Documenting pregnancy and our new baby

Being a photographer, it means a whole lot to me to be able to photograph my journey into motherhood. I had so many great ideas (or maybe I borrowed a lot from Pinterest!) and I begun documenting them all as soon as I fell pregnant.

I also became a serial belly photographer! I sort of wish I had of taken these with my good camera but it's still good to have these to look back on - I can't believe how little my belly was for such a long time!

My one regret was not taking one last belly photo before my baby shower. I had planned to take one that morning but my hubby went out fishing and he was always the one that took the photos for me. I was also incredibly sick. If I had of known that Lilly would arrive the very next day, I would have sucked it up!

I had planned to start the series below the day Lilly was born but with her being in the nursery, we had to start at 1 month when she arrived home for the first time. I am loving how it's turning out though, I can't wait to finish it for her first birthday! I've been using magnetic letters from kmart for the words.

I also ordered some baby milestone cards. I put these on my baby shower wish list and had planned to order them if I didn't receive them at the shower. Lilly came the next day so I didn't get to start this project from the beginning either but I'm glad to have them and get started now - they are such a great idea! You can buy them from here.

Do you have a special photography series or project for your pregnancy or little one? I am going to start a photo a day series once my new Canon 6D arrives!

Hospital Bag 101 - What worked and what didn't

I started getting my hospital bag ready at about 20 weeks and it's probably a good thing I was so darn organised because it was ready to go when I gave birth 6 weeks early! I spent weeks and weeks trawling Pinterest for blog posts about what to pack in a hospital bag and I am so grateful that there is so much amazing advice out there which really helped me with my preparation! 

Unfortunately, I didn't expect to be giving birth so quickly so I didn't get to take any nice photographs - just the ones that I snapped on my iPhone to share with my birth group on Facebook. Keep in mind that my bag was packed with a vaginal birth in mind and here in Australia I was told our public hospitals don't supply a thing.

Toiletry bag:

• 2 packets of maternity pads with wings. This was enough for my whole 2 weeks in hospital! I hardly bled at all but I'm not sure whether that's because I had a cesarean.
• 1 packet of maternity pads without wings (not pictured). I didn't realise they were wingless but I ended up packing them anyway. I used these to cushion my scar and stuffed them between my undies and skin.
• Green bag of breast pads. After a week I had to get hubby to bring more - I used heaps because my boobs were crazy milk making machines lol
• Hydrogel breast pads. I thought my boobs would ache from feeding but these are still sitting in my cupboard at home along with the Lansinoh.
• Toilet paper and flushable toilet wipes (not pictured). Hospital toilet paper is gross so I had my own roll of nice stuff from home. I also purchased some of those flushable wipes for my sore bits but I ended up using them still because my lady bits swelled and looked like man bits!
• Witch hazel. This stuff is supposed to be amazing after a vaginal delivery which I didn't have. Some ladies in my birth group suggested soaking maternity pads in the stuff and popping them in the freezer for some cooling relief after birth. I'll be keeping that in mind for baby #2!
• Randin toiletries. Toothbrush, toothpaste, brushes, hair ties, roll on deodorant, detol hand sanitiser, shampoo and conditioner, lip balm. I wish I had packed soap (but didn't as I was told not to wash off babies scent) but luckily the hospital had it in dispensers in the showers.

 

For Mummy:

• Black sports bra. I packed this to labour and birth in but didn't end up needing it for my ceaser.
• 10 pairs of black underwear in a size larger than pre-pregnancy. These would have been great for a post-vaginal bleedy birth but I had so much post birth swelling that they cut into my thighs and belly. My mum went and got me some high waisted nana undies but my husband had to cut me out of them too! I ended up cutting them down the sides so they were really loose.
• 4 maternity bras. I hadn't got around to buying these so mum had to go grab them after I gave birth. She got my normal size but went up a cup size.
• 4 nursing singlets. These were amazing! Some days I would wear them without a bra and still do the same at home during the night.
• 3 pairs nice PJ bottoms + 2 pairs of black trackies. I lived in my pjs while I was in hospital. I was going to go for all black but ended up packing some nice bright ones to keep me happy.
• Black hoodie. I like to wear a hoodie to keep warm rather than long sleeve pjs so this was a must. It was also handy to wrap around Lilly during skin to skin in the nursery.
• 2 pairs of socks. I live in them at home! I also had a pair of slippers that I wore down to the nursery each day.
• Lollies and TimTams. Possibly THE most important part of my whole suitcase! These only lasted a few days before I had to send Hubby for more!
• Book and pen. I packed these so I could write out our birth story while it was fresh in my head.
• Going home outfit. I made sure to pack a really nice outfit to wear home so that I looked just as nice almost as nice as Lilly in our photos.

