39 weeks...and the countdown is over take 2!

I wrote a blog post all about my happiest 9 months last time around when I was pregnant with Ella so thought it would be fun to do the same for baby B this time around! You can check out the last one here

Last time, Byron and I took the test together...but this time since we had been trying for such a long time I didn't want to get his hopes up incase it was a no go again and so I took the test by myself.  I really wasn't expecting to see anything so kind of just put it down and forgot about it (rather than the frantically watching for the line to appear that I would usually do!) I picked it up again and thought that maybe it looked like there was a super faint line, but it was so faint I thought I could have been imagining it! I really didn't know what to do, so I sent a message to my friend Milah in California - she got it at 4am! and excitedly messaged back saying she thought she saw a line too even tho she was half asleep! but I still decided I would wait before telling Byron for sure and would take a test in a few days time to double check!

So that night Byron was working at forest in Northumberland and asked if we wanted to tag along and then have a bbq on Bamburgh beach - it was such a beautiful sunshining evening (in late August), and it felt so exciting knowing I had this secret! (I think that's why I'm smiling extra big!)

 I was really tempted to tell him then on the beach but I still wanted to know for sure! 

So the next day we went away camping to Kielder Forest for the weekend, 

enjoyed some more amazing weather, and met up with friends for some mini golfing by the waterside

 and some feasting at the food trucks!

I was riduncuously happy to find shaved ice! just like the good old Vancouver days! 

 and when we came home on the Saturday night I took another test.  This time the line was definitely visible and I knew it was the real deal! We had put Ella to bed and were settling down for the night for some Netflix and Toblerone (of the coconut variety, thanks to my friend Lizzie who had brought us some from duty free!!) - so I pulled the chocolate pieces out of the cardboard Toblerone tube and put the pregnancy test in there, made us some hot chocolates and then excitedly took the Toblerone and handed it to Byron! 

He opened it up and just looked a bit disgusted and was like 'gross, why is there an old pregnancy test in here'!!! I told him it's not old! and then the penny dropped! there were tears, and so much joy! and that was how I broke the news to him! 

Initially we were both worrying it was twins! With Ella I only really got a visible bump around 24/25 weeks of being pregnant! This picture above was me at about 8 weeks pregnant! already wearing the maternity leggings!!! 

and this protruding bump was 12 weeks! I felt like it would have been really hard to hide it from people but luckily we don't know that many people in the Borders so it wasn't too tricky to keep a secret in the end! 

So when we just saw one baby on the screen at our 12 week scan it was a relief (although I secretly think twins would be super fun too!!)

The next few weeks we shared the news with some of our closest family and friends, but wanted to wait before announcing it to the world because we had our South Africa trip planned in November and so wanted to tell Byron's Mom and grandparents in person! 

We headed to my parents one weekend in September to break up a trip down south we were making to Reading.  My mom greeted us with root beer floats and lemon drizzle cake! Little did she know we were going to be toasting some baby news with those floats so it was a fitting arrival! 

We didn't know when we were going to next see my sisters in person, so as we drove down to Reading the next morning I scribbled this sign on a scrap of paper and got Ella to hold it and sent it to them in our sisters whatsapp group! We still hadn't told Ella at this point so she had no idea what she was holding but was an obliging model anyway! 

Then we spent another gorgeously sunny weekend in Reading catching up with my 2 best friends from uni - Lucy and Tash, I tried to tell them the whole weekend but with Ella always around there never seemed to be a good time.  So I just had to run out as Lucy was leaving to go back to Birmingham and tell them both at the car our news! 

The weekend before we left for South Africa was Bonfire night, we were staying with Byron's dad in Bedford so we went and caught a firework display in Cranfield and then headed to Smashburger after for the best shakes and that's where we broke the news to Byron's dad and brother!

We shared the news with Byron's mom in the car heading home from Cape Town airport on our first day arriving as we were too excited to wait, and then with his grandparents a few days later when we stayed with them in Cape Town.

We were also able to share it with Byron's aunt Claire and his cousins Loren and James too...

and then also with my aunt Di and my cousin Marc and his wife Tanya when we stayed with them in Simons town.  

It was nice to share with so many people in person, and since all my tricks of revealing the news seemed to go wrong last time around with Ella we just kept it simple this time!! haha!

This was one of our first beach days at Hermanus, and I really felt like my bump was obvious here, but now looking back I can't really even tell! I was worried people on the beach would think I was just fat and letting it all hang out so I kept rubbing my bump to try and make it obvious it was a baby in there!! 

