Pregnancy

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The five things new dads are REALLY thinking…

September 27, 2010 in Babies, Parenting, Pregnancy by jo.middleton | 1 comment

Ben Wakeling is a writer, father of two, and author of a brilliant fathers’ guide to pregnancy – ‘Goodbye Pert Breasts’. He is a young dad at 26 years of age, but insists he is sticking to the ‘life begins at 40’ rule.

Ben decided to write his book when his wife fell pregnant with their second son. Whilst being dragged around loads of maternity shops, he noticed that all of the books to do with pregnancy were aimed at the mum.

The aim of ‘Goodbye, Pert Breasts’ is to give dads practical advice on becoming involved during pregnancy in an entertaining way, as well as vividly describing Ben’s own experiences of mucous, morning sickness and hormones during these all-important nine months.

Today Ben offers us a glimpse into the mind of an expectant father…

There’s no doubt that pregnancy is a big deal – but some may not realise just how much of an impact it has on the dad’s life, as well as the mum’s. Sure, mums worry about how much labour is going to hurt, or the weight they’re going to put on when they’re ‘eating for two’; but dads worry about things as well – and so, without further ado, I give you:

The Top Five Things Dads Worry About During Pregnancy

In no particular order…

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Bras for pregnancy and breastfeeding

August 3, 2010 in Babies, Pregnancy by jo.middleton | 1 comment

Tracey-Jane Hughes is a bra fitting specialist for maternity and nursing bras. Here she offers advice for breastfeeding mums…

Bras! Where do you start? Some women when they get pregnant ignore the changes in their breasts and just carry on as usual and then finally when it all gets too uncomfortable buy new bras. But at that stage they then realise that they could have been comfy all along!

So, we suggest that you get new bras when you start to feel that the ones you’ve got don’t fit any more. Makes sense really doesn’t it? That’s what we do with our other clothing (unless we’re in denial about dress sizes!), so why not our bras?

Our breasts start to get ready for breastfeeding baby (even if you don’t plan to breastfeed, your breasts don’t know that!), when you first conceive. So we usually expect women to need a new bra during the first trimester. We suggest a simple soft bra, usually a bustier type bra, is a good buy at this stage. Women often get tender and sore breasts in the first 12-16 weeks, so a soft bra that you can sleep in is a good investment.

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Party Tricks…

May 30, 2010 in Parenting, Pregnancy, Toddlers by jo.middleton | 1 comment

Six months pregnant with twins, my son was coming up to a year old and on the cusp of walking unaided.  Confident standing on his two chubby legs, he still needed a comfort steer before he would put one foot in front of the other.  We were at a first birthday party for a baby chum of his, and I was standing in the kitchen, struggling just to stay upright.  My bump was enormous; turn me sideways and I was a dead ringer for Mr Greedy.  None of my maternity clothes fitted beyond five months, and I had resorted to wearing a terrifying pair of charity shop trousers with an elasticated waist-band, which camped precariously on my stretch marks.

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Stretch marks – how to avoid them, or not, as the case may be…

May 21, 2010 in Babies, Pregnancy by jo.middleton | 6 comments

Today’s post comes from Caroline at Patchwork Bird – we all know about the horror of stretchmarks during pregnancy, and the lengths we’ll go to avoid them, but how about getting stretch marks AFTER you’ve given birth? Intrigued? So were we…

If there’s one thing that all pregnant women can reach a consensus on, it’s how to avoid stretch-marks. I myself spent hundreds on fancy creams and oils, each claiming that they would save my skin from the dreaded stretchmarks, and if I read about a particular product that had a celebrity endorsement, then it was quickly added to my ‘must have’ list.

I started my oiling ritual from day one, literally from the day I found out that I was pregnant. I was conscientious; doing it both morning and night, never ever missing a day no matter how late I was running for work or how tired I was in the evening. Oh yes I was diligent in my application. So imagine how proud I was to get to 42 weeks pregnant, the skin on my over-due belly stretched beyond all recognition but not a single stretch-mark in sight! I had put the work in and now I was reaping the rewards.

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Birmingham Baby Show – free tickets up for grabs!

May 12, 2010 in Babies, Birth, Competitions, Parenting, Pregnancy by jo.middleton | 9 comments

Have you ever been to one of the Baby Show’s before? If not, then you’re in for a treat…

It’s new-parent heaven – wall to wall gadgets and gizmos for your new baby, all the latest must-have products and of course plenty of fab freebies! As well as making the most of the exclusive show shopping discounts, you can also get expert advice and top parenting tips  – at the Birmingham show you can enjoy talks from Prima Baby’s sleep expert Jo Tantum, baby nutrition guru Annabel Karmel and breastfeeding expert Clare Byam-Cook.

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Getting fit and losing your baby weight – come on now ladies, stretch for that brownie!

