FYI I had a baby...

I'm clearly the type of person who starts a blog and then 2 weeks later drops it. Well no more! I'm back and want to get all of my thoughts out of my head and into my blog. Maybe no more pregnant thoughts but I promise to remain as unfiltered as I was before, maybe even more so as being a mum has changed me. Lol that I'm finally a mum!

So yes I started a blog to share my pregnancy struggles, and oh boy was it a struggle. But we are passed all of that and are moving forward. If you are currently pregnant then just remember it won't last forever. I started to think at about week 20 I'd never not be pregnant and had just accepted that my life would forever include a bump, being sick & being in a wheelchair. But it does end! And WOW it's the best feeling!

On 27th February 2018 I was blessed with the most beautiful little girl! I'm sure everyone says that about their own but you honestly do think so because they are yours and you went through a hella time to get them here.

Anyway she was born and I was free. Lol just kidding. But yes it was pretty incredible. We had agreed that our baby girl name (we were having a surprise baby) was Blake and so when she was born and Sean announced it was a girl I told the midwife to write Blake. Sean shouted NOOOO (not in slow motion but when I think about that moment I always imagine him saying it in slowmo as he dramatically holds our girl to look at her before deciding) and said he wanted to name her Arizona. Like wow he completely messed with my post labour mind as "WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM????" We had spoke about Arizona once before as we are both huge fans of Dr. Arizona Robbins from Greys Anatomy but after my best friend shut that name down (she hated it) it was spoken about no more. Until she was here! So baby Taylor was nameless for a couple of hours. Also while I write Baby Taylor I actually really like the first name Taylor but Sean had to ruin that with his surname being Taylor. Men ruin everything. Anyway, as I was saying we were so back and fourth on this name choice! Choosing a babies name is soooo difficult!! You could potentially have this name that you love but then your child might grow up to hate. Then is it too much like a boys name? Is it too unique? Is it not unique enough? And all of the names you like guarantee you know someone who has that name who lets just say is not your cup of tea. You can't have your child being a reminder of that person, big NO NO. But anyway that was a long pointless story just to tell you that we went with Sean's gut, lol, and named her Arizona. And oh boy we wouldn't have her any other way! She certainly has a unique, beautiful little character so the name suits.

And because everything happened so fast there's now a confusion with her time of birth and weight. Of course this would only happen to our child! So, the midwife announced her time of birth was 11:06pm which is what Sean had text my family. However, the official paperwork from the hospital states 11:04pm so we are unsure. It's anyone's guess really. I mean I was kind of focused on having a baby that I didn't look at the clock, maybe I'm a bad mum lol? So yeah, as a result we have some gifts that say 11:06 and some with 11:04! Poor Arizona. Same sort of thing happened with her weight, on one card it read 7.13lbs and on another it's 7.14lbs. So much confusion. But I'm sure it won't affect Arizona's life too much. She's here and that's the man thing!

And now I've decided that the day before her 1st Birthday is the best time for me to get back into writing on this blog. I'd say that's good timing!

So expect baby posts, soon to be toddler posts (OMG) and everything in between posts as I want to share with you all much more than Bump to Baby but my life. I enjoy reading people's life posts and wanted to jump on that too!

So please meet Arizona Taylor as an actual baby!

'Showered' with Love

For anyone who is considering having a baby shower I would 100% recommend that you do! If you are like me and are very sceptical about the whole prospect of throwing yourself and your unborn baby a party I can assure you that you shouldn't be as it was one of the best days I've had during my pregnancy! I feel it’s cheeky to ask friends and family to come along and celebrate the fact that you are pregnant and to have everyone feeling obliged to 'shower' you with gifts – it was all a bit too much and too Americanised for me. Actually, in reality, it’s not like that at all and I wouldn’t think that about other people inviting me to their own baby showers so I’m not sure why I felt it was self-centred. Pregnancy hormones have a tendency to have you over thinking and feeling paranoid about every little thing! Sure I was completely and utterly embarrassed that I was made to sit in the middle of the room and open up every present in front of all of my guests but it was actually so lovely to share the unwrapping of the gifts with a bunch of great women who can all appreciate cute as hell baby outfits! I never got tired of hearing the endless amount of "Awe’s" at every present.

Before I had my baby shower I'd only ever been to one before so I wasn't sure if receiving gifts was the norm or not but I can tell you that if you are as lucky to have such generous friends and family as I am then be prepared to be absolutely spoiled beyond imagination! I had only bought my baby outfits for the hospital, nappies, wipes and toiletry items - really nothing at all - but I am so glad I hung off as I got everything I could of possibly needed for our baby and so much more! My baby still has approximately 3 weeks until we welcome him/her into the world and it is already the luckiest little person I know!

I'm currently in the process of writing Thank You cards to our guests but they really don't do our gratitude any justice as it really was so overwhelming.

As I have been house bound 90% of my pregnancy I have not seen a lot of my friends and family, so having the baby shower was a great opportunity for me to catch up with everyone and give me the social fix I needed. Not to mention the fact that it's not every day you are pregnant and get to show off your baby bump; again this being something I've hardly done my pregnancy! It probably sounds extremely vain but I really wanted to wear a nice dress and show off my little baby's home.

My mum found a red maternity dress for me to wear from Mother Care as it looks super comfortable and was down from £18 to just £5!! She actually thought it was a nightdress but when I tried it on I absolutely loved it and so decided to wear that to the shower. Maybe it is a nightdress, who knows, but it’s comfy as hell and at 36 weeks pregnant it’s comfort over style for this mama-to-be! I’ll let you be the judge of the £5 dress.

I would totally recommend having some party games as well as they are such a laugh! We had a few different ones; Guess the Bump Size, "Sh*t Happens" - Nappy Game, Celebrity Baby, Guess the Birth Date, "My Waters Have Broke".

It's a good thing I don't get offended easily as everyone thought I was fatter than I actually am! My bump size is actually 109cm and the nearest guess was 117cm - thanks ladies! I decided to pass on the "Sh*t Happens" game which was essentially a number of nappies filled with various different chocolates all mashed up which you then had to guess what each chocolate was. I know poo will be all my life will become in a while but for now I couldn't deal with the grossness of the nappies! "My Waters Have Broke" was brilliant as everyone had to suck on an ice cube which homed a little plastic baby *caution needed* and whoever suck all of the ice first had to shout "My Waters Have Broke" in a BINGO style.

We also decided to have a High Tea themed party which is rather classy for us but it was fab to act like a lady who lunches for the day. I am so lucky that I have a mum and gran who love to bake and so made so many yummy cakes and sandwiches. My talented auntie made a beautiful cake as well complete with cupcakes and delicious scones for the day too! Not to mention everyone was loving having an endless supply of tea and coffee.

So ladies, if you have similar thoughts to me regarding a baby shower in that you really didn’t want to be centre of attention for the day then I say get rid of those ideas and embrace it! And if you haven’t enjoyed pregnancy then this is one of the few days you’ll get to actually forget about all the pain and sickness and really love having a beautiful baby bump.

Sh*t's Getting Real

We can officially say that our baby is due this month!! The past 9 months have felt more like 3 years but we are now on the final countdown and it feels great!

For anyone who knows my family well you will know that we are extremely last minute and love to put unnecessary pressure on ourselves for getting sh*t done. Of course Sean and I are no different now so it would only make sense that we decide to rip out our bathroom and redo it weeks before baby is due. I'm hopeful it will be finished by next week but who knows, no point in stressing right? Because of the work going on in the bathroom it's nearly impossible to move around our house so getting all of our nursery furniture, gifts, outfits etc. in hasn't yet happened which means we'll be on the tightest schedule to get everything organised before baby arrives. But again no point in stressing; right?!

We are due on 25th February but due to my ever increasing complicated pregnancy we have to see the consultant the week before for further checks so I mean with this all going on you'd really think we'd be better prepared in case baby makes an early appearance, but why break the habit of a lifetime? I have however had my hospital bag (well actually suitcase) packed since before Christmas so I'm not completely useless!