Health

SPD (PGP): My experience

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Health, My Experience, New Parents, Post Natal, Pregnancy 0 Comment

I was diagnosed with SPD when I was 5 months pregnant. I had actually developed SPD much earlier, but hadn’t realised. It was only when I attended my first ante-natal class and mentioned that I couldn’t lift my feet more than an inch off the ground, that the Ante-natal teacher suggested that I had SPD and would need to see a Doctor. Within a month I was on crutches.

SPD, also known as PGD, happens when the weight of the baby becomes too much for your hips. Some say the pain is also caused by the loosening of the ligaments, in preparation for giving birth. All I know is that it hurt and it was progressive. Apparently SPD is more common these days because babies are heavier due to Mum’s having better diets. My little one wasn’t that heavy when she was born, she was just under 8lbs.

The last four months of pregnancy were a blur of pain for me.

I went to physio at the hospital for a few weeks, but when I was 7 months pregnant they said there was nothing more they could do for me. I spent the last two months of my pregnancy signed off work (oh and they made me pay back a month’s wages). I could barely manage to get off the sofa.

I would get up in the morning, try to shower (which was unbearably painful as I had to try to crawl into the shower) and would spend the rest of the day recovering, waiting for my husband to come home from work to help me back up the stairs. I even tried not to drink too much as we don’t have a toilet downstairs, so I would literally crawl up the stairs to go to the toilet. It was a 20 minute process to get up and down the stairs.

I cannot describe how painful the grinding of my hips became. As my little one became heavier, as she came to full term, the more pain I was in. It was impossible to walk, let alone drive. Two years later I still have flashes of pain and still remember what that intense pain was like. I still can’t push a trolley, so if you see that Mum struggling in Sainsburys with a toddler who keeps wanting to run off, it’s probably me! 😉

The reason I am sharing this is because, if you are like me,  you may not have realised that anything was wrong. I found a great physiotherapist, Ian Harrison, who managed to keep me mobile enough so that I could get up and down the stairs in the last few months (even if it did take 20 minutes each time!). If you are pregnant and can’t lift your foot more than an inch off the ground, you need to get this checked out as there is support for you.

I also found a fantastic website: The Pelvic Partnership

However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel if you are suffering. Two days after the birth of my little one, I no longer needed crutches. Last weekend, I actually sprinted (little one likes to run off!) for the first time in 20 years. It is likely that you will get your mobility back, and possibly very quickly, but it depends on many factors.

If you suffer, or have suffered, from SPD, you have my sympathies! I urge you to get some kind of support if you are suffering with this pain.

Food: Healthy Snacks

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Food, Health 0 Comment

This is a bit later than planned, but below is a list of possible “healthy” snacks for your little one’s. I picked up a lot of ideas from a previous post:  New food and drink guidelines for 1 to 5 year olds.

Check out my previous posts on Feeding our children, Breakfast variety and Pudding/desert variety.

I’ve had a lot of great feedback about these posts, so I’m glad you’ve found them useful!

I’m always stuck for ideas for healthy snacks, so if you have any others, please let me know!

  • Baby bel
  • Baked potato chips
  • Blueberries
  • Blueberry muffins (taken from the Early Years food plan)
  • Boiled egg
  • Carrot cake
  • Cheddar and pineapple
  • Cheese spread
  • Cheese straws
  • Cinnamon rolls (made from left over pastry)
  • Cream cheese with mini bread sticks
  • Crudités
  • Cubes of cheese
  • Cucumber sticks
  • Dates and figs
  • Dried fruit
  • Fig rolls
  • Filled cheese sticks (celery sticks, cream cheese, sultanas)
  • Flapjack
  • Fruit bread toast
  • Fruit salad
  • Frozen orange slices
  • Fromage Frais
  • Grapes
  • Hummus dip
  • Malt loaf or Banana loaf (Soreen)
  • Melons slices
  • Mini bread sticks
  • Mini cheddars
  • Oat cakes and cheese
  • Olives and sun dried tomatoes
  • Organic gingerbread men
  • Pitta pocket
  • Plain yoghurt or yoghurt mixed with unsweetened fruit puree or chopped fruitRaisins or Currants – My Little One loves Raisins (I always take a pot of raisins with me when I have my little one in tow. One of her first words was “raisin” lol)
  • Popcorn – popped from popping corn, not the stuff that’s toffee or salted! lol
  • Rice cakes
  • Smoothies – (Ella or Sainsburys sell smoothies, with the Sainsburys ones much cheaper than Ella’s)
  • Toasted crumpets
  • Toasted tea cakes
  • Tomato and mozzarella cheese (Bruschetta)
  • Watermelon slices

