Motherhood blog baby Aubrey 6-9 months update

That brings me back to weaning, as I mentioned in my last update. I found this very challenging and anxiety inducing. The fear of her choking made me choose a mixed approach of purées and the now popular baby led weaning. The combined approach made me feel more comfortable and luckily Aubrey took to self feeding finger foods fairly easily once I started to progress these. This is a topic that is mind blowing. If I had any advice, do what you think is best. I had to shut out the noise and try to stop following the endless advice from social media accounts, it was overwhelming. We are now enjoying three meals a day and she is a good little eater, thankfully, but it took a few tears (from me and her), patience and perseverance.

3-6 months comes with so many wonderful moments, but I would also say some very tough days and nights. Aubrey has continued to fill our lives with smiles and laughter, and watching her develop her amazing little personality has been worth every second. However, like many others, Aubrey learning new skills and getting her first tooth at approximately 5 months has led to very disturbed nights and fussy days. Sleep deprivation after 6 months of it, hits differently to the first few weeks of the newborn phase. Time with family and friends, and the support they have given us, has got me through the tough days (as well as the gallon of coffee).

As we reach 6 months and transition into Autumn, I can’t wait for more firsts with Aubrey. There will be pumpkins, fireworks and then Christmas on its way. We have been lucky enough to just return from a sunny holiday with our friends to say bye to Summer and Aubrey had her first experience of airports and flying. She handled it like a superstar and hopefully this may spark us to book some more European visits in the near future. Travelling with a baby is daunting and I was so anxious about it, however it wasn’t so bad and Aubrey adapted more than I gave her initial credit for. I would encourage anyone thinking of going away to go for it. It’s different but worth it!

Huge thanks to Lucy for another installment of her blog.

Aubrey and her parents had another session in the studio, here are a few images as you can see she can sit by herself and is crawling too #magicalmilestones

Motherhood blog 0-3 months

It’s 1:30 am and as another night feed goes ahead I often find myself looking at Aubrey in the light of our nightlight reflecting on our time as a family so far. Most will know the sleep deprivation is hard but overall I think we have been very lucky, as Aubrey appeared to set herself a routine waking twice a night fairly consistently. It’s safe to say though this first 3 months have gone by in a flash.

The brutal reality of recovering from birth hit me hard. Following our assisted delivery in theatre with episiotomy and forceps, the pain persisted for several weeks. I think I felt comfortable by around 4-5 weeks, but the pelvic floor weakness still bothers me now. However, I pushed myself to get out and we enjoyed early sensory classes and more recently some baby massage. I have also been very lucky with the time I get to spend with friends and their babies.

Big thanks to Lucy for her second blog – we met recently as seen in the photos above.

Aubrey was full of character and chatter, she is a sweet age discovering the world.

You can read Lucy’s first blog here.

Jess x

New motherhood blogger – Lucy

I am so pleased to welcome my new blogger Lucy. I love working with new mums/parents and sharing their different experiences and stories.

Over to the lovely Lucy …

At 17:36 on the 27th March 2024 we welcomed our beautiful little girl Aubrey Talbot-Hart to the world. At 41 weeks, she was a healthy 8lbs 5oz (or as we thought, this was later corrected by the midwife to an even healthier 8lbs 9oz).

Being our first baby both myself and my partner were so excited to finally meet our little bundle of joy. We hadn’t found out if we were having a baby boy or girl at any scans so the anticipation was growing. However, the anticipation also grew with the imminent stages of labour and birth on the horizon.

I had made no dream plans for the birth, of course hoping for a text book, minimal pain relief, water birth. My partner is a planner and had found it hard to take my laid back approach towards this. Working in healthcare myself I knew the reality was, that it was out of my hands.

I worked till 38 weeks, and was keen to get in my self care before the big day came. Nails done, pedicure complete, and several brunches with family and friends, our due date came and went. We had been told throughout that our baby was likely to be big, although gestational diabetes was ruled out, I became increasingly anxious whether a big baby would make things complicated.

At 40+2, a Friday, I experienced my first sweep, hoping by the end of the weekend perhaps we would be a family of three. We walked a lot and on the Sunday spent the day in the cold and wind at Cly coast. Monday morning arrived and still no signs. At this point I needed to decide whether to elect for a C-section or induction at 41 weeks. Conversations with a consultant the previous week had left this in the air and I really wasn’t sure what I wanted. Monday morning was another sweep, another lunch with my Mum and a walk round the village.

That evening the signs began and I was so excited, but also terrified. My partner arrived home from work and he started packing bags in to the car, excited to think soon we may be at the hospital. Little did he expect to have to wait a further 48 hours.

My contractions came steadily overnight, about every 8-10 minutes apart. With some concerns about my waters, we were checked at the hospital Tuesday morning but sent home to continue, as both myself and baby were all ok and labour needed to progress further. Several hot baths later, my contractions were now 3-4 in 10 minutes.

We returned to the hospital and started to prepare for a normal labour and got in the water. I was now 24 hours gone and I was now in active labour. Unfortunately things were slow for us but the care we received was outstanding. The next 24 hours were tough, with decisions taken out of our hands but eventually with some help from the incredible medical team our little ones cries filled the room and my partner was able to tell me ‘it’s a girl!’.

