Week 3 - Goodwood Revival and more!

Following on from last week's party weekend, this week I had another diet wrecker to watch out for - Goodwood Revival! Scott was there with the Vintage Hair Lounge from Friday to Sunday,  taking photos of the hair and makeup makeovers, the artistes at work, the racing, the Spitfire fly-bys and of course the amazing cars.

On the Saturday, Flo and I joined him, leaving home just after 6am, arriving on site around 7.30. We found the pie counter for breakfast. I bought a bacon roll which I shared with Flo and Scott. Having started so early, by around 10am I felt like it must be lunchtime, so went off in search of healthy, hearty food. Big fail! Pie counter again, this time a sausage roll. Again I shared it. Lunch was a bit better - a rather dry (aka not too much sauce, so good for diet) chicken tikka.

This is me with Sharon from the Vintage Hair Lounge. She is seriously funny, extremely good at what she does, and immensely passionate about bringing the style, femininity and glamour of vintage looks into our faster paced world. You really feel different when you've spent time with people who live their lives in a different way, with different outlooks. I love it! Oh, and this is Sharon's lovely mum, Gloria, with a very sleepy Flo...

Festivals are an absolute killer for dieters. I had no idea what churros were before Goodwood. I know now. They are hot gooey sticks of loveliness, full of fat. But soooooo yummy. And mid afternoon, a very welcome snack. I counted them on my WW planner as I would donuts. Oh, and of course, Scott had to buy me a pint of Goodwood ale. Zoiks! We took a hell of a detour on the way home thanks to crappy roadsigns telling us "All routes this way" - a 10-mile trip north to Midhurst, adding a delightful 18 miles and 30 minutes to our journey. I'm pretty sure I ate something rubbish when I got home too.

Still, the weekend was amazing, the atmosphere was fantastic, everyone looked amazing in their vintage attire from the 40's, 50's and 60's and hey, a day off the diet shouldn't make tooooo much of a difference, should it?

One promise I made to Scott when we started this was that the money we DON'T spend on takeaways will be used to buy really good meat, so I bought a couple of beautiful rump steaks for us this week. It was a very welcome treat, and with a baked potato and some Philly it was pretty awesome.

The rest of the week has been pretty good - I made a lovely chicken and vegetable soup with a tomato base, which has been excellent for lunches. I've bought tons of fruit, stopped taking sugar in my tea and coffee, and have generally stuck within my daily allowance.

Even so, it was with some trepidation that I got on the scales this week at fat club. Flo was on the stage at the back of the hall, so I was a little distracted, but, joy of joys, this week I lost 4lb! I now weigh 14st 1.5lb A-ma-zing! Really happy. So, lets see how this week carries on. I've done what I call a "good" food shop, and have bought lots of fish, chicken fillets, Quorn and vegetables.

I'm still feeling really positive, and looking forward to getting my first silver seven at WW next week - basically a silver sticker when you lose half a stone. The 2.5lb I lost before my official weigh-in don't count, as that would have me on 8.5lb already, but next week I'll definitely lose some more. Watch this space...

Birthday Week - Eek!

This week could have been pretty disastrous as far as my Weight Watchers diet is concerned - a toddler birthday party with very tempting finger food, cakes, and of course, more than a little stress; a big (nay, huge!) friends and family party with yet more cake, a huge vat of chilli and alcohol; the obligatory family meal at the local pub, plus the amazing news that I got a new job. All adds up to weight gain, rather than loss, on the face of it, doesn't it?

Well, I was very good on Saturday, making sure there were lots of fruit options in terms of snacks. I allowed myself a slice of chocolate cake at the kids party, and tracked it using my points calculator - 6 points! For the grown-up party I made a chilli using lean beef mince, lots of veg and chopped tomatoes, plus a vegetarian option made with beans and veg. I gave myself just a small portion of rice, some nachos and low-fat soured cream, and a mixture of both the meat and veg chilli, resulting in a filling, hearty meal.