We had also planned on climbing Table Mountain, this was always my number 1 thing I wanted to do in Cape Town (I just didn't know I was going to be pregnant when we did it!) so I'm not going to lie, it was pretty hard going! and I smiled when this Rasta guy who had passed us on the way up cheered as I made it to the top and said 'hooray for the baby maker'!! Hooray indeed!

We took some announcement pics right at the top after being reunited with Ella - she had caught the gondola up with Granny! It was so busy with so many people walking along behind the camera that we got lots of congratulations from passer bys which was sweet!

The next day we went to Fishoek beach, which is where my mom grew up.  Her house was one of the ones in the background behind Ella and I! I have heard my mom talk so fondly of her childhood literally growing up on the beach and seen pics so it was super fun for us to be there and Ella loved frolicking in the water!

It seemed so full circle taking a bump picture on the sand where my mom had walked as a child! 

Up until now everything had been pretty normal with my pregnancy, I had experienced quite a lot of 'morning' sickness (whoever called it that must have been a man because mine is always all day sickness!) in the weeks preceding our South Africa trip but I anticipated this as it had happened with Ella's pregnancy too.  I thought all would be well once I got prescribed some anti nausea medication but actually this didn't seem as effective as the awesome one I had been prescribed when we were living in Vancouver so I still didn't feel great on it. 

However the worst was yet to come! In the early weeks of December my sickness really reared its ugly head and it was probably the most ill I've ever been in my whole life! Not to sound dramatic, but not wanting to sugar coat anything either and have this be a true representation of this time in my life - for about 2 straight weeks it was just throwing up 50 times a day from the moment I woke up until I went to sleep. It was awful, it was beyond awful.  I did experience this briefly in my pregnancy with Ella but that was only when I ran out of anti nausea medication on our West Coast USA road trip and so spent 2 awful days in Orange County being beyond sick until I sucked it up and paid crazy prices to go to an American doctor and get a new prescription of the tablets! The difference was Byron was by my side all day, and we were staying with my lovely cousin Stephaney who was trying every ginger trick in the book and trying to ease the sickness too and so it was pretty different this time around - being so far away from family and friends and having zero help, whilst still trying to run a baking business, run a household and look after a 4 year old!!! They were some dark dark days! Some days I would even wonder if I could shout on the post man to come in and get me a drink of water because I literally couldn't move from the sofa! I felt like I was never going to be well again! I ended up being admitted into the hospital because I wasn't able to keep anything down and nothing was stopping the sickness.  I was kept in overnight and let out the next day, and Byron had to pull over on the drive back home for me to throw up again! 

I had to snap this, because you know you're in Scotland when they are offering Haggis on the menu at the hospital! 

So the next day I was readmitted again because nothing had changed and the sickness was still ongoing, this time they kept me in for 2 days until everything had calmed down and I was able to hold down fluids and food again and then I was let home.  So the whole of December seemed a bit of a blur - I felt like I didn't get to do half the fun festive things I had planned for us because I had just been so so unwell, but we did have our 20 week scan on the 22nd December which was something to look forward to! Byron and I had attended the 12 week scan on our own, just incase all had not been well, and so Ella was crazy excited to be joining us this time! 

She even insisted on wearing her Big Sister top that our lovely friend Milah had posted to her from California! 

and all was well with baby B! I had been worried during all the sickness that the baby perhaps wasn't getting the nutrients it needed since I definitely wasn't, but the nurse reassured me the baby is like a parasite and will basically suck everything out of you that it needs so even though I was not doing well baby was thriving!! 

So I kept taking my anti nausea medication - not daring to try and come off them because I just didn't want to go back to how bad it had been! but I finally came off them about 4 weeks ago and have just been feeling amazing ever since! I am definitely in the blooming phase, thank goodness!! and I have not had any other problems or issues these past few weeks.  In fact I don't even feel like I'm going to have this baby any day since I still feel so mobile and just so well within myself! Everyone keeps freaking out when I tell them I'm due this week and I keep getting told how neat I am and how well I am looking which is just what every fat preggo lady likes to hear! So I'm crossing my fingers that this small neat bump makes for a nice small neat baby that will pop out ;) 

It has been all go, getting the babies room ready, organising hospital bags, getting as much baking in as I could before I stopped for maternity leave last week and now it's just a waiting game! Ella came 4 days past her due date so we will see what this baby will do!   

