Blog Hop - Amy Roach

For this weeks blog hop I have chosen Amy Roach's blog.
Amy is a mum to 4 beautiful children who have been adopted by Amy and her husband, Jerry. 
Amy's story is one of determination and perserverence through infertility and adoption in order to experience the wonders of motherhood.
A recent post, dedicated to close friends who were getting ready to adopt a child whom was unfortunatly born stillborn, is a poem about the importance and love for each and every child, even those who have been taken too soon, they still exist within.
It is a great blog and definatly worth a follow! Visit her blog here.

And don't forget to also vist the blog hop and link up your blog for next week.

Blog Hop - Melissa Kelly

For this weeks blog hop I have chosen Melissa Kelly's blog.
Melissa is a mum to a beautiful girl Lucy and wanted to create a source of information, whilst still opinion based, that provides an overview of the products she had used, facilities found useful, family friendly restaurants or entertainment spots and links to services. All in one place.
Melissa also has created an outlet for her to write about her experiences as a new parent. She states she is definitely not an expert, but wants to share her thoughts in the hope that her posts would be useful for any expectant or new parents reading.
It is a great blog and definatly worth a follow! Visit her blog here.

And don't forget to also vist the blog hop and link up your blog for next week.

And there she was...

The picture above was taken 2 days before E was born

The day I went into labour was an ordinary day, E wasnt due for another 6 days so I wasn't overly expecting her since first babies usually come late, however she had been engaged since about 32 weeks so I had a feeling she would come early.
N and I had planned to catch up with some friends for dinner so I had a bath and put on some nice clean clothes (trackies and a jumper) and went to sit on our couch to wait for N to get ready. Decided I felt as though I had to go to the toilet, as I got up I was sure I was peeing myself (not a nice feeling at all!), got to the toilet and it was everywhere. I called for N, "I think my waters just broke" seeing the mess in my pants he was sure too. N looked down the hall and laughed, there was a drip trail down the hallway.
I cleaned myself up while N cleaned the hallway. I called the hospital to let them know my waters had broken and that I had a feeling there was a little bit of meconium aswell. They asked us to come in just to make sure everything was ok and that my waters had actually broken. It was about 6.30pm. I called my besty C to let her know what had happened as N and I had asked her to be there at the birth, we told her to stay putt as contractions had not yet begun.
N and I took our time to ge there, I wasn't having contractions and didnt feel there was a need to rush. We jumped in the car and was on our way. Silly us only thought there was the one gush and didnt put a towel on the seat. About half way there, I had another gush, my maternity pad didnt save much. We finally got to the hospital, N dropped me at the door, as I got out I asked him if he could tell really badly. There was a pause......"yeah, its pretty bad". I wrapped a jumper around my waist and headed to the birthing suite. We were booked into the Family Birth Center which is similar to a home birth but in a hospital, generally for low risk pregnancies. By the time we got up to the Family Birth Centre the 'water' was in my shoes, I looked at the clock and it was 7.30pm.
Thinking back now I might have had a contraction in the car. Waiting for the nurse, I was pretty sure I had a contraction, 5 minutes later another. Just felt like slightly painful twitch. The nurse finally came back 15 minutes later and popped me on the bed to see how everything was going. I decided to call C back since my contractions had started to become more apparent.
By the time C got there (maybe half an hour later) she started timing my contractions and they were about 3/2 mins apart. A new midwife had started and decided to transfer me to the general birthing suite because of the maconium in my waters, I remember walking across the hall in so much pain, I felt as though I was being ripped in half. I remember climbing onto the bed in so much pain, by this stage I think it was around about 11pm.
I was screaming and remember laying on my side pulling C into my belly for pressure (which seemed to help) while she, N and the nurse massaged my lower back, I couldnt hack it and tried the gas. I was in so much pain I couldnt suck on the hose properly and at about 1.30am, N was taken out of the room because they could tell he was distressed and asked him if he wanted to ask me about the epidural. The nurse said to me it would take about an hour for the epidural anethiest to get to the hospital (considering the time of night). I agreed to get her in and she arrived just after 2.30am.
It was like heaven as soon as there was no more pain. I had gone from a psyco devil with my head spinning on my neck, to a normal human being happily laying on the bed joking and laughing with N and C.
It go to about 6am and they decided to get me to start pushing, within 2 pushes my heart rate become too high and the nurses told me to take a break and relax to try and get it back down. From memory it was about 120bpm as a resting heart rate and up to 180bpm during a contraction. By about 7.30 my heart rate was still the same and the doctors decided bubs had to come out and fast. I rolled over to start pushing again while the doctor tried the vacuum however it wouldnt suction to her head properly and therefore tried the forceps. The doctor couldnt fit the forceps and E's head and had to make a small cut (ended up being a 2nd degree tear). At this point the delivering doctor told me if this didnt work I would have to go in for a cesarian. Going this far I was determined to push as hard as I could to make sure that didnt happen. During a break I looked over at N and he was as white as a ghost, I asked if he was ok, he had been holding his breath while I was pushing. It felt like only 5 contractions later with intence pushing and E had arrived, 7.49am.

She was 4.910gs (10lb 13) and 53cm long.

I lost a normal amount of blood however my iron was so low that I fainted. N and the nurse were dressing E at the end of the bed and I thought I was just dosing off since I had not slept. Next thing I knew someone had put an oxygen mask over my face as people ran into my room, in the background the alarm was ringing and N was sitting in the corner horrified, holding E for the first time thinking I was dead. I ended up with two blood transfusions and another cathita (I was sore for weeks because of this and the stichers).