For Baby:

Lilly was born premature so the hospital actually supplied everything we needed for our stay in the Special Care Nursery. However, when Lilly was ready to come home, we got to stay 2 nights in the hospital together so I will share what I packed for her during this time.

• Packet of newborn nappies. I actually borrowed enough from the nursery to keep us going but we probably went through about 20 eeeep.
• Johnsons Wipes. We had planned to use Huggies but they used Johnsons in hospital so we kept using those seeing as though Lilly didn't have a reaction to them.
• Nappy cream.We packed cream but didn't need it until we were well and truly home.
• 5 singlets and under onesies. We really struggled to find clothes to fit Lilly so she ended up wearing a lot of 00000 under onesies from Kmart during her first few weeks. We found the 0000 singlets from Target fit her quite well too but the bonds ones were too long and gapey under the arms.
• 5 outfits. Lilly mostly wore tights, tops and long sleeve onesies in those first few weeks because normal onesies were way too long on her.
• 1 going home outfit. We managed to find a cute 00000 set from Target that fit Lilly perfectly so she wore that home from the hospital.
• 2 beanies. Lilly lived in beanies for her first few weeks so we made sure we had some cute ones packed for her stay in hospital and her trip home. Unfortunately they were both too big so we kept using the ones that her great aunty knitted for her.
• 4 pairs of socks. We packed socks but didn't need them because all of her outfits had built in feet.
• 4 wraps and blankets. We packed a few different types from muslin, to cotton to flannelette and everything in between. It was freezing and the middle of Winter so we needed to make sure she was nice and warm.
• Dummies. I packed some dummies but Lilly wouldn't take them so I may have 'borrowed' the ones we used in the nursery. 4 weeks on and she still prefers them over any brand that I've purchased.

Last Minute: 

• My 7D camera and lenses. I wish I had of taken more photos in hospital but I was absolutely exhausted from a baby who spent what felt like the entire 48 hours crying and feeding. 
• Make Up. I definitely wanted to look photo ready for the day we came home from hospital!
• Phone charger. I would have been lost without my phone to contact people to come up for visits.
• My pillow. Umm yep I ended up bringing my own only for me to forget it and leave it on my bed in the hospital. My lovely midwife ended up delivering it to me after we came home though! 

And that's what I had packed in my bags! I felt a bit silly having a whole big suitcase packed but everything we needed fit inside perfectly. Make sure you comment with anything I've forgotten that you have found useful!!

My beautiful baby shower

I have spent the last few weeks feeling absolutely horrible and even headed into hospital last week with severe vomiting and diarrhea. I am convinced that morning sickness has started late at 32 weeks but the hospital decided that it's probably just gastro...either way, I hope it all ends very soon! We were supposed to have our maternity session this weekend but I had to cancel because I've just been so sick =( However, we couldn't cancel the baby shower after the weeks and weeks of planning so I soldiered on despite spending the morning chucking up still haha - isn't my morning portrait glamorous?

My mum and sisters planned the whole thing and I think they did an absolutely amazing job! Check out the gorgeous decorations - it was seriously the best day ever!

Dressing the bump

Now that my bump is beginning to be more obvious, I'm starting to think of cute ways to dress my bump! I have been buying lots of bump hugging clothes from Cotton On and this is my most recent purchase - at $19.95 you can't go wrong!! I got it in plain black too and might go back and get the grey striped version as well. It's so comfortable and has lots of room in it to grow with my bump too. I am cautious of spending too much on maternity clothes as I'll only get a few more weeks wear out of them before baby arrives! 

Here I am in the black version a few days later for Mother's Day. I am finding that wearing a belt under my boobs helps to accentuate my belly a little more too. I think I need to get some new bras though, my boobs feel as though they are exploding out of my C cups!!

Setting up the nursery

We've been working on the nursery from about 8 weeks pregnant so it's pretty much finished! However, every now and then we have a new toy to set up or new things to put away. Last week we decided to set up the swing and little Chloe thought she'd help out with the instructions haha so cute!!

30 Week Update

These last 30 weeks have absolutely flown by! It's hard to believe that I could be meeting our baby in just 10 weeks time. It's such a surreal feeling! I have been so lucky and haven't really felt pregnant at all up until this week. I have been working full time and been quite sick with a chest and ear infection so it's really taken it out of me. I've been enjoying my new baby bump very much - it's so cool having strangers ask how far along I am, even if they are shocked to find out I only have 10 weeks left!

I've also been enjoying lots of weird tumbles and rolls - my sister loves to put her head on my belly and feel bub move underneath hehe. Hubby has been enjoying lots of play time too!

We also started to wash some of bubs things - it was so exciting hanging up all of her cute little clothes!!