Alcohol can be a problem for me at parties, as I tend to wander around with a huge wine (beer?) glass and keep topping up. Instead of this usually sad state of affairs, I opted for a bottle of Bulmers (again, 6 points) which lasted forever, some sugar-free fizzy pop and then a late small glass of rioja. Yum! This did mean that I was a bit of a grumpy arse by the end of the night, as everyone else was much more drunk than I was, and I was rather too aware of the noise we were making. All in all though, not bad.

A family meal with Flo and Scott on my birthday (the Sunday) was pretty successful - gammon, jacket potato and peas with a fried egg and slice of pineapple. I'd saved my points through the week, so still managed to stay within my limits. Fantastic!

Finding out I had a new job was a bit brilliant, but also made me want to celebrate/commiserate imminently leaving M&S. Thorntons Moments were a good option - one point each, easy to control myself.

Even with my self-control, I still had a slice of birthday cake for breakfast this morning, then a "slightly-too-large-to-be-diet-worthy" bowl of vege chilli for lunch. Weigh in this evening at Marchwood was scary. Usually in the first week you're expected to lose 4-6lb. I would be lucky not to PUT ON! So I was very relieved to find I'd lost 2lb, meaning I'm now down to 30points per week, and aiming for a better weight loss next week. I'm not entirely thrilled, but certainly not disappointed. 

Onwards and upwards (or downwards, whichever way you look at it!).

First weigh-in

So, since starting my blog Monday I've had an amazing amount of support from friends old and new, with comments and private messages coming from so many people. Quite overwhelming. I'm not running the marathon or doing something amazing for charity, I'm just trying to lose some weight to look better on the rare occasion Mr C catches me on camera and to be healthier for my very energetic little girl.

At the moment we have no scales at home that work, so I weighed myself at mum's expecting to see 15stone something, but was pleasantly surprised to see that my weight has no ballooned - just my body! I weighed 14st10oz on Monday, having started following the Weightwatchers ProPoints plan from that morning. I measured myself too - hips, waist, bust, thighs and arms. It's all in cm on the WW site, which means very little to me, but at least I've made a start in recording my stats so far.

Monday was actually very easy - I started with Weetabix and banana. Not inspiring, but filling. Mid morning however, I had an ominous instant google message from the mister:
 Scott: "How many points in a Belvita breakfast biscuit?"
Me: "Hang on... *uses points calculator to find out*... 2 points.
Scott: "Each?"
Me: "Yeah"
Scott: "Oh. I've had four."
Me: "Four points?"
Scott: "Four biscuits."
Me: "A quarter of your day's ration of points..."

One thing I'm liking about WW is the increased flexibility, aimed at creating more realistic lifestyle choices, less deprivation and a more consistent weight loss. I get 31 points per day, plus the plan allows for 49 bonus points across the week, to be used either as "overflow" if your day's points aren't quite enough, or to save up for a special occasion. As an example, a Lamb Rogan Josh is 24pts - 3/4 of the day's ration or just half the bonus points. The thought of having the option to have a weekly Indian takeaway is rather appealing. Not quite yet though!

Tonight (Wednesday) I had my first weigh-in and meeting. It went really well, particularly as I have already lost 2.5lb - I weighed in today at 14st 7.5lb. Progress already! My wobbly bits are just as wobbly as ever, and my clothes are just as tight, but there is definitely a glimmer, nay, a ray of hope. Let's see how the next few days go. Over and out!

"Weight Watching", or "Funny what you find when you buy a new fridge"

It has been a funny few years since I last blogged. I tend to use Facebook to catalogue the mini hilarities which come from having a daughter like Flo, but my new quest is a little different, and not one I want to plaster all over Facebook because a)it's a bit personal, b) I might fail miserably and c) I'm not that anal that I want to shout about what I had for breakfast on peoples' newsfeed. With that in mind, the occasional blog post about my lifelong battle with my weight will have to do for now.

Before I was pregnant I was generally around 14 and a half stone and a comfortable size 16 - yeah, heavy enough, and big enough, I agree. I actually lost weight in the early months of pregnancy, not through sickness, but from eating more healthily. I was lighter after giving birth than before I started. All sounds great, particularly when you factor in the virtually guaranteed weightloss associated with breastfeeding. Yeah, well breastfeeding stopped more than 18 months ago and my eating pattern has not improved. Scott and I are eating more convenience food, more takeaways and, well, just more!

I've no idea how much I weigh now, but I would imagine it's somewhere between 15st 4lb and 16st and an uncomfortable size 18. Not good. My clothes generally still fit, but I'm noticing shirts are straining around the belly which had returned to flat (ish) after pregnancy, so I can't blame baby belly, just food and drink.

 Last night I went online to buy a new fridge (lovely retro one!) and found a super cheap, reliable supplier who offer cashback through Quidco, so I had a browse of Quidco's site and found that they also have a cashback deal with Weightwatchers. Now, I've done WW before, so I know it works for me for weightloss, and for longer-term eating habits. That said, I was always crap at having £5.25 with me each week for the meeting, so I was pleased to see they do a monthly pre-pay plan. £10 cashback for the first month, which was a reduced rate of £16.95 already has actually given me the push I needed to go for it.

Weightwatchers has lots of e-tools for tracking your eating through the day, and rewards you for exercising, so I've started logging my food from this morning - Weetabix x 2 = 3 points, plus another 2pts for semi-skimmed milk (I'll be changing to skimmed, as it's half the points) and a sliced banana on top (bananas were always a point each on the old WW plan, but now they're free, so bananas ahoy!!!) has made for a yummy breakfast.

My first meeting is on Wednesday, so I'll be blogging again with a definite start weight and a 5% weightloss goal. I'll be putting up a suitably gross "before" photo too, and will start measuring my waist, hip, bust and thighs to see if weight and size decrease at the same time. It's not going to be easy, but I'm going to be brutally honest about how this goes, as for me the shame of being as big as I am and as unfit as I am far outweighs the image of jolly Jeanie. New mindset established - let's do this!

Peppa pig: Muddy Puddles

Week 40 - Deliverance!

Well, what can I say - she's here! Florence Marja Chalmers was born at 00:05 on Friday 11th September, after what can only be described as a dream labour - absolutely awesome!

We are so happy with our beautiful little girl, and have settled down to family life rather nicely already, with nappy changes, feeds, tiny outfits, singing and playing all coming rather naturally to us and little Florrie.

Without going into too much detail, I'll give you a near blow-by-blow account of Florence's entrance into this amazing world... Warning, there will be mention of blood, lady bits and stitches...

Wednesday 9th September was my birthday, so Scott and I went for a curry at Forest Spice in Hythe - nothing too spicy, just our favourite curry place at the moment. We got home, watched a dvd then went to bed.
Thursday 10th September
4am - I woke up with low down contractions, which I put down to Braxton Hicks (practise) contractions.
4:30 - starting to time contractions - very regular, 8 minutes apart, lasting 50 seconds. Phoned Ashurst to ask if this could be it - "Quite possibly - stay at home and keep us updated of how regular the contractions are. When they are less than 5 minutes apart, you'll need to call us again."
8:00 - relatively normal day begins, with a definite air of expectation - would she arrive today or tomorrow? First time labour can last days, so not pinning hopes on a quick delivery. Checked and rechecked labour and birth bags.
16:00 - called Ashurst birth centre to update - now 5minutes between contractions. Advised to stay home until contractions get really strong. "How will I know that they're really strong?" "Oh, you'll know!!!"
18:00 - walked into Hythe with Scott to buy something for dinner, plus various baby websites said that walking can help speed things up a bit.
19:00 - home from Hythe, dinner in the oven (steak and kidney pie with chunky chips).
19:00 - Ok. She was right. I KNOW I'm in labour for real now - much stronger contractions. Called Ashurst and said contractions were 3 minutes apart, lasting a minute. "Can I stay home to have my dinner and then come in?" (Been told it's helpful to have a meal so that energy levels remain high through the labour)
20:00 - Arrived at Ashurst with all bags and baby carrier in place. Met the midwife - Happy Hannah, who encouraged us to make ourselves comfortable in the green labour room (they have two labour rooms at the birth centre).
20:30 - Warning - lady bits alert... I had an internal examination to see how dilated my cervix was - 4cm. To deliver you need to be 10cm, but normally women turn up who are only 1 or 2cm dilated, so I have been a very good girl to stay at home so long, apparently! During contractions, Scott rubbed my back and helped me through the pain - he was awesome, running out to the car to get bags etc, dashing back for massages (me, not him!)
22:00 - Hurrah for Entonox (gas and air) - makes your face numb, and you get really light headed. Good for pain relief.
23:00 - Into the pool. Water is a fantastic natural pain killer, but it is also known to slow down labour if you get in the water too soon. Clearly, I got in at the right time, as my contractions did not slow down, my waters soon broke (with a palpable "pop!") and I very quickly got the urge to push.
23:30 - The pushing bit - this is a very weird experience, because your body completely takes over, and you really can't do a thing to stop what your body wants to do. The contractions actually slow down, but become stronger, so that you push the baby further down the birth canal with each push, having a break in between. This stage of labour can take upwards of an hour for a first time mum, but I actually ended up very lucky, and within 35 minutes, Florence's head was born, followed within a minute or two by her shoulders and body - like a cork from a champagne bottle, if you'll pardon the expression!
00:05 - All done! Florence is on my chest having a cuddle, while the cord that has loosely wrapped itself round her neck is gently unhooked prior to clamping and cutting.

Phew!
Immediately after she was born, Florence gave a little cry and was taken to daddy to be cleaned up and dressed (and photographed!!). In the meantime, Happy Hannah helped me out of the pool on seriously shaky legs so that I could shower and get into a nightie. I was rather mucky, covered
in my own blood, plus vernix from Florence's skin - a greasy white waterproofing substance that protects the baby from the constant submersion in fluid while they are growing inside.

Florence had her first feed within half an hour of being born, after which she had an injection of Vitamin K to guard against a particular blood disorder. The midwife noted that Florence had a tongue tie (an extra bit of skin restricting the tongue's movement which could potentially make feeding difficult) This has now been cut, with minimal fuss from Florrie (I was more upset than she was to be honest!) and she is feeding brilliantly!

I ended up having 3 stitches (more painful than giving birth, as local anaesthetics don't work on me). I won't offer to show you the scars, I promise :P

All in all, a fantastically quick delivery, with everything going as per our birth plan. The team at Ashurst were incredible, and looked after us brilliantly for the short time we were there. We left for home at 3.30pm on Saturday 12th September.

Technical bit:

The APGAR criteria for assessing a baby at birth is a point scale from 0-10 with a maximum of 2 points available for each of the following (with Florence's scores in brackets).
Appearance - Colour - Body pink, extremities blue (1)
Pulse - Heartrate - over 100bpm (2)
Grimace - Reflex irritability - Vigorous withdrawal of leg, strong cry (2)
Activity - Muscle tone in all limbs - Active resistance, strong movement (2)
Respiration - Respiratory effort - Lusty cry, good chest movement (2)
Total: 9/10 - woop woop!

Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, cards and gifts - we have been very spoilt. Thank you for sharing this journey with us, and we look forward to seeing you all soon. Give us a buzz if you want to come visit - We're really happy to have visitors.

Hugs a-plenty,

Jeanie, Scott and Florence.

Week 30 - oops, I've missed a few weeks!!!

Hi all,
We have had a busy few months, and my blog has been pushed to the bottom of my priority list for way too long, so I'm doing a mammoth update to let you know how the Chalmers clan are getting on...

Well, we've had half term since the last blog, so I had a few days to rest and chill out, although I was ill for some of it (the last half) with a pretty rotten cold. I even took the Monday off following half term, only to receive a phone call at lunch time asking if I could get in for the afternoon as we had had THE CALL from ... (cue dramatic music) - OFSTED!!!!

I still managed to go swimming that Monday, then worked 6.30-9.30 on the Tuesday, getting ready for lesson observations and book inspections - not fun! As it turned out, the inspectors saw me on the Thursday, were very complimentary about my class and teaching, and all the stress and time and effort paid off.

I really could have done with the rest though, as just two weeks later I ended up with the worst bout of sinusitis I've ever had - a remnant of the cold I'd forced myself to recover from after half term. My doctor prescribed me with a low dose of Amoxycillin and up to 6 (yes, 6) paracetamol per day. It took the full week to recover, and I still had pain when I returned to work a week later. The kids missed me at school, and apparently their behaviour deteriorated while I was off. That was around week 26.