Food: Pudding/Desert Variety

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Food, Health 0 Comment

Following on from the Feeding our Children and Breakfast Variety Posts, below is a list of what we have for puddings in our house. I’m finding that not only are we in a rut with breakfast but also with puddings. I try to vary the fruit my little one has, she loves Papaya and Pineapple, but we still seem to swing between yoghurt and fruit because everything else always seems so unhealthy. I’m also still trying to limit the amount of sugar in my little one’s diet as she’s enough of a live wire without it :-D.

  • Yoghurt
  • Fruit – Fresh
  • Fruit – tinned
  • Fruit – frozen
  • Carrot Cake
  • Fromage Frais
  • Sorbet
  • Crumble
  • Banana’s and custard
  • Banana Bread – I make this the same time as the rice pudding as it saves on using the oven twice
  • Rice Pudding – I found some which you just bung in the oven for a couple of hours, great if you plan to cook something else at the same time. Or you can buy the pre-prepared pots.
  • Semolina
  • Lollys – I bought the Annabel Karmel Mini ice lolly set when my little one started weaning and we still use them now. I fill them with milk and squished up fruit. Very quick and easy
  • Smoothies
  • Muffins
  • Eton Mess
  • Fruit Salad
  • Pancakes
  • Apple Pie
  • Ice cream – I love Mackie’s ice cream
  • Cheese and crackers

I read the food and drink guidelines for 1 to 5 year olds Booklet last year but I think I need to review it because I know there are a lot of great suggestions in it.

What do you give your little one’s for pudding?

11 Things for Mum’s to Do in Basingstoke without their children

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Mums, Wellbeing 0 Comment

As it’s coming up to Mother’s Day in the UK this Sunday (10th of March 2013) I thought it might be nice to put together a post with some ideas of how you might want to treat yourself by having some quality time to yourself.

1. Join the local Mum’s choir. Group on FB: “Ooh Mama! We’re a newly formed choir purely for Mummies to take some “me time”. No Audition! – singing just for fun”. Meet every Tuesday in term time. 8pm to 9.30pm at Christchurch Chineham.

2. Book a mobile Beautician to come to your house to give you a massage when your children are asleep in bed (and will hopefully stay there!) or for a manicure, or pedicure

3. Attend a “Mums on a Mission” class. Becky’s Studio has classes throughout the day and you can bring your children along too.

4. Arrange a catch up with some girlie friends for afternoon tea. The Parlour Tea rooms or check here for more Afternoon Tea’s HERE and HERE. Kill two birds with one stone and take your Mum with you instead!

5. Join a dancing class. There are lots of dance schools in North Hampshire. I’m working on a future post with a list of dance schools in the area. (HERE).

6. Have a personal shopper experience. Debenhams in Basingstoke has this service available and you can book a slot online via their website. (I used this service just before I went back to work after maternity leave, as I had no work clothes I could get into and I hate shopping for clothes. A friend came along with me and had our babies with us. The Debenhams team were really helpful and didn’t mind me breastfeeding) . Click HERE for a previous post on creating the perfect capsule wardrobe.

7. Book a blowdry at home. Click HERE for the link to a page on NHM for Mobile Hairdressers

8. Go Ice Skating at Planet Ice. So much fun and lots of exercise without even knowing it!

9. Go out for lunch with some friends. Click HERE for a previous post on reasonably priced restaurants in Basingstoke.

10. See something at the Anvil or Haymarket. There’s nothing quite like going to the theatre.

11. Attend a Burlesque class or Dirty Dancing workshop for lots of giggles.

Children’s Bike Seats

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Children, Exercise, Health, Outings, Travel 0 Comment

Getting a childs bike seat sorted has been on my to do list for a very long time, but I just never seem to get around to it. I want to go in to Basing Cycles in town and have a chat with them as they specialise in Specialized bikes, which is the bike I have. I was also hoping that I might be able to see if they are interested in doing a discount for NHM Readers also looking to buy a child bike seat.

I’m finding that a childs bike seat might be like a sling. I really want one and I just want someone to tell me which one to get, but we will probably end buying a really expensive one (like we did with the sling)  because we don’t know any better and then we will probably only use it twice (like the sling).

I’ve also been trying to put together a post about Children’s Bike Seats since March this year! In an effort to pull my finger out and get the post started AND completed, I put a request out on Facebook to see if you wonderful readers would be happy to provide your insights. This is what you came back with:

Wendy made an excellent point “The first thing you have to consider is your bike. Not all seats fit all bikes.” Amber also made an excellent point “It’s worth emphasising that ALL children should have cycle helmets along with their parents whenever they are cycling.”

Matt, a keen cyclist, said: “My recommendation is the Co-pilot Limo seat, RRP £109.99”. Lesley also recommended the Co-pilot Limo child seat. She said “We did a lot of research when looking to purchase a seat for our daughter. She was 2 years old at the time (now 4). The seat has a lot of protection, just I case your bike topples over. At that age she tended to fall asleep after a while, but the side protection, meant she could rest her head comfortably. The seat also grows with your child, straps move to deal with growing legs. And, a final bit of usefulness – the seat doubles up as a seat off the bike too. We would stop for a picnic, and our daughter was able to sit comfortably and securely for her meal. (equally-it can be a handy retaining option if you are on your own and don’t want your child to toddle off while you tend to your bike). 5* as far as I’m concerned. Daughter now cycling using her own Steam, and she asks to go to places we used to take her on the back of our bikes.”

Karen recommended a Hamax child seat “I’ve got a hamax one – very pleased with it. What about some research on the difference between rear and front seats- the ones that go near the handlebars- they look pretty dangerous to me! Amber also recommended a Hamax seat “Both my husband and I are very keen cyclists and did a lot of research before buying ours for our daughter and as Wendy says, not all seats fit all bikes…. We bought a Hamax Sleepy which is great, they are very robust seats with adjustable footrests and harness so it growns with your child. With hindsight I wish we had got the Siesta model which reclines further than the Sleepy as she invariably nods off in it and she just lolls forwards in the seat. She doesn’t seem to mind that but it is a little disconcerting!”

Charlotte suggested the Wee free ride, “We have wee free ride. Lo sits on the cross bar in front of you. Very safe for them as they’re inside your arms and they get a great view. BUT it doesn’t work well on small frame bikes as you have to ride with your knees out wide! My bike at 16″ frame is too small. My husband’s at 17½ is just about OK.”

I was originally leaning towards a Wee free ride but I have a small bike frame so I don’t think it will be suitable. I would love a Co-pilot seat but I had a quick look on Amazon and the Hamax seat seems to be a bit cheaper. If anyone has any other suggestions please do add a comment.

I hope to do some more research this weekend and will add any links I find into this post. I’m hoping that by getting this post out there it will help me get my butt into gear about getting a bike seat sorted!!! 😀

Further Reading

Which Cycle Seat Guide

Mumsnet Child Bike Seats

Carrying Children on bikes

What is the right age for a baby bike seat?

Local Bike Shops

Basing Cycles – Basingstoke

Winklebury Cycles – Basingstoke

Pedal On – Tadley

AW Cycles – Caversham, Reading

12 Things to do when you are pregnant in Basingstoke and North Hampshire

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Basingstoke, Dads, Health, Mums, Parents, Pregnancy 2 Comments

1. Check out NorthHantsMum – obviously! 😀 Especially the newborn page and pregnancy pages. I also recommend requesting to join the secret FB NHM Pregnancy group.

2. Find out where your local baby clinic is. There is a previous post on NHM which details local baby clinic’s in the area. Click HERE for details.

3. Book up for your NCT Antenatal class early – else you not find one close by, which can become complicated (especially if you have had a cesarean) if you want to catch up with your Mummy friends and they all live miles away. NCT also do discounts on courses for those with limited funds. Or if you are looking for an alternative to NCT and live in North Hampshire, you could also try FitMama classes.

4.  Go do the “Hospital Look” round tour a few weeks before you are due. Try not to be too scared if you hear someone in labour 😉

5. Get hold of a Tumble Dryer or find out which of your family and friends have tumble dryers and start being very nice to them! Or, find out where the local laundrette is. You will be horrified by the amount of washing you suddenly have to start doing! The only laundrette details I could find in Basingstoke is the one at Elmwood Parade in Winklebury. Let me know if you have details of any others.

6. Check out the local Breastfeeding support if that’s what you want to do. Check out my previous post about Breastfeeding in Basingstoke HERE.

7. Get your maternity Bra’s from the NCT website. Much cheaper than Bravissimo and I found the selection in Bravissimo to be quite limited.

8. Find out where your local children’s centre is and see if they have a Bumps n’ Babes class you can attend, if only to meet other Mum’s in the same situation and area as you.

9.  Research what is on for Mum’s with new babies in the area. Winter is a notoriously hard time to have a baby because you are stuck inside a lot more, so you need to make more of an effort to get out and about. NHM will keep you up to date on what’s going on in Basingstoke! 😉

10.  Sign up for some of the free pregnancy “stuff” that you can get when you are pregnant. I signed up for the free Bounty Pack. When I received mine it had a bar of galaxy and a can of appletiser. I don’t think they made it out of the car park (blush)! Sainsburys and Boots used to give them out.

11. Attend a Pregnancy Exercise Class. The FitMama Studio in Stroudley Road has a number of classes that are specifically designed for Pregnant Mum’s.

12. Have a pregnancy massage.

I can probably come up with a lot more, but I think twelve (the list was originally 10!)  is a pretty round number for this kind of list! Do you have any other good suggestions for those who are pregnant?

The Importance of Skin to Skin

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Babies, New Parents, Newborn, Post Natal, Pregnancy, Wellbeing 0 Comment

This weeks theme is “Babies”.

I only picked up on how important skin to skin is when my little one turned a month old. We didn’t have a very easy time with breastfeeding, for several reasons, but it was only when I went to see Lorraine, one of the breastfeeding counselors at North Hampshire Hospital, that it became apparent to me how important skin to skin is. I am eternally grateful to Lorraine for her pearls of wisdom.

I made sure that in the morning I spent as much time as possible skin to skin with my little one. This was fairly easy to do as it was summer time (this was last year, so nowhere near as much rain!) but I can imagine that in winter time it can be quite difficult to do this. My husband also found skin to skin very rewarding and whilst we spent our first few days as a family in hospital, he spent a lot of time with our little one on his chest. The nurses at the hospital were all cool with it as I’m sure they’ve seen it all before!

Even if you aren’t breastfeeding, skin to skin is still very important. Once my little one switched to bottles I had to make a conscious effort to make sure that skin to skin still happened.

My little one is now 17 months old and if I am not dashing to work in the morning I always make sure that the first feed of the day is skin to skin. My little one has always had her milk first thing in the morning so it’s worked out pretty well to be able to do this. I’ve noticed that my little one always needs to touch my skin when I’m holding her now. She puts her hand on the edge of my top or around the back of my neck. It makes my heart sing when she does this and reminds me of when she was really tiny. I’m sure that the skin to skin approach has helped us to bond as I really miss it if we haven’t been able to make time for it.