My labour I think was quite eventful and I do wonder if they will induce me with my next pregnancy early since apparently babies get bigger...

Classic Pavlova

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 6 eggwhites
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 1/3 cups caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 200ml pure cream
• 250g frozen raspberries, slightly mashed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Draw a 24cm (diameter) circle on a sheet of baking paper. Place, pencil-side down, on a baking tray. Dust lightly with 1 teaspoon cornflour.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites and cream of tartar in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until thick and glossy. Add remaining 3 teaspoons cornflour with the last tablespoon of sugar. Fold through vanilla and vinegar.
3. Spoon meringue onto baking paper. Shape into a circle, using the pencil mark as a guide, with a slightly higher edge and a low centre. Reduce oven to 100°C. Bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until dry and crisp. Turn off oven and open oven door. Cool completely in oven (pavlova may sink during cooling).
4. Slide pavlova onto a serving plate. Spread with cream and top with raspberries. Serve.

Thanks to taste.com

Easy Cheesecake

Ingredients
Packet (200g) of biscuits (I use rice cookies by Arnott's)
60g melted butter
2 x packets (250g) of room temp philadelphia cream cheese
Tin (295g) of condensed milk
1/2 cup of lemon juice (you can use less if you want it less lemony but it holds together better if you use 1/2 a cup)

Method
Crush biscuits and combine in bowl with melted butter
Once combined place and flatten in a dish or tin
Use another bowl and use an electric mixer to mix the philadelphia cream cheese until there are minimal lumps
Add condensed milk and lemon juice and mix until fully combined
Now place ontop of the biscuits and chill for atleast 2 hours

Wednesday Blog Hop

I have decided to create a weekly blog hop. I hope you Enjoy!
For easy access I have created a page for you all to link up your blog and each Wednesday I will feature a blog on my home page and send out a tweet regarding it.
So lets get hopping!

Add your blog here.

Easy Pumpkin Risotto

2 leeks - white part only rinsed and sliced
1 cup of grated pumpkin
4-5 cups of chicken stock (can use Gluten-Free stock)
3 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups of arborio rice

Heat the chicken stock in a saucepan or in the microwave
While stock is heating, fry leeks and pumpkin with a dash of olive oil until the leeks have softened
Add the arborio rice and stir for approximately 1 min
Add 3/4 cup of chicken stock gradually and stir until absorbed
Keep adding the rest of the stock and stir until fully absorbed
Stir through parmesan cheese and serve

Thanks to the Best Recipes website

Gluten-Free Saucy Caramel Pudding

This recipe is gluten-free, wheat-free and egg-free.

1 cup gluten-free self-raising flour
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
20g butter, melted
1/2 cup milk

caramel sauce
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 firmly packed brown sugar
30g butter

- Preheat oven to 180c/160c fan forced. Grease deep 1lt ovenproof dish
- Combine sifted flour, sugar, bugger and milk in medium bowl. Pour mixture into dish.
- Make caramel sauce. Stir ingredients in small saucepan over medium heat, without boiling, until smooth.
- Pour sauce slowly over back of spoon evenly onto mix in dish. Bake pudding about 50mins. Stand for at least 10mins before serving

Recipe from Womans Weekly - The Happy Baby Cookbook

Nutella Cheesecake Layer Bars

- 8 Chocolate Ripple biscuits
- ½ Stick Unsalted Butter, melted
- 16 oz. Cream Cheese, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ½ C. Granulated Sugar
- ¼ + 1 Tbsp. Heavy Cream
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- ¼ C. Nutella

 Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Butter an 8 x 8 baking pan and line with parchment paper, making sure that the parchment is well pressed in the corners.  Set aside.
In a food processor, pulse chocolate graham crackers until they become crumbs (like bread crumbs).  Add in melted butter and pulse until moistened.  Press graham cracker mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.  Bake crust in the center of the oven until set, about 12 minutes.  Set aside and cool.
Clean out the food processor.  Add cream cheese, eggs, sugar, ¼ C. heavy cream, and vanilla extract.  Pulse until smooth.  Put 2/3 of the cream cheese mixture in a bowl and set aside.  Add Nutella and 1 Tbsp. of heavy cream to remaining 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture in the processor.  Pulse until smooth.
To assemble, spread the vanilla cheesecake mixture over the cooled graham cracker base, being careful not to disturb the crust.  Pour Nutella cheesecake layer on top of vanilla layer and spread evenly.  Bake on the center rack of the oven for about 35 minutes, or until the center jiggles slightly.  Remove from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack.  Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
When ready to serve, lift bars out of the pan by lifting up the parchment paper (it should release easily).  Slice into 16 squares and serve.

With thanks to The Moonlight Baker.

'Just' a mum!?!

So many mum's out there are a mum and something else. I'm not saying they are bad mum's at all but I guess it makes me feel like I'm not good enough as a person as I'm nothing more then 'just' as mum.Why is it that a mum can't just be a mum...?
Once you have a child you can or will be referred to as a mum or dad forever and this is has no effect on your participation in the childs life. A mum can palm off their child at every opportunity and still call themselves a mum, although not a good one in my books. I guess it is similar to someone who has a high profile job, but just because they have it, doesnt mean they are good at it.
Even I felt, for my twitter bio, that I couldn't just write "I'm a mum", I had to write "I'm a blogger AND a young mum" is it not enough to just be a mum?
Maybe I could say "full-time stay at home mum" but I'm still justifying that at the moment I'm 'just' a mum, by saying "full-time" I guess internaly makes me better then the mums who do just palm off their kids...why can't I just be a mum and feel like it's enough?