Weekends were made for...

Exploring with friends...

Running through gardens...

Swimming in rivers...

Lounging in the porch...

Starting a new project...

Bonding with family...

Enjoying a 'double-yolker'...

Scoffing cake...

Pulling funny faces.

This weekend has been the best.

Nahla- Pops~ 5 Months

This Girl.

Leaps and Bounds, seriously!

She went from not being able to roll over, to rolling over one day and then not stopping. 

It was like watching a cat in a sun patch.

Now I have to watch her constantly, even her cot has become a hazard zone with her flipping about like an otter.

She also spins around, a bit like a slow break dancer, but its brilliant none the less.

It looks like crawling is imminent with her backwards shuffling and over-enthusiastic press-ups! 

Food glorious food!

Weaning is going well, so much so that I forget that she's not even 6 months old and we (technically) started weaning her early, with permission from our HV, obviously.

How could I not? 

This girl devours bowlfuls of Papaya, mountains of Carrots and chunks of Banana like a fiend!

I sort of half let her feed herself, half spoon-feed her, I want her to eat a good amount but at the same time I want her to experience her food... clothes can be washed and hands (and ears) can be wiped.

Nahla loves the cats, and they tolerate her, sometimes they'll even go in for a cuddle.

She grins like a loon whenever they walk in a proceeds to rock forward shouting 'Cah! Cah!' which, I assume, means 'Cat.'

Much to my Husband's delight she's also attempting to say 'Daddy'. Whenever she sees him she says the same word over and over 'Aggy! Aggy!' It's either her Dad she's delighted to see, or she's a fan of Aggie from 'How Clean Is Your House'

Mother's Day

This is Nahla.

(Otherwise known as: Pops, Nahla-Banana, Nahla-Bee, Nahla-Bug, 'Dingus', Wet-Pants & Pinga)

 Nahla has just entered her fourth month of being a little Human and I've just realised that I've hardly blogged about her at all!

Where to begin??

Nahla's birth was pretty pants, but she is AWESOME. I've never been a very gushy/sappy/sentimental person but this girl just brings out all of those emotions in me!

I'm fascinated by how much she changes every week, it seemed like only yesterday that we were so careful and ginger whilst holding her and now she's trying to jump up and down on my tummy and is almost sitting up by herself.

She has the most beautiful big eyes, soft mousey hair and this gorgeous unique smell that I inhale like I'm desperate for oxygen!

I put so many pictures of her all over the place, and talk about her constantly, it must drive people insane but I don't care! This girl is my absolute world. At first I was worried that I would be too selfish to take care of a baby, too independent and headstrong; but as soon as I saw her I was overwhelmed with the desire to protect and nurture her.

Nahla's laugh is the most hysterical thing I've ever heard and her smile is infectious, she loves smiling at people and is ridiculously chatty for her age, I'm told.

She does something new everyday so it's never a dull moment!

This man has done so much for me over the past few months; everything from holding me up in the shower after my cesarean, injecting me in the stomach to stop blood clots, feeding Nahla at 2am whilst having me wail into his shoulder at the same time. I owe him so much, yet continue to bark and shout at him whilst simultaneously purring and cooing at him ... thus is marriage after the birth of your first child!
 
Nahla and Pops are two peas in a pod when it comes to wanting to sleep in in the mornings, both of them are so lazy! I'll often be up and about long before they even start rubbing their eyes sleepily.

She smiles and laughs at Simon more than me, just the sight of him reduces her to fits of giggles and huge beaming grins... it must be something to do with his face, I tend to laugh at it from time to time too!

I find it so strange to see my husband holding a baby, it used to be pints of beer that he cradled but now he seems full of this new found wisdom. He picks up on her cries and knows what they mean, he can make her smile whilst she's in the middle of a tiredness-induced tantrum and makes her laugh by a mere flick of an eyebrow.

He tells her he loves her, and has affectionately nicknamed her 'Dingus' a name that I find quite endearing and that I know will be used to embarrass her on her wedding day!

To me, there is nothing more attractive than a man who dotes on his daughter, who reads her bedtime stories and bites her toes, puts her to bed and kisses her cheeks.

 I have changed so much since having her!

Naievely, I thought I would sail through this motherhood-business but it has been no easy ride. A traumatic birth, a difficult healing process and the onset of PND has seen me feel the most helpless and sad that I have ever felt in my life.

Simultaneously, my heart feels like it's going to burst with happiness!

Nahla is my daughter, my teeny little munchkin who nuzzles into me, who blows bubbles on my cheek, dribbles on all my clothes, pulls my hair and stamps her feet, and shares baths with me, being around her can snap from stressful to utter bliss in a few seconds.

Being a Mama is EXCITING.

I look at her and often think of what sort of woman she will turn into, I hope to nurture her into a strong, kind, driven Girl who has aspirations, intelligence and can hold her own.

As a Feminist, I want her to recognise and defend her rights as a woman and a person, I never want her to feel that there's something she can't do simply because of her sex.

As her Mama, I want her to succeed in life, for her to have a good job, a family of her own, an exciting hobby... these things are fine, but just knowing that she's happy would be satisfying enough.

I am loving her at this cuddly, teeny-weeny, adorably chubby stage, but also can't wait for the next milestones; talking, crawling, eating real food, walking etc, it all seems so exciting but happens so quickly!

In conclusion: Motherhood is a job and a half, but completely rewarding, especially when little girls like Nahla are involved!

Love,

Laura xxx

My Birth Story... (bloody long post!)

{Disclaimer! Please do not read this if you are about to have a baby or are being induced, it will scare you.}

I've been debating for weeks whether or not I wanted to write my birth story. My labour was not how I thought it was going to be, there were complications from the start and things went from bad to worse rather quickly. 

I've decided to write it though because I've been asked to write a feedback form and send it to the NHS because a lot of things weren't done correctly, so hopefully this will put my thoughts and memories of those 29 hours into some sort of order.

I was induced on the 28th of November in a small hospital in the town we live in. I should have spotted the first warning sign that I was being induced after only 7 days, usually ladies are left 10-14 days before they are induced. When I went for my sweep 4 days before I was induced I was told that I wasn't dilated and that my daughter wasn't fully engaged. They also mentioned that she was facing outwards, which should have been a sign that labouring would be long and difficult, babies have to be head down and facing into the spine.

I was in such a rush to get her out though, I agreed to the early induction.

10 minutes before I was given the gel to 'ripen' my cervix (and thus get my labour started) I started having a lot of tightening pains in my back. I was hooked up to a machine that monitored my daughter and I and, although I was having pains, it wasn't picking up any signs of proper contractions; so I was given a pessary full of gel to get me going.

I wish I had refused the induction right there and then, I know now that the pains I was feeling were mild contractions.

Within an hour I was hooked up to a TENS machine, it did nothing to relieve the building pain, half an hour later I was given paracetamol and advised to have a warm bath. This did nothing. The pain was coming frequently and was starting to become unbearable, so two hours after that I was given a shot of morphine (which was the most painful injection I have ever received!) and I laid down on the bed, squeezing my Mum's hand whenever there was a tightening.

 I can remember fading in and out of sleep and vaguely hearing Mum talking to Simon, they stayed with me until 12:00am and I slept (on and off) until 5:00am.

The midwife came to see me in the morning and said Simon and my Mum were allowed to come back in when they wanted and that they were going to break my waters at 7:00am.

I pushed about a spoon's worth of rice krispies down my neck before Simon and my Mum arrived at about 6:00am. Both looked as though they hadn't gotten any sleep. My Mum, especially, looked concerned.

A midwife arrived later, armed with what can only be described as a long crochet hook and latex gloves.

She gave me an internal, I'd had internals during the last couple of week of pregnancy, they had never hurt... they were mainly just uncomfortable and awkward.

This was immensely different.

Simon was sat next to me as she dug her fingers (and nails) deeper into me. I have a high pain threshold, but this made me scream. I screamed at the top of my lungs, involuntarily. The pain was absolutely blinding, I forget how long she was down there, all I could feel was pulling and stabbing pains, Simon said she was at me for 5 minutes.

All I can remember is screaming, and Simon practically shoving his face in mine and stroking my cheek. I begged her to stop, even Simon told her to stop.

In the end she pressed a buzzer and another midwife ran in, looking concerned. Probably because I was howling like a banshee. After a hurried discussion the second midwife ran out of the room.

All of a sudden a gush of warm water ran out of me and the first midwife sat back.

She apologised and mentioned how she was struggling to get at my sac of waters to burst them, so had to physically pull my cervix up and forward to get at them. 

I just remember sobbing, my Mum stroking my hair and the other midwife running in with a bottle of gas and air... a bit late, she wheeled it out again.

The midwife mentioned that the baby had opened her bowels inside me, but it was nothing to be concerned about. Having read up on labour (to prepare) I read that 'Meconium' was a sign of distress in babies, so I was instantly on edge.

Now that my waters had gone I was able to go the labour ward. I shuffled into a large room, my waters dripping everywhere around me, and sat down on the bed where I was given a hormone drip to get my contractions going faster.

Things got out of hand, very quickly.

I was on gas and air immediately, it didn't stop the pain at all, but it gave me something to concentrate on other than the horrific pain I was in. 

My Mum was constantly in touch with my Godmother, who's an obstetrician and she was immediately concerned about what was going on.

After hours and hours of being on the drip, my contractions were coming so quickly that I wasn't getting a moment to recuperate.

My midwife decided to give me another internal to see how many centimeters I was and whether or not it was time to push. After another agonising internal, I was told that I was only 4cm dilated... nowhere near the 10cm that I needed to be and that it could take hours to reach it.

The small hospital I was in offered no other pain relief other than tablets and morphine, no epidural. After discussing it with the midwife she went to find the consultant Dr to ask if I could be transferred to a bigger hospital, with better pain medication.

The consultant came to see me, he was the most arrogant man I have ever met. He looked at me as if I was a silly girl, screaming at a tiny bit of pain, completely exaggerating.

He told me to have another shot of morphine, we tried to explain that I'd already had two shots and it had done nothing. He shrugged and said that there was two ways to get a baby out, vaginally or by cesarean.

Mum asked him if cesarean was a possibility because of how little progress I was making and how much pain I was in, he refused and said they might not even give me an epidural at the other hospital.

Basically, put up and shut up.

After another hour I had reached a new level of pain. I couldn't speak, move or do anything other than constantly suck on the gas and air pipe and cry.

It was then that Simon demanded I be sent to the other hospital. Two hours later two paramedics turned up with a stretcher, Simon drove off to the hospital an hour away, whilst my Mum rode with me in the ambulance.

I don't remember much of the journey, my Mum said I was having pains every minute and kept crying out for her, she also said that the paramedic in the back kept turning up the strength of the gas and air.

When we arrived I was hysterical, they wheeled me into a lift, along some corridors and then into a room full of nurses and a Dr and Simon.

Then they dropped me.

The stretcher I was laying on got stuck, so the paramedic shook it and I fell about 3 foot onto the floor. Simon was shouting at someone, another nurse ran in, I was lifted onto a bed, blood was taken from me and another drip was put in.

Then more drama began, they wanted to examine me internally again, one midwife was already gloved up whilst another practically held me down. The pain was unbearable, I remember begging Simon to get them to stop, he just held my face and cried for me.

I was still only 4cm.

They put a monitor onto the top of my baby's head, they suspected that she was in distress, she was being squeezed within an inch of her life, and after looking at the monitor the consultant and the midwives agreed that the cord was probably wrapped around my daughters neck.

The anesthesiologist came in, injected my back then fitted the epidural, a long thin tube. It ached as it went in, but wasn't too bad.

The epidural didn't work, it numbed one side of my body, I could still feel the contractions in my left hip and leg.  

Finally, after an hour of negotiating, pleading and reasoning with the medical staff, it was decided that I would need an emergency cesarean. I was nowhere near pushing, I was exhausted, my baby was in distress and my epidural and my induction had failed.

I was wheeled into a bright operating room that was full of people. I lost count of how many people were in there. Simon was lead into another room to get dressed into a sterile gown.

I sat on a long stretcher as they pulled out my epidural and replaced it with a spinal anesthesia, my whole lower half went completely numb. FINALLY there was no more pain, it was bliss.

Simon walked in just as they were replacing the IV line in my hand, it had become full of dried blood and wouldn't allow any medication to be injected into it.

Simon sat next to me, I was shivering uncontrollably as a result of the anesthesia, but I finally felt calm but was anxious to meet my baby.

My heart rate dropped on the operating table as they were cutting me open, but the anesthesiologist gave me an injection of god knows what into my IV line which managed to boost it up again.

It was quiet, the only people moving were the three people standing over my stomach, behind the sheet in front of me. After only a couple of minutes there was a sudden flurry of movement by all of the people in the room and the surgeon cooed 'Here she is! She's a slippery thing!'

Nahla Claire was born at 10:00pm, weighing 7lb2.

I looked over at Simon as she started wailing, he kissed me and said 'That's your baby!'

They gave her to Simon after cleaning her up and checking her over, she was so small and was wrapped in a massive towel so I could only see her hand.

Simon held her whilst they stitched me up, then I was wheeled out and into the recovery ward.

The next couple of hours were full of cuddles, smiling, laughing, crying and feeding Nahla.

I'm so grateful that we're both ok. I really do feel that if we had waited a couple more hours then one of us, or even both of us, would not have made it.

Labour is a wonderful, but dangerous thing. Mine was made worse by the fact that I was induced too early, my baby was facing the wrong way, my waters were broken too early, I wasn't given adequate pain relief and my labour failed to progress.

It has put me off having any more children in the near future, although I know I don't have to go through that again and I can just have a cesarean, the healing process both physically and mentally is a bit too much to bear thinking about going through again.

Nahla is totally worth it though, she's the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me and I'm so proud to be the Mama of such a beautiful girl!

My First Two Weeks Of Mama-Hood...

I haven't blogged, properly, in ages! Taking care of a newborn baby is SUCH hard work. I've only got time to write this quick update because said baby is snoozing.

We've had such a weird and wonderful two weeks. It's been full of pain, tears, laughter and sleepless nights.

Nahla-Claire is just a dream come true...

She weighed 7lb2, we both had a very difficult delivery that was full of mistakes and issues that ended up with her being delivered via emergency cesarean... but she was totally worth it.

Recovery from the c-section seems to be never-ending, I feel so much better than I did but I just can't wait to be able to do normal things again, like go jogging, swimming, even just reaching into the top cupboards would be nice!

Nahla is such a smiley and clever baby! Breast-feeding her is challenging, she's stubborn and impatient with me, but I feel like she's getting heavier every day!

She loves her Dad, every time she sees him she smiles and coos. My husband is still in shock, he didn't expect to be so sleep-deprived!

The interrupted sleep is difficult and we've snapped at each other a few times, but just getting two hours feels amazing!

I'm so glad we've got her, she's soft, cuddly and smells so amazing!! 

L'oreal Wild Ombres Review

(Excuse my face! Baby N was kicking the hell out my ribs whilst I was taking photos, so it was hard to look chirpy and delighted!)

I bit the bullet and ombred my hair last night! I'm so glad that I did!
It was a pretty easy process but I'd been putting it off for so long. I asked my hair-savvy followers on Instagram if they'd had any experience with it before and I got some really helpful advice, along with some mixed reviews.
I bought two packs from Boots for £6 each, which is pretty good, considering it's only going on half of my hair!
(Disclaimer!! I'm 9 months pregnant and it has come to light that dying your hair during pregnancy is absolutely fine and poses no health risks to you or your baby. Of course, your skin and allergies change whilst your 'with youngling', you should always do a 48-hour patch test before dying all of your hair, you should ideally be doing that anyway, baby or no baby. Apart from that caution, it's fine, I even asked my midwife when I was a few months along, she replied 'What do you think happens to hairdressers when they have their babies?' Good point!)

I chose shade No1 and No3. I planned to see how blonde the first shade made me, if it wasn't blonde enough then I would add the second shade a few days later, after giving my hair a bit of a break!
I loved the wild-themed packaging, and the models, as usual, are gorgeous. giving women, myself included, the delusional thoughts that the hair dye will also change their face to look like them.

Inside the box was the usual plethora of gloves, creams, dyes and powders to help lighten the hair. It came with a caution that instructed that you shouldn't inhale the powder... which was the first thing I did. It was hard not to when it rose from the packet like smoke. I spluttered a bit, but apart from that assembling the dye was very easy.

This was my hair colour before, please excuse the quality of the lighting, I've mentioned in previous posts how photo-taking in my house during night time is a no-go area. My lights make everything look yellow and orange!

The dye was easy to apply, you're given an application brush which you load with the dye and comb through your hair. I have medium to long hair so started my gradient just under my ears. I noticed my hair started to lighten straight away. I left it in for 45ish minutes, it was very obviously a lighter colour than the rest of my hair towards the end!

My shampoo and conditioner of choice at the moment is TREsemme's Keratin Smooth, which is great if you have hair that gets bullied by you on a daily basis!

Here's the end result! I wish I'd blended it a bit better, there are a couple of places where the line between brunette and blonde pretty much STARES you in the face. If I curled it it would be hidden, but I can't be bothered! I love the subtle colour it's created, I was so worried that it was going to go bright ginger!

