Vicki Cockerill - NICU MUM Blog

I was invited by the brilliant Jade Anna Hughes to share my thoughts on transitioning from having one child to two. I have been incredibly lucky to share my pregnancy journey with Jade although she is across the pond we are due only days apart. Bets are being taken now who will get to the delivery suite first! So, on the brink of becoming a mother to two, and Jade to three we discuss our musings of another member adding to our families. (Also please do check out Jade's debut book When Spring Comes Hope available to buy on Amazon now! It is worth the read, take it from me!) The Cockerills are going to be welcoming a new member in just 5 weeks.   The Cockerill Quadruplet - by Vicki Cockerill   I was asked the other day if I am ready to become a mum of two? I guess so, I shrugged, I don’t really have much choice now, with the baby arriving in less than 5 weeks! Ready or not this baby is coming. It got me wondering, was I ready? Can you ever be ready for ...

There has been some unrest in the household this week. The reason? I am 34 weeks pregnant and I am nesting like a maniac. Irrational, impatient and neurotic, my desire to clean is something else right now. There are no words you can use to describe the overwhelming urge to completely bleach and disinfect the whole house, all its contents, animals and family members to your partner at 11pm. Or why you are reorganising your books that you haven’t touched in 2 years, and yes it does have to be done NOW. RIGHT NOW, no I do not care if we are going out the kitchen tops need scrubbing down. Cleaning products have basically become foreplay to me, and I have endless lists of what needs to be cleaned, chucked away or done before the baby comes. Here are a few signs to look for when you enter the nesting stage of pregnancy. 1.        You begin to dream of bleach and fantasise about cleaning products. 2.     ...

I don't know what's right and what's real anymore I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore When do you think it will all become clear 'Cause I'm being taken over by the fear We are one week off going into the third trimester with baby number two, and it is official the fear is now returning. I find when you’re pregnant the fear ebbs and flows through the 9 months. When you first find out you are pregnant, you are just aiming to get through those first 12 weeks, the fear is ever present on your mind. Every cramp, twinge and symptom is scrutinized and the worry of miscarriage is rife. Until you see the baby on your scan, you cannot relax that something may be wrong. The scan gives you some reassurance then after a few more weeks the fear dissolves slowly as you enter the second trimester. Then something magical happens and as it the baby knows you are worried they begin to signal to you all is well or in my case, kick the crap out of my insides but...

I have been feeling out of sorts recently. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Is it my 22 week pregnant hormones? Perhaps. Maybe, it is being on the eve of my 27th birthday, who knows. It came to me more when I recently went to spend some time with some old best friends. I felt different, was I different? I think I was. I think I have now come to the realisation that I have changed, I am in a weird sort of limbo where I have gained a new confidence, am interested in new things, have new passions but I am still adapting with how I present the ‘newer version of me’, to the real world. I have been more honest by sharing my life online then I have been in real life. I find it easy to write the words of how I am feeling, to relive what we have been through and most of all to be honest in my writing. This is how I process, how I cope, but face to face? I am still very much the anxious acne ridden teenager who was rejected by her mum. Can we change? There is the old age phrase of a ‘...

Today, November the 17 th sees the world celebrate all the premature babies and their families. To raise awareness for premature births and to highlight the issues that they face. 1 in 10 babies will be born premature that is 15 million babies each year. Today, may also be the time some children learn what it means that they were premature and the journey they and their family took. It can always be hard to breach the subject with a child, to explain that they faced a tougher start to life than most. That they were poorly, they needed extra care and stayed in hospital. They had to fight, to stay here, to be where they are today. The world stands up today and celebrates all the babies who were born early, and their families. Today, is for the mums, dads, grannies, aunties, uncle’s, cousins and friends which watched their little one small, vulnerable and fragile flight for their lives. It is to recognise the issues they face, and how we can improve the NICU experience for all. It ...

Generally when I have featured stories on the #medicalfiles series it has been with the focus on the baby. But what happens when you yourself have a life threatening condition when pregnant? How will this affect your baby? Your pregnancy? Your birth? Find out about how Sammie  @tattooed_mammy coped with being pregnant, and suffering from PDA. As you all know Elijah was born with a CHD. 1 in 100 babies are born with CHD. This is a brilliant post to raise awareness for another form of CHD. Please be warned this is a journey, and I will guarantee you will be emotional by the end!   8 months pregnant My PDA and me during pregnancy. So I don't really know where it all began, I guess you could say I was going through a pretty bad patch during 2011/2012 and one day I found myself in hospital due to an overdose. After numerous physical checks I thought it'd all be okay and I'd be allowed home. After a check up on my heart/breathing through a stethoscope, I saw the doct...

I connected with the gorgeous Selena @themumcoach when I first started blogging and  she kindly let me feature on her amazing blog. She was one of the first bloggers to take a chance on me. Now after the birth of her second baby, she has written a brilliant and honest post about pregnancy. I have to say although I suffered from 90% of the below, I think I blocked it out. When I think of being pregnant I think of being a big, happy weeble. Perhaps this is what happens, we block it out so we go on to have more babies. What I stand for is honesty and this post certainly is. This is the truth about pregnancy number two by The Mum Coach. Be warned if you are reading this on the commute to work you will be laughing like a hyena by the end. Okay, so I now have an eleven week old baby. Baby number two (number one is nearly four) I love my children. Admittedly I'm not mad keen on the threenager stage but I love them both unconditionally. What I do not love is pregnancy. There, I said it...