Beating the blues…

Having looked back on my last couple of posts, I’m aware I’ve been slightly doom and gloom recently! My apologies comrades, bed rest & not being able to get out of the house/get any sleep/relieve the pain/do anything to make sure my unborn baby is ok/spend time with my little girl…
…ok sorry so I’m not necessarily quite the shiny happy penny yet..! HOWEVER, I am trying to use my time slightly better and so one of things I’ve done recently is make a list of things I’m looking forward to after my hospital/house arrest status. Some are baby related, but some are just Danielle related, when women have a baby, that child becomes the most precious thing, but I also think that it’s important to keep a big part of what makes you you as an individual to be the best Mum you can be. So when I make the below list, I’m in no way commenting that I want to have a child free life or that I hold any negative thoughts for either of my children at this time! But for me, part of being a Mum is making them a part of our lives and who we are as parents. 
Anyway, before I blather on anymore (lots of time with my own thoughts at the moment, some of which rather medication addled but that’s another blog entry!) here’s my list;
Post Pregnancy Bucket List
1. Wear jeans! Or for that matter, any tighter trousers! A growing bump obviously makes tighter trousers relatively difficult but with all the other various things going on, I will be so relieved to be able to wear things pain free! 

2. Sign up to (& take part in!) a charity event! One of my ‘hobbies’ if that’s the right word, is hosting & taking part in charity events. In the last few months there were a few pregnancy friendly things like coffee mornings that I’ve sadly had to cancel, there’s an upcoming ‘sleep easy’ event for the YMCA that, had this last part of the pregnancy not been so tricky I would have been at to help (administratively not sleeping out this year!). However I also really miss the sporting challenges, my husband and I at Christmas time, enjoyed a table at a ball in Birmingham as thanks for raising £10,000 (not in one go I might add but over the years). That money was raised through music events, theatre events and also 5ks, 10ks, triathlons, sea swims, assault courses and charity netball tournaments. My schedule is always hectic and I’m looking forward to being able to get back involved, and involving my two children in them where appropriate!

3. Adventuring! My personal Twitter account (@ladeington if anyone wants to look for themselves!) is currently a picture of Scarlett in a backpack on my back at a famous Gloucestershire filming location. On the day in question, whilst filming was going on, my husband, Scarlett and I had some time to explore the beautiful area like we were explorers in middle earth. It was a fab day, and a day that was not unusual for us, we always prioritise adventuring and I cannot wait to be able to be able to do so again; whether it just being my husband and I, or with both our children.

4. Cocktails with my handsome husband! Neither he or I are big into large nights out anymore, but we do have a substantial collection of spirits and wine at home and we enjoy a tipple or two on special occasion or when we have a day off together. Something we also enjoy is going for a couple of cocktails, (ok so I tend to choose a cocktail and he’ll have gin or whisky!) it’s nice to go out a bit dressed up and get a bit tipsy together and just generally enjoy being a couple!

5. Trips to the seaside! My Dad is under a bit of a house arrest of his own at the moment! As I’ve mentioned, because of the epilepsy becoming more of an issue this pregnancy and more so since the kidney problems have come into play, I’m not to be on my own with Scarlett or on my own with our second child (which consequently means I can’t be on my own). My husband has got most of his work covered and is looking after Scarlett most of the time, in the meantime, Dads staying with us to be here when Tom has to work and to help with our little girl and myself to ease the strain on my husband. Normally however we tend to see Dad roughly once a month because we head down to Sussex where he lives, overlooking the sea. That’s also where a lot of my family live so it’s win win, family time and the seaside! Due to kidney problems at the beginning of the pregnancy and now all this at the end, we haven’t been down south since Scarlett’s pre birthday trip in June!! I look forward to our first trip down post baby, I only hope I recognise everyone…! 

6. Going for dinner and ordering a lovely rare medium steak! Maybe after a really yummy pate for starter. All accompanied by a good red wine! 

7. Zip lining! I was due to go zip lining a few months ago but had to cancel, so I look forward to booking another session!

8. Getting back into work without special measures! I love my career, I love my work. Last year we travelled to Paris, Glasgow and Brussels, and my writing work even took us to stay at Alton Towers overnight. Recently, I had to cut it all down to working from home and my duties were gradually reduced until I was finally put on bed rest. This has not been easy to swallow to say the least! I’m lucky that my children can often benefit from my work so it’s not that I don’t want to be at home with my children, far from it, I just want to get back to happily busy.

9. Spending time with my two children, outside of the house, on my own! After I’ve given birth, the expectation is that my epilepsy should go back to being a non issue which will mean I’ll stop being a higher risk and can be on my own with my kids without us needing to worry. Even better, I’ll be able to leave my house to do so, I’ll be able to take them to the park, swimming, even just into town! A small thing, definitely, but it will be so appreciated! 

10. Our first holiday as a four! It won’t be soon, it most likely won’t be particularly far away or fancy. But I cannot WAIT to not have to stay close to the hospital, and for days off work to be for leisure rather than from medical necessity. Even if it’s just a weekend with no particular plan, to be able to just pack up the car, have our family of four pile in, put on a cheesey mixed cd with no thoughts and worries other than what we might have for dinner that night and whether we’ll be able to find a tacky enough fridge magnet to bring home for our collection! Yes, the two of us have a little collection of fridge magnets from places we’ve been together as a couple, don’t envy how cool we are, you too can start your own collection with your own partner if you want to reach the dizzy heights of our rock and roll lifestyle!
As you can see I’ve not started with a hugely ambitious list. My husband and I have lists galore about the things we want to do in the future or the places in the world we want to go to but for now, when I have either my four bedroom walls or four hospital walls to look at, this list of ten things is keeping me quite happily daydreaming of fun times to come.
And with a maximum wait of five weeks before we’ll meet our new arrival (they won’t be letting me go to full term) although it’s not the easiest time, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter.