Happy Mother's Day!

Today I have celebrated my very first Mother's Day as an actual mother and I couldn't be more grateful.

However, it has been one hell of a challenging day. Due to a mix up with OJ's prescription and the GP surgery being shut over the weekend we are having to make his medication last longer than it should so he's just having a dose before bed instead of 3 doses a day. I'm not sure if it's coincidence or not but he's been really unsettled all day today.

He's been drooling constantly, had a lot of hiccups and wind, we've had no less than 8 poo explosions, he's been a lot more sick than normal and he's wanted to feed almost constantly. It sounds a bit like teething but I can't see any sign of sore gums. We were at a friend's house this evening and he was starting to get really fussy so we decided to head home (a 30 minute drive).

Almost as soon as we got him in the car he started screaming in what sounded like pain so we stopped in a nearby pub car park and I tried to feed him - for the first time ever he refused the boob. I've never seen him so distressed that a boob can't fix it! He isn't a fan of the car at the best of times so we knew we needed to calm him down. We bundled him up in blankets and walked around the car park with him holding him on his front, which normally helps with his reflux and wind, but he still seemed to be uncomfortable, whimpering rather than screaming.

We decided to pop him in his pram to see if a walk might send him to sleep and headed towards the nearest Tesco to see if we could get some Calpol - my logic was that, even if it was reflux making him uncomfortable, the Calpol might help with the pain. He screamed blue murder as soon as we put him down in the pram so ALS carried (holding him on his front) him the whole way and by the time we got there he had calmed down enough for ALS to turn him over onto his back and give him the Calpol. We finally got a little smile out of him so ALS kept him lay that way and carried him back to the car. Just before we got back he fell asleep and with the help of some white noise, very careful movement and ALS' finger being used as a pacified we managed to get him back in the car and he slept the rest of the way home. He woke up in a slightly better mood and after a nice relaxing bath and a hearty feed he's snuggled up asleep on my chest.

Parenting is tough, especially when you don't really know what's wrong or what to do but we stayed calm, worked as a team and figured out a plan. I'm incredibly proud of how we handled things tonight and, although it hasn't been the smoothest sailing, I've loved my first Mother's Day as a mummy.

Here's to all the wonderful mums out there and a special thought to those who are still waiting for their miracle!