39 weeks and almost there .....

As Jess posted her final pre birth video blog, her submission statement was "hope the baby comes soon, I'm sooo tired".

Being 39 weeks pregnant with another tot at home is definitely an exhausting time, but I think you will all agree she looks amazing in her maternity shots (taken by Sara Thomaswww.maternityandbabyphotographer.co.uk)

Meet Uju of http://babesabouttown

Uju has already created a real buzz and following on the Lazy Daisy® site with her sparky posts (such as Is Parenthood the Death of Cool?) as she writes and reflects on life as a mum to two boys!

We knew therefore, that her interview with our resident presenter and fellow mum Sophie would be really fun and it does not disappoint!

In this interview you will hear Uju talk about cool parents, the need for a sense of humour, the support she received post baby and about her own birth.

And her family anthem - it brought a lump to our throats as we revisited a poignant and super cool track!

Here I am on my 29th birthday, 5 months pregnant with my first and looking for new, non alcoholic ways to celebrate.  We hired a boat on the Thames and picnicked.  You might spot the Jo Jo Bebe Maman bag, the birthday presents have shifted slightly, to mark my mum-to-be status

I think it is fair to say I was an early adopter to pregnancy amongst my closest friends.  Shortly after this my husband and I decided to leave behind our life and friends in London to set up business and home in Nottingham.  I decided to leave teaching and to be a full time mum for a few years. Looking back it was a pretty huge transition.  I approached it alot like freshers week at university and joined as many antenatal or baby related groups as I could.  I soon made lots of wonderful new mum friends, many of which I see on a weekly basis 5 years on.

But what about my friends of old,my school friends, the gang of girls I went to university with and then gravitated to London with?  I missed them hugely, I didn't see them as often and sometimes, especially when I had to say no to things, because I was still breastfeeding, because I didn't feel ready to leave my babies or because I was tired or strapped for cash, I felt our lives had moved in different ways. But, despite missing a few birthdays, not keeping up on gossip and feeling a little like I was missing out on their child free fun, we are still going strong.

'Na your pikin be dis?' (pidgin English for 'Is this your child?')

I was walking through Abuja airport, sweating under the weight of baby bag and my 9 month old on the hip seat carrier around my waist.

It was my first visit back to Nigeria to see my mum since I had a child and, although exhausted, I was bubbly with anticipation.  I was also aware of stares from passing strangers, eyes snapping wide at dark-skinned me and my baby with his pale skin, slanted eyes and jet black hair. An airport official marched over.

Your 2 year old still sleeps with you ..... are you mad?

When I tell my friends my 2 year old still sleeps with me, they roll their eyes!  Comments like ‘isn’t he in a bed yet’, ‘how the heck do you cope with that’, ‘how are you ever having a relationship’ are common and yet for me sleeping with Master M. feels totally normal.

I am not what you would call a continuum concept mum.  Don't get me wrong, I so admire those who can have baby attached to them 24hrs a day, with baby on board in sling, and who fly in the face of us buggy pushers.  Whilst I will freely admit I am no where close to going as far as many attachment parents, I do love cuddles and felt really strongly about wanting my baby with me at night.

I guess I am proof that co-sleeping isn't exclusively attached to some kind of  'eco parenting style' like many people still believe it to be.  I didn't breast feed (those of you who have read my bio will know why), I used a sling but not all the time.  Surely therefore I can’t possibly be a fan of co-sleeping can I ……?

38 weeks pregnant and photographing a birth (and it wasn't hers!)

This week Jess talks about the amazing experience of being able to photograph the birth of beautiful baby Brinkley and about bearing down in labour!

I think the pictures can do their own talking this week, so enjoy the wonder that is labour and tune into Jess's musings at 38 weeks!

What a treat from Daisy Radio this week...

Meet our resident presenter Sophie T, as she not only talks about her own experiences of childbirth but interviews mummy and blogger (and indeed regular contributor to the Lazy Daisy blogs) Mrs Penny Alexander.

Sophie takes Penny's blog Reach out and touch me published earlier this month, as inspiration for this interview and together they chat through birth, c-sections, bonding moments, parenting heros and family life.

This is a really uplifting broadcast, especially if you are a mum who knows your birth journey may need a little extra help (watch out for our residential workshops in Surrey, giving a beautiful day of extra support too) and finishes with Penny selecting her all time fav parenting song and family anthem - it's a classic so get ready to have a bop with your bump or baby!

Parenting it's a juggling act .....

..... it's easy to get lost sometimes, in the frustrating things, like being overtired, not having time to go to the gym or the toilet, not being allowed to hold a proper conversation, but what's the bigger picture? What do we gain? Lazy Daisy is a really positive space, which to me seems like a great foundation for the life changing journey that is parenthood. So this week I asked fellow parents if parenthood gave them a greater sense of purpose in life.

Here are ten of the life enhancing changes children made in our lives, do you agree?

My youngest turns 3 next week ....

Jed's developing into a solid lad with actual knuckles instead of dimples and the ghost of a jawline emerging through the cheek fat.  But he's still my baby.

Jed and his older brother, Ezra, are three years and two weeks apart. Thinking back now to how I treated Ezra when I was heavily pregnant, I get choked up. I was so focused on my bump and then my newborn, expecting Ezra to be a big boy - essentially to 'man up'. The realisation that he was as little as Jed is now makes me want to reach back through the years and cuddle his tiny frame.

'When you're holding a newborn, suddenly your older child looks like a giant!' says Fenella, mum of two.

But your Gulliver is still a Lilliputian and needs extra TLC as you both enter strange territory.

Muscle Memory is a wonderful thing

…. and never ceases to amaze me!

Yesterday 15 recruits joined us for the 1st day of their practical training.  Yes some of them were former Lazy Daisy® mums themselves, and yes we have been working on written assignments and virtually for the past 2 months, but the real amazement to me is that 2pm yesterday when they taught their first practical segment they were mums trying to stumble their way through a movement based routine (sorry girls!).  Yet just 24 hours later, today, they were evolving into real life teachers …… is this because I am an amazing trainer;  whilst I would love of course to say I am, I have to credit the power of muscle memory.

This is the amazing ability the brain has to create inherent pathways for movements or actions repeated over and over, so that they simply happen!  Like riding a bike or driving a car…..

Snow, birthing Shirts and maternity Pads!!!!

And despite the snow and sickness bugs, Jess is here - 37 weeks pregnant and checking in!

This week Jess talks about sickness bugs (Aghhh!), her week's highlight of  waking up on Sunday and having a family snow day and her top tips for packing her hospital bag (even though she is still on cue for a home birth!).

Jess has some great tips about maternity pads (yes maternity pads - all dignity goes out of the window when blogging pregnant) and we have our own top tips to add to her brilliant suggestions, below!

In an interview with Natural Childbirth's Elizabeth Jones, I was asked about daisy, family and PND ...

Here is just a short extract

By Elizabeth Jones 07 Feb 2012

Julie Long founded Daisy Birthing in 2004 and since then has gone from strength to strength. Having had five children herself, trained as a HypnoBirthing practitioner and in pregnancy yoga, Julie was in an excellent position to launch her unique approach to antenatal preparation. Daisy Birthing offers antenatal classes which combine traditional active birth with unique birth movement sequences, affirmations and relaxations. It is a complete antenatal education class ideal for any expectant mother with instructors across the UK.

This week Penny explores Raising Girls .....

Follow on from last week's blog Male bonding

It was bedtime last week,  I stood bemused in the kitchen as my 3yo son lobbed the empty beaker he'd asked me to fill with milk, across the kitchen. My husband was reasoning through gritted teeth with our 5yo daughter who was getting closer to tears by the sentence.

'Swap?' said my husband.

What is it about Gwyneth Paltrow that sticks in the throat?

Is it the Renaissance woman smugness: Oscar winner! Earth mama! Lifestyle guru! Domestic goddess!  The glacial, prom queen sheen?

Or are we ever so slightly jealous that at 40 with two kids she's gone from macrobiotic string bean to uber hottie with the likes of Madonna and Beyonce on speed dial?

Whatever it is, she sure can grate (why of course, she's got her own cookbook!).  Now she's managed to whip both the right wing press and lefty elements of the blogosphere into a veritable soufflé.

Chill out and relax ..... and boost that oxytocin!

