A poorly baby girl

 

This last week we have had a very poorly little lady. It is the first time in 8 and a half months that I have been truly worried and taken her to the Dr's.

Last Sunday/Monday she started with a cold, she was a bit snotty and sneezy which isn't such a huge concern, but on the Monday when I got home from work, she just wanted to sleep! I tried to  feed her and she would latch but couldn't breathe and feed so kept coughing and was just generally off colour.

By the following morning she had latched a few times during the night with the same result, she wasn't feeding, I think she managed a maximum of about 15 minutes all night (we bedshare at the moment when she wakes during the night). She was so unsettled, we had been using the Snuffle babe Saline Spray to try and clear her airways and also baby olbas oil on a muslin next to her cot, but she just kept on choking every time she latched - so we took her to see our GP.

My concern was that I know in infants not feeding (when milk is the main source of hydration) can have a dramatic affect really quickly, she was pale, grouchy, but very sleepy which is why the alarm bells rang for me.

Luckily the Dr said that as she had no temperature, and she seemed happy enough in herself he was happy for us to continue doing what we were doing. He would only prescribe Saline Nasal Drop's and as we were already using them then we were doing the best and to persevere. So we did.

I managed to get her to latch that evening after work and got into a routine of using a nasal aspirator, then spraying her nostrils and then feeding to give her the best chance of taking some food in, we invested in some refills for our Calpol Plug In (which has been a godsend)! And finally after a week she is showing signs of improvement. She is feeding much better and we haven't had to use the nasal spray now for a few days.  

I have found a voucher for money off a calpol plug-in here Sign up to the caring everyday website and basically choose which vouchers you'd like to use. The only problem is, make sure your printer is set up and ready to go, as if it fails you will lose the vouchers as they only print once. At the moment the Plug In Unit and refill pads are £6 from Asda and you get a 75p off voucher. Though I am sure I paid less than £5 for mine from Home Bargains if you have one nearby.

Reduce Your Weekly Shopping Bill

So this blog isn’t exactly about my baby, clothes or reviews… Well maybe reviews, I will be bringing you my best tips for cutting the cost of your weekly shop. How many of you go to the supermarket with a list of what you need and then end up horrified at the total on the tills?

This happened to me almost every week, I am still learning, but I want to show you what I am learning; because it has blown my mind and really opened my eyes. You can pretty much get money back for EVERYTHING you buy. Insurance, Electricals, Pet Food, Food Shopping.

There are websites and apps you can use to build this money up, you can then either save it for a rainy day, or collect it monthly to boost income. You just have to be careful that you don’t buy something just because it is on the app or because you get cashback for it. You’re only going to see a benefit if you’d have bought that item anyway.

Quidco - Sign up here and get £1.25

I will start with Quidco, this website is a cashback site. Do you order takeaways using just eat? You can get cashback on that! Buying a new appliance, you can get cashback on that too. You basically sign up and then say for example you wanted to buy a new television or fridge-freezer… You search for the retailer (currys or the like) and then Quidco will bring their page up and direct you to the website. Once you complete payment then the money will track into your account, it can be anywhere up to 10% (so for a £299 TV you’d get £29 cashback). Some companies offer as little as 1%, but regardless, its better in your pocket than theirs… I have a colleague who lets hers build up over the year and then she withdraws it just before Christmas to buy presents with.

Some companies offer a Cash incentive, ironically my car insurance is due for renewal. My best offer through compare the market was for Hastings Direct, and if I sign up to Hastings Direct Insurance through Quidco they offer £55 cashback….
 

Mysupermarket - Link

I suggest using Mysupermarket to check your shopping bills. The budget supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl are fab for certain things, but there are also some things that we just don’t substitute in our house (chocolate, condiments and alcohol mainly). So it pays for us to buy things like Pasta, Veg, beans and fruit etc from Aldi or Lidl, but we also go to the big supermarkets to get other bits. I use mysupermarket and fill my basket with what I would like and it then shows where sells the items cheapest. So for example Heinz Tomato Sauce may be £3 in Asda, but in Morrisons it is on offer for £2… I literally make a huge list, then separate it out as to where has it cheapest and plan my shop around these places. I use this alongside the cashback apps to make the most out of things (for example Birds Eye Chicken Chargrills/breasts are £1 in Asda, you can get 40p cash back for them and claim up to 6 times, so instead of 12 bits of chicken costing £6 they come in at £3.40 for 12 bits, and they’re frozen.. doesn’t matter when you get around to using them).

