THEA IS TWO and UP AND COMING

Hi Todays blog is about Thea turning two and what is up and coming .

so Thea is now two where has the time gone?!this year as Dom was away with work and everyone was on Easter holidays we just had cake at home and some visitors! 

As Dom was away we decided to give Thea her main gift from us to her early so she had that on the Friday her birthday was Easter Monday , so I do think this was a bit confusing as she had the excitement on Friday and then on Easter Sunday I left out her Easter bits so she was excited then again on Monday I set up a little gift area so when she woke up she had banners and balloons and her gifts .

Our main gift  to Thea was a IKEA kitchen and some accessories to be honest she was way more excited about the accessories than the actual kitchen we have a funny video of her opening the accessories being super excited and then one of her opening the kitchen looking at it and running of to play with the accessories!

Thea had some lovely gifts this year she a lucky little thing and the lovely thing is she loves and uses every single one  Thea is peppa pig mad so she's been enjoying books she got she also got some first  readers which she loves for bed time current bed time fave is princess and the pea she kills herself laughing over the pea being in the bed it makes me laugh every time we read it sometimes I'm allowed to read it to her other times she reads it to me although she cant read yet she starts with once there was a princess and then basically talks about what she can see.

taken on Nikon D5600 by myself

I cannot believe how much Thea has changed in this year she's really independent I think for her age although  im sure most two year olds are she's very strong willed and determined  she does a lot alone now, she walks alone down the stairs - this was a big change as for a short while she wasn't to brave on the stairs, she puts herself into her high chair and does the belt up with no help! she does her own teeth and loves doing her own hair in the bath - I do have to re rinse as she sometimes has a lot of shampoo in her hair ! 

Thea can say a lot more than I could at this age it amazes me everyday she starting to form sentences and can ask for a snack or drink and she can say what she wants to watch on t.v or the I pad - yes we let her use the I pad some don't agree but as shes not on it all day I have no issue with it, its actually helped her start learning her colours and she can count to 10 and do the ABC.

Thea has always loved nursery rhymes and is really into singing them and dancing her all time fave ones are of course MR Tumbles's mix on youtube !

the ant got to close!

This year still brings challenges with her allergies currently on the food ladder and due an appt in august which we hope brings good news as so far every appt has been the same result with her food allergy and this 9 month round seems to look the same mixed with this stormy heat lately her skin has flared and been the worst we have seen it since she was a lot younger.

onto up and coming I still have drafts that need completing and publishing, we bought a new pram as although I love and still love the stomp v3 system which technically we could have continued to use we went for the new system that is just the stroller which Thea can get in and out of herself and is slightly smaller as we installed a baby gate in her room where we store the pram and having to lift the other one in and out was not fun and we have no where to store it other wise !

of course its still ickle bubba I really have a lot of love for this brand and would highly recommend it if your in the market for a pram.

a random blog that will be up at the start of next month will be butterfly hatching and releasing 

very excited about that probably more so than Thea I was on the hunt for fun things to blog about and was talking to a friend and she said she uses the kits in the school holidays with her kids.

Thea is not a huge bug lover has a fear or spiders not to sure why as we have only encountered 2 in her entire time so far! youtube may have something to do with that she was watching a slime spider video?!

Thea hated ants but always wanted to watch them but if they get to close she's not keen recently went to do a photo session and I caught the funniest photo of Thea ant watching but an ant got to close I will insert the photo, we were taking photos of a stunning dress made by a lovely mum on Instagram which leads me to my next point I will probably write some blogs on insta again as I have found a hobby in taking photos of clothing and of course headbands we were lucky enough to join some amazing teams lately with some amazing head pieces and clothing 

Dom bought me for Christmas an amazing Nikon camera which frankly im still learning to use but it takes amazing photos! so really been into taking Thea spam for our insta account! 

Thankyou for reading there wont be such a long break between blogs for a while as I have the time to write! if you would like daily Thea spam find us on insta send me a dm when you request so I know your from the blog xx

keep an eye out for the stroller review and the butterfly hatching!
Hannah and Thea
xXx

flutter sleeve romper and red tutu from melies tutu

Hi, today's blog is about our journey so far with baby eczema.

Babies do get dry skin and it's common for this to be around the wrists and ankles and knees when babies are new born / few weeks old and with moisturising these areas this dry skin does improve. 

At first this is what happened to Thea in those areas and it did improve but I she was around 6 to 8 weeks old and I started to notice her skin wasn't what I thought normal for a baby.
Being a first time parent something didn't feel right but was it new mum fear or actually an issue?!?!

Thea had cradle cap at the time so her face we put down to cradle cap this had spread onto her eyes, cheeks and sides of her face, cradle cap can spread but again with treatment improves. Thea's older half brother had bad eczema as a baby so we  thought ok maybe this in some way could be related to this as her body started being flaky and extremely dry Dom as a baby had also had some eczema. 

I thought it had to be something else but what?! At first burt's bees seemed to work but even that now wasn't cutting it and Most people seeing Thea or when I posted about it said its normal don't worry all babies have dry skin it will go in time and that her head was cradle cap -now to be fair occasionally yes it looked a bit better but In no way normal !
As the weeks went on and her head and face getting worse along with her body being so dry she was itching making her skin so sore it would bleed I did what every new mum does Google remedies and ask my friends on Facebook who gave me some advice, for most babies these remedies work I was so desperate I tried a few suggestions, little did I know this was going to cause a major flare up the first we tried olive oil on her head with a rub while in the bath to help her scalp. next one was the one that made me really consider something else was going on I tried Vaseline.

Olive oil - made her skin red and inflamed
Vaseline - Skin weeping and inflammation

At this point I was going crazy seeing her skin weeping as obviously Vaseline is shiny ! But to the touch her skin was so weepy and sticky and stuck to any fabric causing irritation to Thea I had to wash my hands every time I touched her.

 Thea was due jabs and I was getting anxious that the nurse would take one look at Thea and say I wasn't looking after her properly in some places her skin almost looked burnt.

before the jabs I got desperate things getting worse and my anxiety increasing thinking about having to take Thea to see the nurse looking like she did I got talking to our friend who at the time was struggling with her daughter and re-flux and what she thought was a lactose intolerance, now after chatting about Thea that she could also be suffering from re-flux and sickness from a few weeks old, we assumed colic as Thea would cry for hours and hours most days all day. People kept advising us it's normal for a baby to cry and have colic and the health visitor had suggest to try comfort milk to help with the re flux which should help the colic.
Now yes it could have been colic - Dom researched the cause of colic a lot of info suggested that it is caused by the babies not being able to digest lactose in their milk. We tried Thea on the comfort milk and this did not agree with her, so we went with lactose free milk ?! Based on research ?!

Before using lactose free our friend mentioned she had tried her baby on soya milk and for her this was working and helping to improve her daughters problems. I know all babies are different and yes maybe this was just working for her baby and may not for Thea but I was so desperate to find anything to help we gave it ago I would like to add  I didn't consult anyone about switching formula which raised a few eyebrows when explaining the situation to my GP and the HV later down the road. 

To my amazement within a day Thea's skin was better and she was happier less crying and barely any re-flux fluke ?!?! Maybe?! So for a few days we kept her on the soya now the crying started to creep back but on a much easier level and her stomach seemed better and her nappies improved. I can't remember why but I had rung the health visitor and got talking about Thea's skin and the soya she said I was to take Thea off soya and not use it as there was no way it would be better for her and no way would it be the reason her skin was better.

Soya Milk - HV said soya is linked to growth issues and development issues and is to be only used under the advice and guidance of a medical professional
Colic and the Lactose - HV, no the amounts of lactose in the milk will not be enough to cause colic in her opinion
Lactose free Milk - HV said f we wanted to try it and see we were welcome to as long as Thea was off soya milk, she recommended SMA gold

SMA Gold didn't help the colic and Thea's skin was still bad after it had cleared up using the soya.

Injection day comes around and we continued with SMA but she now had bad weeping skin and an upset stomach so the nurse gave Thea her injections but we couldn't do the rota virus because of her stomach. The nurse asked us to come back in a 2 weeks, we continued using the SMA, when we returned Thea's skin was worse on her face the nurse said look I can see there is an issue with her skin what formula is she on ?! I explain about SMA and the Soya she says she was a HV for a long time and thought as we did the skin was in relation to her formula and I was to book and see the GP she also said if the Soya works then that could be the way forward but to see the GP as it does have side effects.

Finally someone agrees it's the formula not just bad baby eczema I don't feel
So crazy about how her skin improved on soya and I don't feel bad for trying it as it did point towards the milk being the issue we see the GP in the next few days.

I have to hand it to our GP he listened and agreed and really thought about the cause and treatment, he has from then until today been so helpful with his knowledge and as a parent of a 1 year old he listened and didn't judge he really investigated formulas and what it could be.

 Firstly he says soya is not the best but if we try a few things for a longer period and they do not work he would consider Thea remaining on it,

He then suggests organic formula explaining how they are made and why it will suit her better, it was something along the lines of how the burn down the ingredients so we were to look for a hydrolysed formula but suggested HIPP ORGANIC because of the way it was made.

Now he also gave us what I always call lotions and potions to try a few of which didn't work (listed at the bottom of the blog) but again he was very kind and considerate and would see us regularly that it wasn't to much of an issue as we quickly found one cream combo with a bath oil that worked surprisingly coconut was a good thing on her skin ?! Weird considering the olive oil issue !

Although an improvement her skin still wasn't great and the re-flux still there so we went back and we talked about what we think it is. Dom and I had been leaning towards a milk protein and lactose intolerance which are rare and normally run in the family so we thought maybe that's not it.

 We look this up and Google allergy's related to eczema, lactose comes up as well as, dairy, gluten, wheat, but most common of all was milk protein so we investigate Thea's issues and we figure maybe that it is ?!

When searching I found many a great blog and mum web pages that also sounded like Thea and how their doctors thought they were mental for leaning towards the formulas! Finally we don't feel alone! So I explain what we found and he agrees that could be the cause as it wasn't healing tho improved so he gets his little medical book out - he often uses this as a reference point  because there are so many options!

He gives us a new formula that is completely free from its a medical amino acid formula called Neocate
He says try this with the creams and come back in 2 weeks.

We google the Formula and some parents found it didn't work but others did a lot of people say it can cause sickness which we were still getting and although Thea was itching it began to work slowly her sickness was ok but her skin did start to heal bingo we are on a roll !

Theas formula

Then the hot weather comes things go down hill and Thea gets a bad patch again and we notice around the sunshine her skin is worse and she is itchy we also noted that my sisters dog could also be a cause of an allergy After we had been away and she stayed with my sister and her skin flared up again so off we go back and he seems really impressed with the progress I guess from the outside you can see it I can't as I see her everyday ?!

So he gives us body suits and medicine to give her twice a day and we continue the routine we cream her all the time and at every nappy change we cover her Head toToe at night we use the suits and medicine including Piriton and slowly we get to her Today.

 Her skin is smooth and good for the most part still a few areas around her face and stomach but good and getting better everyday the only down side is she has started teething and all the dribble is causing her face to get bad but no where near the same level as before.

Thanks for reading, hope to write again soon

Hannah & Thea

thea's skin when it was worse

What worked  
Balneum Plus Cream- (contains urea which is effective at stopping itching)
Piriton - used at night (for any allergies)
Daktacort Ointment - Mix of Miconazole nitrate 2% & Hydrocortisone 1% (used on her scalp)
Nizoral - Anti Fungal cream was used before Daktacort Ointment 2%
Hydrocortisone 1% - (used on bad patches around face and body)
Clotrimazole cream 1% - (we used this for skin folds but have stopped using as they have healed)
Euciren - Bath oil (used once a day)
 Coconut oil - we used this before getting Euciren, it helped ease the itching

Didn't Work
 Epiderm - (caused inflammation and pain when applying)
Diprobase - (made skin real dry and itchy)
Oilatum - Bath oil (made condition worse)
Bria Organics Balm - (didn't work on this occasion)
Johnson & Johnson Night Time bath & Baby Lotion - (Caused redness and irritation)

Hi ! My first blog what's taken me so long ?! As a huge fan of Insta and Facebook I don't know why I've never written a blog ! Maybe it's because I've never had a subject that I felt was worth writing about ?!

This blog is just casual  and completely relaxed probably will be covered in spelling mistakes and bad grammar ! Also new to this I still have to figure out how to share pics - yes I know I sound stupid your sat there probably thinking gosh how can she not know how to do that ! If I post more blogs or if your reading this and you know me well enough you will know I'm as silly as you can get !

Wow long speech to start ! Prob bored you already , so I'm going to share my labour and delivery with anyone who wants to read it ! As a first time mum there will be things in here that may raise a seasoned mums eyebrow !

So to begin I'm a first time mum so pregnancy also was new and scary ! For someone who is relatively healthy I managed to get everything under the sun wrong with me during my pregnancy, and you know that glow everyone talks about where was that and why didn't I get it ?!?! I gained 3 stone , had pregnancy tachycardia and gestational diabetes and extra amniotic fluid , How do some ladies look slim and presentable during pregnancy I was high fiving the air if I managed to squish into my jeans and have the energy to put makeup on.

To start all my health issues lead to being induced a week early - I had to beg to be induced even with all the extra fluid and diabetes I wasnt allowed to have Thea any earlier Understandable the longer the baby is in the healthier they come out - I was desperate to have her before Dom left for a work trip to America.

Typically the day I had my final growth scan my usual endo dr had left to go on to maternity leave ! Leaving a very grumpy dr who had been left with no staff all day and hadn't eaten and had to get home to her 2 children the clinic had closed and we were seen  locked in as everyone had left ! , she agreed to induce me at 38+6 days which brings us to March 31st 2016 !!! We had until April 3 early hours to get Thea here before Dom left !

Induction day !!!!

I've never felt so nervous in all my life the feeling of leaving home for the last time with no baby was very strange one I won't forget ! Naturally I had a final bump pic I wanted to remember everything about the day ! We left home which is 2 seconds from the hospital our flat looks into the maternity ward ! We arrive to a very busy ward at first I was worried that it was busy and grumpy I wanted to get going and get started - we waited watching people being called in my hands were sweaty and I was feeling nervous hannah Hudson oh god that's my name that's me !!! Dom takes the bags and we head for a room , the midwife says let's check you into your room ... My room ?! She repeats yes your room ?! Praise the room gods it was so busy the last lady to be called took the last bed on the ward !!!

Well that was a surprise a room free of charge ! Not complaining little did I know I would need my own room for what was to happen!

We get checked in the induction was started and my nervous slowly left and I felt ok no pain just tightenings small contractions.

Later in the day Liz visits and so does Rebecca and nothing much happens just still small contractions

Im feeling positive and ok so when everyone says goodbye I didn't feel nervous like I thought I was happy to lay in bed on the monitor and watch some pll , I was sad that Dom couldn't stay there is a strict no man policy but as nothing was happening would have been pointless !

As the night progresses I have to permanently stay on the monitor my heart rate increases and so does Thea's the night staff keep coming in which is routine doesn't help that I had to keep buzzing to go to the loo as I had to drink many glasses of water so I didn't have to have a drip put in early to hydrate Thea ! Early hours I give in I ask for pain killers which I continue to have every 4 hours , I get some sleep and the morning rolls around .

yay a midwife comes in and says she will check for progress ! I'm feeling more painful contractions and had my first of many small silent cries in bed 🙈

Midwife says nothing is happening I'm not dilated and my waters won't break any time soon , I get upset she says I have to be left for 6 hours - 6 hours Dom leaves on the 3rd !!! I want to cry but suck it up and ask for more pain relief instead !

The first of a few un - expected things happen, the midwife leaves the room I get up bend over the bed to reach probably a sweet I can't actually remember what I was reaching for and GUSH now you know how they show it in the movies and everyone says that won't happen ! That's what happened GUSH like a huge water fall sorry only way I can discribe it ! Huge amount of water I was soaked the

floor was soaked so embarrassing ! The first of a few times my dignity left the room!

Wow ok in the few mins I was told nothing was happening my waters break ! This was the only time

I felt super scared I was shaking Dom looks over the bed and goes oh that's tiny nothing there I said are you kidding look at the floor he walks around the bed and says oh yeh I see now ! He gets the midwife she comes back in and says ok we shall check you again, she checks me again and I've dilated to 2 cm yipee !!

So no one told me your water continuously breaks until the baby comes ?! Yeh continuously if you don't have extra fluid you prob won't notice it happening , well not the case for me obviously I couldn't be normal I go on to have 3 major breaks and have to have the bed and floor cleaned so embrassing !

During this time the midwife had checked me and had noticed that something was wrong she said she thought she could feel the baby's hand Infront of her head like superman - she went on to say that some babies can be born like that but to be safe she wanted a second opnion she requests a dr to come and see us.

Maybe an hour goes by and the dr comes in explains she wants to check me and why , she checks me and my dignity leaves the room again she goes to examine me and my waters break massively again ALL over her and the bed and the floor eewwwww , I want to cry she was completely still and just said don't worry it happens all the time - I swear she was just saying that - guys it was up her arms and all over her scrubs ! She offers me gas and air which I don't have because I wasn't sure if I would feel pain during the examination or not it wasn't  pleasant but it wasn't to painful she had to check all angles of Thea's position to determine what was going on !

She explains that Thea is in the wrong position but there would be every chance she would move with time and stronger contractions so she leaves us and says we will be seen again later in the day , hours go by the pain increases and I want more than painkillers but refuse the gas and air as I don't want to be sick ?!! Yeh looking back what an idiot should have used the gas and air would have helped ! The ward is so busy there are ladies giving birth in triage and you can hear screaming from the corridors I'm getting more and more annoyed with pain and the midwives began to avoid wanting to check me and kept saying I wasn't progressing even tho I was having strong contractions , around 6 pm I being to laugh and joke with a midwife but I wasn't really feeling that on the inside and between her coming and and going saying I wasn't progressing I was crying silently on the bed the machine was hurting which was adding to my pain and I was so grumpy I kept saying I wanted to go home! I gave in and had some gas and air which was amazing I felt silly for not wanting  it earlier !

Around 7 pm the midwife sees me cry and after my mum went to talk to her to say although I was

joking around I was in pain ! She checks me against her judgment saying I'm prob not that far and to

be fair I wasn't I was 5 cm ! I cried in joy because you know what that means ?!?! Labour ward I can go to labour ward and have an epidural yayyyyyyy !!!!!!

I get a burst of happiness and even walk to the wheelchair to go to the labour ward ! I cry with happiness all the way down to the room I repeatedly said thank you to the midwife I think she thought I was mental but I was happy !

This is where is went down hill we get to the room I get drips and a shiny new fresh midwife ! Great it's happening Thea will be here soon ...... i request and epidural things seems to be moving they ask me to sign the form to say I read and understood I sign it not reading it thinking fab will be done soon, the midwife who was just so lovely hugs my mum and says that she wishes her daughter would have triplets 😂 No idea how they got into the triplet convo I was on gas and air like it was going out of fashion !

Hours pass and things seem to not be happening no Epi nothing no sign of Thea , a dr appears it's the end of her shift she says she will examine me yay maybe that will shed some light , nope big fat no , she explains Thea is still in the wrong position , but says don't worry she will move and will be fine and she left , hours pass again i start to silently cry in bed my midwife is breathing with me when I have a contraction , she sees I'm upset she grabs my hand and looks me in the eyes and she says no ! No more tears ok , no more crying , that epidural trolley has been sat here for hours and no one has come - the lady next door kept coming in asking where everyone was and could she have her Epi before mine !!!

My midwife says she going to get someone for me enough is enough ! Phew someone is taking action here ! At last she comes back angry and says you know where they are the epidural team were caught up in theatre but they were having a cup of tea .... Having a cup of tea !!!! She was angry as she has asked a number of times for someone to come and they were drinking tea ! Ok have a break but maybe after you have done my Epi and the lady next door 😂

So finally after some more tears and heavy breathing from a hypno birthing book I had read and loved a tiny epidural lady comes in she's smaller than me she says ok let's start oh lord I'm now nervous as much as I want it in terrified I read horror stories and had had a scary convo earlier in pregnancy with a nurse about how it can paralyse you if it's done wrong 😱 I was getting flustered as she raised the bed to its max height she could reach !!! I was on the gas and air continuously which isn't really allowed but I had to do something to calm my nerves ! - I grab my mums hand so hard Dom takes a seat behind her I can see him and I focus thinking I can do this last part and all will be ok ! , the lady asks for anasthetic ,ok yep she explains it will numb the area my heart starts to race im still on gas and air she explains if I have a contraction I'm to tell her - I don't the fear gets to me and I end up losing it after she asks 2 more times for anasthetic - that's 3 lots she's had and she now sounds

flustered, i start to feel faint I've over done the gas and air , Thea's heart beat goes missing the beeping of the machines stop , I really start to panic my midwife is saying to the lady if you don't get it this time can you leave and come back ! She comes to stand Infront of me Dom has his face in his hands I feel really flustered , she tells me to calm down relax and to stop moving - I didn't notice in my meltdown that I was moving my arm ! My midwife holds my arm leans over and says in my ear  calm down it will be ok this lady is driving me mental I don't know why she can't get the Epi in while she was doing this she was searching for Thea's heart beat still nothing - she tells the lady to hurry up as she can't find Thea's heart beat this was due to the way the lady had me leaning over a pillow !

At last she gets it in there is a sense of calm in the room during the Epi the consultant had come in and left seeing that things were not going well ! He returns lightens the mood making us laugh he tries to catch my waters in his hands and runs to the sink with his hands together ! He explains during my examination that a natural birth will not happen I've stopped dilating and thea is very much in the wrong position - he said that he has his finger in Thea's mouth !!!! What ewww no one wants to hear that ! His point about the fact he could get his finger in her mouth was that she was in a full facial presentation position - rare - as she was face up also meaning her head and neck were fully extended if they tried to move her it could damage her neck and face , also as I had extra fluid chances of the cord slipping Infront of her could add to complicate the delivery.

If she had been face down a brow presentation things could have been easier and a natural delivery possible , so he says she is immediately to be delivered by a emergency c section.

We get taken to the theatre , the funny thing about this looking back the person who administers your Epi stays with you during the section , so the lady was with me in the c section the entire time I'm thinking how much I dislike her !

The curtain goes up so I can't see anything they ask if I would like to see thea over the curtain I say no as if I saw my insides I would freak out ! The section is started and I hear a few funny comments , the trainee asks the consultant what he should do with my bladder 😱 I say to Dom did you just hear that !!! I had never thought about what they need to remove to get the baby out  it does make me nervous but I quickly forget about it as I then manage to annoy everyone by asking repeatedly for water !

Feels like an age has passed thea is born and Dom goes to see her we don't hear a cry she was very quiet ! I hear the midwife say she looks like Dom ! I want to cry with happiness ! She's here and she's safe ! The midwife explains that thea is swollen so much so one of the nurses asked if she had eyes !!! Her face was very swollen , Dom brings her over to show me.

The first thing I say is she's not mine she has dark hair the room bursts out laughing your the only one in here she's yours the midwife says !

we get taken to recovery for 2 hours my blood sugars need to be checked and my insulin and fluid drips   are kept in so the midwife has to un tangle the wires for me to hold thea for the first time at 2  hours old thea goes under my gown and she's so warm and cute ! Still swollen and bloody ! My heart melts  I didn't think I was maternal but there is no feeling like holding your baby for the first time !

She starts to snore making everyone laugh as it's so loud I ask Dom for our first family pic I was high on drugs and makeup free and tired ha ha the pic is terrible but I look back and laugh !

We finally leave recovery to see my mum and get taken to the ward I'm nervous to be left alone with thea but by the time we get sorted it's 3 am and visiting time starts at 8 am so not long ! Thea is put into the little bed thing and is put in her first outfit the cutest baby grow ! My mum holds thea and Dom has to leave  after the nurses ask him to lift me onto the new bed! so they use doms man muscles but he is then immediately told to leave not the best ! , i settle into bed to have my first night as a mum !

Now my first night is eventful and I think another post will needed to be written as this is so long ha ha , my second night in hospital is even funnier !

Thank you for taking a day out to read this mega long post !

 for the next 4 weeks dom is home to help me and help out with thea and so our adventure begins

Hope to write again soon

Hannah and thea !