My first time pregnancy story
I am pregnant for the first time and I live on a small remote island. This is my story.
BLOG CHAPTERS
Pregnancy blog: front page
Chapter 1: I'm pregnant! The initial emotions
Chapter 2: Sharing our good news
Chapter 3: The unwelcomed symptoms of pregnancy
Chapter 4: Initial midwifery appointment
Chapter 5: Hello baby!
Chapter 6: A healthy growing baby
Chapter 7: The happy second trimester
> Chapter 8: Gifts & preparations
Chapter 9: Our plans for home birth
Chapter 10: The start of the third trimester
Chapter 11: Birthing options - a decision finally made
Chapter 12: An unplanned trip to the hospital
Chapter 13: Newest third trimester sensations
Chapter 14: Last minute preparations & more gifts
Chapter 15: A scare! Has the baby moved today?
Chapter 16: We are ready for the home birth
Chapter 17: The woes of late stage pregnancy
Chapter 18: The excruciating waiting stage!
Chapter 19: Scanning & sweeping
Chapter 20: Trapped in town (an indefinite hospital stay)
Chapter 21: Baby's birthday! My delivery & birth story
Chapter 22: A quick recovery
Chapter 23: Final thoughts. . .
Chapter 1: I'm pregnant! The initial emotions
Chapter 2: Sharing our good news
Chapter 3: The unwelcomed symptoms of pregnancy
Chapter 4: Initial midwifery appointment
Chapter 5: Hello baby!
Chapter 6: A healthy growing baby
Chapter 7: The happy second trimester
> Chapter 8: Gifts & preparations
Chapter 9: Our plans for home birth
Chapter 10: The start of the third trimester
Chapter 11: Birthing options - a decision finally made
Chapter 12: An unplanned trip to the hospital
Chapter 13: Newest third trimester sensations
Chapter 14: Last minute preparations & more gifts
Chapter 15: A scare! Has the baby moved today?
Chapter 16: We are ready for the home birth
Chapter 17: The woes of late stage pregnancy
Chapter 18: The excruciating waiting stage!
Chapter 19: Scanning & sweeping
Chapter 20: Trapped in town (an indefinite hospital stay)
Chapter 21: Baby's birthday! My delivery & birth story
Chapter 22: A quick recovery
Chapter 23: Final thoughts. . .
Chapter 8: Gifts & preparations
As soon as we learned that we were pregnant, James turned to Google and made a list of all essential items we were going to need for a new baby. This made me feel really prepared at the time, but as time was actually getting on, it was time to actually get prepared.
We were in mid June and thus week 24 of our pregnancy when we finally ventured to an online MotherCare shop. “Ah, online shopping, so convenient” - I hear you say but for us it’s more of a necessity than convenience as the nearest physical shop is some 200 miles and two boat trips away (Inverness, Scotland). We were so pleased that MotherCare delivers to our remote offshore island so we went ahead and ordered the baby starter essentials: a baby bath, clothes, toys, a set of bedding and a hygiene starter kit which includes bulky baby-safe thermometers, tweezers, medicine measuring spoons, etc.
We also visited John Lewis, another department store that delivers up here to Orkney and ordered furniture ready for the little one - namely a cot and a mattress. We also decided that we will be using traditional reusable towel nappies instead of relying on disposable plastic ones - there is enough plastic polluting our Earth and the oceans and we were not going to contribute more to the problem.
We didn’t want to go overboard with buying too many items, as our parenting philosophy hinges on love and attention and not material goods. We thought we were all set with bare minimum, but what we didn’t expect was our friends and neighbours literally showering us with kindness and presents! We received cute baby and toddler clothes, blankets and toys from local charity shops or handed down by families with older children. It was so unexpected and so kind that at times I couldn’t keep my joyful tears in - I was emotional and ever so grateful! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everybody!
My Nan is a knitter - she knits and knits and knits! Every memory I have of her is with a pair of knitting needles in hand so I wasn’t surprised when a parcel arrived filled with knitted goodies for the little baby - her first great grandchild! Socks, jumpers, hats, mittens were all included in the parcel and were all different sizes too! One of the jumpers she sent looked rather familiar to me and turned out to be my old jumper - one I wore when I was 1 year old! I still have an old picture of myself wearing it, dated December 1993! What an heirloom!
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