27 Weeks

Oh my goodness - my belly is well and truly popping out now! It's hard to believe there's a little human growing inside me. She is making herself very well known with lots of kicks, tumbles and turns happening every day. I'm getting super excited because next week we are off to Melbourne for our Babymoon!!

24 Week Update

I'm 24 weeks! Where has the time gone? Over the last few weeks, I have been starting to get our hospital bags ready and we have been working hard on the nursery - I cannot wait to share photos once it's all finished.

I've also been taking some time out once a week to light a candle and rub myself in coconut butter - so relaxing!

Documenting the bump - 21 weeks!

I've been taking lots of photos of my bump lately, even though it's still really little! Today I started taking some progression photographs but my little kitty decided she needed to be a part of them too - she's so cute!

I am now 21 weeks pregnant and I am finding that if I stand on my side, I actually look like I have a little belly haha. I am also just starting to feel like kicks - seriously the most amazing feeling in the world!

This week I also hit Trade Secret with Mum and my sisters. Mum got so many cute little bits and pieces for bub - my favourite is this gorgeous little jumpsuit. I think it will be her going home outfit with a long sleeved onesie underneath!

Gender Reveal Party

We finally found out the gender of our little baby! I have been having early gender scans for a few weeks now and we had a little bit of an idea...but at my 20 week scan the gender was confirmed! We decided to have a little gender reveal afternoon tea to share the exciting news with my extended family. M beautiful sister helped me to pull it all together in a day!

You would not believe how hard it is to find blue food! My sister coated the oreo cream in blue sprinkles while I dipped the pretzils in chocolate and sprinkles - they look so cute! 

My lovely Nana got some plain donuts and coated them in icing and sprinkles for us too. I didn't take any photos of the pink food because it all came straight out of the packet and onto the plate.

We ordered some helium balloons and hid them in this lovely wrapped box, decorated by my clever sister because she's so crafty!

It's a....

 

We are so excited to welcome a beautiful baby girl into our family!! We went shopping the afternoon of my scan (hubby had to work so his mum and my Nana came to the scan with me) and got some gorgeous new girls clothes to start our collection - hubby picked most of them himself, isn't he great?!

Early gender scan

I recently headed down to the Gold Coast with my Mum and sisters to try and find out the gender of the little baby growing in my belly. It turned out that they don't even try to predict the gender so early, but we did get some cool pictures and a fun DVD of our baby rolling around in my belly! It looks like the baby is waving to us haha - so cute!! I have this feeling in my gut that we have a little baby boy - I can't wait to find out for sure!

Pets and Pregnancy

I have read a few times that pets can often sense you are pregnant. I wasn't really sure I believed it but our youngest kitty, Chloe, has definitely been very affectionate towards me compared to our older boy, Monty. She sleeps right beside my bump every night! Last night she decided to give baby a little massage.

our baby book arrived + our pregnancy announcement

Yesterday our beautiful baby book arrived from Ruby Love on etsy! I've had this baby book added to my favourites for a really long time (like, longer than my husband and I have been married for) so I finally ordered it a week and a bit ago!! The shipping to Australia is expensive but totally worth it - I was so excited to find it sitting on my door step yesterday - super quick shipping that's for sure. 

 

I ordered the extra pregnancy pages and started filling them in today which made me reminise my pregnancy so far. I have wanted to start a family ever since I finished high school so this baby has been waiting for us for a very long time. My husband and I agreed we would wait until we had been married for a year and we would then start trying. We really didn't expect to fall pregnant just two cycles after stopping the pill! During my October cycle, I felt very different towards the end of the month. I was sure I was pregnant but my first test was clearly negative, even though I was SURE there was a very very faint second line. Hubby laughed and asked me to please refrain from wasting so much money on pregnancy tests...oops I didn't listen to him lol

The 31st of October was Halloween!! I ended up cracking and telling my youngest sister that I was pretty positive that we were finally pregnant (and it sounds silly to say finally after only 2 months of trying but it felt like forever lol). Within a few days, my tests got darker and darker so we decided to tell our family. Soon after, we got our positive blood test and we announced to my extended family! Check out the very cute video below - I still get teary whenever I watch it!!

Below is our facebook announcement and a cute little photo that I'm going to take again at about 8 months pregnant and once we bring our bub home!

 I can't believe we are almost in our 5th month of pregnancy!! It has absolutely flown by and hasn't been what I was expecting at all. I have been so lucky and haven't had any morning sickness but have been the most tired I have ever been in my whole entire life haha. I thought I would be shoveling down the food by now but I'm still finding it hard to eat anything substantial. I'm 16 weeks tomorrow and my baby bump is seriously lacking haha - I'm sure it will all happen very soon though! When did you start to show with your first baby?