I've had a couple more midwife appointments since my last blog, and heard our little girl's heartbeat - she is a sturdy little thing by the sound of her :D

Scott and I started Parentcraft classes in June, and learnt all about pain relief in labour. We've decided that, all being well, we'll have a water birth in a birthing pool at Ashurst Birth Centre, with pain relief via Entonox only. I'm under no delusions about the pain - I fully anticipate labour being painful, but it's not something I will worry about.

One thing I found out about at the parentcraft classes was breastfeeding... us girls (no men allowed!) were shown a video of a newborn baby who was just left on his mummy's tummy after birth - he had been dried but not washed. After around 30 minutes he literally crawled up towards his mum's breast and fed with no assistance, no midwife to grab the back of his head and "help him" and everything seemed really natural. Not sure what the fuss is, if babies instinctively know what to do, why does breastfeeding seem so difficult for some mums?

We had quite a broad range of couples at the classes, including a lesbian couple, who were really lovely and deeply committed to eachother and their future baby - we got on really well. One girl who made us all cringe every time she opened her mouth (which was pretty often!) was the youngest of five, the others all being boys, who felt the need to share every bit of advice and experience her mother had ever given her. Most of her sentences started "My mum says that..." or "I've heard that..." It was comedy gold to watch the other mums around the room roll their eyes every time she spoke :) My favourite moment was when she asked if you could take an underwater camera in the birthing pool. Now, call me old-fashioned, but I'm pretty sure there are some things you just don't need a photo of!

Another moment of joy for me came at the final parentcraft class, where one of the mums was moaning about how much weight she had put on - 25kg!!! That's about 4.5st!!! She asked how much I had put on, and I was still 5lbs under my starting weight! I still am, by the way - I put it down to no alcohol, loads of fruit, and a smaller appetite in general.

I've been booked onto an Outdoor Pursuit course for my final day at school, which has annoyed Scott and I rather, as it seems a rather unnecessary risk so close to my due date - I'll be 32 weeks by then! I may just have to sit out of a few bits if I don't feel up to it.

We went to Reading in week 28 to review the Devolution Magazine Alt Collective event, which brought together all sorts of designers, photographers and models for a day of revelry. Scott had a photo stand, and snapped most of the models and some of the visitors. He even managed to take some new photos of me, complete with red and black wig and 4" platform heels.

This week I had my first leaving present at school - a packet of Pampers newborn nappies... nice! We are going eco for nappies, and will be using Bambino Mio washables. We can buy them using the "Health in Pregnancy" grant money which should be winging its way to us in the next few days - the governement give all mums to be £196 to spend on healthy food in the final couple of months, so I figure that will cover the cost of birth-to-potty nappies for our little pickle.

We made a gift list at John Lewis during half term, as so many people have asked what we need still (we've managed to get lots of things via NCT sales and through friends and family, so are really set up for clothes up to 3 months and have lots of toys - thank you so much to everyone who has given us so much already). If you are interested in purchasing from the list, the number is 372130 - go to www.johnlewisnurserylist.com

Last weekend we went to the Blissfields festival and managed to camp out for two nights, which was far more comfortable than I thought it would be. We had plenty of sun, plenty of beer (alcohol free for me, of course) and plenty of dancing. I think a few people were a bit shocked to see my skanking and pogoing to Imperial Leisure, though, and the St. John's Ambulance people looked decidedly nervous at times! Since our return I've had a lot of pain in the left side of my pelvis, but swimming seems to help immensely, so I'm going to try to go twice a week now, rather than just once. Anyone wanna come with me? :)

I have just five days of teaching left now, and there are less than 10 weeks until our due date, so I'm getting more and more excited. The baby is kicking lots, and Scott is regularly being kicked in the head when he tries to hear her heart beat. As I'm typing she has a foot up in my ribs (which I can feel for the first time in years, along with my now-visible collar bones!!) and is giving my lungs a bit of a seeing to.

I'll sign off now, and promise to do another blog in the next week or so. Take care all, and I look forward to your messages as always :D

Jeanie
xx