Hi everyone,

I haven’t written a blog post in soooo long! I thought now is the perfect time as so much had changed in these past few months!

When I had Grayson I worked for a loan company and absolutely loved my job, when it was getting close to my due date I was questioning what I wanted to do after my maternity leave was over, as I’m sure every mum thinks that don’t they?

I spoke with it about Andy and we had to make a decision on wether we put Grayson into childcare or I change my job to work on an evening. In the end we decided that me working on an evening would be more beneficial for us in the long run as we wouldn’t have to pay for any childcare fees, and we would see each other more.

Well that all changed when I got a job on an evening, it was so hard for the 10 months I was there, I got promoted quite quickly to a supervisor so I had a lot of responsibility, which didn’t bother me but it adds a lot of stress which I didn’t want.

I used work in an evening from 6pm until 11pm, that’s soon changed to 12pm finished which meant I would get home until 12.30/1am .. and when your child gets up at 6/6.30 every day it is not great!

It got to the point where I was so tired and run down I just couldn’t do it anymore.. and I just knew in my self I needed to go back to full time work, which is why I decided to get back in contact with the company I worked for before I had Grayson to see if they had any full time jobs available.

I went for an interview and I luckily got the job! Which I’m extremely happy about, but then it meant I had to find childcare for Grayson. Both mine and Andy’s families live at least 70 miles away from us so we had to look into either a nursery/childminder. I used the app http://www.childcare.co.uk and it was amazing! I honestly couldn’t recommend it enough, you just set up a profile of what you are looking for and you can browse all different types of childcare for your little ones!

After visiting some nursery’s and childminders, me and Andy both decided that we would go with a childminder, with Grayson not really having much interaction with children we thought that a childminder was a nice home from home environment and he has settled in so well. He absolutely loves going there, which I’m so pleased about, I think when you first send your child into childcare you instantly dread/regret it even if you go back full time or Part time. But it’s honestly the best thing we have done, I personally wish we had done it sooner!

I hope you enjoyed this blog post!

Please let me know

Jasmin xx

Before having Grayson I worked full time, so to go from working everyday to being at home was a massive change and in the beginning I really struggled especially when Andy went back to work after 2 weeks of Grayson being here and i was on my own throughout he day everyday.

We don’t have any family that live near us, they live over 60 miles away in Driffield and Bridlington. We moved to Leeds just over 2 years ago due to Andy’s work, we never thought that we would be having a baby as soon as we did. But I suppose if it’s mean to be it will be and Grayson is the best thing that has ever happened to us. Me and Andy have both changed a lot since Grayson came along. We used to go out most weekends, go away for nice long breaks and we had a holiday every year for the last 3 years. Now Grayson is here a lot of things have changed but I would change it for the world.

Baby Groups

When Grayson was younger I went to a baby sensory class with him over about 8 weeks, I went with a girl I used to work with which was nice as it got me out the house and it was nice to have to normal adult conversation and for Grayson to interact with other babies! but the thought of going to any toddle groups now really panics me, I get really nervous going to places like that on my own. I hope I’m not the only mum like this? maybe I just need to bite the bullet and just go! I know Grayson would love it with all the other children there, but me on the other hand…

Approaching 1

Now Grayson is approaching 1 my days are never the same, don’t get me wrong we have a routine but someday’s it just goes straight out the window! But surely it wouldn’t be normal if it was the same everyday? Grayson normally wakes around 7.30-8am which is good for me as I work evenings and normally don’t get home until 11-45pm which means I do miss out on bedtimes, which I really miss! I do feel really lucky that I get to spend all day with him.

We get up have our breakfast, and then get ready for the day, depending on what we are doing, some days we have just have days at home other days we go out for long walks or to the park. If Andy is off work we normally go out for the day, or we will go home and see family, these days are my favourite as we don’t get a lot of family time as Andy works full time and normally only has 1 day off a week!

I do find it lonely sometimes being a mum, especially because our friends and family don’t live close, we have discussed moving back home for this reason and work reasons as-well. But we love where we live, we only bought our house in December 2017 and we haven’t even made it our home yet, (which is what we plan to do this year) and I can’t wait!!

Hope you enjoyed it

Jasmin

xxxx

I honestly don’t even know where to start with this, I’m not going to lie and say it was a breeze because it wasn’t!

I left hospital the day after my c-section as I just wanted to be in my own home where I would be comfortable, I found it so uncomfortable in hospital walking around especially being in a room with 3 other women.

When Grayson went for his 5 day check with the midwife, she checked my scar over and said it looked like it was healing well. She advised it was okay to have a bath , so I went home and had my first bath. Didn’t put any products what so ever in it at all and I didn’t spend to long in there.

About a week later My scar started getting really sore, I was cleaning it daily as advised and leaving it to dry without touching it so I was just airing it. It got worse and worse so I went to see the GP who said it was infected and gave me antibiotics, advised to keep it as dry as possible and don’t over do it.

