Felix Jakub's birth story

My second son Felix Jakub was born at home just over two weeks ago, 2:51pm Saturday 25th May. 

I was 40+6 so had started getting anxious about my chances at having a home birth. I had had a stretch & sweep at 1:30pm the day before. At 2:45pm on the Friday I had my first contraction whilst walking to the supermarket. My contractions continued throughout the afternoon & evening. They were manageable & irregular so just very early stages but we got the living room ready, pool up, towels down, nest area made etc. I went to bed at about 11pm & slept through the night waking from time to time with the off pain.

Mini Birth Pool set up

Belly during the set up!!

In the morning I was disappointed things hadn't progressed but none the less we got my parents to pick up our son for the day. It was gorgeous weather. I pottered around the house, did some washing, sat in the garden. By about 11am, whilst my contractions were still irregular in duration and time apart, I was feeling a lot of pressure. I called my midwife but she was sure it was the head engaging. I tended to agree. My previous labour was 30 hours & I had my waters broken & only dilated when they gave me the drip. She told me to keep in touch.

I rested on my sofa for a while & walked around the house.

At about 2pm I was sitting on my birthing ball when my waters suddenly & loudly popped. I wasn't surprised as the contraction had been quite painful, I had felt like a balloon about to burst! We has towels to hand but there wasn't much mess. I went upstairs to clean up. In the bathroom my contractions were now coming 3 minutes apart & were very intense so we called the midwife & my husband started filling the pool. The midwife said she'd be there as soon as she could but it might be 20 mins. I knew now it wasn't going to be long.

Stood in the bathroom I thought to myself "I have to get downstairs!" So I waddled to our bedroom for clean pants & a pad for the show & waters leaking out, put them on & slowly made it downstairs. I got on all fours in my nest area. I was pushing & pushing, I had to go with my body. Hubby was rushing around in the background getting things ready but I felt calm. It was peaceful. I knew I had to stay in control & just breath.

I could feel that the head was crowning so had a feel & could feel my baby's head, all slimy, just waiting there! As the midwife wasn't there, I was waiting, holding back from pushing. I didn't want to tear either & new this would stretch things. I visualised the head crowning in my mind & just keeping it there.

Soon, I could wait no longer. My pants were still on & I knew I was going to push him out. I thought hubby was going to have to deliver. I yelled "Help!" & just at that moment the midwife arrived. She was calmly bringing her equipment in but her demeanour changed a bit when she saw me. was calm but obviously saw there was no time! Pete mentioned that the pool wasn't ready but the midwife told him it was too late for that!!

She was very calm with me, got my pants off and then told me to push when I liked. I pushed. Felix was born 5 minutes after she arrived. It was amazing looking down & seeing him there. So different from my last birth where I'd been given pethidine.

After the cord had stopped pulsating & had been cut we got into the pool together for our first feed. It was wonderful. So calm. I could hear the birds outside & the sun shining through the curtains & I was on such a high.

It was a shame not to have given birth in our pool but I feel nothing but happiness when I think of this birth.  I was in control, it was at home, just as I'd wanted.  Thinking about it empowers me and makes me smile.  It was a wonderful experience.  We still enjoyed the pool afterwards,  it was easy to use, set up and empty.

Home birth is wonderful! No tears, no stitches, no pain relief. I feel humbled to have experienced this.

**Our birthing pool was provided by The Good Birth Company**

Blossom Nursing Bra Review

Well, my blog has been pretty quiet for a few weeks now and the reason for that is currently frogging on my chest as I type, warm and snuggley and smelling gorgeous.  I'm typing one handed though...

Since I had Felix, I've been using a rather fantastic nursing bra.  Whilst I was pregnant, Royce Lingerie offered to send me one of their Blossom Nursing Bras. I had a quick read about them and was keen to try one out.

Blossom Nursing bras are different to most nursing bras on the market.  It's designed to be worn both during pregnancy and after, when nursing.  It's a wire free bra available in back sizes 32-40 and cup sizes C-H.  Each bra covers 3 cup sizes to accommodate changes in your breast size.  For example, my Blossom bra is a 32G,GG,H.  The bra has one fantastic feature that others don't.  You can adjust the middle of the bra using pull strings turning it from a crop top style to a lower cut style.  This was my favourite feature.  I found when feeding Ethan, the nursing bras I had really limited the clothes I could wear.

Image source (left) Royce Lingerie 

I've been wearing this bra constantly for two weeks now.  It is so comfortable and supportive that I haven't missed underwired bras at all.  It stays comfortable all day long.  It's easy to unhook the clasps for feeding, it looks great under clothes and I've been able to wear low cut tops and dresses with no problem.

You can find out all about the Blossom Bra here, but if you want my recommendation, I'd say this is honestly the nursing bra to choose. It's the best I've worn!!

The Blossom Bra retails at £30.00.

***I was sent a bra for review purposes but all views expressed are my own***

Here he is! Felix Jakub

A quick post introducing my second son, Felix Jakub born at home in our living room at 2:51pm on 25th May.  We didn't manage a water birth, in fact the midwife arrived as he was crowning and the pool wasn't ready but it was a wonderful birth. I feel homebirth is fantastic!

I am typing this on my phone whilst feeding. Forgive me if the blog is quiet for a while!

40 weeks plus - Overdue

I didn't manage a 39 weeks blog post, I'm sorry about that everyone.  I didn't feel much like blogging last week.  To be honest, I don't feel much like it this week either, but Ethan is at preschool, I'm about as ready for this baby as I can be, I don't particularly need a nap just now and I don't want to do any cleaning.. so.... here I am!

Sunday just gone was my due date, 19th May (though going by my original dates my due date was 17th May).  So, seeing as we consider "term" in this country to be between 38-40 weeks, I am now overdue.  Don't you just hate that word, that label?  It's not very helpful I feel.  After all, each pregnancy and baby are different.  Some of us just seem to have naturally longer pregnancies.  My Mum was "overdue" with me (though my brother came on the day after his due date) and my husband's Mum was late with most of her children I believe (I know for sure she was with hubby and I think the other 3 were as well).  I reached 42 weeks with Ethan.

Back to my point.  Overdue isn't a good word really, is it?  It implies lateness... and most of us don't associate lateness as a good thing.  It's not nice to turn up late for something, to leave someone waiting for you (are you listening baby?!).  Overdue implies you are FINALLY receiving something you should have received a long time ago (baby, I'm talking to YOU!).  So, once you apply the term overdue to your pregnancy, you apply a negative connotation as well.  I am trying hard not to.  It's so difficult though!  Wherever I go, it's all people want to talk about.  How many weeks are you?  When was your due date? Oh, it'll only be a maximum of two weeks now, chin up!  I don't blame people for asking me.  I am being driven slightly mad by text messages/emails/tweets asking if I'm in labour/any twinges etc.  I don't feel angry at individuals.  After all, they are just interested.  It's just SO HARD not to focus on the fact I'm pregnant and overdue when it's all anyone wants to talk to me about now.  It's no wonder the baby doesn't want to come out.  He's probably bored to death of the inane conversations I keep having...

On the school run:

Acquaintance - "Still walking then?"

Me - "Yup!"

Acquaintance -"Chin up, the walk might encourage labour!"

At the supermarket:

Checkout lady - "When's the baby due love?"

Me - "Oh, I'm overdue now"

Checkout lady *look of abject horror on face* "Oh! Oh no!" looks around as if looking for a suitable panic button, one labelled "overdue pregnant lady in supermarket - may give birth at any moment" to press "Oh, well, errrm.... hopefully it won't be long then love, good luck!" hurriedly starts to deal with next customer in an attempt to usher me out of the shop at speed so she doesn't have to deal with a lady in labour.

There are many other such conversations.  I'm sure you can imagine them.  If you've asked me on Twitter/Facebook/email/Instagram if I've had any twinges or if there are any signs, don't worry, I'm not angry at you... well, maybe just a bit ;-D  No, I'm not, really.  It's just one of those things, isn't it!  I suppose over all it's better than people not being interested.  I have taken to growling at my neighbours if they ask how I am though!!

www.medicatedfollower.com - 40+2

I have actually been having "twinges" and pains.  For a few days actually.  On Sunday I actually had a show. I didn't have either of these "signs" with Ethan so I'm trying to remain positive.  What I don't want is to be facing a fight with the midwives in a week or so about induction.  I really want this homebirth.  Or, at least, I really want a shot at it.  If we start off at home and have to be transferred in, so be it, but I'd at least like to manage most of my labour at home and try out my wonderful looking birthing pool.