ClickSnap –  ClickSnap Web Link

This is an app that you can download on Android and Apple devices, I don’t think it is available for Windows phones unfortunately. It is also a part of Quidco, so the money tracks and gets paid through there. This app gives you offers for money off certain products at certain supermarkets. You can filter to view a specific supermarket but this app (as well as CheckoutSmart which I will come to later) can bag you freebies. It is mainly offers of 50p of a purchase or 75p etc, but sometimes they give you money £2 for buying a certain item (for example Richmond Sausages 16 pack was £4 in Asda, and they offered £2 off, but in Morrisons they were on offer for £2) You just have to be mindful of which supermarkets the offers are available in. You basically buy the items, go into ClickSnap and mark where you shopped and where, then select which offers you have used and upload your receipt. It then tracks within a few days and is available for withdrawal usually the same week (though it takes 3-5 days to transfer out).

CheckoutSmart – Web Link

The same as above, it is available on Android and Apple devices but not windows as far as I am aware. This does the same as the above, but you sometimes get offers like “Win a £100 shop” you just upload your receipts as you do with ClickSnap, this one will only pay out if you have a minimum of £5 saved up, and you pay 5% fee on withdrawals under £19.99 – I prefer to use ClickSnap but sometimes check this app too as they may have a different offer. If you are wondering whether you can submit the same receipt on both apps – you can’t; I did try because I am a cheeky bugger, but it seems that once the receipt goes through it deactivates it so it can’t be submitted twice to different apps…

Shopitize – no link, only available on your App Store.

I loved this App, but dispise it at the same time. There used to be tons of offers on here, but this app liked you to scan the barcode on your item, then upload your receipt too. It offered 40p of a supermarket own brand lettuce for example that cost 49p. But it would never read the barcode so I couldn’t scan it in. I ended up having to submit a support request regularly. But I persevered and generally got the money back. I have noticed recently though that they only have one or two offers on at a time, and they are not usually as good as they used to be… but every penny counts doesn’t it.

RecieptHog – Link

Another app that I think is available on both Apple Store and Android. With this, you photograph literally every receipt you get, fuel/dog food/clothing, and the little piggy eats them and turns them into coins, you get extra coins for doing certain activities and then when you’ve collected enough coins it gets transferred into either Paypal or you can get amazon vouchers. I am new to this one but will let you know how I get on with it.

Pampers Club – Link

One just for the mummies or daddies out there, you can sign up for free samples of new and improved nappies – If you’re buying the nappies in a shop you may as well upload the receipt, as you get so many points per pound spent, and they all add up, you can use the points for money of vouchers against large boxes of nappies, or you can use it on toys, magazine subscriptions (or now that we no longer have sky, Baby Tv Subscriptions)!! One word of advice though - they only let you print your coupons once, I have just tried to print out 6 coupons for £1 off nappies and my printer wasn't connected, its failed. But the website thinks they have printed... so now I have no coupons and no way of getting any more :( - I have contacted customer support regarding this.

It can be a bit of hardwork to figure it all out, put your lists together and then actually go do the shopping, but if you have a list of what you need and stick to it you can reduce the cost of the weekly shop.

Nappies - Tried and Tested

So the ultimate mum problem. Nappies.

Which ones leak, which ones have caused nappy rash, which ones are more comfortable or easy to put on... here are my thoughts.

Working in Healthcare I was given absolutely loads of nappies for when my Daughter was born. We must have had around 50 of the Pampers Premium Protection Size 1 Nappies - easily. They were fab. No one told me that the little yellow stripe turned blue when baby had done a wee! So I had no idea what it meant, or how the midwife instinctively knew my baby needed changing, I literally looked at her as though she were the devil.

Pampers Premium Protection.

I really like these nappies - they are soft and easy to put on (if baby doesn't wiggle too much). They have a yellow stripe through the nappy which changes blue when baby needs changing. I would say in the early days we did have a few leaks in these, but this was more than likely down to being first time parents and not putting them on properly.

Pampers Baby Dry

These are also a favourite of mine, they don't have the wetness indicator like the Premium Protection do, but they do hold a lot more wetness. I had a few freebies from Pampers and fell in love with them based on that. I tend to buy Giga Packs (Asda are selling 112 nappies for £10 at the moment) so fabulous value and they will last the month I hope :) We have had a few nappies that have broken, the tabs have pulled off or the Velcro hasn't been sticky. But all in all these are my main go to nappy.

Pampers Baby Dry - Active Fit Nappy Pants

I bought these as my daughter is pretty close to crawling, the first day she wore one, she did a huge poo, it went all up her back and once id torn the nappy to take it off it gave little protection so she ended up having to have a change of clothes and her blanket needed changing too. They seem to be okay, but are a little awkward to get on, and they seem very tight fitting. My daughter developed nappy rash for the first time in 8 months, it could have been this or the Asda Nappies that did it, though she is also teething at the moment. We haven't used any more of these and the rash hasn't returned.

Asda Little Angels

I bought some of these nappies on sale as Asda was changing the packaging, we have used less than 20 nappies and I am throwing them away as I believe that it is these nappies that caused her nappy rash. She hadn't had nappy rash since being born and the day after we started using these nappies it came up, we persisted thinking it was teething and it got worse, to the point we had to start using medicated cream and as soon as we changed back to pampers it went away. They also don't seem to hold as much, they are rather tough to touch in comparison. Ironically my best friend swears by them and uses them with no issues for her daughter. I wouldn't use Little Angels again though.

Aldi Mamia

These were our go to nappies to begin with, like the premium protection pampers they have a wetness indicator line on them, they always seemed to fit well and we didn't have any faulty nappies. We did seem to have more explosions/leaks with these, but it could have been coincidence. I would 100% use these again.

Graco Contour Electra Travel Cot - Posie

Graco Contour Electra Travel Cot – Posie      £79.99 (£99.99 full price)

 

I bought this travel cot from Toys r Us about a month before my daughter came along. I liked how girly it was and how small it folded, yet it seemed quite big and sturdy, so she would have plenty of room to grow.

I put it together myself at 35 weeks pregnant with SPD… so that tells you how easy it was. Though I found the instructions very poor I have to admit. Most of it was google and guess work. For the Travel Cot itself, the sides wouldn’t lock into place until the bottom of the cot was flat and in place, it took me about 30 mins to figure this out and I got increasingly frustrated, eventually watching a you tube video to help.

Then to set up the changing table; You basically just get pictures of what it “should” look like and you follow the pictures through, but the pictures are awful and it was difficult for me to follow. The changing table I originally put together upside down, so I was putting my daughter on the bottom of it. I eventually realised and went to correct my mistake and I couldn’t get the bars out which resulted in me ripping the fabric. Once it was on the correct way, I could no longer use the changing table as the rip caused my daughter to roll, the tension wasn’t there to hold her in the correct position.

We didn’t use the travel cot to begin with as my daughter wouldn’t settle in it so she slept in a side cot. I ended up going to Smyths and buying a proper Graco Travel Cot Mattress (£16.99) as I figured that after sleeping on a proper mattress in the side sleeper, she wouldn’t settle in the Travel Cot because the mattress supplied was very thin and plasticy. We now use it permanently as she sleeps well at the moment. I can’t find the bar for the activity bar. God knows what I have done with it, but it’s gone! We are currently still using the bassinet part which hold the baby half way up the cot rather than her being in the bottom, however we are literally weeks away from crawling so I am going to have to take the bassinet out sooner rather than later, this will cause problems with laying baby down to sleep as she will be much lower, and I will have to bend much further, so I have to admit I am not looking forward to it.

Overall this is a good Travel Cot. It has enough room for her to move around, but is secure. It has a console which plays music/vibrates and has a nightlight which we love, and it folds down easily for storage or travel. The only downsides are that the supplied mattress wasn’t very comfortable, so we ended up having to buy a more permanent solution. Also the instructions were terrible, which resulted in me breaking part of the cot.

The only reason I didn’t return it to get a replacement Changing Table was that they had stopped supplying this particular colour and wouldn’t give me a replacement part for it. So the changing part was never used.

I would definitely buy it again. I love it, its very pretty, however I would know this time around more about fixing it together.

 

Graco Modes Pram in Extreme Black.

I decided on the pram I wanted prior to finding out whether I would be having a girl or a boy. I wanted something dark, but I really fell in love with the print on this, it just gave it an edge over the plain black coloured prams.

We bought the Graco Modes Pram with the travel system and pram adapter to fit the car seat onto the pram base too for ease of use. The total cost of this was £279.99, with an extra £29.99 for the car seat base, that allowed you to just click and connect the car seat into place.

We brought my daughter home in the Graco Modes Car Seat, and she was very comfortable in it. The newborn insert gave her enough support so that she wasn't flopping around. It literally clicks into the car seat base, though you could use it with a seatbelt wrapped around it also. We got an adapter that clicked onto the frame of the pram and allowed you to just click the car seat onto it, in the first few months this was all we used. I very rarely used the actual pram part to begin with.

I found both the pram and the car seat a bit difficult to adjust to begin with as they didn't have very clear instructions or tutorials for how to change the straps. But once I had figured it out its been fine.

It is very easy to use as the pram just clicks onto the frame of the pram and by pulling the lever at the back of the hood upwards, you can recline the pram.

Overall it is a very good pram, easy to push, easy to assemble and comfortable for baby as it lays flat or sits upright. There is also a large basket at the bottom for shopping and plenty of leg room for baby. The frame is also freestanding so when not in use it can be stood upright to save space.

The drawbacks, I have a large hatchback car, and I can fit this in the boot, but only this pram; nothing else. It takes up a huge amount of room.

Bubbles

So. Im laid in bed. Midwife told me today that my little lady is engaged and ready to go, so it could be any point now basically.

I had protein in my urine today so they've sent it off for screening and I have to go back next Tuesday to have it tested again. My blood pressure is on point though, but I do look a little swollen in the feet. 

Ive put together her little corner in our room. Complete with travel cot, nappy bin and drawers, oh and a little hanging net thing for clothes. I'll put pics up tomorrow.

It currently feels like my darling daughter is blowing bubbles very low down in my pelvis. It's the strangest feeling.

It's a new dawn, a new day, a new life....

So ladies and gents. After around 12months clean of blogging I caught the bug again. Though this time I am wiping the slate clean. This time it's not about weight-loss, business or mental health.

It's all about me. My life, the ups, the downs and the daily occurrences in all their glory.

I am almost thirty (how scary is that)!!!! And live with the fella and two dogs in Yorkshire, UK. I'm a gamer. A music fiend. Tattooed. Pierced. Opinionated. Kind. Generous. Obsessed with Box Sets. Metalhead. Rock Chick. Goth at heart. Daughter. Sister. Lover. Soon to be mother!!! So more about that below.

Over Christmas (literally on Christmas Day) I found out I was expecting my first baby, with my lovely boyfriend of 8 years. Fast forward to today. I am almost 27 weeks pregnant and expecting a little girl (who is currently rolling around and kicking me like crazy). She will be due at the end of August.

I found it quite difficult to start with. I have a long standing relationship with Anxiety and Depression, having been treated for an Eating Disorder amongst other things in the past. I lack self confidence, rational thoughts and mainly the ability to shake negative thoughts at the best of  times. But with my unborn childs best interests at heart I have stopped all medication which I have been stable on for many years. It's definitely taken time to adjust, and I have good days and bad days. But with the support of my family and friends I'm doing okay!!!

So yeah. This blog is gonna be warts and all. There will be ups and downs. Hair cuts, make up and no doubt glitter at some point too.

I look forward to sharing what I go through with you all!