Post pregnancy (2 weeks later)

Two weeks ago at exactly 13:19pm I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Evelina; she weighed 5lb3.5  and was the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in my life.
Let me give you an account of the process leading up to this event (otherwise known as labour)- it started at around 2am when I had my first contraction and a sudden urge to evacuate my bowels! I sat on my bed for a while wondering if this was really it, and with every contraction, I realised it was. So I tried to sleep through them, timing them as they came.
Around half 6 I woke my partner up and let him know I was having a bath. So I sat there, staring down at my tummy, watching my little girl wriggle for the last time and whispered "we can do this"- I've never been so scared and excited all at the same time before, but there I was.
After my bath, me and my partner both decided it was time to get up, just incase anything escalated, which it did. My contractions grew stronger and closer together, although irregular, they still grew with intensity.
I rang the hospital hoping they could give me an indication of when I needed to come in, but all they said was "you will know when you need to come in"- so I waited. I left it till late morning where my contractions had got considerably worse- I rang up for the 3rd time and insisted that I go in to be checked, even if they send me back home after.
So as I went upstairs to get dressed and my partner was putting the bags in the boot of the car, I barely made it to the bedroom before my agonising next contraction came. It was as if the pain went from 4 up to 9 in the space of 30 seconds! I was doubled over and screaming, and it only got worse.
My contractions were a few minutes apart so I could barely get anywhere without having one. My partner had to help me into the car and the whole 10-15 minute journey to the hospital felt like it lasted a lifetime. Once we got to the hospital I made it to the front entrance before getting another contraction- I gripped onto the railings, screaming and feeling like I had to push, urgently. An ambulance lady rushed out with a wheel chair for us and my parnter wheeled me to the dolphin suite, all while I was screaming with every contraction.
I didn't make it to a bed, nor did I get examined. I was in this lovely room, on a beanbag and wasn't in there half an hour before my girl was here. She was breech and needed forceps to get her head out after her body. It was the worst pain I've ever been in. But if I'm honest, I can't even remember the pain now.
She was here, as traumatic as it was, she was here and she was well.

The first few days after having her were horrendous- I barely slept and was overwhelmed with visitors.
I don't like seeing people at the best of times- I like them in small doses, so this was very overwhelming for me. I felt like I hadn't bonded with my baby yet, I wanted a day on our own, just me, my partner and our little girl.
We were exclusively breastfeeding at first but neither of us took to that very well, it was very difficult for me to feed her every few hours being so sleep deprived. I was falling to sleep whilst feeding her and she wouldn't settle afterwards which meant I was having to cuddle her for ages after her feeding, by which point, when I was done it was time for her next feed. In 4-5 days there abouts I hadn't slept more than 10 hours, I felt awful.
We moved on to formula pretty quickly after we saw the difference in Evelina- she was so content and relaxed- she was like a completely different baby. I felt awful that this bottle had given my baby something I couldn't and I felt useless and like I was being judged because from first glance it seemed as though I had taken the easy way out. For me, I was doing the best thing for my child.

Since then she has only thrived and now weighs a staggering 5lb12! And is getting more beautiful by the day.

Project secret

This is project secret- because its a present for someone and they don't know I've made it. This is the first baby dress i've ever crocheted and I'm really quite chuffed with it. It looks more yellow in the picture than it actually is in real life, but not to worry.

I used a 4mm hook- started with dc, then to V st and lg v st and a nice little picot for the edging.
Added a little bow and some roses bought from craftmania, Great Yarmouth.
Its designed to fit 18 months plus- its for a 1 year old but it looks small so I hope it will fit okay.

Love it :D

Juggling balls Crochet pattern:     Level: easy/ beginner


Abbreviations:

SC- single crochet

SL ST- slip stitch

CH- chain

RPT- repeat

DEC- decrease

• Round 1: make a magic ring and SC 8 times into centre of loop and SL ST into 8^th SC
  
• Round 2: CH 1 and 1 SC into the same SC, 2 SC in each SC (should have 16 SC), SL ST to join
  
• Round 3: CH 1 and SC into next SC, 2 SC into next SC *1 SC into next 2 SC, 2 SC into next- rpt * SL ST to join (should have 24 SC)
  
• Round 4: change colour if desired and repeat previous (should have 32)
  
• Round 5 -14: (change colour with every round if desired) *CH 1, SC into each SC until you get to the end, SL ST to join* RPT
  
• Round 15: CH 1, 1 SC into next SC and then 1 DEC into next, *1 SC into next 2 SC and 1 DEC in next* RPT until end and SL ST to join
  
• Round 16: CH 1, *1 DEC into next SC and then 1 SC into next* RPT until end and then SL ST to join
  
  
  At this point you will need to turn your piece inside out so the excess bits of yarn are now inside, this is a good time to stuff your ball.
  
  
  
• Round 17: CH 1, *1 DEC into next SC and then 1 SC into next* RPT until end and then SL ST to join
  
  You should now be able to close the top with a simple SL ST.
  
  Using a yarn needle, thread your excess yarn into the ball so no excess is visible.
  
  Make as many as required.

  

  
  

Square crazy!

 

I've been working on some new squares to border my blanket as i'm not sure how I want to order them etc- these are what I've experimented with so far:

 

 

My own creation:

 

The African style granny square:

 

The popcorn flower square and a 2 layered petal flower:

Cthulhu Project

So, I stumbled across a pattern for Cthulhu (anyone who doesn't know who/what this is, read H. P. Lovecrafts stories) and I thought I would make him for my partner as he's a massive fan.

So let me take you on my Cthulhu journey from end to start:

 

 

The finished Project:

 

 

 

Cthulhu without arms & wings:

 

Cthulhu's head: