"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." Confucius "Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." Louisa May Alcott
Tuesday 27 March 2018
Reading Recommendations
Last week at parents evening, I was asked by one parent if I was the Harry Potter fan. It turned out he was pleased how addicted his daughter now was to reading HP and was wondering if I could suggest something she should read next. He mentioned Alan Garner so I was pleased to be able to say my Alderley Edge connection to them, although I didn't actually enjoy reading them as a child. I said I would have a think and make a list of recommendations which I did yesterday. I decided to photograph the HP postcards I had written and record on here in case it's useful in the future:
Pre-baby maternity leave schedule
This post has pretty much become redundant before I have even written it. Now that I have settled into maternity I have found that having things to do during the day has made me feel better. John was also surprised how little I could manage to do during a day. I then came up with a little mental schedule for myself which I was going to write down and decided to blog it instead. It has now got to the stage where Wednesday is going to be my last empty maternity leave pre-baby day as John then breaks up for Easter on (Maundy) Thursday. I feel I will still record what my plan was anyway and hopefully fill in a few things that I have been up to over the last two weeks.
9am wake up. breakfast. shower. read.
10am do a job from my jobs list.
11am go for a walk.
12-2pm lunch, watch, knit.
2pm read how to have a baby
3pm do a job from my jobs list
4pm fun time
5pm bake or make dinner
Today (Monday) I had two nice phone calls of about an hour. I also braved going to the cinema showing in the community centre. I almost chickened out several times but made it in eventually to watch Victoria and Abdul. Not a great film but passed the time and allowed for some eyes closed time! It was also the first day after the clocks went forward and there was a definite feel of Spring coming. I walked to Sainsbury's then the post office and then had lunch on a park bench!
Friday Had a walk to the river in the morning. Then quite a lazy time - should have had my schedule in place!
Thursday After a lazy start went in to local shopping centre and got my haircut. Had a nice jacket potato lunch at a cafe there. Then went to hang out with a friend and her two children at her house. Made scones.
Wednesday Let the plumber in to fix the kitchen tap at 8.15am - what an early start. Then drove to Newbury to pick up a parcel. Lunch at Costa near school then on to school for Parents Eve.
Tuesday Made a carrot and apple cake. Parents Eve at school in the afternoon. Big event!
Monday Got the bus into town to do a few shopping jobs and had lunch at the Nose Bag. Came home very tired.
Friday GP appointment in the morning. Made muffins. Lunch date and nature walk with friend and son.
Wednesday and Thursday. Went to Malvern. Had brunch with family.
9am wake up. breakfast. shower. read.
10am do a job from my jobs list.
11am go for a walk.
12-2pm lunch, watch, knit.
2pm read how to have a baby
3pm do a job from my jobs list
4pm fun time
5pm bake or make dinner
Today (Monday) I had two nice phone calls of about an hour. I also braved going to the cinema showing in the community centre. I almost chickened out several times but made it in eventually to watch Victoria and Abdul. Not a great film but passed the time and allowed for some eyes closed time! It was also the first day after the clocks went forward and there was a definite feel of Spring coming. I walked to Sainsbury's then the post office and then had lunch on a park bench!
Friday Had a walk to the river in the morning. Then quite a lazy time - should have had my schedule in place!
Thursday After a lazy start went in to local shopping centre and got my haircut. Had a nice jacket potato lunch at a cafe there. Then went to hang out with a friend and her two children at her house. Made scones.
Wednesday Let the plumber in to fix the kitchen tap at 8.15am - what an early start. Then drove to Newbury to pick up a parcel. Lunch at Costa near school then on to school for Parents Eve.
Tuesday Made a carrot and apple cake. Parents Eve at school in the afternoon. Big event!
Monday Got the bus into town to do a few shopping jobs and had lunch at the Nose Bag. Came home very tired.
Friday GP appointment in the morning. Made muffins. Lunch date and nature walk with friend and son.
Wednesday and Thursday. Went to Malvern. Had brunch with family.