What does it feel like to be over 40 weeks pregnant?  Well, it mostly sucks.  Not so much physically.  Ironically, apart from tiredness, in the last couple of weeks I've actually felt a bit better than I have for a while.  My compression tights are so worn now they are well beyond repair.  They have been kept together with a mixture of thread, sewn in heels and clear nail varnish, but they are a mess and not to be seen in public.  Luckily, probably due to the fact I've been wearing them for a few month, my achy legs and varicose vein haven't been too bad, so I'm coping without them.  Equally, I'm not having to wear the support belt I bought.  I'm just generally less achy.  That's not to say I don't feel big and tired, I do, just not as much as I did.

www.medicatedfollower.com - Family Shadows at 40 weeks pregnant

The growth of the bump has slowed down.  Despite getting bigger quicker with this pregnancy, my bump isn't actually any bigger than it was at this stage with Ethan, which is good.  In fact, I've been complimented several times on what a nice compact bump I have.  So that's a good thing.

I think the worst thing about being over 40 weeks is the uncertainty of impending labour and the possibility of induction looming.  Other than that, it's mostly OK.  Don't get me wrong though, I'm ready for this baby to be out now.  I'm not kidding myself, I know it'll be hard once he's here, but it's inevitable that he will be so really, I just want to complete my family and get on with our life now.  It's been on hold for long enough now!

Wish me labour vibes!!

Trendy Tuesday - Shwings - wings for your shoes!

I'm still here... I'm still (just about) managing to do a Trendy Tuesday post.

I thought today I'd write about Shwings.  I can't remember when I first saw these.  I know it was online.  Perhaps on Instagram.  I thought they looked fantastic though and I knew Ethan would love a pair.  For ages I've had them on my eBay and Amazon wish lists.  I had a bit of spare money in my PayPal account last week so I thought, what the heck, I'll buy Ethan a pair.

They arrived last Wednesday when Ethan was at preschool, so I popped them on his pink Converse whilst he was out, excited to show him them later.  On Thursday he wore them out for the first time when he spent the day with my parents.  He was ecstatic when he saw them and, according to my Dad, spent the day "flying".  Bless him.

www.medicatedfollower.com - Shwings

I got a pair in a turquoise type shade.  I knew they'd contrast nicely with his pink Converse but also be the kind of colour that will work well on other shoes in the future.  After all, unlike his shoes, he won't "grow out" of these.  They are one size, for adults or children.  Hubby has mentioned he quite fancies a pair now, and when I get myself some Doc Martens, I think I'll want a pair to funk them up!  So, yes, we're all loving Shwings in this house!

www.medicatedfollower.com - Shwings

T Shirt - Smafolk via Bebaboo.com

Leggings - DUNNS via Bebaboo.com

Socks - Ted Baker @ Debenhams

Converse - second hand via eBay

Shwings - eBay

I bought ours on eBay but you can also get them on Amazon and probably loads of other places as well :)

If you'd like to link up for Trendy Tuesday, please do so below. Don't forget to comment on my blog post and visit the others who join in! Oh, and if you can, send me some labour vibes!!  Whatever they are.. but it's time for this baby to come out and star in his own TT post!!

1) Link back to my blog in your blog post and/or display the Trendy Tuesday badge (code available to the right).

2) Comment on my blog post and please visit others who join in - share the love!

3) Tweet me @medicatedfollow with your blog post link so I can retweet it.




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Trendy Tuesday - rocking out his own style

When it's a school day, clothes aren't so much fun.  They are more practical, more "I don't mind if this get's ruined".  I tend to dress Ethan in a school jumper/t shirt and cheap jeans/second hand tops.  I pick stuff up at the charity shop or he wears hand me downs from his cousin.  Wearing nice stuff to preschool just isn't really worth it.  As children go, Ethan isn't very messy, he doesn't really like to get his clothes too messy. Probably because he's spent his life hanging around with me and as a result he's learned to be neat and tidy.  Most of the time.  This probably explains the fact I've found him polishing the mirror in his bedroom lately.  Hmmmm...

