Name one thing that you would recommend for a parent-to-be

Although I am sure we will all miss our old printed magazine, there are lots of advantages to moving to the online version. As well as saving us heaps of money in printing and distribution costs, the online version also provides an archive of all our content which can be easily searched for using the search function (towards the top right). It also allows all the readers to contribute their own knowledge and experiences, making for a far richer resource that parents and parents-to-be can tap into.

You can comment on any post by clicking on the comment section at the bottom of that post. You do have to have a name (but it can be a pseudonym if you prefer). We would love everyone to contribute.

To get things started, I thought we could create a post that helps new parents to decide what they really need. I remember being totally overwhelmed by my first visit to a large baby store at all the things available. I didn't realise there were so many things you could possibly buy. I had been living in the desert for 10 years and had never seen 50% of what is available here.

One thing that we had for Arthur that I would absolutely never be without was the hammock. I had seen several friends using these down under. There are a couple of different types, but I ended up going for this one by Moffi, New Zealand.

It's really portable so my baby could be where ever I was. I had a hook in my bedroom, one in the nursery (but never used it) and one in the lounge. There is also 'love handle' which enables you to attach it to any door frame, so perfect for visiting and holidays. It's on a spring, so you can gently bounce your baby to sleep. Also as your baby moves, he rocks himself back to sleep. Baby sleeps with his head slightly higher than his feet too, which was great for Arthur as he had reflux. It also keeps the baby sleeping on his back, but without the risk of developing flat head syndrome.

I did co-sleep with Arthur at night most of the time, and had the hook in my room over my bed. This meant that I could put him to bed before I went myself, knowing he was safe, but when I got into bed he was right there and I never had to 'get up' in the night.

It was brilliant. The only problem we had with it was getting Arthur out of it when he grew too big for it and had to transfer to cot (this was when he was about 9kg and starting to pull himself up). I would totally recommend this to anyone thinking about how and where their baby is going to sleep and would be happy to answer any questions people may have.

So, what was if for you? 

Help us build our online resource for parents and parents-to-be by commenting on this post, telling us about one thing you wouldn't have been without and why.

Cadel's Birth Story

By Nancy Welch

After my horrendous birth experience with my daughter I was absolutely dreading giving birth, but after much reading up on breathing techniques and realising that panicking only makes things worse I was prepared as I ever would be. The run up to my last few days had been pretty bad, coming down with very bad flu and being taken to hospital and admitted for a couple of days. Then on Friday 16th March both my other half, Ger and daughter, Juno, also came down with flu. Not great timing to have a baby, and even though I was three days overdue by this stage, I really didn’t think the baby would be coming anytime soon. While eating my dinner that evening, I started getting quite a few Braxton Hicks. After half an hour I realised they were actually quite regular, every seven minutes lasting 30 seconds. After another couple of hours of this I thought I should probably ring my mom and warn her she might be needed in the morning! As she was three hours away I also texted my friend to be on standby.

We went to bed, me downstairs due to my horrendous pregnancy snoring lol. It got to about midnight and I suddenly felt really ill and was sick everywhere. I also realised I was losing my plug. Despite this and the fact I was still getting contractions every seven minutes, I went back to bed as I thought they were supposed to get closer together when labour was established and I could still talk through them. It got to 2.30am and I had quite a strong one so thought I'd better ring the Rosie. I was expecting them to tell me to ring back when they were closer together and asked them when they thought my mom should come over. When I said she was three hours away, I was really surprised when they said I should have rung her three hours ago! They then said I needed to come in straight away – but in the next sentence said they were closed and not accepting anymore deliveries!!!

Ger came down to see how I was doing, poor bloke was so ill I'm not sure he really understood what was going on. I said I had to go in but they were closed and were going to ring back and let me know which hospital was free. His response was to go and get some day nurse! The hospital rang back and said that a hospital in a neighbouring county could take me. We've only lived in Cambridgeshire for a year and had no idea where we were going. Thank God for postcodes and sat navs. Ger went downstairs and for some reason put the kettle on and asked if a cup of tea would help?! I tried to explain that we needed to go ASAP, and he went out to sort out the sat nav and car, at which point my waters broke everywhere, I felt the baby drop down and the contractions started coming every three minutes. There was lots of meconium and blood in the water which scared me, but I decided not to tell Ger as he was obviously getting a bit stressed already.

