Our Day by Design

Hello It's been a while hasn't it; I haven't posted on this blog for a long time but I've decided it's time to start afresh, please come and say hi on my new blog What Gaynor Did Next ! I have lots of adventures to document from all of our travels together, some that we took with Holden as a baby, a toddler, then with Eden as a baby and now with two children so this feels like a good place to start as well as writing about our daily adventures as a family of 4 .

Eden's first monthly photo, taken on the 12th of every month. Eden turned one month old on the 12th of March, over two months ago. The first few weeks with Eden have gone so fast. We managed to fit in a trip to Dubai for a week to visit my sister when she was 6 weeks old and Holden has recently started school nursery, which is why her first monthly update is so late. My recovery after my section was so much better this time, and Graham had a full three weeks off work which definitely made it easier and I took it easy the whole time.  Once he went back to work it was just me, Holden & Eden which took some getting used too. However, we have definitely been much more relaxed this time (even though we were with Holden too) and it doesn't seem as hard having a newborn again, probably because we knew what to expect.  We had a busy few weeks after she was born, with lots of family and friends visiting us. We also managed to get out and about quite a lot too, taking the b...

It's taken me ages to post my last pregnancy update, but I wanted to have it all documented. I took the photo at 40 weeks but obviously now Eden is almost three months old! After my last update at 39 weeks, when I had just had my scan, I spent the rest of my last week being pregnant doing the final preparations for Eden's arrival. On Saturday, I got all the thank you cards for Holden's Christmas and birthday presents written and tidied all of my craft stuff that was lying around.  Sunday was spent at Vogrie country park on our last outing as a family of three, with some last bits of shopping on the way home. Once home we put the shelves and a picture up in Eden's room and sorted changing stations in her room, in the downstairs toilet and in our ensuite, so there is one on every floor of our house. We enjoyed dinner at Nando's on Sunday night too.  On Monday, Holden and I had our last outing just the two of us. We had lunch at a soft play cafe then Ho...

...our daughter Eden Sophia Born on 12th February 2015, at 10.26am & weighing 6lb 14oz. My planned section went really well and it was completely different from my emergency section with Holden. It was booked for my due date, exactly at 40 weeks. We only had to stay in the hospital for two nights and we've now been at home for a week. We are getting used to our gorgeous new arrival and being a family of four.

I am currently 39+1 weeks {in my 40th week}, and the baby is still the size of a watermelon! I had a scan this morning and thankfully, everything was ok. The baby is fine, there wasn't a lot of fluid but they seemed happy there was just enough. She is literally just using all the space, which is why I can feel / see her move all the time. The radiographer wasn't surprised the same thing had happened with Holden, and thought that it was probably just how I carried babies at the end. After I returned home, I got a call from the se ction coordinator in our area, wanting to confirm my section date since my s can had been fine. I have now been moved to a different hospital, which is in Livingston, slightly further away from us, but it's generally quieter and I shouldn't get moved again. I was given the option of the same date we'd arranged last week or the other slot three days earlier but we opted to keep it as it was, as it gives her a bit more time to grow, ...

I am currently 38+4 weeks {in my 39th week}, and the baby is the size of a watermelon! Since baby reached full term at 37 weeks, she could technically arrive any time. My bump hasn't really grown much in the last few weeks, but she has moved down a bit. I saw the midwife again on Friday 30th, when I was 38 weeks. It wasn't my usual midwife again but the same one I saw last time. I had to take Holden with me but they have some toys and books to amuse toddlers which is good. My mum had said the day before that she didn't think I had grown much since my last appointment. When the midwife measured me, at first she thought I was around 35 or 36, which would have been ok at this stage. However, when she checked again another couple of times, she thought that I was maybe only 34.5 or 34, which would actually be smaller than I was 3 weeks ago. When I said that I had measured small at my last appointment with Holden and a scan had shown reduced fluid, she decided that ...

I am currently 36+5 weeks {in my 37th week}, and the baby is the size of a winter melon! My bump is growing a lot but I don't think I'm much bigger than I was with Holden at this stage, although she is definitely higher up. I finished work last Wednesday at the end of my usual working week, so yesterday was my first actual day of maternity leave. Technically I'm using my last two weeks of holidays first before my official maternity leave begins on the 2nd of February. I'm not sure how long I will take this time, but I think by the time I use my 9 months then my holidays, I probably won't return to work until January 2016! Holden is going to continue to go to nursery his usual 2 days while I'm off which I think  will  be good for him to keep a bit of a routine and he enjoys seeing all of his friends there. I saw the midwife again on Friday 9th, when I was 35 weeks. It wasn't my usual midwife, but she was lovely and sorted out a prescription fo...