Anyway.  What am I on about?  Well, as I was saying, school day clothes aren't as exciting or expressive or stylish as other days.  Often I choose outfits for other days of the week for Ethan, but I do like to offer him a few things to choose from.  Sometimes he chooses the whole outfit.

A few weeks ago I moved age 4 clothes into his wardrobe seeing as he's nearly 4 and has grown recently.  This has meant there are lots of new items for Ethan to wear.  Something he's been eager to wear is a funky purple top from H&M with one of their crazy prints on it.  I've been holding it back because it's age 4-6 and to be honest, too big for Ethan, but he kept getting it out of the wardrobe.  On Friday, I relented.  After all, he wants to wear it, what does it matter if it's a bit big?  He teamed it with a pair of Polarn O Pyret trousers (which despite being age 3 are still too big really!) and, best of all, his bow-tie   A bit of an unusual look but if Ethan was happy, that's all that mattered!  The bow-tie was made by my lovely friend and fellow blogger Lise.  You may know her, she writes over at How To Be A Domestic Disgrace.  You should check her blog out if you haven't before, she's most amusing!!

Top - H&M

Bow-Tie - Lise of How To Be A Domestic Disgrace via Belle & the Bean.

Trousers - Polarn O Pyret (similar)

What have your little ones been wearing this week?  Do you let them choose what they wear?

Link up using the Linky below and don't forget the simple rules:

1) Link back to my blog in your blog post and/or display the Trendy Tuesday badge (code available to the right).

2) Comment on my blog post and please visit others who join in - share the love!

3) Tweet me @medicatedfollow with your blog post link so I can retweet it.




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Friday Feature - The Pippa & Ike Show

I first heard about The Pippa & Ike Show towards the end of last year.  I can't quite remember how.. It may have been via Facebook.. at first I was excited to find out that they had a shop near me in Bristol.  However, this shop was in the process of being closed.  All was not to be lost though because The Pippa & Ike Show were going online.

It has to be said that in today's climate, it's often easier to have an online business than an actual in the flesh shop (no matter how lovely those are).  Let's face it, most of us shop online these days.  We love a cheaper price and it's cheaper for businesses to go online and offer a slightly lower price.  It also increases their reach!

Why was I excited to discover The Pippa & Ike Show?  Well, they stock all the things I love for one thing.  I'm a huge Scandi fan.  I love Scandinavian clothing and style.  I love the look, the ethos, the quality.  Pippa & Ike have everything I lust after all in one place!

The Pippa & Ike Show was set up by Lianne who worked as a children's clothing designer for 18 years in her homeland, The Netherlands.  Lianne has some serious taste.  If you're anything like me, I think you will LOVE her online shop.

I've made several purchases from The Pippa & Ike Show.  A lot of what I've bought is on show in our new baby's room.  Ethan also has a few bits and pieces.

Items from The Pippa & Ike Show in baby's room

Lianne has added some new brands recently including Lapin & Me who I adore.  Here are my current top picks AKA the items I am lusting over but can't really afford to splash the cash on:

Image source:The Pippa & Ike Show

Top Left - Jewellery by Macon & Lesquoy

Top Right - 2 D animal puzzles by Ingela P Arrhenius

Middle Left - Washi Tape from Omm Design

Bottom Right - Baby Sleeping Bag from Farg&Form

Bottom Left - Sonny Angel Dolls

Image source:The Pippa & Ike Show

A beautiful backpack by Mibo for CoqenPâte

I could go on and on listing, honestly, Lianne has THE BEST taste.  The backpack I love in particular because Ethan starts "proper" school in September and his current backpack won't be big enough for all his bits and pieces.  He loves penguins, he's addicted to Pingu at the moment, so I think this would be perfect for him and different enough to suit our style.

I love having Friday Feature on my blog.  It's not about sponsored posts, giveaways etc, just me telling you about a company I love and I cannot express how much I have loved discovering Pippa & Ike.  I love receiving news emails from Lianne, there's always something to tempt me!  Customer service is excellent, parcels are always beautifully wrapped and received quickly.  I can't recommend The Pippa & Ike Show enough!