We had originally said we weren't going to get a nursery ready just yet, because the baby will probably be in with us in its Moses basket in our bedroom for the first 3 or 4 months anyway, but I think I've really felt this time around that everything has been much more low key than when you were pregnant with your first.  Less excitement, less celebrations - alot of it is just circumstance and where we find ourselves living, but I didn't want the baby to feel like we weren't as excited for its arrival because we are beyond excited! 

so in my head I felt like giving it a nice little room would make up for some of the being forgotten about this time around!!! 

Ella loved walking into the babies room when it was first done and kept saying 'it's just so beautiful' 

and she loves to go in there and read the baby books, and play with the cuddly toys, and pull on the star that plays lullabies beside the cot! I keep telling her one day soon there will be a baby in there sleeping beside her (because her bedroom is next door) and that is very exciting indeed!! 

 We also had some family photos taken, because it has been something I have wanted doing for so long - but have just struggled to find outdoor family photographers up here! Our one actually came from Portugal! but I thought it was a great moment in time to capture for our family, before we become a family of 4! 

I loved how they turned out! and despite it being a freezing cold minus degree day that day up Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, and we even had some snow, I can still feel the warmth of the love we all have for this baby joining our family! 

Had to include this snapshot I took one day.  Ella and I had sat down to read a stack of books, and the baby really started kicking like crazy, I said to Ella 'the baby must enjoy Charlie and Lola books too!' and she reached down and gave the bump a kiss - too precious! I can't wait to see the sibling relationship unfold on the other side! 

and here are just a few bump shots I tried to take along the way, I felt like I didn't take as many pictures as I did with Ella and I definitely wanted to remember this special time so here are the ones I managed to capture! 

29 weeks, and chilling with the snowdrops in Peebles!

31 weeks, and chilling with my girl on Mother's Day!

37 weeks, and chilling with the buttercups in Roxburgh

39 weeks, and chilling with the rhodos at Bowhill House in the sunshine! Ella captured this bump shot for me!

Almost 40 weeks, and chilling with the bluebells just in the woods behind our house in Kelso (baby arrived later that evening!!)

and that's it, 9 months of pregnancy in a nutshell! Well done if you made it to the end of this beastly post! Next post will be sharing all about our exciting arrival!! 

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Welcome To The World, Baby Ella!

So after only 4 days of patiently waiting after my due date arrived, baby Braithwaite arrived into the world!

I went to sleep on the Thursday night and woke a few times during the night with a sore back which was pretty unusual because nothing usually wakes me in the night! I woke up Friday morning and there was still a dull ache there but I didn't really think anything of it.  Byron said he needed to do a site visit quite far away that morning at work but he wouldn't do it if I didn't want him to, I said go for it and that the baby wasn't coming anytime soon! He dropped in back at the house an hour later to pick up his wellies, and I told him I wasn't sure but I thought maybe this could be the start of labour! He had a half day and so came home around 1pm, and made me lunch.  By this time I was definitely feeling more pains, so I switched the tens machine on that my lovely friend Laura had loaned to me and I was good to go! The tens really took the edge of the pain nicely! By about 3.30pm I started getting contractions so I started timing them with the app on my phone, and when they were only 5 minutes or less apart we called the maternity ward and they told us to come in.  So at 5pm we left the house, hospital bag in hand thinking this is it - it's really happening! but unfortunately when we got to the hospital the midwife who checked me over said yes I was having contractions but they weren't nearly strong enough and I would need to go home again! Soooo disappointing! 

 So we headed back home, I got back on my ball and kept using the tens to help me through the contractions.  By 10pm they were way too painful so we headed back to the hospital again.  This time the midwife checked me over and hooked me up to the machine and gave me a sick bowl because I hadn't been able to keep anything down since lunch! I told her my birthing plan and she started running the water in the birthing pool for me...but she didn't seem to think anything was going to be happening too soon.  By her estimations of how far along I was in my labour, I should have only been having a baby by midday the following day!

I got into the pool at about midnight, with my trusty friend gas and air to help me through! It was quite relaxed.  The midwife only really came in about 3/4 times to check the babies heartbeat or see how I was doing, the rest of the time it was just Byron and I and I was just chilling out in the water! We asked her at about 2.30am if she knew how long it was going to be and she said she really didn't, because I wasn't hooked up to any machines or anything I guess it's hard for them to know.  By about 3am I started feeling like maybe I couldn't handle this birth thing with only gas and air and I might have to get out the water, but I had remembered the midwife in our parenthood classes telling us that usually there's a point when you think you can't handle anymore and then the birth is shortly after that...so I kept hanging in there, and next thing I saw the midwife coming in and putting an apron on and wheeling some equipment in so I started getting excited realising things were going to be happening soon!