Monday 26 March 2018
Cleaning my iron
I have a few posts planned but I am jumping in with this one as I am so delighted with the results and want to make sure I record it! I had burnt a clothes label onto my iron whilst trying to mend my pregnancy trousers earlier in the week. I watched a couple of videos
on youtube and thought the comments on this one and the fact that it actually
demonstrated it in the video, meant that it was worth a try. I'm so
pleased I did as it worked perfectly like magic and will be telling any friends and family that will listen.
Friday 23 March 2018
Pregnancy Feelings
I feel I want to do a post to cover some of the feelings I have had during pregnancy - before it is over! I will be 39 weeks pregnant tomorrow. For a few weeks early on I wrote down the feelings I had had that week, but that didn't last long and I had stopped before 12 weeks.
My main thoughts around pregnancy are that I have not enjoyed it, but I also know that I have had a very straight forward pregnancy with no complications or worries and that I should be very grateful for. The parts I have suffered are annoying but only really physically, not psychologically. I started feeling nauseous around 6 weeks and fairly soon it became a whole day feeling and I was being sick roughly every other day, at all different times and with varying severities. Once we had told people we were expecting a baby, recently pregnant friends encouraged me that their nausea stopped around 16 weeks and overnight they felt normal again and enjoyed that stage of their pregnancy. I was disappointed that that hadn't occurred for me spot on 12 weeks but was hopeful. I also found the tiredness really surprising. It was strange for me to come home from school and just sit on the sofa, not even reading or watching anything or checking blogs on the internet. I couldn't face cooking or washing up (made me sick) and it wasn't unusual to be in bed between 7 and 8pm. I also found that I had to change my morning routine, as it became essential that I ate something immediately on waking otherwise I would be sick. So I became the one to have breakfast first while John showered. I also started keeping crackers on my beside table and would carry them or ginger nuts or crisps with me everywhere I went as eating something was the only thing that seemed to keep the sick feeling at bay. I did find it very strange that I went off sweet food - I'm normally such a chocoholic! All the chocolate we had been given at the end of term just stayed in the cupboard!
I didn't find it as bad being at school as I had expected. I definitely taught sitting down more than I had the year before and was eternally grateful I was in Year 2 rather than Year 1 where they could do more for themselves and weren't crowding round me as often so I could help my self to a biscuit or such from my desk! I was only actually physically sick twice at school, both at lunch time and no one was around.
At the October half term, I started to go for minutes upto almost an hour in a morning without feeling sick which was pretty exciting. Then the first day back at school after half term, 30th October, I was gingerly telling people that I no longer felt sick and I even went to Rose Hill runners that night. But then afterwards while I was having dinner I started to feel not so great and then was throwing up through the night with a sickness bug I'd caught over the weekend. I even got a carpet burn on my ankle while dragging myself across the floor to the bathroom. I stayed home from school for two days. It felt most ironic that I had had one day of feeling ok before succumbing to a non-pregnancy related illness! After that, I never felt as well again, always feeling some sort of sickness/nausea. I wasn't being sick as often although whenever I said to someone that actually throwing up seemed to have stopped, I would then be sick that night!
At the end of November we bumped into some friends in Edinburgh Airport. He asked if I'd started the heartburn phase of pregnancy yet to which I replied no, but then I started researching heartburn and realised that that might well be what the sickness feeling I had now was. It wasn't something I'd ever had before and I realised it fitted my symptoms as no longer being nauseous throughout the whole day. I checked up at the GP appointment who gave me a Gaviscon prescription and from Christmas that became my new best friend. I have been taking it every night before bed and increasingly more often during the night when I wake up feeling very close to being sick. A few times I haven't taken it quick enough and have been sick in the night. The last time it happened it was about 37 weeks and it was far more uncomfortable hunched over the toilet with a big bump than it was back in the early months. I tried to modify my diet in some ways to help with the heartburn but there didn't always seem to be much correlation. I would try only to eat sweet things early in the day and would not eat anything after dinner at about 7pm. It's probably been very good for my overall health that for so much of my pregnancy I have been limited on my eating through sickness or heartburn. Still alarming though that I am 10kg heavier than pre-pregnancy and I lost at least 5kg early on in the sickness stage.
A few things that have been slightly pleasanter surprises during pregnancy.