If you want to keep up to date with Pippa & Ike news, you can sign up for the newsletter at the bottom of this webpage and follow them on Twitter here.

***This is not a sponsored/paid for post.  I am writing this because I love this company and want to spread the word! No compensation has been received for writing this***

Karcher Steam Cleaner Review

At nearly 39 weeks pregnant, nesting has been in full flow for a LONG while.  If I can scrub it, de-clutter it, clean it or wash it, I probably have.  Heavens, only this morning I put the TV remote tidy in the washing machine (it is a material one, I'm not completely mad!).  When I was asked if I would like to review a Karcher Steam Cleaner, what did you think I said?  Yes!  A loud resounding yes!

A steam cleaner really appeals to the nesting pregnant woman in me.  I'm a tidy person at the best of times.  I don't like to go OTT with the cleaning, I try only to vac once a week, clean the bathroom once a week and dust once or twice a month.  I do love to tidy and clean as I go though, that's one of my mottos and it's something that keeps your house tidy and in good nick I feel.  Something I have always struggled with is laminate flooring.  Like many houses today, we have several rooms with laminate floors.  I've never touched them with a mop for fear of saturating and ruining them with water.  What I've ended up doing is always mopping things up straight away and then every few months, getting down on my hands and knees with a damp cloth, scrubbing them and then drying them off with a dry cloth.  It takes ages and hurts my knees no end.  Having a steam cleaner means an end to this - an exciting prospect!

Despite the nesting urge, I've been putting off  using the steam cleaner.  It's always a bit scary getting something like that out.  What if I burn myself with steam?  What if I somehow flood the kitchen?  I decided to bite the bullet this week though.  So, yesterday, with a couple of hours to myself, I unpackaged the cleaner, read how to put it together and decided to start off with the floors and see what I felt like trying after that!

Putting the cleaner together was pretty straight forward.  There are some handy illustrations showing you which bits go where. The handbook tells you quite clearly what you should and shouldn't do.  There are several attachments for different jobs.  There's the actual steam hose "with gun", a hand tool , detail nozzle and small round brush.  There are also terry towel covers for the hand tool and detail nozzle.  Once I'd figured out what went where and what did what, I filled up with tank with water from the tap, plugged it in and waited the 6 minutes it takes to heat up to the required level.

I don't have large laminated areas so cleaning my kitchen floor and entrance area was really quick.  Stupidly quick really after how long it's taken me cleaning them by hand.  I couldn't believe how quick and easy it was.  You could see dirt on the terry towel covering.  As I've mentioned, we're quite clean and tidy, but it was great to see that dirt was being picked up.

I needn't  have worried about using a steam cleaner on laminate flooring and getting it too wet.  As long as you don't leave the steam head in the same area for ages whilst pressing on the steam "trigger" you won't get pools of water.  I was also impressed by how quickly the floor was dry though I must admit I kept a dry cloth on hand just to buff over as I went.  Paranoid!!

After the floors, I decided to try the small round brush attachment on the cleaner and give the hob a clean.  Now, my hob is pretty clean, it gets wiped down once or twice a day, but there were some stains on there that I hadn't been able to budge.  The Karcher steam cleaner got rid of them in seconds!!

After that, I moved on to the covers on the cooker hood/vent.  These get really greasy.  I gave them a rub down with some washing liquid and a sponge first to start to eat into the grease but finished the job with the steam cleaner and it was fab seeing the grease come off!!

I really enjoyed using this steam cleaner.  It was quick, easy and quite good fun!  I'm going to give the bathroom a going over next - there's some limescale build up on the shower head and taps I'd like to get rid of.  The bathroom is another room with a laminate floor so I'll be doing that as well!

Something I love about this steam cleaner is that you don't need to use anything but water in it.  So, no chemicals, and it gets rid of:

- 99.99% of House dust mites *

- 99.83% of Cat allergens *

- 99.01% of Dog allergens *

- 99.37% of Pollen allergens *

- 100% of Fungal spores *

* Kärcher Steam Cleaner was tested according to Allergy UK protocol AUK-008SF 2011

This is great for me and my family - we are due a new baby any day, so any way I can clean without chemicals and ensure my house is clean is fantastic.  I am allergic to pollen and mould/fungus so this is also fab for me.  My husband and Ethan also suffer with sensitive skin and allergies, so again, this is great for them!