Lucy

Guest Blog – Birth story blog

Guest Blog – Birth story blog

We have welcomed another beautiful baby girl into the world! Ada Margot Hughes, born 02/05/2024 at 17:32 weighing 7lbs 10oz.

At 40+2 we were so ready to meet our baby!

The day had started as any other regular Thursday, I had taken Amelia to a toddler group in the morning, and I was feeling absolutely fine, other than a few Braxton hicks the night before which I was getting most evenings I had no other signs at all that just a few hours later we would have our baby in our arms!

I arrived home at lunch time and put Amelia to bed for a nap, and started to make myself some lunch! At this point I started to feel my waters trickling out, this is the only way I can describe it! But I wasn’t experiencing any other pain or symptoms so I remained calm and carried on with my day! Another 20 minutes or so went by and I started to get what I think were very faint contractions but they were roughly every half an hour, so at this point I started to think this is it!! The time was now 3pm, Amelia was awake from her nap but I could still easily carry on as normal and speak through the contractions luckily they still weren’t too strong at this point!

My sister called me to see if we wanted to go to the park and I remember saying to her I think I’m in labour!! Luckily she lives around the corner from us so she came to collect Amelia as I knew I’d have to make way to the hospital shortly! Saying goodbye to Amelia was very emotional knowing next time I’d see her she would be a big sister.

At this point the contractions were about every 20 minutes and I knew my husband would be home within half an hour so I had a shower and put the last minute things in my hospital bag.

Although my previous labour with Amelia was positive, it was longer the first time around so I think that’s why I wasn’t expecting things to move quite as quickly as they did!

Once Ryan arrived home from work the contractions were definitely more regular, I’d say every 5 minutes so he called the birthing unit and they wanted us to go straight up there. Once we were in the car the contractions were coming every minute, I just remember breathing through them and trying to remain calm, luckily we didn’t hit any traffic on the way as I had started to feel like I needed to start pushing!

Our midwife was happy to discharge us the same day, although by this time it was around 12:30am, but I definitely wanted to just get home rather than stay in hospital!

My parents were at mine with Amelia, who was obviously in bed, so it was lovely to see them when we got back, we had a quick cuppa and went straight up to bed, not that I expected to get any sleep!

It was so special being home in the morning with Ada when Amelia woke up, she’s been such a super big sister from the very start, and we are just soaking up this precious time with our girls starting our next chapter.

Thank you Becky for all your blogs it has bene great working together

Jess xx

9-12 months of Oscar;

Wow, where has this year gone? By far the fastest but best year of our lives. It was nearly time to celebrate Oscars first Christmas, something I wished for every Christmas, and now I finally get to celebrate with my own baby.

A dream come true. I wanted to create lots of traditions that we could continue to do every year with Oscar to make it really special for him. I created a Christmas eve box which included;

Christmas pyjamas

Christmas books

Christmas eve plate (for Santas goodies)

Bells to ring so Santa knew was house to come to.

I’m sure, as the years go by, we will put different things in the box.

At this age I knew Oscar wouldn’t be bothered about the presents as he was more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes, which kept him entertained.

January soon came round and I had now been off work for over a year and returning back to work is just around the corner, causing lots of emotions. The feeling of not being with Oscar 24/7 was heartbreaking.

I was worried how he would feel, not being with me but I knew he was in good hands, being looked after by his grandparents, and the luxury of working from home means I am able to come downstairs and give him a big cuddle.

Also, the worries of juggling being a mum and working as well but I knew we would be creating a new routine and it will take a little time to get used to it. I can confirm when I returned to work Oscar was fine. It was me who found it hard, but as time passes it’s getting a little easier.

February, the month our little Oscar was born, which means nearly a whole year of being parents and loving our little Oscar Ocean.

As I reflect on the year some of the most important things I have taken from it is to make sure you take it all in because the time flashes before your eyes and they go from being a tiny little new born to a cheeky toddler very quickly.

Also everything is a phase so if you’re in the depth of sleep deprivation, know that it will get better, and to make sure you talk to people about how you’re feeling as this makes things feel a lot better. Lastly get out in the fresh air & go for a walk, no matter the weather it really is a natural medicine. 

Also everything is a phase so if you’re in the depth of sleep deprivation, know that it will get better, and to make sure you talk to people about how you’re feeling as this makes things feel a lot better. Lastly get out in the fresh air & go for a walk, no matter the weather it really is a natural medicine. 

Oscar turns 1. Where has my little baby gone? We now have a gorgeous cheeky toddler and we now have to have eyes in the back of our heads.

Oscar took his first steps on his own the week before his birthday which was amazing to watch. Now we are always practicing as he’s not fully there yet but I’m sure it won’t be long.

We had the best time celebrating with family and we can’t wait to make lots more memories as a family, something we will be forever grateful that we get to do.

A huge thanks to Emma for writing her honest blog and sharing her IVf journey also.

It has been great to photograph Emma and Craig with Oscar. Each shoot we saw a new milestone and another side of Oscar’s cheeky personality.

That first year has lot of highs and lows and all my motherhood bloggers have shared their different journeys and perspectives, I will soon need a new Motherhood Blogger.

Please all my other blogs