My main thoughts around pregnancy are that I have not enjoyed it, but I also know that I have had a very straight forward pregnancy with no complications or worries and that I should be very grateful for. The parts I have suffered are annoying but only really physically, not psychologically. I started feeling nauseous around 6 weeks and fairly soon it became a whole day feeling and I was being sick roughly every other day, at all different times and with varying severities. Once we had told people we were expecting a baby, recently pregnant friends encouraged me that their nausea stopped around 16 weeks and overnight they felt normal again and enjoyed that stage of their pregnancy. I was disappointed that that hadn't occurred for me spot on 12 weeks but was hopeful. I also found the tiredness really surprising. It was strange for me to come home from school and just sit on the sofa, not even reading or watching anything or checking blogs on the internet. I couldn't face cooking or washing up (made me sick) and it wasn't unusual to be in bed between 7 and 8pm. I also found that I had to change my morning routine, as it became essential that I ate something immediately on waking otherwise I would be sick. So I became the one to have breakfast first while John showered. I also started keeping crackers on my beside table and would carry them or ginger nuts or crisps with me everywhere I went as eating something was the only thing that seemed to keep the sick feeling at bay. I did find it very strange that I went off sweet food - I'm normally such a chocoholic! All the chocolate we had been given at the end of term just stayed in the cupboard!
I didn't find it as bad being at school as I had expected. I definitely taught sitting down more than I had the year before and was eternally grateful I was in Year 2 rather than Year 1 where they could do more for themselves and weren't crowding round me as often so I could help my self to a biscuit or such from my desk! I was only actually physically sick twice at school, both at lunch time and no one was around.
At the October half term, I started to go for minutes upto almost an hour in a morning without feeling sick which was pretty exciting. Then the first day back at school after half term, 30th October, I was gingerly telling people that I no longer felt sick and I even went to Rose Hill runners that night. But then afterwards while I was having dinner I started to feel not so great and then was throwing up through the night with a sickness bug I'd caught over the weekend. I even got a carpet burn on my ankle while dragging myself across the floor to the bathroom. I stayed home from school for two days. It felt most ironic that I had had one day of feeling ok before succumbing to a non-pregnancy related illness! After that, I never felt as well again, always feeling some sort of sickness/nausea. I wasn't being sick as often although whenever I said to someone that actually throwing up seemed to have stopped, I would then be sick that night!
At the end of November we bumped into some friends in Edinburgh Airport. He asked if I'd started the heartburn phase of pregnancy yet to which I replied no, but then I started researching heartburn and realised that that might well be what the sickness feeling I had now was. It wasn't something I'd ever had before and I realised it fitted my symptoms as no longer being nauseous throughout the whole day. I checked up at the GP appointment who gave me a Gaviscon prescription and from Christmas that became my new best friend. I have been taking it every night before bed and increasingly more often during the night when I wake up feeling very close to being sick. A few times I haven't taken it quick enough and have been sick in the night. The last time it happened it was about 37 weeks and it was far more uncomfortable hunched over the toilet with a big bump than it was back in the early months. I tried to modify my diet in some ways to help with the heartburn but there didn't always seem to be much correlation. I would try only to eat sweet things early in the day and would not eat anything after dinner at about 7pm. It's probably been very good for my overall health that for so much of my pregnancy I have been limited on my eating through sickness or heartburn. Still alarming though that I am 10kg heavier than pre-pregnancy and I lost at least 5kg early on in the sickness stage.
A few things that have been slightly pleasanter surprises during pregnancy.
- It took a lot longer for me to show a bump than I was expecting. You still wouldn't really have known I was pregnant at 20 weeks and I didn't start on maternity clothes till around Christmas. You would definitely know now and the bump has changed so much in position in the last month or so.
- I haven't increased my toilet going as much as I was expecting. I started going once in the night from the very beginning but not very frequently during the day.
- I don't feel that my emotions have been really any different. I thought I might be very up and down. On the day I finished school for maternity leave, I came home to a beautifully written card from John and I broke down crying and sobbing then. I think his kind words made me realise what I had achieved in getting to this point.