This steam cleaner retails at around £220 which isn't cheap, but I think that it would quickly pay for itself.  Just the fact that I no longer have to get down and hurt my knees to clean floors is amazing.  There are more jobs than I care to think of that I can get done with this cleaner.  It's a gadget that appeals to hubby as well.  In fact, cleaning the oven has always been his "once or twice a year" job so I know he's itching to give it a go!  It'll be nice to be able to do it without stinky chemicals which are dangerous if touched/swallowed etc..

Would I recommend it?  Yes, definitely!  Go get one today!

**This is not a sponsored post, all views expressed are my own.  We were provided with a steam cleaner for the purpose of review but no compensation was received**

Would you vote for me? #BIBs 2013

With voting for the Brit Mums Brilliance In Blogging Awards due to close in a few days (12th May) I thought I really ought to write up a quick beg blog post reminding readers that you can VOTE FOR ME in the STYLE category!

Self promotion is not something that comes easily to me, however, I am well aware that compared to some of the other fantastic blogs in the style category, I am small fry.  Therefore, if I stand any chance of getting votes, I am going to have to ask for them!  I have a small readership compared to some of these blogs.  That's not to say I don't appreciate you readers, I really REALLY do.  Honestly, just having 200-300 page views per day is amazing for me.  It astounds me that people read and follow and it warms my heart every day.

Being nominated is fantastic.  Anyone who nominated  thank you, from the bottom of my heart.  If you have a spare moment and would like to vote for me to be one of the final 6, well, I'd like to kiss you!  You can do so here.  If for any reason that link doesn't work for you, you can take the slightly longer route of going to the Brit Mums shortlist page here and click on the link in blue font which says Vote For The 2013 BIBs Now!

You don't have to vote for blogs in other categories, a friend has tested this out for me!

So, once again, thank you so much if you take the time to vote.  It would be amazing to reach the finals, wonderful to see some different blogs in the finals instead of the same blogs each year just because they have a massive reach (don't get me wrong, those blogs are great, but it's hard to be recognised when they have access to thousands of potential voters!).

Walkers Hoops & Crosses review

We were offered the chance to review a new snack from the Walkers range recently - Hoops & Crosses!

I'm not a huge fan of crisps and the like for young children to snack on.  Even though Ethan is 4 in two months time, I still only give him packets of Goodies wheat snacks.  He's had the odd packet of Quavers as well, but generally speaking, it's the "made for little children" stuff.  It's probably over the top, but I figure he's got enough time to build up crisp eating habits!! Anyway, Goodies "crisps" aren't cheap, so when I was contacted to see if we'd like to review Walkers Hoops & Crosses which are made from wholegrains, I thought "why not?".

Our packet for review arrived this weekend just gone.  They were presented in some very cute packaging with an info booklet and a cute toy monkey which Ethan has taken to (he think it looks like Curious George!).

We were popping out into town for the afternoon so I'd made Ethan a lunch box.  I popped the Hoops & Crosses in there.  Ethan was super excited to try them - as I said, he only really gets Goodies snacks, so this was quite a big deal for him!

I must admit I think he was a bit taken aback by the flavour - we were sent Roast Beef.  He's never had a flavour like that before.  He made a surprised face with the first taste, but he went back for more and with no complaint whatsoever, the packet was soon demolished!!  I asked him what he thought.  "Yummy" he told me.  That's about all you'll get from him on the subject, but I think that's good enough!  I managed to pinch one when he wasn't looking and I thought they were fine.  Crunchy and the flavour was good, not too strong, not too weak.

I'd be happy to buy them for Ethan and put them in his lunch boxes.  Especially if they work out cheaper than the Goodies snacks!

A few facts for you if you fancy trying them out:

- Each bag has 85 calories
- Hoops and Crosses are made from wholegrains with no artificial colours or preservatives
- They come in three flavours; prawn cocktail, roast beef and salt & vinegar and all are suitable for vegetarians

***This is a sponsored post***