Candyfloss & Dreams

Category: Lifestyle

lifestyle blog posts focusing on home, lifestyle, parenting, pregnancy, family life and home and style. Home decor and working at home, working at home as a self employed freelancer and blogger. Family lifestyle blog posts including family reviews, family products and saving money as a family. Being a more eco friendly family.

B Sensible Bed Sheets Review

B Sensible Bedding offers complete protection and breathable, comfortable and stylish sheets and pillow cases for most sized beds and cots too! I recently received a king size sheet and two pillow cases to feature and they really have come at the perfect time considering I’m on the countdown to my waters breaking in this pregnancy and whilst it might not happen during the night or when I’m actually in bed, I’d rather have as much protection as possible.

B Sensible King Size Sheet & Mattress Protector

We decided to go for the B Sensible Bedding in grey which nicely goes with our usually purple or Flamingo duvet cover very nicely. B Sensible Bedding offers waterproof protection in their sheets and pillow cases of which it is a little more obvious to tell in the pillow cases as you can feel the waterproof lining but the sheet itself actually feels like any other bed sheet. I love the charcoal colour however there are lots of other options to fit most bedroom colour schemes.

I would absolutely be looking to get B Sensible Bedding for babies when baby F moves on from his next 2 me crib and into an actual cot of his own as babies mattresses need extra protection whilst their still in nappies really! I love that again they have lots of lovely colours available

B Sensible Bedding is made of natural materials, naturally anti bacterial and hypoallergenic and no matter how many times you wash it thanks to the Tencel and smartcel fibres they stay fresh, clean and looking like new. Coloured sheets can be washed at 60 whilst white sheets should be washed at 90 and both can be tumble dried on a low to medium heat.

B Sensible bedding is lovely and soft, it washes really well and the waterproof aspect is a winner for me at this late stage of pregnancy. The single sheets would also be a great option for children who are potty training or might have trouble staying dry at night as the sheets are comfortable and don’t have the noise and crinkly feel that plastic mattress protectors have. B Sensible bedding naturally helps keep you cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter too which is perfect for Adam and I as we can easily overheat. The pillow cases are lovely and soft despite having a noticeable protector in the case and having the cases zip up helps pregnant the pillow from falling out the case in the middle of the night which is really annoying!

July 25, 2018
Why You Should Write A Birth Plan for Every Pregnancy
Writing a Birth Plan to some people might seem completely pointless and I totally get that. Birth is unpredictable. You might be given a due date but that baby could turn up anytime really from 38 weeks when you’re considered full term. Sometimes it even happens before that and sometimes you’re left their waiting until 42 weeks after hanging on to your due date for so long. You don’t know how, where or when labour will spontaneously happen either. If having a plan sounds a bit too much then think about it as your birth preferences. Think about a plan A, your ideal birth experience and then have some things in mind for a plan B and C just in case things do become a little more unexpected. People have said to me just “go with the flow” but I really can’t do that. I’m not that sort of person. I like knowing what type of pain relief is available and thinking ahead of the type I would prefer to have. I like working things out in stages and even if things change I know exactly what course I would like to follow after a particular change. Having a high BMI also makes me more at risk and makes monitoring harder and the type of monitoring I want to have isn’t something I want to think about whilst I’m trying to let my body do what it should know what to do!

Buy Online at Amazon: https://amzn.to/2uGEO8y (Affiliate Link)

My first pregnancy was really straightforward however with an induction and then failure to progress during pushing which then lead to an unplanned c-section so this time around I am hoping for an at home VBAC birth but I also have an idea of how I’d like to have a planned c-section. In all fairness, I really don’t want to have a c-section at all. The idea of having another round of surgery whilst being overweight and the longer recovery period is making me feel increasingly worried, however, on the flip side, being induced increases the chance of scar weakening and rupture. It’s really hard when you’re a high risk pregnancy but that’s why I think it’s even more important to have a birth plan or birth preferences in mind. I’ve put together a list of books that I think are must reads when pregnant which could really help with planning a positive birth.

The benefits of a birth plan for me have been:
- Helped with my anxiety. I feel I’ve ironed out every detail in my mind of how I’d like to birth and I feel really positive about labour.
- A plan A, B and C has allowed me to think of best and worst case scenarios for the birth and where it will happen
- I have made my preferences clear to my midwife, consultant, doula and consultant midwife – all of which are being helpful, positive and supportive
- I understand a lot about the risks and benefits of the type of birth I want as well as what might happen if things don’t go to plan
- I feel more connected to my body and baby
- Midwives can easily see exactly what I want and expect from the birth as well as my newborn preferences
- In the throws of labour I shouldn’t need to answer lots of questions about what I want as it’s clearly marked out and I am hoping easy for my midwife to be really in tune with
- It has taken away a lot of the overwhelm and helped me come to terms better with my previous birth
I wanted to share some top tips when it comes to writing a birth plan and how I’ve made some of the decisions I have for having a positive birth experience as well as explaining some of my choices for this birth and my baby.
1. When writing a birth plan, put the most important information at the top so it’s clear. For me, I have put that I have anxiety, that I’ve been in an abusive relationship and that my consent for internal examinations is important. I feel this really sets my birth plan off in the right way and will hopefully eliminate the issues I had with my previous pregnancy and the lack of communication and empathy I had from my previous birth and hospital.
2. Add names of your birth partners and the location in which you are planning to give birth. I have named myself, my partner and my doula as well as what we like to be called. This makes it nice and easy should I be transferred to hospital during labour and for any midwives handing over to know who we are and what to call us. I know it sounds obvious but it just makes it nice and straightforward.
3. Try and keep it to one page. Think of it as an overview for the birth. Mine is two pages because I have one for a VBAC and another for a planned c-section should it get to that stage. I have laid it all out in sections from staying at home, first stage of labour, transition to hospital, second stage of labour, the placenta and my newborn preferences. These are headings you might want to consider.
4. If you’re a planner, like me, you might want to consider writing everything down in list form and then condensing down. My birth plan was originally eight pages long and went into a lot of detail which I’ve managed to hammer out after writing letters to my consultant and talking through with my doula. I now feel like my notes and my birth plan represent exactly the type of experience I want.
5. If you prefer visual birth planning I strongly recommend the Positive Birth Book which will direct you to free images to use to create a visual birth plan. Or you can get really creative and draw your own visual birth plan if that helps! It should be an experience that makes you feel good and prepared.
6. Make time to talk through your birth plan with your health care team when you approach the third trimester.
For more pregnancy content please head to my hub post which contains links to all my relevant pregnancy based blog posts. My second High Bmi Pregnancy.
July 24, 2018
A Good Bed makes a Great Night Sleep

I’ve often talked about my sleep patterns on my blog and how sometimes I really struggle to relax. I’ve also provided tips on why having a good mattress is important as well as setting up a bed time routine that relaxes you. However, I’ve never really touched on why having a good bed can make a great night sleep. Obviously, it’s all part of the package isn’t it, a good, strong bed frame, amazing mattress that is supportive and comfortable as well as tips on how to actually fall and have a restful nights sleep. Having a decent bed can really make a difference to how the room looks. If you think your bedroom looks good, cosy and comfortable then you will naturally feel at ease when you’re getting into bed at night. So having a great looking bed can actually make the world of difference to the quality of sleep. I don’t know about you but being pregnant the smallest of details can really affect my mood and this includes being in a room that I can’t feel comfortable or relaxed in. I automatically feel on edge and restless.

We have a king size bed which actually takes up quite a lot of room in our bedroom as you can imagine, however, we are not small people at the moment, with me being pregnant and Adam being really tall. We need a bed that is going to provide us both with enough space. This, in a way, can limit to us to what kind of bed we can have as we also need one to fit into our family budget. Lionshome bring so many lovely products together that it makes it super easy to find exactly what you’re looking for. The website is so easy to use! I feel like we could furnish all of our flat with quality products and within a budget we would be happy to pay using this site alone, they have thought of every fine detail for home furnishings and created a catalogue of collections to suit every taste. We would love to completely redecorate the flat but right now our two big home furnishings that we need to make is a new bed frame for our room and a new sofa for the living room. We’ve actually had our sofa’s since we moved in and they were second hand when we got them so it’s about time we got something new and much more comfortable to sit on.

Having a king size bed in a relatively small room can automatically feel cluttered, especially if it’s mismatched against other furniture, the style and decor of the room. We have purple walls and cream carpets so alongside our bed size we also want to keep our room within the current colour schemes. Looking at the great range of beds that Lionshome showcase it makes it so easy to find the sort of thing we want for our home. Ideally we are looking for a wooden frame with draw storage underneath. I’m not particularly a fan of Divan beds, particularly ones with wheels on and I like a nice sturdy head board so I can relax in the evenings reading or watching TV. Any site that can make it easy for me to pinpoint exactly what I want works well for me.

I know having a good bed paired with a great mattress is the key to having a fantastic night sleep and using my top tips to relax I feel I will continue to sleep quite well throughout this pregnancy and over the summer.

What are your top tips for a great night sleep?

This is a collaborative post

July 23, 2018
Why I Support #FeedWithConfidence

#FeedWithConfidence

My breastfeeding goal for Baby F is to Feed with Confidence. When I had my daughter I really wanted to breastfeed but being young, a bit naive, and maybe not understanding how my body works as well as the societal pressures and feeling of ‘taboo’ within feeding in public, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to. I think that fear of not being successful and being afraid to feed in public or outside the comfort of my own home really made it difficult and actually affected my ability to feed successfully for longer than ten weeks. This time around I am determined to breastfeed with the combination of one bottle of expressed breast milk. My goal is to feed Baby F myself 90% of the time and have a bit of supply of breast milk in the freezer too.

I want to breastfeed because it’s going to be really good for us to bond, it’s going to help with my weight loss, it’s got so many amazing health benefits for me and its on tap nutrition and food for Baby F too. Whilst I’m not against formula or those that bottle feed I really want to feed him myself and I’m going to be striving to push through feeding him until he doesn’t want to anymore. I would absolutely love to get passed a year of breastfeeding and using the occasional bottle of expressed milk however that does mean I need to get over one of my biggest fears and that is feeding outside the home. Because of this I want to share my journey and I fully support Lansinoh’s Feed with Confidence campaign of which my lovely blogger friend Ami from Through Ami’s Eyes is an ambassador for – I’m so excited for her. I’ve been watching, reading and listening to Ami talk about her experience for combination feeding and seeing her confidence with her ability to feed new baby Smidge is just so amazing. It really inspires me and actually has started making me think, well, maybe I could feed in public, maybe I could too feed with confidence.

There are lots of reasons why people might not have the confidence to feed in public. I’m a 42H cup due to my weight and it’s not exactly going to be a discreet journey. I want to get myself some good fitting nursing bras and tops that make feeding as easy as possible so that I can feel a little less exposed. I’m not opposed to using a cover or muslin but hopefully my ability and confidence will grow enough that I will have the confidence to feed without. Another tip someone had was using a scarf which, with Baby F being due in the Autumn is a pretty good idea. I think practising with different positions and using a sling is also going to help me feed with confidence too.

Breastfeeding is hard. I remember being in tears the first few weeks with sleep deprivation which is why Adam and I have decided to introduce the odd bottle of expressed milk to help each other out a little bit. However, I do hope that by the time we get to six weeks, we might not actually need the bottle of expressed milk and I’ll be used to the frequent feeding, a bit tougher and, well, hopefully having a stretch of at least three hours sleep during the night (total wishful thinking there!) I really want to establish a good supply by feeding on demand and of course this means I will need to feed wherever I am. I think it’s important to have the confidence to do this and by reading other women’s stories, advice and seeing it happen that confidence is already starting to grow in me. I’m not expecting it to be natural straight away and I’m grateful for a supportive partner and family that are all really encouraging when it comes to feeding. I really hope that by sharing my own photos, journey and experience I can feed with confidence and give other mums the confidence to do the same.

You can find out more about Lansinoh and the campaign to Feed with Confidence here:

In 2016, just under 750,000 babies were born in the UK with over 80% of mothers starting to breastfeed their babies. However, according to Public Health England latest statistics on breastfeeding prevalence at six to eight weeks after birth, the number of new mums breastfeeding at this time is 43.7%.[1] This number is low, especially when compared to countries like Norway, which achieves rates of 80% at 3 months.[2] Why does the UK have some of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world?