At 3:28am I gave my final push, the midwife told me to reach my hands down to catch my baby! and there she was! I held her in my hands, speechless for a minute, until the midwife asked what it was!! I announced to the room it was a baby girl! She was weighed at 7 lbs 3.5 ozs, and she did not like being naked on that scale one little bit!

We were wheeled back to our room, and Ella got cleaned up and then we had our first official picture as Mommy and baby! This is when we decided our little bundle of cuteness should be named Ella!

We had some nice snuggles for around an hour, and we got to know one another before she fell fast asleep.  I got wheeled through to the ward to try and get some sleep too but I couldn't stop staring at my beautiful baby girl so not much sleep was had!

By came back to the hospital at 9am which is when spouses are allowed back in, and his dad showed up a short while later and popped in for 5 minutes (ahead of official visiting times) to get a peek at Ella! Her first official visitor was her Gramps!

Around lunchtime Granny and Grandad Jones also popped in unofficially! to steal a quick hug, and then everyone came back at 2pm for the official visiting time!

By's friend Stu was up visiting for the weekend before he was heading off to New Zealand so he also got a hug in before he left!

I pretty much stayed in my pj's the whole of Saturday so on Sunday I decided I had better get dressed and look a bit presentable so Ella and I could have some more pictures!

Our first official picture as a family of 3! We got the couple who I shared the room with to take this for us, and randomly their baby girl was also called Ella!

Just incase their was any confusion, here's Ella telling the world she's a girl! We didn't have any brand new newborn or tiny baby clothes, the only ones we had were hand me downs from cousin Ellis and she was so tiny that is all that would fit her...hence the blue onesie! That cardigan was also newborn size but was still massive on her, we had to roll up the sleeves!

I love how red her lips were in the hospital, super rosy! and I love her squishy face!

One last shot before we were able to take her home!

A few days later, we took her to the registry office to make it official! Ella Kristyn Braithwaite...no going back now!

We didn't really see her eyes for the first few days all that much, she slept nearly all day long! so this was a rare pic we managed to take when they were open! You can see she was also a little bit jaundiced still, but it cleared quite quickly.

 This was a newborn vest sent by auntie Mara, look how big it was on her! She was so teeny, and her cute bunny slippers that my friend Leanne knitted for her!

Mom had stayed with us the whole week which was amazing, she would take Ella during the day so we could nap and catch up on our sleep from the night before! and she also cooked and cleaned and generally helped us out so much!  On the Wednesday we headed to Glasgow to pick up Mel and Ellis from the station so Ella met Ellis for the first time! She slept through all the excitement of course...because at this point she was sleeping through everything!

Her first little outing was to Whole Foods where we got some delicious lunch!

Auntie Mel was loving the new baby snuggles!

and we had to take a picture of the adoring Granny and her 2 grandchildren she has now! Exciting times!

I couldn't believe how big Ellis seemed in comparison to Ella, he'd always been the baby in the family and now next to Ella he seemed like a little boy! We like the way he's patting her head here, shortly after he got a bit more rough though and we had to end the photoshoot!! His being gentle with new babies awareness is not the best!

On Friday night Uncle Arne was able to come and join the fun and he got his snuggles in, he didn't remember Ellis ever being as small as Ella but he was! I think you just forget easily.

So in the first few weeks I made sure I took as many pictures as possible so I wouldn't forget any of it! She is such a peaceful sleeper, I found it hard not to spend all day starting at her sleeping! We have been blessed to have such a good baby!

A few days later Auntie Mara arrived, and got caught up on all the Ella snuggles!

and we took Ella on her first visit to a cupcakery, but again she slept through the whole thing!

When she was 10 days old, she had a little photoshoot!

How I love those little lips of hers, and her sticking up hair at the back!

This was probably the turning point for when she started to stay awake more! She was meant to sleep through the whole thing so that the photographer could manoevure her into crazy poses, but she was awake most of the time with us all trying to shush her back to sleep! I quite like this final pic we got though where her eyes were meant to be closed but she'd popped them open! 

What a cutie pie!

We just couldn't be more happy, and we feel like she has always been a part of our family! I can't remember what life was like before her...although I do remember it involved a lot more sleep :)