My friend turned up to babysit. At this point it was 3.30am and the sat nav said we would get there for 4.15. Ger drove like a lunatic, and I seriously thought we would either die on the way or he would have to pull over and help me give birth – thank God it was the middle of the night! We eventually found the hospital and got there at 4.05am, only for Ger to drive slowly around the car park looking for a space! At this point I started yelling for him to park anywhere, just let me out as I couldn't stand sitting through contractions anymore. I was off and walking through A&E while he was still getting everything out the car. I had no idea where we were going and went up two flights of stairs to find deliveries.

We walked into the room at 4.20am and Ger started taking out clothes and food and texting family to let them know where we were, at which point I was yelling at him again to put the bloody phone down, get my birthing t-shirt and massage my back. At the same time, I was telling the poor midwife I wanted to go in the birthing pool (a big no because of meconium in waters) and then asked for an epidural before she had even examined me. She persuaded me to get on the bed which I did really reluctantly as I wanted an active birth this time around and the thought of being strapped to a bed again made me slightly panic.  She found that I was five cm so said she would sort out an epidural, but had to put on a monitor to make sure the baby was ok. At this point I yelled that I needed to push which she said no you're not dilated enough, checked me again and I'd gone from five to 10 cm in one minute! Eight minutes later my beautiful gorgeous little man, Cadel Arthur Declan Miley, was born, and our little family was complete :). 

Total labour two hours, total pushing eight minutes, and I had only been in the delivery room for 10 mins. Cadel's blood cord levels were a little low and because of that and the meconium in the water we had to stay a while, but he’s fine now, we’re just waiting to get a scan to check how badly damaged his kidney is (which we knew about pre-birth).

I can totally understand now how people can enjoy childbirth; it was such an amazing experience, totally natural and different to my daughter’s birth. It was only really painful in the minute when I dilated to 10 cm, otherwise bearable, even the pushing was ok!! I just had four stitches and was out the next day to look after the rest of the family who both still had really bad flu lol.

Join in the Fun with the Great South Run

This October NCT has places in the Great South Run. Right on your doorstep is Europe’s biggest 10 mile race. This flat and fast route takes you past Portsmouth’s historic landmarks, from the Spinnaker Tower to the iconic HMS Victory.

You too can join Paula Radcliff and Mo Farah in crossing the sea-front finish!

Join NCT for the Great South Run this October and you can set yourself a new challenge, whether it’s your first sponsored run, or you’re looking to beat a personal best, this is the race for you.

The run takes place on Sunday 28 October in Portsmouth, there is a £40 fee for a place and we’re asking runners to aim to raise £250 towards NCT’s work supporting parents. There is loads of fundraising support available and runners also receive a training plan, t-shirt and fundraising materials.

More information about the race can be found here http://www.nct.org.uk/great-south-run.

To register your interest today, just email jessica.d’arcy@nct.org.uk.

Photo from Bupa Great South Run

The Snip

British Study finds breastfeeding linked to thinness in later life in the Huffington Post.

Cheeky Monkey Tea Party

The Cheeky Monkey Tea Party is a fun morning of craft activities, cakes, stalls and a raffle, that we hold once a year in the summer. This year it will be on Wednesday 25th July, 10am - 12 noon at the Brooklands Centre in Sutton. We've held it there for the last two years, and it's a really nice venue with plenty of parking and some pleasant outside space as well as the hall itself. Entry costs £2.50 per family.

There will be loads of craft activities for the children and a refreshments stall including home-made cakes. 

The stalls this year will include Ken's Woodshop, Nicola Ford who sells Usborne Books, Alice Daly who sells Phoenix Cards and Clare Rees the face painter.

We have been donated some lovely raffle prizes, including a cake by Helenmarie Looker, a 50% off voucher for baby massage classes with Tara Bungard, a family photography session including CD, worth £65, from Natasha Biggs, hand-crafted bath treats, art work for a child's bedroom by Debbie Bellaby and some beautiful hand-made jewellery from The Emerald Magpie. I really recommend taking a look at the websites, we have some amazingly talented people in the area.

And this year, for the first time, there is a national Cheeky Monkey Tea Party photo competition, with mystery prizes.

Bumps, Babies and Beyond

Bumps, Babies and Beyond is held every month, on the first Friday of the month, at the Methodist Church Hall in Ely.

As the name suggests, parents that are expecting a baby, those with babies, and those with toddlers are welcome. There are always plenty of people to chat to over a coffee and cake.

Sarah and Meg, ready to serve you coffee and cake

Here are some of our newest Mums, one of whom had her baby a week ago and still managed to get out of the house and join us today. Congratulations. The other two bumps will become babies in the next couple of weeks

Some of our newest Mums

There are a variety of baby and toddler toys available.

Craft activities

During the school holidays, older brothers and sisters are also welcome, and age appropriate activities are provided.

There is plenty of space to sit around a chat over a cuppa.

Breastfeeding is welcome, and bottle warming facilities are provided.

Entry is currently FREE, but we do welcome donations so that we can keep it free in the future too.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Nearly New Sale

Remember there is early entry for members. If you are not a member yet, or if you need to renew, here's the link

The Big Push 2012

On Saturday 30th June 2012, we held our first Big Push event.

The Big Push is the NCT's newest fundraising event, and funds raised will be used to combat isloation in new parents.

People start to gather at the Bandstand

People started to gather at the Bandstand in Jubilee Gardens at about 10am, to drop off the cakes they had made for the stall, and to get their faces painted by Clare of Making Faces.

Ted gets his face painted

Some of the cakes donated by members

Then Annabel Line, a personal trainer who runs The Green Workout and Buggy Bootcamp in Ely, came along and motivated our little crowd with a few warm up exercises.

 

Annabel Line from Buggy Bootcamp running the warm-up session

Then we were off.

Leaving the cake stall in capable hands

Cakes anyone? Only 50p!

and with our leader pointing the way

And we're off

the walk began with a left turn, along the waterfront, through Pocket Park, around the town,

past the Cathedral,  (you can see the route here)

We are lucky to have such a beautiful place to walk

and after little over an hour, we were back.

The walkers return

In total, we raised £644.37, which we are very proud of for such a small branch. We have already started thinking about next year's event. Be a part of it and help us make the 2013 Big Push even more successful.

You can find out more and see more photos on our Big Push Facebook Page. Don't forget to 'Like' our page while you are there, just to be sure you get early notice about next year's event so that you can join us.

Arthur's Birth Story

It is hard to believe that this was almost a year ago now. Still, I thought I would share our story here, and get into the spirit of the new online magazine. I did actually write it just 3 weeks after Arthur's birth.

It all started on the Sunday, though at a fairly slow pace - my first signs that my little guy would be a fairly laid back little being. I woke up with cramps and then discovered that the mucus plug had started to disintegrate. After a while I noticed that there were times when the cramps hurt more than others... I thought this might be early signs of contractions and that perhaps something might be happening.

I went to bed early on Sunday night just in case. It was a good plan as the cramps were actually enough to wake me at 2 am. I tried timing the intervals between the cramps but it was hard to do - there was a dull ache there all the time which got worse for a bit, but it was really hard to tell where the worse bit (potentially a contraction) started and finished, but it seemed like they were lasting about 2 1/2 mins every 8 minutes or so.

After a while I got up and ate and watched a bit of TV. The cramps became less frequent and less intense so I went back to bed. I slept through the 'contractions' so you get the idea that they weren't that painful! I decided to let Justin (Arthur's Daddy who lives in London) and the doula know what was going on, even though things didn't really seem that imminent to me. 

People started saying that I was in early labour and that things could all speed up at any minute - I still didn't really feel like that was the case - but these people had children and I didn't, so I decided that perhaps I should listen to them. I could now see how people manage to record massively long labours though - I decided not to start timing yet! 

Justin was encouraged by the women at his work to get himself here as soon as possible, and so he arrived early evening on the Monday. That night too, the contractions were more intense than in the day - I didn't get a wink of sleep. Tuesday came and went, Justin busied himself in the kitchen, making meals for the freezer, I tried to rest. My doula came too to see how I was going. Between them they made me eat and sleep. I took some painkillers that night and managed to sleep between contractions which was great.

And so came Wednesday. Now, things were starting to hurt quite a bit now and I began to feel like I wanted to hurry this baby along. Justin drove me over to my parents house where I proceeded to walk around the garden. Then I went to see the reflexologist and massage therapist that I had been seeing throughout my pregnancy. On the drive there the contractions seemed worse, on the drive back they seemed worse still. I was thinking they might calm down once I was out of the car, but no!