- Sleeping hasn't really been too bad, in that I can still sleep. I've often felt pretty annoyed with nausea/heatburn when lying down in bed each night, but it hasn't really taken me any longer to fall asleep. I have really missed lying on my back from 30 weeks and resented being on my side. And obviously being sick in the night or getting up to take gaviscon 3 or 4 times is a pain, but I've always been able to get back to sleep.
Friday 16 March 2018
New Life in 2018 - Catherine's Christmas Message 2017
Now to find a way to get the audio on the blog.
Wednesday 14 March 2018
Waiting
It's been a long time since I have written. I have mentally started a few blog posts and had it on various to do lists, but never got around to it. There is really no excuse now as I am on maternity leave and am busy doing nothing! So I have started writing this afternoon without any great agenda and I will see where I get.
This is day 3 of maternity leave. I have been really surprised how tired I have been these three days. I have a bunged up nose which I am blaming slightly for slowing me down. I also believe in the situation that when you stop, that's when tiredness hits. When you have to keep going, you have the energy for it and don't have time to realise you're tired. Lots of people told me to make sure I rest in this time. I was a little apprehensive about that as during half-term and snow days, being at home resting just made me realise how sick and heartburn-y I felt whereas being at school I was better distracted. I have definitely been feeling heartburn-y but not as destructively as I feared. John gave me a book to read on mat leave, and a lovely card that made me cry lots when I got home from school on Friday. I started reading the book on Monday morning in bed and thoroughly enjoyed it. I kept stopping during the day on Monday to sit on the sofa to read it for great chunks and by the end of the day had read 3/4 of it and finished it on Tuesday morning in bed. Also on Monday morning I did a little sorting in the spare room and then took the bus into town, something I had been planning and looking forward to. I went to the central library to see what had changed since the new shopping centre (not a lot that I could see!) and enjoyed reading in there for an hour. Then I browsed the covered market and had a late lunch at Georgina's. Tuesday I had a lazy morning and then picked up Mamma from the station. We drove to Aston Pottery where we had a good lunch in the nice cafe and browsed the large shop. We also drove on to Bampton to see the Downton sights. Back at the flat we sorted through all the generous gifts I had been given at school, then I was exhausted! Today has been mainly lazy again. I drove Mum to the station then sorted through my hospital bag and then have been watching lots of episodes of friends while knitting. I am off to Malvern this evening to see family.
I had a nice end to teaching at school. At the end of half term holiday, I was thinking that three more weeks sounded quite a lot of teaching. So I was very pleasantly surprised that when I came back on the Monday morning, I discovered that my replacement was starting that day for a three week handover. She was really nice and a great extra pair of hands to have in the classroom. The first week she was mainly observing, then the second week started some teaching and then by the third week was doing most of the teaching. She asked all the right questions and I felt confident handing my class over to her. The final week was a little crazy with me covering another class for a few half days, but it was still nice. Then I felt Friday was a lovely final day for me, and hopefully the class. I had made some cakes the night before to take in for the staffroom. I managed to do quite a bit of the final classroom sorting I had on my list of things to do before school. The day started with assembly and then I TA'd during English and also ran some errands. After break in fruit time, I just about finished HP and the Philospher's Stone. Then it was Big Write where all the class worked very hard which was lovely to see. Lunch was nice and relaxed and also a few more jobs in classroom. After lunch I had put up 'celebration' on the visual timetable. That consisted of me opening the very generous gifts that many of the class had brought in which they were all excited by. Then I read the final page of HP and then they loaded up their bags with home things. We then went to the hall to do the Harry Potter Cosmic Yoga which they seemed to enjoy. I carried on Cosmic Yoga during Golden Time then for the 15 mins before hometime, I gave the class a pep talk on carrying on being great and also gave them each a sherbet lemon and an Easter Lollipop. I was just sitting down again after seeing the class out when head of KS1 and my pregnant buddy came to ask me to go to the spare classroom. During the day lots of people had been asking how I was doing and I has always answered that I was fine and it wouldn't hit till at least Monday. But walking into the spare classroom I was quite overwhelmed that they had set it up with pink and blue bunting and there was a whole spread of cakes and food and a room full of people. I made a short speech and mingled. Then it was time to finished up in the classroom and make my departure. I am planning on going back for Parent's Evening next week so I know I am not gone for good and have also promised my class that I will bring the baby in after Easter although they aren't impressed that I haven't given them an exact date!