I am currently 32+4 weeks {in my 33rd week}, and the baby is the size of a durian! I am getting a lot bigger now as you can see. I've had to get a new winter coat to last me through the winter months. I'm not due to see the midwife again until 9th Jan, when I will be 35 weeks, as the surgery is shut the week before when I should normally have seen her. However, last week I saw the consultant for my appointment to discuss options for the birth. I have decided to have a planned (elective) caesarean section, as I was given a general anaesthetic during Holden's birth and by the time I woke up everyone else had met him. I would like to make sure I'm awake for this birth and get to see and cuddle my baby first. They would not induce me again, and I would probably have refused it anyway and they also said they would be fairly quick to perform a section if the baby was in difficulty, so I feel better having it planned so we know exactly what will happen. The con...

I am currently 29+5 weeks {in my 30th week}, and the baby is the size of a cucumber! We went for a 4D scan when I was 26 weeks so that we could see the baby again, show Holden what a scan was like and confirm it was a girl before we buy anything else. It was lovely to see the baby again and show Holden the baby in mummy's tummy. The sonographer confirmed it was as girl and think she thought around 2lb. She wasn't really in the best position for the pictures but we managed to get a few after wriggling around a bit and eating some sweets and fizzy juice. Although my placenta is also at the front this time around, I'm definitely feeling a lot more movement than I ever did with Holden and this time I can even see her moving at the front, and Graham can feel some kicks, which we never really did with Holden. On the way home from the scan we stopped at Gap so I could buy a dress I had seen for the baby. As you can see my bump is growing a lot and there are only s...

I am currently 25+6 weeks {in my 26th week}, and the baby is the size of a lettuce! My bump is definitely growing but I still don't feel too big yet. I had another midwife appointment at 22 weeks and everything was fine. Holden came with me and we got to hear the heartbeat and I was measuring slightly under at 20 but the midwife wasn't concerned. A couple of weeks ago both Holden and myself also had our flu vaccines. I will see the midwife again when I'm 28 weeks. I have arranged to finish work in the middle of January, taking 2 weeks holiday before my maternity leave begins at the start of February. This time around, Graham's sister is also pregnant too, about 10 weeks behind me and due at the end of April. It's lovely to be able to compare as we go along. I'm excited to be an Auntie again and it's lovely that Holden and our new baby will have another cousin who lives a bit closer than the others. I'm already looking forward to our next fam...

... GIRL! I am currently 21+4 weeks {in my 22nd week}, over half way and the baby is apparently almost the size of a papaya! W e had our 20 week scan last Monday and all was well, its a girl, and we could see her wriggling around. I had to go out halfway through the scan to get some chocolate to eat and hope that she would turn as the radiographer was having trouble getting some of the measurements. I'm growing now as well and have a definite bump, as you can see from the photo below. I will try and keep a record from now on, the same as I did with Holden. I don't think I showed as early this time which I was quite surprised about. I saw the midwife at 16 weeks and got to hear the heartbeat. Graham and Holden were able to come too. We already knew from last time that I'm AB negative so will need an anti-D  injection at 28 weeks, probably at the same time as the new whooping cough vaccine and the flu vaccine. I had an appointment to see the hematologi...

At the end of last month I wrote a guest post for Julia at My Life in Transition for her " Moms Make it Work " guest blogging series. She had put a call out on Instagram looking for some international mums to take part and as I've followed Julia's blog for ages, I thought it would be a nice series to contribute to. I did write the post quite a while ago so of course there are now some changes that I could also have written about since baby 2 is now on its way. Go and take a look if you have a chance, I hope you enjoy reading and would love to hear your thoughts. There have been loads of other posts from mums in lots of different situations and how they all make it work!

Day 85: Helping build the new shed! Day 86: Lots of fun on the jumping pillow with My Spare Thoughts & A Dizzy Girl at the farm today! Day 87: Fun with second cousin Amy at uncle Brian's birthday lunch! Day 88: Garden slabs almost finished; just the cut ones to do! Day 89: New cube table & chairs, final bit for the garden! Day 90: First dinner outside! Day 91: Ready for nursery! Day 92: Enjoyed another lovely day in the garden! Day 93: Loving the big ball outside granny & grandad's! Day 94: Sc otland v New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens! Day 95: Watching the rugby sevens final after seeing the preliminary matches yesterday! Day 96: Love the timehop app! Day 97: Coffee catch up with friends after work! Day 98: Seats on the train for a couple of days this week since I went further to a station! Day 99: On our way back from a lovely afternoon with friends! Day...

...the newest member of the family; Holden's going to be a big brother! Due to make an appearance 12th February 2015!

Day 71: Nap time in the car! Day 72: Soft play fun with Lucy Day 73: Auntie Hazel  & Uncle Jake brought Olaf back from London! Day 74: Got to meet 4 day old gorgeous baby Grace tonight! Day 75: Free ginger loaf from the sandwich shop at lunchtime! Day 76: Mummy best friend me!  Day 77: Finding Nemo! Day 78: Luca's salted caramel ice cream is amazing! Day 79: Lovely hot day for a picnic in the park with friends! Day 80: Garden progress thanks to my mum & dad! Day 81: BBQ in the sun at my parents this afternoon! Day 82: Sweet & salty popcorn bar! Day 83: Catching up with Masterchef Canada! Day 84: Our local station getting in the spirit of the games!