May 9, 2010 in Babies, Pregnancy by jo.middleton | 7 comments

Today Helen talks about the pressure to get into shape after childbirth…

As I whinged the other day about my post-baby body (whilst simultaneously swallowing a large gooey chocolate brownie) a friend of mine stunned me by telling me about her experience of the medical profession’s approach to this topic.  Just eight hours after the birth of her baby, following a twelve hour traumatic labour, an excitable lady popped her head round the door and came to her bedside.  ‘Well hello!’ she breezed, ‘I’m your hospital physio, and I’m here to chat to you about how to get fit after having your baby!’.  My poor exhausted friend simply didn’t have the energy to ask her to come back another time, so had to endure a twenty minute lecture before being left in peace to recover from the ordeal.

So when exactly are you supposed to get cracking on getting anywhere near your former clothing size?  We hear in the media about Heidi Klum and how she modelled skimpy underwear on a catwalk just weeks after giving birth, and we pretend not to take notice, but you just can’t help but wonder HOW on earth she achieved it?

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Single Parenting – when baby makes two…

April 30, 2010 in Parenting, Pregnancy by admin

Sandra Hart is a single mother and blogger at The Under Fives Network. In this post Sandra talks about her experiences of single parenting and challenges some common misconceptions..

Parents are often one of the hardest working sectors of Great Britain and, more often than not, the most forgotten. Many reports come out telling us that we’re doing a bad job, that our kids are going to grow up into horrible people who will either turn to violence, drink or drugs – or all three.

But this isn’t always the case. I think that most parents will agree that whatever we do it is always going to be wrong. So why do we do it?

Most people have children because they have always had this yearning to be a mother or father. There is a primeval need to produce children and keep the world going, to have someone to nurture and care for. Other people become parents because they’ve had a horrible and unloved childhood and have an overwhelming need to be loved.

Some just forget the contraception once and bingo – baby makes 3.  Or is it 2?

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“It was all so lush…” – how it really feels to give birth at 17 years old

April 7, 2010 in Babies, Birth, Pregnancy by jo.middleton | 1 comment

For most people, finding out they are pregnant is a cause for celebration. But what about if you are only 16? How does it feel to give birth when you’re still a child yourself?

Today we are staying closer to home with a post from Jo Middleton. As well as being Cuddledry’s Marketing Manager, Jo is mum to two gorgeous girls and blogs as Slummy Single Mummy. Here Jo shares her birth story…

I was just 17 when my first daughter, Bee, was born. Her dad, Jonathan, was a year younger than me and was still at school until about three weeks before she was born. At the time I didn’t think too much about my circumstances, and obviously felt incredibly grown up and mature, as you do when you’re a teenager. Now Bee is a teen herself and I am beginning to realise just how much of a child I really was!

A little while ago, sorting through some photos, I came across a short birth report I had written at the time, fourteen years ago now. I read it and can imagine myself there, but it sounds like another person. A child. In some ways it makes me sad to think about how much growing up I must have done in such a short space of time, but at the same time it has an enviable casualness to it, a laid back, take-it-in-your-stride attitude that we often lose as adults.

So in the name of self reflection I have reproduced it here. Unedited. Even though parts of it did make me cringe a bit. I started having contractions at about 3am on the Saturday morning but the report starts when I went into hospital at around 7.30pm, when I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes….

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Being a parent – some words of wisdom

April 6, 2010 in Babies, Parenting, Pregnancy by jo.middleton | 1 comment

Before we become parents, we all have ideas of the type of parent we are going to be. But the reality if often a million miles away. Our post today is from Sandy Calico, a mother of two, offering some words of wisdom on adjusting to life as a new parent.

Sandy writes the blog Baby Baby about life with her husband Andy and their two sons, born within a year of each other. Presley is two and Cash is one. Baby Baby is a lively mix of the joys of parenting, the hopes, the fears and the tantrums. Sandy writes when her children are asleep. The rest of the time she eats a lot of biscuits (when she’s got a hand free to do so).

I was a brilliant parent… before I had children!

BC, Before Children, my husband and loved to watch ‘Supernanny’. We would shake our heads at the inadequate parents who shouted and cried. As parents ourselves we still watch, but now we shake our heads in sympathy and recognition.

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Morning sickness, exhaustion and the joys of a second pregnancy

April 2, 2010 in Babies, Pregnancy by jo.middleton | 7 comments

You’re pregnant for a second time – ‘Hoorah!’, you think, ‘a chance to reuse my Cuddledry baby apron towel!’ And then your thoughts turn to the pregnancy. You’ve done it once already, you feel like you know what to expect. But does a second pregnancy always follow the same path?

Today Jacqui Paterson shares the delights of pregnancy second time round. Jacqui is the mother of 18-month-old Lucia, and has another on the way. She is a professional features journalist, and blogs at Mummy’s Little Monkey.

Morning sickness. Pah! What a crock! They should rename it: ‘Begins from the moment you wake up, then steadily increases in stomach-churning intensity over the entire day, until slightly easing off around 9pm (if you’re lucky) sickness’. At least that’s how it was for me when I was pregnant with my daughter Lucia.

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