Returning to work after maternity leave - the countdown!

Christmas is fast approaching and I am usually one who falls wholeheartedly into festive frolics. This year however, my joy is slightly tainted as I am due to go back to work in the new year. Two weeks and two days (not that I'm counting!)

I must be honest, I'm not entirely against the idea of working. I enjoy my job and am looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into something and being 'me' again, rather than just M's Mummy.

On the other hand I feel terrible that I am going to be leaving my tiny daughter for such long stretches of time. Not being there for her every moment, seeing her smiling face whenever I want and being there for all of her 'firsts'. She's an absolute delight to be around and I am going to miss my little friend.

Over the past week it has really hit home quite how quickly the past nine months have passed by, and the anxiety around returning to work is setting in. I think this is a combination of factors but includes the fact that I went along to my company Christmas party and was regaled with tales of initiatives across the office, which perhaps I felt I should have implemented. The lady who has done a wonderful job of taking on one element of my role was also awarded Employee of the Year. It's fabulous for her and I am so pleased (as she's utterly wonderful), but has also made me particularly concerned about my own abilities when I return.

I am particularly thinking now that I will not have the time to dedicate to the role that I did before. My daughter will take up a large portion of my time, and then I will also need to spend time working on the house and also being a wife. It's going to take some juggling! I hope to be able to start vlogging the true reality of being a working Mum so keep your eyes peeled!

Do you have any tips on how to survive as a working Mum? And how to balance your jobs-employee, mother and wife?

Going to miss this little face!

My labour and birth story

Hi all

I wanted to go back to the beginning and catch up the where I am today. Part of me however, wishes that I had written this post back when the emotions were still fresh, because even now, just seven months later, I know I can't accurately recall every detail.

To set the scene I want to explain the mind set I went into labour with. I wasn't afraid of labour. In fact if anything, I thought I would be quite good at it! I believe the key to this is fully understanding what is happening to your body during the labour process. This takes away the fear and enables you to feel more in control. Out of my ante natal group of all those who achieved a natural delivery (not Cesarean for medical reasons), ALL of us delivered with only gas and air. I cannot recommend attending NCT classes enough. You can find out more here.

I went on maternity leave when I reached 39 weeks of pregnancy. I had planned to do this as I had a (spot on) inkling that baby R was going to keep us waiting. Thankfully I had plenty planned to keep me busy, I am a great one for lists and had noted to the finite detail what I wanted to complete.

My due date fell on a Monday. On the Thursday evening I went to my friend's for dinner and began getting my first contractions, albeit they were very soft at this point in time. I collected my husband from pool and was slightly merry having had a couple of drinks, I remember being anxious about it thinking that I was going to end up having the baby that night, and he'd be half cut!

The contractions continued through the night but only at a rate of about one every ten minutes - just enough to keep you awake through the night, but not enough to think that your baby is anywhere close to arriving. When my R left for work in the morning he thought that I'd be calling him back at some point during the day. I went off for a sweep and the midwife said I was already 2cm dilated. The sweep isn't comfortable but it's certainly not painful. I think the key is to relax-ha ha!

I had another night of contractions and I put my TENS machine on during the night, This really helped to ease the pain and enabled me to get some sleep. I was getting worried about being shattered before the baby even arrived. I also has contractions all through Saturday and Saturday night.

On Sunday we decided enough was enough and we took a long walk to get things going a bit more. We walked down to the seafront and stopped for a bite to eat, then walked across the stones, which is meant to help. By the time we were approaching home I was at the point where I couldn't stand still with the contractions and had to walk through them.

Because I had been having contractions for so many days I was now convinced that I wasn't going to go into labour naturally. I kept saying to my husband that it wasn't going to happen, and he was quite categorically saying that it WAS in fact happening. It's funny the things that go through your mind.

At around six o'clock I had, what I thought was a fresh bleed. We phoned the hospital and were told to come in, where following some monitoring etc, we found that I was 4-5cm dilated. At this point I was allowed to stay in hospital if I wished, but I had hoped for a home birth and so instead they sent me off with strict instructions to walk around for another two hours to keep things progressing.

I went off for a stroll (I've made that sound quite relaxed, when in fact I was huffing and puffing and staggering about) and I asked Mr R to have a rest and something to eat as I was going to need his support. I came back and got into the bath which I found was a great pain reliever. At eleven pm the midwife headed out to us and by this point I was 6cm.

