekend, when were up in Shrewsbury briefly which I can't resist sharing because he's such a cutie! (well at the moment he is anyway!!) He's starting to look so much like my dad!