Clinic round 3!

Yippee!
Martha has put on weight! She is currently 7lb 3oz (3.260kg) which is a good weight gain after the previous weeks. The clinic were happier with her weight gain as are her parents, it is a big relief. She has also started waking in the nights, only once though and she has a feed and goes straight back down which is nice. You watch tonight she won't and she will wake and be up for ages!
Had girls from NCT round yesterday for afternoon tea which was nice, it was nice to catch up too and see Adi, Sara and Eoin.
Martha and I are having a pyjama day today, I managed to catch up on some sleep this morning and haven't got dressed yet!! Liam has decided to leave work early which is nice and I will grab a bath when he gets home.
SNOW!! When Martha woke up at 4.00 this morning it was really lovely looking out the window at the snow falling and there were no marks in it at that point either, it will be nice when Martha is older and we can enjoy the snow together!
Not much other news to update you all with at the moment, will be in touch when there is.

Decision made

After everything that has happened with Marthas weight and all the advice I have been given from Breastfeeding counsellor, GP and Health Visitor I have decided to stick with the routine we had going and if Martha is hungry at her awake times I will give her more feeds then and also she is having a top up of formula at 11.00 so we will see what that brings on Monday. Someone did say that she might start waking in the night now as she will have more energy, we shall see and I will keep you updated.
Martha has started smiling quite a bit now but I am yet to get a picture of her doing it so will post one as soon as I do, she is so adorable when she does smile.

I am 30!!!

Well yes I have hit the big 30! It probably wasn't the best birthday as it was a bit scarred by everything that had gone on Monday afternoon.
Thank you everyone who sent presents and cards they are all great and a very big thank you to Liam he really does spoil me! He got me an overnight stay at a spa hotel in the Cotswolds, it is a child friendly hotel and the three of us will no doubt go and have a really chilled out time.
Oh and no it doesn't feel any different than being 29 but of course you all know it doesn't feel any different.

Clinic round 2

Monday was clinic day again and I was feeling really good, had caught up on loads of sleep on weekend and it was my 30th birthday so all was well. That is until I got to damn clinic, I got there early after last weeks episode to find already 6 people in front of me! yet again Martha was hungry so needed feeding but its one of those shall i start or not as you don't know when you are going to be called through. So she was in a bit of a pickle before we even went in. Got in the room and stripped her off to be weighed- lots of tears and to my surprise she had gained hardly anything. So had to see Health Visitor who directed the nurse she wanted marthas head circumference and length done, so I had to strip her off again! Went into the room with health visitor and she quized me about the feeding and how often, didn't see the long nights as a problem. Then she wanted her weighed again to check! By this time I was in a right state as was Martha. The health visitor said I needed to see the doc but instead she went and got some advice and suggested I give Martha a 4oz top up of formula a day. Up to me when I wanted to do and it and just to see how it goes! Great help then! By this time I had asked if I could feed there which I did, even though I really wanted to get out of there as quick as possible. In between all this going on it was also suggested that I speak to another parent who had the same problem, it turned out she had a completely different problem and then to top it off she started giving me advice!!!
So I am not impressed with the clinic at all at the moment and was totally confused about what to do for the best, give top up, wake her in the night, go for formula all the time. So much advice and everyone had a different opinion and I don't mean friends and family I mean the medical profession!
As I mentioned it was my 30th birthday on Monday and sarah was coming round to babysit, however after everything that had gone on I was really reluctant to go out. We did go out to a lovely little italian restaurant in Twickers. It was lovely and really nice to get out and chill after the days events.

Sunday lunch and surprise visitors

Well as the title suggests, Liam, Martha and I went out for Sunday lunch at the toby restaurant in Old Windsor today in celebration of my 30th birthday tomorrow. I knew something was up because of various things liam had been saying and doing. Not long after we had been there who turned up but my parents, what a lovely surprise! It was really nice to see them and be with some people other than Martha and Liam, not that there is anything wrong with them of course!

They were very good to travel from Wales especially with my mothers back they way it is and also they didn't stay. We had a great big dinner and of course Liam and I had puds! I shall have to watch that as I have got away with eating what I wanted for pretty much 11 months now and the scales did start to come down but have slowly been creeping up again- not good. Oh well, will not worry too much about that especially while I am breastfeeding.

Some pictures above of the very proud grandparents

First week over!

Well my first full week on my own with Martha is over! I survived! Although I don't know what it is with Fridays, the last time I was on my own but not for the full week it was the Friday that was the pain! Friday just gone was the same, hopefully its not a sign of things to come. On Friday things were ok until it came to 7.00 when Martha was supposed to go to sleep. She had been unsettled the day before and I could see it was possibly a growth spurt, so I got some milk out from freezer ready to give as a top up. She took this and was still unsettled, she was winded and cuddled and rocked and nothing worked. It didn't help that I was extremely tired and hadn't manage to catch up on any sleep over the last couple of days for a variety of reasons.
Well Liam came home from work (lateish) and I was very emotional, both Sarah and David had said they couldn't make Sunday lunch and I was feeling like the world was against me.
The long and short of it was that she took another bottle and necked that and then she went to sleep very easily. I suppose the day on a whole was ok it was just the evening I found a challenge. Its now Sunday and I have taken full advantage of Liam being around and have managed to grab a few hours here and there which has been great and I am feeling like I can get through another week. Lets take each week as it comes.

Playtime and bathtime!

Just a couple of pictures of Martha on her play mat and enjoying some relaxing time with her Mum in the bath.

Clinic!!!

Well today we went to the clinic. Yuck it was horrible! we went in the middle of Marthas nap time, me hoping she would sleep in pram until she was weighed- no such luck. She was awake from the moment i picked her up! She cried while we were waiting- no one elses child was crying. However, another woman did come in and her baby was worse than Martha. She got weighed after nearly an hour of waiting and has lost weight which apparantly is fine but we have to go back again next week! I can't bear it, I asked someone if it was always like that and they said yes! I was there just after 1.30 today- I shall be there well before next week to make sure i get seen quicker. especially as the whole fact Martha was awake then had impact on her feeding and she was really hungry when we got back, I would have fed her then but didn't know how long we would be waiting or didn't really want to get my boobs out either!
Well hopefully next week will be a better experience. I shall let you know.

Hello 2007!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
Where did the Christmas and New year go? And Martha is already a month old, its so scary how quickly the time goes. Maybe its gone quicker because of Christmas and New Year, who knows!
Well I am making the most of Liam being around, although he always will be on a weekend anyway but hey. He was also around all this week which was really nice, not too sure how I am going to manage this week on my own. Although got clinic monday and meeting some NCT friends on Wednesday and then I might make a trip to see Sarah one day also so hopefully my week will go ok. I think the best thing is to plan to do something most days, although I am sure the days I spend indoors will be just as good, with just Martha and I enjoying some 'us' time.
I have posted some pictures of Martha and us over the Christmas period for you to enjoy.
Some other news is that two of my NCT friends have had their babies, one had twins a boy and a girl on Christmas Eve and the other one had a little boy this week.
Well thats all for now, going to go and see what Liam and Martha are up to.