After the 7 days of antibiotics my infection had just got worse, it started to smell it was blistering , I was in agony 24/7. I was so upset with myself and I had no reason to be, I went back to the doctors again and they gave me a stronger antibiotic for another 7 days. I was getting so fed up of being in pain and not being able to look after Grayson properly, sleeping on a night was just awful. I had to sleep on my back propped up by about 6 pillows around me just so that I was comfortable, It took me about 5 minutes to get out of bed as I had to kind of roll out of bed so I didn’t pull at my scar.

I went home for the weekend to see all my family who live In Driffield and Bridlington, whilst I was there I was in agony with my scar I ended going to the out of hours so be seen, I waited 2 hours to been seen by another GP who gave me yet another prescription but also advised that I needed it dressing to keep it clean and free from infection.

This had been going on for 3 weeks, I had to have my scar dressed and covered for 2 weeks after this which meant no bath! I could shower but I couldn’t get the plaster wet, At this point I was at my wits end with it all. I just wanted to be back to normal and to enjoy the time with my newborn baby!

Eventually my scar did heal properly and I got my plasters taken off, I was so relieved, I could get back to normal and start enjoying my maternity leave with Grayson.

My scar isn’t the smallest and isn’t the neatest, I still have stretch marks all over my stomach and an over hang (which is getting smaller) pregnancy ruined my stomach completely. All my stomach muscles have separated, I have a big gap in my core because of this, but I wouldn’t change any of it. I have the most perfect baby boy now, and all the pain and recovering was worth it.

This is what my stomach looks like now, and my scar is pain free and slowly shrinking.

Thank you for reading , I hope you enjoyed it, Jasmin xxxx

I thought this day was never gonna come, but it finally did! on the 18th jan I woke up in the early hours with belly ache, i didn’t really think anything of it as I hadn’t had any signs what so ever of labour before this! So I tried to go back to sleep… which didn’t last!

I woke up an hour later with worse belly ache so I went down stairs in my own as Andy was at work at 6.30 and I didn’t want to disturb him if it was nothing! The pains were just getting worse and I knew this was something as I hadn’t had them before so I shouted up to Andy to come down and then We started timing the pains, they were about 2 mins apart but only 30 seconds long. So we waited and just kept timing them. I went to be examined at around 8.30 where they told me I was only 1-2cm I was gutted as the pains were awful! I went back home for a few hours to try and pas the time. I called my mum at dinner time and asked her to make her way to Leeds so she could be with me whilst I gave birth! And Andy’s mum also made her way through aswell. Went back to the hospital at 2.30 to be re examined but they told me I was only 3cm and to go back home. At this point I’m tearing my hair out!

I went back home that afternoon with both our mums, by this pint the pain got so bad my legs where giving way so I would just drop to my knees, my mum said to me ‘I think we should go back to the hospital now’ I said no I’m not, I don’t want to be turned away again.

At 9.30pm I went back to the hospital, they examined me and I was 4cm (hallelujah!!!!) they then moved me to the delivery suite , I always wanted a water birth so I got straight in the birthing pool, it was amazing, so relaxing but it completely slowed my contractions down, they were still so painful so I was having gas and air but they went frequent enough! I then had the injection in your leg, (pethidine) which made me so high!!! It was hilarious.

They examined me after that but I had made 0 progress at all, so they put me back on the ward so get some sleep! Later that morning they came back to examine me and see how I was doing. The pains had come back so much worse so they wanted to put me back in the delivery suite again; they decided the best thing to do was pop my waters! Honestly it was gross, the weirdest sensation I had ever felt!! Then they put me on the hormone drip to help speed things but which didn’t happen! At this point I was exhausted! I was crying coz I didn’t know what to do I was in so much pain, it was about 8pm on the 19th, and they had to get a doctor to come and examine me because I still hadn’t progressed from 4cm, he said what we will do is give you the epidural so you can get some proper rest and then see how you are after that! I was like , are you joking!!! Baring in mind when they popped my waters Grayson had pooed in the sack which they aren’t allowed to leave you for so long! my mum then asked if I could have a c-section as I was obviously making no progress. The doctors said no!

3 hours after the doctor had examined me he then came back to examine me again. I was still only 4cm!! He then decided I need taking to theatre ASAP! I was like well you could have done this 3 hours ago…

at 1.14am my beautiful boy was born weighing a chunky 9pound2oz! The best day of my life but also the hardest!

I hope you enjoyed reading this, I know it was long but I appreciate everyone that takes the time to read it 😘

Jasmin

xxx

Hi everyone, I’ve been thinking about writing this blog for a while now, I just didn’t know where to start or what to write… but here I am!

I’m Jasmin and I’m 25, I live in Leeds with my boyfriend Andy and my little boy Grayson who is nearly 11 months, my blog is mainly going to be around us as a family and the things we get up to!

I’ve just recently gone back to work part time on an evening to a job I’ve done for around 6 years.

Anyway thanks for reading,
Jasmin xxx

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton