Parenting the Shand Princesses

This post is about me realising I wasn't just stressed, I have Postnatal Depression. It's also a post that I am hoping will show others going through this, that they are not alone and it's okay to talk 💗 "Postnatal depression is when you have feelings of sadness, hopelessness, guilt or self-blame all the time for weeks or months after you’ve had a baby."  (Taken from Tommy's Website) I guess you could say this started from my antenatal depression. I was 7 months pregnant and our landlord had decided he wanted to sell his house, serving us eviction papers. Imagine that. 7 months pregnant, a nearly 2 year old, Christmas was a month away and I was now being told we would be evicted. Obviously I was stressed! I wasn't having a smooth pregnancy as it is, I did not need this on top of everything. OJ tried his best to keep me calm, but I could see the effect it had on him too. We spoke to our local council who said there were steps the landlord had to take befo...

This weeks pregnancy journey is by Samantha Abraham . Her journey had me laughing and i'm sure you will do the same! I gave birth to my beautiful baby number 5 at the beginning of January this year. I have 2 boys aged 21 and 8 years as well as 2 girls aged 7&5. Baby No.5 came as a huge but pleasant surprise after having decided not to have any more and quitting my job to create a start-up. Having passed the stages of denial I finally take a pregnancy test... Reality sets in and my husband and I are now passed staring at each other in silence which goes on to last a couple of months.   This eventually moves into us having conversations about our worries and what we need to do to plan for this.... unplanned, untimely pleasant little gift with the power of scaring us half to death!!! ... At some point among the madness, we do the maths and work out as tradition would have it....our little gift really was a gift!!!...as in that we worked out th...

The next few blog posts are going to be based on pregnancy and the obstacles we have to face not only during pregnancy, but conceiving and even after giving birth. My guest for this post is Danielle from My Mummy is a Bookworm  She has decided to share with me her journey to becoming a mother. "We got married. I came off the pill. I thought it would be that simple. Boy was I deluded. It started with absent periods, months went by and I had nothing, I did pregnancy tests and they always came back negative. I went to see my GP for advice, and they sent me for some blood tests. The result came back and I found out that I had Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and that this may impact on my ability to conceive. I was shattered, the reality of having a baby suddenly felt so far away and I felt that it was completely my fault. I couldn’t give myself or my partner what we so desperately wanted - a family. I was referred to a specialist at St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester ...

What a journey this has been! Currently 32 weeks pregnant and it's fair to say this pregnancy is totally different to when I was pregnant with Mayarna. For a start, I have been extremely nauseous from the day I found out and it has continued throughout my whole pregnancy. I have gone off so much food and drink and can't plan meals ahead at all. I can't complain though as my BMI has gone down and I have lost a few pounds!  What has been nice is feeling her movements. She's been super active from about 17 weeks (yes she made her presence aware from then!) and has got stronger every week. I now feel like I'm growing a baby octopus inside me as I feel kicks all over, some of them that leave me speechless. However, there is no better feeling than a baby's kick. It reassures you that baby is growing well and is strong. As you can see, I don't have a tiny neat bump! This picture is of me at 25 weeks and I look ready to pop. I am praying that I am carry...