So, we took a final photo of Mr Bump

Last ever photo of Mr Bump - 41 + 1

And then Justin busied himself planting a few flowers in my vege garden, whilst I had contractions on the wheelie bin!

I hung out at home for as long as I could and eventually went into hospital in the early hours of Thursday morning. I was 5 cm on arrival. All was well at this stage and I was admitted into the midwife led birthing unit. After a couple of hours, the pool was free and so I moved into there. I had no other pain relief still at this stage and the contractions were fairly strong but I could just about manage them with breathing. 

I did have incredible back pain though, the baby was actually back to back, and on examination a few hours later, they found that and my labour had not progressed at all since my arrival. Due to his position the baby couldn't break my waters and so they had to be broken artificially. This made the contractions incredibly strong - I would say that I rapidly went to 10cm after this, though the whole thing is in fact a blur. I needed pain relief and despite having said I wouldn't have pethidine, it seemed like I would be completely giving in to go straight to an epidural, and so I accepted the pethidine offer. 

It turns out I am one of those people for whom pethidine has no effect... so then it was time for the epidural, it seemed to take forever for the anaethetist to arrive as he had emergencies to deal with. Eventually he came, and the epidural was inserted. But it only numbed half of my body. So he had to come back. The wait for that seemed to be forever! After turning me over and trying to make it drain into the other side (!), and topping me up, eventually it was taking effect on both sides. 

By this time I think I had been at 10cm for a while. Baby's heart beat was getting slower and slower when I had contractions and the staff were starting to worry - they did some tests on the baby's oxygen levels and they came back "borderline". Suddenly we were an emergency and baby had to be out within an hour - we were on our way to theatre! 

This was a horrible hour, but somehow I managed to stay focussed on the task in hand and ignore all the people rushing about and prepping up in the theatre. I just kept repeating to myself that I was in one of the best hospitals in the country and I just had to get this baby out... 

I could feel nothing but had to learn to push - with the help of one of the midwives I learned to tell when I was having a contraction by feeling it in the the top of my uterus with my hand and then we practiced pushing so that I knew, even without feeling, which ones were effective. Once we actually got to the point where the rest of the team were ready to help, it didn't take too many pushes, combined with the pulls of ventouse, to bring the baby out. 

First photo of the little guy

It took him a while to cry, he needed help to breathe and had to have mucus sucked out of his lungs and was fairly unresponsive at first - I was panicking, but eventually was told that he was fine. It wasn't the birth I was hoping for, but I am happy with it all the same. Little man got here safely and I couldn't ask for more than that!

I now know that his APGAR score was 6 at 1min, 8 at 5 min and 9 at 10 mins - so really, after all that he is a very healthy baby. His weight was 7lb 2.5oz (3.255kg).

Arthur and I have our first look at each other

He changed really quickly as his head became less cone like and his wrinkles ironed out.

3 hours old

6 hours old

We came home before he was even 24 hours old. 

Just before we left hospital

Many thanks to Justin and my doula and for their support throughout the whole event, and to the excellent staff at Hinchingbrooke Hospital.

What's On - August 2012

Bumps, Babies and Beyond
Friday 3rd 10-11.30am
Methodist Church Hall,
Chapel Street
Ely
FREE ENTRY
Tel: 0844 2436175 for more info

Open Houses
Tuesday 7th 10-12 noon
At Nancy's house in Aldreth

Friday 17th 10-12 noon
At Mag's house in Ely

Tuesday 21st 10-12 noon
At Nancy's house in Littleport

Friday 31st 10-12 noon
At Mag's house in Ely

for more info about open house locations see our facebook page or join our facebook group

What's On - July 2012

Bumps, Babies and Beyond
Friday 6th 10-11.30am
Methodist Church Hall,
Chapel Street
Ely
FREE ENTRY
Tel: 0844 2436175 for more info

Open Houses
Tuesday 10th 10-12 noon
At Gillian's house in Ely

Friday 20th 10-12 noon
At Hannah's house in Stretham

for more info about open house locations see our facebook page or join our facebook group

Cheeky Monkey Tea Party
Wednesday 25th 10-12 noon
The Brooklands Centre, The Brook, Sutton, CB6 2QQ
Tel: 0844 2436175
This is an annual fundraising event, featuring arts and crafts, messy play and fun for the whole family. A great way to start the school holidays. All funds raised will enable the NCT to continue to support families.