Finally she's here! (Well, i say finally but she's actually a month old today! That has got to be the fastest month in history.)

So, without further a do, i introduce to you my beautiful baby girl India Violet. She's just perfect & we are all totally smitten with her. It feels like she's been part of the family for ever and she is so good! She likes to have a bit of a party around her 4am feed some nights, but apart from that she is a dream!

So, after a long long wait (she was 9 days over her due date) I went into labour the morning of the 18th April 2011. My labour was actually amazing (no, really) & for the most part, i loved the experience. It lasted 7 hours in total, 6 of them being fantastic & only the last hour being a little like hard work! I went from being in an amazing state of mind, bouncing on my silver space hopper singing along to lots of 90's indie (whilst caning 6 cannisters of gas & air) to suddenly feeling like i'd been hit by a bus. The home-birth went out the window when India got stuck. So, one blue light ambulance ride later, and only 3 minutes actually on hospital grounds, out came a back-to-front (hence the getting stuck part) & pretty large 9lb 3oz India, ready to meet her adoring public. This is *exactly* what her sister did (ambulance ride, 3 minutes in hospital!) - hmmm high drama girls, where do they get that from?!

My midwives were the best - especially Anne who is probably the worlds nicest woman & the student midwife India (see what we did there?) who was experiencing her first birth. At one point i had 4 midwives in my bedroom drinking tea & chatting about holiday destinations whilst i drank tea & ate peanut butter sandwiches!! It really was the most chilled out vibe ever, so thank you to Bath Community Midwives for that experience which i will always treasure ♡

Here's some piccies from her first month - enjoy x

Less than 24hrs old here. Yes, she was the only baby with a bright orange gnome hat on! Ha!

Here she is 11 days old giving it some Heart at the Royal Wedding picnic in the park

 & all bright eyed and flippin' gorgeous working out on her baby gym!

36 WEEKS

36 weeks - WOW! Not a lot has changed really since my last pregnancy post, except i've probably gained about 4 billion pounds (i banned scales at about week 1) and drank about 4 billion litres of diet coke. All i want to do is drink, drink, drink and it has to be fizz, fizz, fizz. I'm trying really hard to be healthy, but as all the important developing of baba has been sorted and she's just gaining weight now, i'm chillaxing a bit more. Walking is quite a mission, and i'm waking up about 6 times a night, but apart from that it's all good.

I *think* I have everything ready - with the exception of a pram & car seat (yep, pretty major i know!) so I feel a little less manic. I have even stopped waking up at 3am to make lists & email the mister exciting emails about breast pads (tmi?) so I must be ready in my head.

I'm going to see the midwife on Wednesday, and i think i'll pack my (emergency) hospital bag tomorrow once i've picked up some comfy lounge clothes to settle into after the big event. Ooooooo - it's getting so close now.

♡

34 WEEKS - NOW I AM COUNTING

I FEEL MASSIVE. I look massive, i eat like a massive person & I get off of the couch like a massive person. All of these things probably do well to explain why I feel the way i do, but it doesn't stop me moaning about it none the less. But i'm allowed to have a little moan - i haven't slept for longer than 2 hours straight since September & even though people are very keen to remind me how 'i ain't seen nothing yet' - it doesn't make it any prettier.

Then, of course I feel bad for moaning because really, i know how lucky I am to be in my current state, but sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees, so sorry. I'll shut up now & concentrate on the good bits...

..... midwife appointment today & ........ she's turned (baby, not midwife) and because of that she's no longer considered big for her dates (shit- it must be just cake and Sainsburys full sugar cloudy lemonade then).

So, i'm back on track for the home birth which is excellent news, as i am terrified of giving birth in the car or car park (I have very fast labours) so at my next appointment i'll be doing my birth plan. I know from experience that this means nothing really but it's nice to dream how idyllic it could be with your favourite music playing softly whilst you wallow about in some warm water with a smile on your face. Even so i'll probably just write the words get baby out & check she's ok in big fat capital letters as it's easier and far more realistic.

So at her current state, she is 2/5 engaged. I'm not even going to google to see if this is normal or not at 34 weeks as i'm just going round in circles but the midwife did say today that i probably wouldn't even need to push to erm 'release' her. Man, i hope she's joking else I will just sit here drinking lemonade for the last 3 weeks - just to be on the safe side.