This was when she gave me the gas and air. Oh my goodness, I loved the stuff! She brought two canisters with her and my Mum had to be deployed to collect two more from the hospital due to the rate I was going through it.

I muddled through the next few hours with baths and gas and air. I eventually got to a point where my body was instinctively trying to push, and I felt that I couldn't continue any longer. My midwife then checked me again and found that I was fully dilated. I had gone through what they said was a 'classic transition'. I was still at home so a second midwife was called and I was able to begin to push my baby down.

In our local area they like ladies to push for a maximum of three hours. By the point of pushing I was exhausted. I had been contracting for days and hasn't slept properly, so my contractions slowed right down. Two and a half hours later and I still hasn't managed to get the baby 'round the bend', and so I was transferred to hospital. The ambulance was called at seven am and delivered my baby at 7:36.

Once we arrived at the hospital I was assessed and preparations made for an assisted delivery. The doctor used a ventouse to help move the baby down and through the birth canal and finally she arrived.

We were so surprised that she was a little girl. We had both been convinced throughout the pregnancy that we were expecting a boy so it took a bit of adjustment.

Once I had given birth she was transferred straight onto my chest and I was then able to feed her. Breastfeeding came very naturally to me, although I had not been bothered as to whether I breast or bottle fed.

I then hopped into the shower while my husband got our little girl dressed into her going home outfit, and we were able to take our daughter straight home without even going onto the ward.

It sounds long and drawn out, and don't get me wrong, it was, but it was a wonderful experience and I believe we were very lucky to have had such a smooth and easy labour.

And here we are!

Following Minnie's birth I was completely overcome by emotion. It sounds silly, but the enormity of the responsibility of having a child didn't hit me until she was here. I was also struck by how wonderfully lucky we are to be surrounded by some incredible friends and family. Mostly I was consumed by love. Love is almost the wrong word, because it's not love as you know it. I don't wish to sound condescending, but it's a feeling that until you have your baby, you will never know.

Thank you for reading, and if you've got this far well done.

How was your birth?

Lucy x

Did you miss me?

Hi all

Sorry to have been absent for so long and I'll be sure to fill you in on the gory details soon, but for now I just want to say the following;

I am now a mum! My little girl was born back in April and is now seven months old. She's a bobby dazzler. Here's to renewed promise of posting more frequently x

Skateboarding at six months

I have subsequently been told that this perhaps wasn't one of my better ideas. However, it seemed like a good one at the time!

My husband regularly skateboards, using it more as a mode of transport than ever being one of the kids down the skate park.

A couple of times he's taken myself and my stepson out playing on the boards and we decided to pick it up again, especially as we're looking for more cost efficient means of entertainment at the moment - and this is completely free.

I must admit that being 6 months pregnant has changed my balance somewhat, and where the last time we went out I was getting hang of whizzing along the sea front, I am almost back to square one now. Anyway, I took a few snaps along the sea front to share.

What sorts of things do you do for a bit of free entertainment?

I hate food shopping - meal planning

I hate food shopping. There is genuinely nothing worse. Accordingly I must admit I tend to order online, but I use this to my advantage by saving a bit of cash.

When you go to the supermarket you always go 'off list' and end up getting lured in by the deals they have on offer. The benefit of buying online is you can stick to what you need.

To save a a few more pennies I try to plan out roughly what we're going to each over the month and shop accordingly. Here's how.

1. Work out how many days you need dinners for. Sounds like a simple one, but it's important. Make sure you factor in nights that you'll eat out or have people over.

2. Plan out your meals - not to the day, just how many and what you'll have. I tend to do a bit of cookbook browsing, a few old favourites and then chuck in a coupe of bung it in the oven type dishes.

3. Write your list. Only get what you need to make your meals.

4. Add in the other essentials, e.g. washing detergent. Generally I get as many of these items as I can from Poundland or somewhere similar, before doing the online shop.

5. Log in, buy what's on your list - nothing more.

6. Allow an amount of 'top up' money to get additional bits through the month, for example salad.

And that's it. I can feed and clean a family of 2.5 on less than £150 per month.

Give it a go next month.

Five selfie's:dressing the bump

Make me like bambi

Always on the hunt for a mascara that will give me the lashes of my dreams (and always gullible enough to fall for every advertising campaign promising to make me look like bambi), I have today purchased this...

L'Oreal Paris Miss Manga mascara. In black of course. Review to follow.