Well I feel it is time to get off the sofa and to a little more sorting, just a little. Hopefully I will be able to do another update before baby makes an arrival.
This is day 3 of maternity leave. I have been really surprised how tired I have been these three days. I have a bunged up nose which I am blaming slightly for slowing me down. I also believe in the situation that when you stop, that's when tiredness hits. When you have to keep going, you have the energy for it and don't have time to realise you're tired. Lots of people told me to make sure I rest in this time. I was a little apprehensive about that as during half-term and snow days, being at home resting just made me realise how sick and heartburn-y I felt whereas being at school I was better distracted. I have definitely been feeling heartburn-y but not as destructively as I feared. John gave me a book to read on mat leave, and a lovely card that made me cry lots when I got home from school on Friday. I started reading the book on Monday morning in bed and thoroughly enjoyed it. I kept stopping during the day on Monday to sit on the sofa to read it for great chunks and by the end of the day had read 3/4 of it and finished it on Tuesday morning in bed. Also on Monday morning I did a little sorting in the spare room and then took the bus into town, something I had been planning and looking forward to. I went to the central library to see what had changed since the new shopping centre (not a lot that I could see!) and enjoyed reading in there for an hour. Then I browsed the covered market and had a late lunch at Georgina's. Tuesday I had a lazy morning and then picked up Mamma from the station. We drove to Aston Pottery where we had a good lunch in the nice cafe and browsed the large shop. We also drove on to Bampton to see the Downton sights. Back at the flat we sorted through all the generous gifts I had been given at school, then I was exhausted! Today has been mainly lazy again. I drove Mum to the station then sorted through my hospital bag and then have been watching lots of episodes of friends while knitting. I am off to Malvern this evening to see family.
I had a nice end to teaching at school. At the end of half term holiday, I was thinking that three more weeks sounded quite a lot of teaching. So I was very pleasantly surprised that when I came back on the Monday morning, I discovered that my replacement was starting that day for a three week handover. She was really nice and a great extra pair of hands to have in the classroom. The first week she was mainly observing, then the second week started some teaching and then by the third week was doing most of the teaching. She asked all the right questions and I felt confident handing my class over to her. The final week was a little crazy with me covering another class for a few half days, but it was still nice. Then I felt Friday was a lovely final day for me, and hopefully the class. I had made some cakes the night before to take in for the staffroom. I managed to do quite a bit of the final classroom sorting I had on my list of things to do before school. The day started with assembly and then I TA'd during English and also ran some errands. After break in fruit time, I just about finished HP and the Philospher's Stone. Then it was Big Write where all the class worked very hard which was lovely to see. Lunch was nice and relaxed and also a few more jobs in classroom. After lunch I had put up 'celebration' on the visual timetable. That consisted of me opening the very generous gifts that many of the class had brought in which they were all excited by. Then I read the final page of HP and then they loaded up their bags with home things. We then went to the hall to do the Harry Potter Cosmic Yoga which they seemed to enjoy. I carried on Cosmic Yoga during Golden Time then for the 15 mins before hometime, I gave the class a pep talk on carrying on being great and also gave them each a sherbet lemon and an Easter Lollipop. I was just sitting down again after seeing the class out when head of KS1 and my pregnant buddy came to ask me to go to the spare classroom. During the day lots of people had been asking how I was doing and I has always answered that I was fine and it wouldn't hit till at least Monday. But walking into the spare classroom I was quite overwhelmed that they had set it up with pink and blue bunting and there was a whole spread of cakes and food and a room full of people. I made a short speech and mingled. Then it was time to finished up in the classroom and make my departure. I am planning on going back for Parent's Evening next week so I know I am not gone for good and have also promised my class that I will bring the baby in after Easter although they aren't impressed that I haven't given them an exact date!
Well I feel it is time to get off the sofa and to a little more sorting, just a little. Hopefully I will be able to do another update before baby makes an arrival.
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