mothercare expecting parent event

Hi lovelies,

This weeks blog I am featuring the Mothercare Expecting Parent event, I went with my lovely friend Tasha who is also expecting her baby number 2. She invited me along as I wasn't able to make it for my first pregnancy, and as things often change, Harry was 2 years ago now I thought why not.There was a range of outside businesses that was giving advice to parents to be from 4D scans, baby swim classes, hypno birthing, mattress suppliers, etc

The event was hosted by mothercare in store staff who delivered talks on car seat safety, pushchair pram advice, nursery furniture, sleep safety, breast feeding equipment. Each mama was gifted with a goody bag - See below what mine included!

Below I am featuring what were my favorites on the night and what caught my interest most; hope you enjoy the read!

Deb's Beautiful Birth

Deborah is a midwife with over 30 years experience, so I found my time with her really interesting as I didn't really know much about hyponobirthing before this event as didn't look into this with Harry.

I never realised how much it can prepare you for a positive and relaxed confident birth. I found out about all the hormones we release during labour and I was really surprised to hear that Oxytocin (the love hormone) is the hormone in particular that keeps us pregnant mummies calm and during labour we are encouraged to hold that breath (exhale) for a longer period of time, for example if attended Yoga in the past you will know it is the inhale that you are told to hold longer. This hormone helps with uterine contractions, birth placenta and milk ejection.

I was really lucky with my first labour/birth and loved my water birth so much so that I am now scared I won't get it a second time!! The maternity unit where I live only has one birthing pool which makes me feel anxious because I found the warm water really helped me through out my labour and delivery of Harry. I had no pain relief other than gas and air and I kept calm and relaxed the whole way through (I wont lie it was bloody painful) but I kept telling myself woman in countries such as africa who aren't as lucky as we are to have the NHS, they don't have accessible hospitals and deliver babies all the time, alone by themselves and drug free - I just kept telling my self that over and over again. I only attended 3 out the 6 antenatal classes that are offered by the NHS as I found the literature alone was scare mongering never mind attending a class, I wanted to keep a positive mind set the whole way through my pregnancy and I think it really helped me for the birth, hence why you can now probably understand my new found interest in hypno birthing! I really want a home birth this time round but hubby is not having any of it, hospital round 2 I think it is.

If any mummies reading this has had sessions or know a friend who has please comment or message me as I would love to hear about it.

I cant wait to get started reading The Positive Birth Book by Milli Hill!!!

http://debsbeautifulbirth.com/

If you live in cambridgeshire area then go and visit Deborah's page above for more info on hypno birthing.

Baby Bond private scanning

So this isnt new to me as I had this with my first baby around 28-30 weeks pregnant. For those who have been following my journey will know we like the gender surprise so the good thing about this scan I still couldn't tell boy or girl, but I was absolutely delighted how clear and detailed it is. I would suggest to any expecting parent to leave this scan for as long as you can so you can get a clear image of the baby. 30 weeks I believe is the max, so this time round we are booked in for 20th November and I will be approx 28 weeks pregnant. I am so excited, we have booked the 4D simply bonding scan and the offer on the evening was £59 (vs £99 we paid previously) and includes black and white images, colour on a USB and also a dvd clip of the baby.

For me in particular I love the bonding scans because going 20 weeks till babies due date is just too long to see their little face - We can't wait to see baby again!

Sensory Experience

I took Harry to lots of baby groups, and musical groups as a newborn and was lucky and fortunate enough to meet some lovely mummies and have still kept in contact 2 years later. But what I would like to do a bit more of this time round is more Messy Play and also Sensory. I done a couple taster session's of sensory and never ended up going the full term and to be honest it wasn't because I didn't like the session it was more the other groups were better time wise etc I remember Harry loved the bright lights and also the ribbons so with baby number 2 I definitely would like to run the course a little longer, I imagine ages 3-6 months in particular is good for them, by 3 months they are awake a bit more, becoming more aware of their surroundings, wanting to grab items.

Baby sensory is amazing for visual stimulation, expressive movements, motor skills, and so much more. I love all the type of things for babies and their development.

http://www.babysensory.com/en/classdetails/peterborough

Baby Massage

I never took Harry to any form of baby massage, so this area is completely new to me and I will definitely be giving it ago this time round. At the event I learnt that not only is baby massage amazing for relaxation, sleep patterns but other area's like growing pains, aiding digestion, improving circulation, teething issues. I am really looking forward to this one.

and just too finish, i couldn't resist buying baby brown number 2 their very first outfit! I love babies in white and creams for the first 6 weeks, and closer to the time I will be purchasing a blue hat and a pink ready for when we welcome him or her to the world. I have found this time round Mothercare have some super cute items for babies nurseries so I also got their ABC blocks and ''Baby's Room'' plaque ready for when we do the nursery in December!