Sleep!

Over the last couple of weeks I think I have given the impression that I dislike being pregnant. Obviously it isn't quite a comfortable as not being pregnant, but I don't actually dislike it. I think it's treated me very kindly so far in all aspects such as not being sick, not having weird cravings, not being too achey etc. bar one... Sleep!

The problem is sleep seems to then affect all aspects of life. Since the beginning of summer when we had the long beautiful heat wave in the UK I think I've averaged about 5 or 6 hours sleep a night, which is a bit less than I'd like really. For some reason as soon as my feet get hot (which is VERY easily) I can't sleep, no matter how tired I am.

So being in Spain has provided some sleeping issues. I now count falling asleep at 3am a goodnight sleep, there is definitely something wrong with that! In the last week I had 4 hours sleep, followed by 3, which turns out is not enough to keep you emotionally stable... I ended up spending the next two days in tears over anything, often for no reason at all which was quite confusing for Ethan!

The good news is my body seems to have adapted to getting 5 hours sleep a night and I actually function pretty happily and normally the next day on it. So I figure that as frustrating and tiring the non sleeping is, I am getting good practice for when baby dragon arrives. And who knows, maybe I'll actually get slightly more sleep when he arrives because my hot-feet-that-keep-you-awake-all-night will hopefully die down once I'm not pregnant, so although I'll be waking up at all times of the night I might actually fall asleep between feeds etc! (Although I can admit now that it is quite a high hope thinking I may get more sleep...)

Resting on the beach seems a reasonable substitute for lack of sleep during the night!

Pregnancy glow? I'm not so convinced...

Everyone always talks about this pregnancy glow where your hair looks thick and shiney and your skin is glowing. It's a time when you embrace the natural wonders of being female as your body changes beautifully to create a new life.

However I don't feel like that. My feet ache all the time and I'm constantly exhausted as I can't sleep during the night. I can't even put my shoes on properly as I can hardly bend to reach my toes! I definitely don't feel like I'm glowing in anyway.

We've been making the most of the beautiful sunshine here by going to the beach quite a lot, which I realised led me to have a 'pregnant lady moment' yesterday. This involved me having a little break down over the fact that I felt like a beached whale compared to the rest of the world, particularly because literally all the Spanish females could be swimwear models (bar the old ladies that sunbathe topless) then there is me with my big belly who can't even lay on the beach properly!

After my little break down Ethan reassured me wonderfully but it did make me decide that pregnancy really doesn't feel as beautiful and wonderful a people like to claim it is. Since being pregnant I've put a couple of photos online of my bump in which people have said I look great, glowing etc. but in reality that is 3 photos to cover 7 and a half months. We've taken a lot more photos of me and my bump and I look as rough as I feel in them! Yes it's a miracle, but not an attractive feeling one.

This is more how I feel!

This isn't how pregnancy feels

Vivo en Espana

We are in Spain!! It was so weird getting on the plane knowing the next time we will be in the UK (Christmas) we will have a little baby with us!

Our apartment
 Is amazing! We knew it was going to be quite big from online but it's about triple the size of our old flat in Cardiff! But it's perfect because it means when our family (and friends) come to stay with us there is plenty of room :) For the last 4 months we have been nomads basically, moving from one place to another and staying with other people and so it is SO nice being able to have our own space again and be able to actually unpack our belongings :) The 4 flights of stairs haven't been half as bad as I was expecting either. I thought I would have to have a break half way up but it turns out they really aren't that bad, although you can feel they are good for the thighs...

Heat + pregnancy is not the best
It is still so warm here, particularly as the heat seems to rise up to our flat! For some reason the heat seems to make my feet really restless at night which keeps me awake, this was bad enough in the UK heat let alone Spanish heat! However I discovered if I go to bed with a wet towel over my feet I manage to fall asleep after a while. I've also discovered I have sweat glands in places I never knew existed... Ethan and I often go for walks in the evening and by the time we're back having scaled the 4 flights of stairs you feel like you've just been swimming! (Nice...). The heat has also made my feet swell a little bit which is a strange feeling. But other than that the temperature is awesome! We went to the beach on Saturday and it was so nice to be able to relax in the sun and the sea was such a good temperature with amazing waves!

The beach! (well next to it as you can tell from the rather unclothed man...)

The language
I had a very gentle ease into the language as we were picked up from the airport by a Ukrainian man who didn't speak Spanish too well so he spoke quite slowly and used words that I could understand so I was feeling quite confident in my understanding of Spanish. However, we went to church yesterday and they spoke SO fast! All their words blurred into one pretty much. But that's just something to get use to, I'll be fluent in no time ;)

Baby Dragon
We managed to bring almost everything over, car seat, carry cot, 0-3 month clothes etc through a company Send My Bags which was SO much cheaper than taking it all as luggage on the plane. The boxes were also padded out with nappies from the gorgeous nappy cake that Amber made! (Check out the baby shower post for pictures). We were also able to get all our health care sorted today without any problems at all which was a relief! We are now registered at a Health Center (like a GP Surgery) and met with the midwives who gave us an appointment for an antenatal check up straight away! The people were all so lovely and made everything very straight forward and easy. They also said the hospital that we come under to give birth is the best one in Valencia, so it's all looking pretty good so far! :)

My bump as of today, 32 weeks and 3 days

Baby Showers (plural!)

In the last couple of months we have had not one but TWO baby showers for our baby dragon!

The first one we had was a surprise one organised by some of the lovely members of the Cardiff ward. It was funny because I had no idea until the day that something had been planned, despite little clues accidentally being left in the lead up to the party! It was such fun, we played some hilarious games and enjoyed some good food and it was lovely spending time with some of the members of the ward before we left Cardiff.

The beautiful cake made by my beautiful YW Emily!

Which tasted amazing! (The other slice was Ethan's...)

We then had a second baby shower/leaving party in Leighton Buzzard (where my parents live). We didn't really need another baby shower but we wanted to have a little leaving party to see some of our friends and family before we go to Spain and I really wanted to make some of the cute food you get at baby showers (according to pinterest at least, I've never attended a baby shower before...).

Cakepops!

Me trying to eat a cakepop...

We had an entertaining quiz that consisted of questions about babies in Spain, the names of baby animals (who knew a baby platypus was called a puggle or puggler as Ethan called it) and then questions about Ethan and I as babies, such as what was our most memorable tantrum about and how much did we weigh when we were born.

One of the games we played



On the event on facebook we had put that it would end at 11
which we thought was quite late and people would probably
end up leaving earlier. However everyone seemed to have
a pretty good time and ended up staying till quite a bit later
which was great, the only thing is Ethan and I are not quite the
party animals we use to be and we got out partied! Haha
 (I've not been soleeping well at all in the last month, and
 accidentally wake Ethan up a lot with my fidgeting etc. so both
 of us get so tired recently). I felt really bad that we actually
left before some of out guests but I figured they must be
 having a good time for them to still be there so everyone
 must be happy... :)

Gorgeous nappy cake that my best friend Amber made!

A little early insight into parenthood

When we first found out we were pregnant I felt that all we had to do was reach the 12 week mark (the likelihood of a miscarriage goes down greatly after 12 weeks) and everything was completely smooth sailing with nothing to worry about from there.

That was until I was in the car with friend who mentioned someone they knew who had had a still born, which made me realise that anything could happen from that point until the baby was born regardless of whether it was past the 12 weeks.

Then I heard about someone whose toddler died unexpectedly in an accident which made me realise just how fragile life is. Nothing is guaranteed. As a mother or someone who cares very much for another there is always the constant worry that something is going to happen to that individual that you care so much about. 

But then there is the issue of how cautious should you be. Do you make your child live life in cotton wool and not take any risks like climbing trees or go to the park with friends without adult supervision? Or do you let them explore and find their own boundaries? I think that is a very difficult balance to find for a parent and is something that is different for each child let alone family. It's something I'm yet to decide on. Part of me feels children are often good at knowing their limits and what they feel safe doing, the other part says there is no way my little boy will be joining my dad and brother in climbing huge oak trees with makeshift ladders made from rope and wood and all the other crazy things that they get up to! 

I think part of the issue is there is such a dualism in the media regarding children. Half the time you hear about how children have been stopped from doing things like having conker fights and the newspapers all state what an outrage this is and how it is an example of health and safety gone mad. Then as soon as something goes wrong and a child gets injured in any way parents are criticised for being irresponsible and negligent. For example parents have been criticised for not letting their children go and play outside and doing things like playing football in a park like children used to do*. Yet the parents of April Jones who went missing from a park whilst playing with friends in 2012 were criticised by some for being negligent and irresponsible parents for allowing their child to play without adult supervision.

 In reality I think there is no winning, you just have to decide what is best for you regardless of other people as there is always someone who thinks they know better...    

*There is an old but very good article on the BBC that
 criticises over cautious parents http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7540076.stm 

The World's Best Flapjack Recipe

In school we had the most amazing cakes made by one of the loveliest ladies I know. Honestly, every single cake was just DIVINE to the point that once I had finished 6th Form I got my younger sister to buy me a cake from school every now and then. My sister also loved the cakes which led to her asking for the recipe for the flapjacks. I only discovered today that she had this recipe and so the first thing I did was try it out!

Ingredients:

280g/10oz Rolled Oats

200g/7oz Margarine/Butter

100g/3.5oz Brown Sugar

180g/7oz Golden Syrup

1. Melt margarine, brown sugar and golden syrup in a pan.

2. Take off heat and mix in oats.

3. Spoon onto a tray* and flatten down.

4. Bake in the oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes (until golden on top).

5. Cut while still warm.

6. Enjoy!

When I tried the recipe I was a bit impatient with the oven and put them in before it had reached 180 degrees which meant that they had to cook for longer, causing the flapjack to be a little drier and crumblier than it should have been. So lesson learnt, be patient. That said, my family two or three pieces each and my sister said they were the best homemade flapjacks she had ever tasted!

Flapjack is such a quick and easy treat and this recipe is the best! (In my opinion at least...)

*the tray size depends on how thick you like the flapjack, 9x9 inch would make slightly fatter flapjacks, a larger one would make thinner ones.

Year Abroad - Q&A

It is exactly 2 weeks today until we move to Spain for 5 months! I decide to mark this occasion I would do a question and answer style blog post as people seem to ask the same questions alllll the time! 

1. Will we be having our baby abroad?

We are, with the European Health Card we are entitled to the same state health care as the Spanish and their health care is pretty good. We have got the forms we need from the NHS that means they will fund our health care over there. I'll admit there was a point where I had read a few things online from British mums who had given birth in Spain and they had had experiences that were quite different from what is usual in the UK which made me panic and led to us looking into all the different options in coming back the the UK to have the baby (none of which were either practical or cheap). However after talking about all the options with Ethan we have decided to stay having the baby in Spain, none of the experiences I read online had any effect on the healthtiness/safety of the delivery, all of the babies were born healthy, it was just the experience was different to what you would expect in the UK as obviously it is a different culture that has slightly different ways of doing things. And so because we're aware of the fact that they do things slightly differently in Spain we are prepared for that unlike the women online and so are very happy with the plan of giving birth in Spain.

2. Have we got where we are going to be living sorted?

Yep. We have a lovely flat a few minutes from the sea which comes FULLY furnished (crockery, towels, bedding etc.) so we don't have to bring over/buy anything for the flat which saves us so much money! It also is very spacious which I think will be quite nice for having a newborn in, and has a spare bedroom with 2 beds and a sofa bed which means that our family and friends can come and visit us really easily as they only need to sort flights! (My family had their flights booked before we even had ours booked!)  

3. How are you going to cope knowing no Spanish?

I have actually learnt Spanish for 4 years in total and so although I'm by no means fluent I know the basics to be able to get by and can understand enough to be able to cope. So with that I plan to pick up as much as I can while we're there and who knows, maybe I'll be fluent by the time we leave... ;)

4. What will you be doing there?

Me - Having a baby and getting a tan. Ethan - he has a university placement at the University of Valencia for the Autumn semester (then a placement at the University of Pavia in Italy for the spring semester). However because you learn a language best by being immersed in the culture, he only has to take half the number of modules than his other 3 years of his course so we will be spending as much time as we can enjoying the Spanish culture with our little baby dragon :)

5. Will your baby have a Spanish name?

Most likely not, although we haven't decided on any names yet, we have a few we like but are going to wait until the baby is born to see what he suits best. Although it would be fun to give him a Spanish name it would just be very out of place in the UK, however there are a few Italian names that are a bit more 'acceptable' in the UK but they might be used for later children, we shall see...

6. Are you scared about moving to abroad for a year/having a baby abroad?

Nope, we are so excited! It's a logistical nightmare working out how to get our things and all the things we have for the baby like a pushchair, car seat etc from the UK to Spain, Spain to Italy and Italy back the the UK, although we've got it all sorted out for taking to Spain at least :) But other than that I don't think there is actually a better time to have a baby as financially we are in a very good position thanks to student finance and Erasmus and it will be so lovely for Ethan as he will have twice as much time to be able to spend with the baby and support me than if he was at uni in the UK and 10 times more time than when he's graduated with a full time job.

7. What about your degree?

I've just finished my second year, I'm taking a year out which is all sorted and approved and then we are both finishing our final year the next year. My course has very few contact hours so in reality baby dragon will only need to go to the uni day care for a couple of hours a week. If people can go back to work full time after 6 weeks, finishing a practically part time degree after a year is not going to be an issue :)  

I'm sure there are probably more questions that people ask, but I can't think of them right now and I think they get less interesting too so I shall stop there for the greater good of everyone... :)