Starting from the beginning...

The lovely Haylee has agreed to tell us a little bit about her limb difference, I came across her on instagram using the name @littlehandfred and absolutely love her positive and hilarious post about Fred. Tell me abit about you: My name is Haylee Gardner and I’m a senior in high school. I love animals and am going to college to get a degree in animal science.  What is your limb difference? I was born with amniotic band syndrome affecting my left hand. So when I was being developed in my moms stomach, a string came off the amniotic  sac and wrapped around my hand and cutting off the circulation to it and causing it to stop growing.  When did your parents find out? My parents actually didn’t know until I was born because it didn’t even show up on my ultrasound.  What help and support have you been offered? Support comes mostly from my family and the people around me, and when I was younger I went to Shriners...

So August has finally arrived - the month of THE first foot appointment. I currently feel quite anxious and nervous about the whole thing. I quite like everything as it is, I'm used to his foot - in fact I saw a baby with two feet and I surprised myself by thinking that having two baby feet was strange. I'd forgotten what two tiny baby feet had looked liked. I am quite enjoying being as we are, nothing needs doing and I'm living in ignorant bliss that anything NEEDS to be done. Obviously they could say exactly that at the appointment, but I kind of feel like I need to think he needs loads of operations, then even if they say he needs one when he is 30 years old I am still prepared! Sounds so outrageous being worried about that, but I guess thats being a parent, you worry about some of the most obscure things and then try and rationalise it.  I keep flitting between feeling guilty that I feel as I do. Especially when plenty of other families have been through so muc...

Three months in and I THINK we are getting to grips with this whole game called parenting, I have realised and started to accept that this time round is completely different to the first time. I am so glad I made the most of cuddles and naps when my daughter was a baby, as this time round I can't get away with as many cuddles or naps - especially as my darling children appear to tag team it ... apart from right now where I will hopefully have more than a few minutes to myself. Mr. N is doing great, he is growing well on just my milk. I have tried to introduce a bottle once a day, but I'm actually far to lazy for that right now and would rather just whip my boob out (or so to speak). He's smiling, cooing, and enjoys is play mat for more than 2 minutes. We have had a slight problem with constipation with this hot weather and I will share the advice I was given from lloyds pharmacy and my wonderful NICU workies: Drink, drink, drink, drink, drink. Have a glass of squa...

How on earth has 5 weeks gone by already?! I'm not quite sure how we have survived this fog of becoming a family of 4 but we have DONE IT! Last week was quite possibly the hardest, my 2 year old unfortunately had a UTI, which meant temperatures of over 40 and a course of antibiotics. The best bit was trying to get a urine sample from a toddler who isn't potty trained and complains it hurts every time they wee. During this week Mr. N decided that he needed feeding every 1 - 2 hours for a chunk of nights was necessary ... all of this whilst I had mastitis. Literally, my boob never felt so sore, you can imagine latching a baby every 1 - 2 hours on a boob that felt like it has needles poking it every time anything brushed the skin ... and when I say boob I mean the whole thing, not just the nipple and a bad latch type pain. Needless to say I am super happy to be into week number 5 which is already much much better ... no UTI ... no mastitis ... Mr. N still feeding 1 - 2 ho...

He is here!! My bump turned into a beautiful baby boy who was in a slight hurry to arrive into the world ... well, actually, he couldn’t make his mind up. I love a good birth story so here is mine ... The birth story I managed almost a whole week off work before I went into labour. The day before my waters went my husband and I decided to go out for lunch as our daughter was visiting her auntie and uncle for an overnight stay. I’m so glad we actually had lunch together just the two of us, as little did we know we would become a family of 4 within a few days. That night I had a very restless sleep, I couldn’t really settle and my mind and body were very restless, I did managed to fall asleep around 1/2am and was woken at 3am by a a funny feeling followed by a little gush ... needless to say I jumped out of bed and went to the loo where my waters continued to go. My husband and I were sleeping in different rooms as I needed the space to be comfy, so I rang him and told him the e...

✫I have some exciting news - I have been chosen as a blogger to appear on MyBump2Baby. This is an incredible website and directory for parents and fantastic for businesses who need advertising space. Please check out the link below ↓↓✫ I am one of MyBump2Baby’s favourite bloggers    As mentioned in my previous blog I have decided to write about a few tips and tricks that have really worked to help sort out my head space during this pregnancy.  A little bit of background.....(here goes)..... Following the birth of my daughter I suffered from postnatal depression, anxiety and OCD. Fortunately I saw an incredible health visitor who picked it up at the 6 week check, she contacted my GP and I was seen later that afternoon. The hardest bit was gearing up to the appointment to actually say "I don't feel right", I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong, I just knew I didn't feel right and I was doing things that weren't normal. I'd constant...

As mentioned in my last blog, I have spent the last few weeks looking for bloggers, inspirational people, and websites that make me smile and feel positive about my journey into a family of 4 with a baby who will be slightly different. Firstly id just like to make it clear that these are people, pieces of information and charities that I have found incredibly positive and have helped me, and I just hope that these little nuggets of information help someone else. I have tried to focus on those with foot differences, but limb differences do over lap.  ⇢Instagram⇠ On instagram a lovely lady called Hayley contacted me and shared that her daughter was born without a hand. Her instagram page is so vibrant, positive and full of love, there beautiful pictures of her children and I could see that her daughter joined in everything and is part of it all. Hayley has allowed me to share her website for anyone to have a look at www.hayleyslittlethings.com  lucky_fin_pro...