Whether you agree with skin to skin or not, and based on my experience,  I would really recommend trying to do this as much as possible, especially in the first few months. I can imagine this is really difficult to do with your baby if you have more than one child. Does anyone have any suggestions about to manage this complexity?

If you would like more information about the importance of skin to skin, please check out some of the links below:

http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/jack_newman2.html

http://www.nbci.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82:the-importance-of-skin-to-skin-contact-&catid=5:information&Itemid=17

http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/breastfeeding/Pages/skin-to-skin-contact.aspx

First Aid Angels in Basingstoke 2012

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Classes, Health, New Parents, Safety 0 Comment
Vicky contacted me about publicising her First Aid course on Guest Post Wednesday.
 
Vicky is a local Mum who runs First Aid Angels in Basingstoke:
 

First Aid Angels are a local Health & Safety Executive approved first aid training company run by a highly trained and experienced Registered nurse.

We  offer a  very popular 2 hour Parents first aid course at your own home for small groups , in the daytime and evenings. Babies are welcome too!

The training is relaxed and friendly , delivered by very experienced and highly trained first aiders with nursing/emergency services backgrounds.

We cover the key subjects about infant and child first aid to help you feel more confident and competent  and all questions are welcome !

We use manikins for the practical and each person receives a written training guide with the theory about the subjects that are covered. All subjects are taught in accordance with the UK Resuscitation Council guidelines.

We can be contacted by our website www.firstaidangels.co.uk or email info@firstaidangels.co.uk  

This would be a great activity for a new ante-natal group who’ve all had their babies and would like some reassurance in first aid techniques.

Feel free to share the flyer with anyone who doesn’t read NHM (don’t they know what they are missing out on?!?!?! lol). 

Best of luck with the business Vicky!

Local Parks and Open Spaces

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Basingstoke, Exercise, Outings, Picnic's, Walks, Wellbeing 1 Comment

I stumbled across this website whilst I was researching this weeks “things to do” post. As the weather was so fabulous this weekend I was researching things to do outside and this website popped up with a list of Local Parks and Open spaces in Basingstoke.

I learnt of a few new places, such as Beggardwood Park which has a maze and ampitheatre, that I didn’t know about that I’m hoping to be able to investigate when Spring really kicks in. Hope you find useful.

Local Parks and Open Spaces

Related Posts

Pushchair Friendly Walks in Basingstoke

Pushchair Friendly Walks near Basingstoke

Amber Teething necklace’s

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on in Babies, Health, New Parents, Post Natal, Pregnancy 0 Comment

I was incredibly sceptical about the Amber teething necklaces. Someone at my Husband’s work recommended them to him and gave him the link so he ordered one. I thought it was a total waste of money and probably wouldn’t work. However, my husband isn’t the kind of guy to buy into “New Age B****ks” (his words, not mine) but the fact that he’d gone to such effort made me think I ought to at least try the necklace out on our little one.

Much to his delight, I’ve had to eat my words. I cannot praise this small necklace enough. You can totally tell when my little one isn’t wearing her necklace. Without it she’s grimbly, she dribbles lots more and she constantly has her fingers in her mouth pressing against her gums. With it, she’s a delightful, smiley, happy child. In fact, several people have commented that she’s one of the happiest babies they have met and I often wonder if it isn’t down to this little necklace.

She also looks very cute when she’s wearing it and is just in her nappy. Like a little Oompaloompa or Pygmy Tribal Warrior! Annnyway, I couldn’t recommend the necklaces enough. Just don’t lose it at swimming like I did so we had to buy another one!

Amber Teething Necklaces

One point I hadn’t picked up on but have just seen whilst reading the blurb is to: Avoid getting the necklaces wet and occasionally allow the amber to recharge by exposing to natural sunlight.

This is NOT a sponsored post and I’m receiving no money or any other perks for recommending Amber necklaces.