So, to finish off here's another pic - taken in the usual glamourous location of my loo -

And sssssssssh but I think i'm 100% set on a name. Just need to get the mister on board - fingers crossed! He has said in the past he thought it was 'OK' so there is hope YAY!

OH BABY BABY!

OK, so i have actually been meaning to blog my pregnancy since I got my head round the idea & picked myself off up the floor (so, we're talking about late September i guess).... and low & behold, here I am a 33 weeks pregnant & the size of the moon, finally getting round to it.

So, August. August the 2nd to be exact & i felt different. It was a feeling i'd felt before - once in 2005 and once in 2006, but surely not again. Not after the year i'd had?! Not at this moment in my life where I didn't know whether I was coming or going?!? So, after an hour of convincing myself that there really was no way on this earth I could be pregnant, i decided to man up & go under cloak & dagger (Bath is a small place!) to the pharmacy.

Got home, and in 3 small minutes, our lives changed forever. Again!!

 

I found out pretty early on with this one, which had it's pro's & con's. We had a bit of a 'are we, aren't we' moment when I needed an early scan but it was too early to see anything. I had to wait 10 days before I was far enough along to go back. That was quite some wait.

Anyway, 10 days later & all was good & there the baby was, wriggling in the right place - talk about relief!

Now, I believe that as soon as I found out I started to show! Of course that's impossible so what was probably happening was I was actually giving myself licence to not breath in my tummy anymore & let myself relax. Even so, they say by the time you get to baby number 3 your body knows what to do - and mine seemed to not need any reminding. It remembered perfectly how to make me desire the very foods that would make me throw up moments later. It remembered perfectly how to make me sick for the whole day yet still seem to gain weight. It remembered how to sleeeeeeeeep for hours & hours & hours yet still feel like i hadn't done so for a week & it remembered really really well how to trick me into thinking my bladder was about to burst when actually, there was NOTHING in the friggin' thing.

 But with all this joy surrounding me (no, really I have loved it!) i still was proud enough of my pregnancy to get a few snaps of my growing bump. I kept telling the mister to CUT OFF MY HEAD but sometimes it did sneak on, so sorry about that!

Mid October - so about 15 weeks-ish

Almost straight away my citrus craving kicked in & all i could think about was lemons & limes. I was getting through about 20 lemons & 20 limes a week. It was exactly the same craving I had with Dexter, so naturally i'm having a boy, right?

This sight right here pretty much sums up my entire pregnancy and just looking at it now means i need to take a break & whip myself up a little lime juice & fizzy water!!

oh my! Bliss.

Early November - so approx 18 weeks 

19 week bump

21 weeks - just before my scan. 

Excuse the stupid expression on my face - you'd be better off concentrating on the bump in question. 

So - 21 weeks, the moment of truth GIRL or BOY?  It possibly comes as no suprise to the people that  know me, that I have not only one boy & one girl already, but I also have 1 calm chilled little fella & one hyped up miss mega-manic. To say Florence has been about 100 times harder to bring up and try to work out (epic fail so far) is an understatement. So when we heard the words "Looks like you're having another little girl" from the sonographer, a dark eerie silence fell on the room. I think i heard tears of fear well up in the misters eyes - around the same time as I heard a 3 year old Florence break that silence with "WELL SHE'S NOT HAVING ANY OF MY TOYS"

Irony is not a no smoking sign on your cigarette break Ms Morrisette, it's really needing a stiff drink the one time in your life you really should not have one! Please let this one at least sleep for longer than 90 minutes at a time waaaay before she is a year old. That would really help me out!

Mid December - so 24 weeks-ish. I've worn this same top with all 3 of my bumps.

25 week MASSIVE bump! Same size looks wise as I was full term with Flo 

30 weeks.

Which kind of brings me up to date - here's last weeks bump shot

She's currently 'too big' and the wrong way up, so we'll see what next weeks midwife appointment brings. She's a disco baby - and a total night owl, so i'm hoping with all her night time wriggles, she's working on her turn. Fingers crossed as i'm planning a home birth with this one, but they won't let me if she's still upside down! 

I'll blog the rest as i go....