I'm impressed with the first half of my ombreing journey! I plan to add the second shade into the ends of my hair in the next couple of days. I think it'll be more blended then and look more professional.
I'm a huge fan of this hairstyle, its a bit different, although everyone's doing it now! It adds texture and colour to an otherwise boring shade of brunette!

Building the Cot...

A big tradition that has recently started in our little household is to hold everything off until the last minute. So mother's that have had their nursery/sleeping area sorted out in their second trimester don't read on.

I'm 38 weeks and we've only just bought the cot home :|

Part of this is due to apprehension, my Mum is very superstitious and didn't want us to bring the cot or the pram into the house until the baby was here. So part of that rubbed of on me, but then I thought about how much of a nightmare it would be to have to collect and assemble things with a newborn around. Rather stressful. So I held off right until now, with two weeks to go! Eep! I'm still really funny about the fact that's its set up, but you can't change what happens in life, so I might as well enjoy this transition rather than fret about what *might* happen.

I can't remember what brand our cot is, we got it from a local baby shop, but it is beautiful and a bit on the large side!!

(excuse the quality of the photos, it was dark and all the lights in my house make photos look orange!)

'Is this for me? :D'

*Helping*

 

Proud builder! He was so sweet once he built it, he kept saying things like 'I can't believe our baby's going in here!'

We just need the baby now!

It's strange to have a cot in our room with no baby, but, hopefully, in a couple of weeks she'll be squawking away inside it.

Very exciting times!

iPhone Photos...

Super-busy Papa-to-be. We picked up Baby's pram this week and also picked up her bottles and sterilising equipment, just in case I can't breastfeed. It's good to be prepared!

New slippers for the labour ward :]

 

 I've recently had an obsession for quirky nail polishes. These Models Own ones are made up of sequin-like confetti and look so fun!

I love reading and I love my classic like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but every now and again I like to take a break from all the hard-going plot lines and kill a few brain cells by reading a trashy book or an auto-biography. I'm only a few chapters through, I probably will finish it if I can't get past her writing 'Me and me Mam' rather than 'My Mum and I.'

Ohhhh bother. Somebody left it too late to take off their wedding ring. Somebody ignored the advice of her midwife, convinced herself that she wouldn't get 'pregnancy swelling' and didn't think that putting on two stone would affect her fingers.

I tried everything to get my wedding ring off; ice, conditioner, oil, thread, cling film... you name it! In the end my husband dragged me into the jewelers to have it cut off. £1,200 of beautiful gold and diamonds in pieces, all because I 'couldn't be bothered'. 

It'll be easy enough to fix though, once my swelling's gone down I can have it re-sized. My husband even suggested getting it engraved like he did to my engagement ring, which would be lovely. He also suggested getting a replacement for the time being... but he's not bought that up again, maybe he had time to think about it??

I've been feeling very autumnal recently so was chuffed when a blouse I picked up in Glasgow last year managed to fit me! Even with my chunky baby belly!

Our 4th Wedding anniversary was lovely, we had a nice dinner and Simon made me some beautiful origami flowers which took him forever. I still can't believe we've been married for four years!

We had a great time in Lush when we went to Inverness to get baby things. Even my husband bought a few things for himself, I think I'm turning him into a product addict too!
I love the smell of the flower bubble bath at the top, I was so surprised at how many bubbles I managed to get out of one little chunk of it! I have a feeling that they're going to last me quite a while.

I finally managed to get my paws on GOSH's Holographic nail polish! I love it, it only lasts a couple of days (at a push) but it looks so amazing when its on!

This weeks midwife appointment went ok, my usual midwife wasn't there so it was a bit strange to not have my usual chatter and banter with her. Also, she tends to answer all of my stupid questions with a really in depth explanation, whereas the other midwife just smiles and says 'That's normal.' Which is a bit irritating. My normal midwife understands that I like to know every possible scenario and situation, she understands me very well.

I was weighed and was very surprised to find out that I've only put on 2 stone, a stone of which is all baby, placenta, water etc. It means I only have a stone to get rid off after she's born, so I'm in no rush or panic now! Although I do weigh as much as my husband, which is a bit rubbish :(

The baby is fine, measuring on time, very VERY wriggly and active. She's running out of room in there so I'm finding it so difficult to get comfortable and fall asleep.

I'm also starting to get incredibly awkward and painful contractions and backache, I'm hoping this means that I won't have to wait much longer!

Lovely chunky shot of me here in Starbucks with a peppermint hot chocolate. This was just after I had my ring cut off, hence the stern face.

I don't have many pictures of this stage of pregnancy, I think it's because I feel so chunky!

Horray! It's mine and Lara's 1 year anniversary! I can't believe this picture was taken a year ago, so much has changed! Mainly my waistline!
We went to a little cafe for lunch and had sandwiches, then stared at nail varnishes for a couple of hours. It was lovely, I'm looking forward to having the baby so I can enjoy the occasional night out again! The first one being our work's Christmas dinner, which should be a hoot!

Oh the drama! We bought our first nappies this week, who knew it was so complicated... different weights, different heights, all numbered, all with the same picture on!

I was going to try and be super-green by using washable nappies like my mum did with my youngest brother, but, after much thought, I realised that I NEVER do washing. I am terrible at remembering to fill the washing machine, take the wet clothes out, drying clothes etc. My husband is the one who tends to do the laundry, even he sometimes lets it build up too.

So, no, I'm sure during the first couple of weeks we would be good at chucking the fabric nappies in the wash, but after a while the novelty would wear off and I don't fancy having the back-log of half-soiled nappies to deal with.

So we've gone down the slightly less greener (but still green!) route of disposable eco nappies. They cost the same as regular ones, but are made up of decomposable materials so they don't hang around on a landfill site for 10+ years.

They're also chlorine and fragrance free which will stop any allergic reactions or nappy rash, we also bought the wipes too, for the same reasons.
We shall have to see how her bottom gets on with these!

I shall leave you with this adorable cuteness. Normally Charlie-cat hates my husband, I'm not sure if he's tolerating him here or is in too deep a sleep to notice that he's near him.

Either way, so precious :]

What's in my Hospital Bag?

So I only have about 2-3 weeks left before I have my baby and it's just been non-stop preparations and shopping all the time!

I've only JUST packed my hospital bag, at almost 38 weeks pregnant. Most ladies have theirs sorted by about 33 weeks, along with their pram, their cot and their baby's clothes.
We've left so many things until the last minute, it's unreal.

It's only now that I've started having contractions, period pain and backache that I've realised I need to get my act together and my arse into gear. Baby N is on her way and she needs a Mama that's organised.

The 'What's in my Hospital Bag?' tag is pretty popular amongst bloggers with babies on the way so I thought I'd join in. I love watching YouTube videos and reading blog posts about people getting ready for their sproglets! :]

My actual 'Hospital Bag' is small suitcase, the sort of thing you'd use for inland flights or weekend trips. Alas, with labour being so mysterious and tricky, I don't know how long I'll be staying in hospital, it could be overnight or, if I have a cesarean, 4-5 days. I've sort of packed for in-between that time, we only live 5 minutes from the hospital so if I need anything my husband can always pop some bits in for me.

So, in my bag I have packed...

Slippers, a purple birthing gown, a matching purple lightweight dressing gown, HUGE knickers (apparently that's a must-have if you have a c-section scar, so the knickers don't sit on your wound and irritate it) maternity pads, breast pads, nursing bras, leggings, strap tops and a couple of thin cardigans, which will make it easy to breastfeed. It's going to be warm on the ward so I won't need jumpers or anything thick until we leave the hospital.

Regarding toiletries; I've bought lots of little travel items so that I'm not burdened with heavy or expensive bottles of products. Funnily enough I don't plan on having a long lazy bubble bath whilst I'm there, my mum said I'll probably only get the one shower after the birth, then it will be all about the baby, so I've just gone for the basics: shampoo, conditioner, body spray, face wipes, deodorant, anti-bac hand gel, toothbrush and toothpaste, hairbrush, hair ties, dry shampoo and my vitamins.

Finally there's the cosmetics side of things. I really don't plan on doing much to my face after I've had my daughter. I think I'll be too besotted with her to care what I look like to others so I've just packed a couple of things, in case I'm staying a few days and I have visitors. 

I've been told by my friend, Lara, that she's willing to give me an hour with the baby before she invades the ward! 

So I've packed little travel versions of my usual make up: True Match concealer (for those tired eyes) Benefit's Bad Gal Lash, Nivea Lip Butter and a mini version of my Liz Earle moisturiser.

I think I've got a good balance of things, not an excessive amount but not too little so that I'm missing things.

Once the baby's clothes and blankets have dried and I've packed them I'll do a 'What's in my Baby's Hospital Bag?' post, which guarantees to be much cuter and 'awww' inducing that reading about my pants.