• Birth and Delivery
    4th Trimester,  Mum Life,  NHS,  Pregnancy,  Whipps Cross Hospital

    Positive Labour And Delivery Story; It’s A Girl!

    I had originally planned to film my whole labour and delivery story but as things happened so quickly, we didn’t get the chance to, so I decided to vlog about it instead. In my last post I was a week past my due date and wrote about what the plan would be if I had to be induced, but haven’t given an update since. (Coincidentally the post went live the day I went into labour, funny how things turn out…) This post is so late, it was meant to go up when little bubs was four weeks, but mum life is so hectic, let me tell you! You essentially have…

  • Due Date
    3rd Trimester,  Mum Life,  Pregnancy

    Our Due Date: It Came & It Went, Now What?

    Like so many women out there, my due date has come and gone with absolutely no signs of labour coming on any time soon… Also like many women out there, I have had messages since the due date to be like ‘anything yet?’ or daily calls from my momma to check in and see if everything ok. Like I wouldn’t tell people when things kick off…. On the one hand its lovely as people are just as excited as we are to meet baby. But on the other hand as I’m not stressing about baby ‘being on time’, especially as Hubby and I are always late, everyone else should be…

  • Hospital Go Bag
    3rd Trimester,  Haul,  NHS,  Pregnancy

    Labour Go Bag; What You Need…

    The week before last marked a month exactly until my due date. Until our last antenatal class that week, we were both just happily chugging along and then the midwife leading the class said there’s a 5-week window of when babies arrive: 3 weeks before their due date and 2 weeks after. 5 whole weeks! If that was the case last week is the start of that 5 week window and although overall, I feel great and no twinges to suggest any movement soon, I did have a mini freak out; our go bag wasn’t packed, car seat hadn’t been taken out the box yet alone fitted, we hadn’t finished…

  • 2nd Trimester
    2nd Trimester,  Mum Life,  Pregnancy,  Symptoms

    2nd Trimester Update

    I feel like I floated through the 2nd trimester in all honesty. Lockdown, for me anyway, meant less stress, more relaxing and more time for me and Hubby, which I think has allowed me to enjoy my pregnancy properly. To be honest I haven’t really had any symptoms of being in my 2nd trimester. I am well and truly in my third trimester now and throughout the last three months everyone’s been asking how I’ve been, if there’s anything to note. And my honest answer has been: “nope, not really. I’m fine”. Since my 1st trimester, I’ve had no mood swings mood swings, no crying at ads/shows/movies, no cravings, no…

  • nursery
    Bargains,  Mum Life,  Pregnancy

    Nursery ‘Tour’

    It’s been a couple of weeks guys as I have been getting sorted to start work as well as sorting out the house, not just the nursery but also finishing touches in our other rooms. But I am super excited to be able to share with you our little nursery for baby! Again these are not sponsored/ads, everything I mention below, we bought with our own monies. Nursery Furniture: I love all things Mamas & Papas! I know they’re a little more on the pricey side, but think their items are beaut and great quality. So of course we bought all the nursery furniture from there. We started off looking…

  • black mother-to-be - BLM
    Black Parenting,  Life Lessons,  Mum Life,  Pregnancy,  Race,  Speaking Up

    A Black Mother-To-Be: The Harsh Realities

    It’s been a really difficult week as a black woman in the world. That coupled with the fact that I’m a black mother-to-be of a child that will also be black, the events of the past month have weighed heavy. No, I’m not in the US, but that doesn’t mean institutional racism doesn’t exist here in the UK either. I was always raised to be proud of who I am, where I’m from and what I look like. My father is very political and was more Malcolm X than MLK back in his hay day. The first time I went to Ghana (my mums Ghanaian), I was 6 and we…

  • excited baby
    Being Heard,  Complaint,  Mum Life,  NHS,  Pregnancy

    My NHS Experience…(Part 2)

    In a post earlier this week, I wrote about issues I had with a couple of NHS Trusts, hoping to be able to update you all in the not so distant future. Well, I do indeed have a bit of an update for you. It’s shocking how quickly you get a response from a body when you contact their CEOs directly. (If you ever need to find the contact details of a CEO, then look no further; I’m telling you it’s the best way to raise a complaint!) I sent my complaint email to both Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust, as well as Barts Health NHS Trust on Monday,…

  • Baby Show Live
    Bargains,  Haul,  Mum Life,  Pregnancy

    The Baby Show Live @ Home – Our Haul

    Last weekend The Baby Show, despite lockdown, were able to still hold an amazing event, virtually! They launched The Baby Show Live @ Home which was great for me, as I thought lockdown would mean no baby shows for us at all. It was an amazing event full of talks, advice, competitions and The Baby Show was giving 20% off all products. Though it ran across the whole weekend, anyone who knows Hubby and I, knows how lazy we can be. In true A. style, Saturday was a right off, I was shattered and Hubby wasn’t feeling doing anything at all (kind of annoying as I wish he would pick…

  • Crying Toddler
    Complaint,  Mum Life,  NHS,  Pregnancy,  Speaking Up

    My NHS Experience…(Part 1)

    Now I have to start this post praising the NHS staff; they have been on the front line of this pandemic in the UK. I cannot imagine where we would be without their services and dedication to the sick. They have done a phenomenal job and we, the British public should be more appreciative of the NHS, not just now, but ongoing and they deserve a lot more funding than what the Conservatives give, but that’s another story. Now that being said, I have had a negative experience of the NHS while being pregnant and my complaints started well before the pandemic reached us, so it is important to stress…

  • Pregnant
    1st Trimester,  Mum Life,  Pregnancy,  Symptoms

    We’re Pregnant!

    Hubby and I had everything planned after a year or two of dating: I wanted to be engaged by 28 *tick*, married by 30 *tick* and we’d get pregnant after I’d celebrated my 30th birthday. Hubby was good with this, if anything he wanted to bring the timeline up because he’s a couple of years older than me. Fast forward to 5 years together, we had gotten married and after we got back from honeymoon we stopped contraception. I’d heard it can take up to a year for the pill to leave your body, if you’d been taking it for as long as I had (10+ years). But we were…