Welcome to week 3 of our broadcasts - it's great to hear so many of you are enjoying these broadcasts and using them to help support your weekly classes and practise at home!

This week is all about relaxing and chilling out. Something which are a week of VAT returns, I really need to do!

Are you sleeping?

Nope, well mother nature is definitely a sneaky gal and tries to get us ready for interrupted sleep post baby, by doing her best to interrupt it pre baby.  So most mums to be feel a real need to chill out and let go from time to time!

In this week's broadcast, you can experience techniques to help you relax but more over understand why relaxation is so important for you, for your hormones, for your baby and for Optimum Foetal Position!

SOooo over being sick!

Sheer dedication!  Jess talks to us this week, 36 weeks pregnant and feeling poorly!  Thank you Jess and get well soon.

She talks about how she is sooooo over being sick, about pushchair shopping (but what colour!!!), washing muzzies and good old perineum stretches and massage!  Plus she reveals where she hopes to have this baby!

"Yes Jess, you are correct you can use edible oil for your perineum massage" ...  but if you can't face the massage, the stretch we use in Daisy Birthing classes is a good option (although as Jess correctly states, not suitable for ladies with SPD as it involves abducting the leg).  Here she is pictured here on all fours, getting ready to work her pelvic floor and perineum;  get those knees back a little Jess, behind your hips, as it will help to open your pelvis!

Last week I mentioned I read a book about Raising Boys, by Steven Biddulph,

it's a fascinating read that helped me to prepare to raise a boy. So this week I'm reflecting on how to raise happy boys.  It's the girl's turn next week.

For me, I think the difference in girls and boys first hit me when my mother in law commented on my baby boy's need for closeness.  He would wind his fingers in my hair, sneak his head under my cardigan, push his toes in my pockets.  It was, my mother in law said, just as my husband had been as a baby, 'as if he wanted to be back in the womb'.

Now aged 3, throughout the day at regular intervals, he will come and find me, clamber on me or cuddle me, in order to charge his emotional batteries. Last weekend I returned from a weekend away, and while my daughter proceeded to bamboozle me with chat, my son jumped on me, gave me the hugest cuddle and once I had collapsed onto the sofa, attempted to put both his feet up my jumper and pull it over his body like a duvet.

Finding your Pregnancy Symmetry

In our Daisy Radio antenatal podcast Daisy Radio - 2 of 6 Episodes (Series 1) last week, we considered the importance of balance to the uterus (womb).  This is something we work on a huge amount in our weekly antenatal classes.

Think of a hammock tied to two trees and how important it is that the ropes attaching it are even, in order to allow you to lay in the hammock without falling out.

Now think of baby in the womb - a symmetrical womb will allow baby to turn more easily into their optimum position - in short OFP is all about balance!

Uju encourages you to love your post pregnancy body!

Pregnancy is a bit of a Jedi mind trick. For a while there you're all lightsabre glow, fab hair and va va voom bosom.

Months later, things start falling apart. From stretch marks and overhang to deflated boobs and hair shedding in clumps, the after-shock of birth can be a blow to any lady's self esteem.

But chin up, it's not all bloom and doom.

With a little research and chatting with some other mums, I've come up with 9 reasons to appreciate our bodies after giving birth.

Balance and Bolly .... creating the ideal hammock for your bump!

This is the second in a series of Daisy podcasts designed to help existing Daisy Birthing® class mums practise their newly acquired birthing skills but also to allow mums-to-be who are new to us, to give us a try!

In our first episode which went live on 19th January, Daisy Radio is here!, we worked on the importance of breathing and how to link the breath to a birth visualisation.

Here in this second episode, we think about one of the fundamentals underpinning our Lazy Daisy classes - bringing symmetry and balance to your uterus and your pelvic floor.  Why?  Well to help your baby move more easily into the ideal position for birth (torsions in the uterus can prevent this and hold baby posterior or breech) and to help you feel more comfortable in your back and abdominal area!

Some of you may have read about our ethos and the hidden birth muscles, like the psoas and the piriformis, in February 2012 edition of Practical Parenting & Pregnancy magazine.  This broadcast will really help you understand why we talk so much about using movements to lengthen the psoas muscles and to work on the piriformis, and why these muscles are so relevant to labour.