To understand this issue, Lansinoh carried out research amongst 1000 people, looking at perceptions of breastfeeding in public. The study found that people feel uncomfortable with women breastfeeding on public transport, people over 65 are more accepting of mums breastfeeding in public spaces, and people in Wales are more comfortable with breastfeeding compared to other regions in the UK. The Equality Act 2010 made it illegal to ask a woman to stop breastfeeding in public, so why is breastfeeding in public such a national taboo?

A government study found that although 72% of the British public outwardly support public breastfeeding, over half of breastfeeding mums take steps to cover up and 34% feel embarrassed and uncomfortable.3 Research carried out by Lansinoh found that 37% of men and 41% of women find women breastfeeding on a bus uncomfortable, whilst mums breastfeeding on the underground were frowned upon by 34% of men and 44% of women.4 Although a third of those surveyed admitted that they were not comfortable seeing a woman breastfeeding in front of another woman, the research also found that the longer the journey, the less people find an issue with a mother breastfeeding in a public space.

People can nominate a person or a place for the awards here: https://lansinoh.co.uk/feed-with-confidence/

July 19, 2018
30 Weeks Pregnant Update

I am 30 weeks pregnant! My second pregnancy is flying past and I can’t quite believe it’s now just under ten weeks until my due date. I have to admit I’ve actually quite enjoyed this pregnancy so far and I’m so grateful that it’s been quite gentle up until this point. I think that’s largely down to trying to stay as active as possible and all the wonderful emotional support I’ve had from my Doula, Midwife, Consultant and friends. This sort of feels like we’ve peaked the hill and we’re now starting to slowly walk down with it getting steeper and steeper as September draws on in.

Symptoms at 30 Weeks Pregnant

Since my 28 week update nothing has really come about thankfully although I’m starting to get more uncomfortable physically. I struggle getting dressed in the morning which must be quite a comical and glamourous view. My back hasn’t really suffered though, nothing seems to be swelling up and I haven’t seen any new stretch marks. Plenty of old ones, but nothing new!

Dealing with a Summer Cold

This has really got me down and has been so frustrating. I’ve had a bit of a cold and cough for a few weeks now that is fading very slowly. It’s just lingering on so I’m back to feeling quite congested and generally a bit rubbish. I’ve been having warm honey and lemon, paracetamol, cool showers and slathering my chest and feet in Vicks vapour rub. It’s been hard dealing with a cold and the heat as I just want to rest. I’ve been really quite lazy since we got back from holiday but now school for Evie is almost over I really need to get back on track! Hopefully by the time this is published my cough will have gone and I’ll be feeling much better and healthier.

30 Weeks Pregnant Bump: How Am I Looking?

I think my bump is becoming a bit more noticeable now although I still feel I have to make it known to other people that I’m pregnant because I just get so caught up with others thinking I’m just really fat. I don’t feel good about my appearance at all and I’m going to join Weight Watchers thanks to a free 12 week referral from my GP at my post natal check. I hope that weight watchers and breastfeeding as well as getting swimming again as soon as I can will all really help with weight loss.

Growth Scan at 30 Weeks Pregnant

I had the first of three growth scans on Monday. It was so nice to see Baby Boy again. I have another on 30th July and then again on 23rd August. This should give us a more accurate picture of his weight come the birth.

Upcoming Appointments

I seem to have appointments pretty much every week now with the Anaesthetist clinic, Growth Scans, Hypnobirthing, Confident Birthing antenatal class, Consultant appointment, routine midwife checks and another chat and planning session with my Doula and again with my consultant midwife. This is keeping me going until September so at least I’m keeping busy.

Any Concerns?

Not really. I do worry that because of my BMI my chance of a successful VBAC is really, really low but I would much rather try for a natural birth than not. I am just going to try and stay as active as I can and as things get closer look at ways to help my body spontaneously go into labour as well as accepting some cervical sweeps with the possibility of having waters broken artificially if they don’t go naturally. I also want to start paying more attention to my hypnobirthing book to relax, get some birth affirmations down and to find ways I can really help Oxytoxin do it’s magic come labour.

Home Birth/Hospital Bag

I am currently putting together a box for a planned home birth as well as preparing a bag for a possible hospital transfer or if things end up going to plan C a bag ready for a planned c-section. I’d love to know what you recommend packing?

For more pregnancy content please head to my hub post which contains links to all my relevant pregnancy based blog posts. My second High Bmi Pregnancy.

July 19, 2018