Pain in the Back

Lower back pain is becoming more and more noticeable the further along I get in my pregnancy. I find myself standing with a different centre of gravity, lower back arched to support my growing belly. I have noticed a lot of women on a group for New Mums on Facebook have been saying the same thing. I thought I'd share the ways I'm treating it and helping ease the pain.

Reasonable Unisex Essentials

Matalan 

These are just scrummy! Cloud and Striped 'Unisex 2 Pack Sleepsuits' - £6

When should I tell people ?

This was something my husband and I thought a lot about, I'm sure every other couple expecting wonder the same thing. Finding out your pregnant is a very exciting time and you literally want to shout it at the top of your lungs. However it may be wise to wait a little while for a few reasons. After the first 12 weeks the risk of miscarriage drops significantly, which is the main reason mums-to-be-hold off until then. If you, god forbid suffer a loss, having to tell people and answer questions may be emotionally very difficult. Secondly, everyone has advice, so keeping your exciting news to yourself for a little while makes a lovely time to just enjoy it with your partner and maybe family members without being bombarded with advice and opinions. As well as this, pregnancy can feel like forever, especially if you find out early so when you share it after the first trimester it almost makes it feel a little less lengthy, well this is just my opinion. My first trimester flew by because it was our little secret.

Telling people does have its advantages though, being treated like a princess being the main one ;) But either way, whether you wait or not not, do whats right for you & your partner. Ultimately its your decision and your have to be the one making it.

Good luck mumma

Stylish & Practical Changing Bags

When my sister was excepting her first baby last summer I decided to buy her a changing bag as her baby shower gift. When looking online I realised the enormous amount of styles, sizes, colours, and brands.   I was quite overwhelmed. This all came back again recently when I was looking for changing bags that would suit my lifestyle. I need something practical, lightweight & definitely stylish. I also don't want to spend a fortune, but I realise these bags need to last a while and have good durability so rather than looking for 'cheap' bags , I'm looking for value for money. So I compounded all my favourite options with prices and links for you guys!

Sleeping 😴

So what I've noticed mainly while being pregnant is I have zero control over anything my body decides to do, and this includes randomly waking up at whatever hour of the night or falling asleep in the middle of the day when all I intended to do was sit down for lunch. Before falling pregnant I never had a problem sleeping, in fact I slept lot, so much I'd call it hibernating. I'm still extremely lucky with the hours I manage to get, but it's not solid 'hibernation' sleep. If I'm not waking up for the fifth time to pee , I'm just waking up for no reason at all, even if I'm still sleepy. I can usually manage to go back to sleep quite easily but this doesn't make it any less annoying. For example, it's 5.14am, and I'm awake, hence why I decided to write this post.

Preventing Stretch Marks

Well, if there's one thing I can almost guarantee every women at least tries to do in pregnancy is prevent those lovely tiger stripes. I would smear myself in pretty much anything if it meant stretch marks were less likely, not necessarily from a vein point of view but I work as a model and want to continue working after baby. A few here and there would not matter, however I would rather avoid the big red ones if I can. I already have a few on my bum from before pregnancy and to be honest I have no problem with them, what women in their late 20's doesn't ? If thats you , please comment and tell us your secret ;)

Freebies

I've been googling ladies, looking high and low for the best freebies & amazing discounts for new mums. I've put them and their links all here for you to pick and choose from :)

Save 40% on The Baby Show

For anyone interested I've hunted down a brilliant discount for 'The Baby Show' at the excel. Save 40% !!

Its on from 2-4 March 2018, with everything you need for bump, baby and you.  There's more information on the site!

https://babyshowexcel.seetickets.com/event/the-baby-show/excel-london/1161832?OfferCode=EMMAS

Prenatal Yoga

In a previous blog post I spoke about starting a prenatal yoga class to help control my hormones & emotions and of course get physically prepared for birth (still can't believe I'm actually going to have to do that part yet lol).

Well, today was the day. Firstly, I'm so last minute its actually annoying. I didn't even think about finding any clothes that would still be comfortable with my ever growing belly. So at 9.30am I was literally emptying my entire wardrobe to find anything appropriate, which ended up making me run late. To anyone that knows me, that won't be a huge surprise but rushing around while being pregnant is really not that easy, I don't advise it. 

Note to self - leave 15 minutes earlier than I need to 

Yummy Mummy Brunch

Im forever making plans with friends when they come into town, and now I've stopped working its nice to meet up with them outside the house. Perfect excuse for a good brunch. Friends that hang out over food are always my favourite lol

So naturally I started hunting for a good healthy brunch spot near enough to my flat so I don't have to get on the tube. I came across Farmacy in Nottinghill by pure chance a while back while walking around with my husband but we never went in. So when my super healthy Australian friend came into town and suggested it I was completely down

Lovely Baby Bumps

Baby Bumps & Body Shaming

Im almost 19 weeks pregnant and I barely have a bump. Now to some, this may sound like the best thing ever. You still get to wear your own clothes, and life stays relatively the same physically as before. However, I cant help but wonder, "why is my bump so small" especially now baby is the size of a sweet potato. I literally hold up a sweet potato to my stomach and wonder where on earth this baby is hiding. But through my research of hashtags on Instagram, not 1 woman is the same. This is so interesting to me, looking at other women who are in the same gestation week as me and how they are carrying.

5 Must Buys & 5 Avoids

My 20 week scan is near approaching and I've been doing some research into what we actually need to buy. There is A LOT of information out there on essential new born buys and it can actually be really overwhelming. Especially with the likes of Pinterest and other mummy blogs & vlogs, I never really know if its genuine or paid promotion.

So I asked a group of 'real' young mums what their 5 essential buys were and also the 5 things new mums should probably avoid buying. Now this of course is all completely different for different women however a few of the same must have products popped up so that might be worth looking into further!

Breakfast Of Champions

Its no lie that breakfast is the most import meal of the day. So when pregnant this couldn't get anymore real.

Balance is key. I don't follow any special diets nor am I vegetarian or vegan, but I do love nutrient packed meals, and I'm trying to focus on this even more so now that I'm growing a whole human.
This is my favourite breakfast at the moment and this usually follows my early morning cereal and fruit. Yes , that's right. Two breakfasts. My appetite in the morning is peak.

Hormones & Emotions

Well, well, well... hello lovely hormones. Being pregnant can be like loosing control of your body and mind. Not only does your body change, but your mind changes. Baby brain is REAL !!

I'm a self confessed control freak, so as you can imagine this is going to be challenging for me. Not the body part as much, Im actually really enjoying watching my body change and adapt to cater for my little baby. However, the crazy levels of different hormones can be pretty annoying. I used to enjoy yoga and meditation a lot, so I like to think I can really easily control my temper and anxiety. Well not so much at the moment. I have the shortest temper, with everything and pretty much everything makes me cry, including shitty TV shows.

OMG we are pregnant!

So I sat there , just over a month after our wedding, staring at 2 lines. OMG, we are pregnant. It wasn’t that this was unplanned, we just hadn’t imagined that it would happen so quickly. I was also worrying because I had literally just got home from a ‘cheese and wine night’ at a colleges house and had consumed and drank a lot of stuff you shouldn’t when pregnant. Ops !