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Joyful travel with Rowan Grant

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All articles filed in Festivals

Italy in a day – Festa Italiana, Manchester

By: Rowan Grant July 15, 2018October 1, 2018
BlogFestivals, FoodLeave a Comment on Italy in a day – Festa Italiana, Manchester

This weekend we headed to Manchester to spend the day at Festa Italiana Manchester – a free, weekend-long celebration of all things Italian.

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BlogFestivals, FoodLeave a Comment on Italy in a day – Festa Italiana, Manchester

Journalist and copywriter

 

Rowan Grant is a travel writer with a Postgraduate Diploma from the London School of Journalism

Recent posts

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This little snuggle bug is three weeks old today. What a little dream 🐦. We registered her birth today as well, so she’s all official. ▪️ We missed the two week milestone card because I had what I thought was mastitis, but when I saw the GP he referred me to hospital to be treated for an infection that required me to be on drip antibiotics for 48 hours. We had a dark few days. Thanks heavens for family who helped out looking after her. I just hope everything is sorted by the time I’ve finished my 10 day oral antibiotics. Keep your fingers crossed 🤞! ▪️ #worldoflittles #motherhoodrising #newborn #birthstory #unitedmotherhood #dailyparenting #motherlove #mamatobe2019 #pregnantandperfect #instababy #momlife #parenthood #letthembelittle #mumlife #birth #flashesofdelight #abmhappylife #myunicornlife #petitejoys #nothingisordinary #abmlifeisbeautiful #livethelittlethings #thehappynow #pursuepretty #thatsdarling #darlingdaily #photosinbetween
It’s #worldwidebreastfeedingweek so it had to be marked on the grid, didn’t it? We’ve had a right old week of it so it’s timely. ▪️ WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding starting within one hour after birth until a baby is 6 months old. I guess because of this, there is only advice online to keep you exclusive: don’t use a bottle they might get confused, don’t express you might end up with an over supply, etc etc. ▪️ Ended up in a right tiz over the weekend because she fed relentlessly. Every time she woke up I cried because I couldn’t face it. I was getting barely any sleep day to day and becoming really anxious about not being able to keep up with everything she needed. ▪️ Babies’ stomachs are only the size of a cherry so they need filling quite frequently. Anyway. Sunday, we got the amazing La Leche League our for a chat and gave me loads of good advice. But by Monday morning I was in a state so we got the midwife out who gave me a hug and suggested we give her formula once or twice a day to give me a break and go to bed. I got a couple of 3-hour blocks of sleep while Niall took over and it did me the world of good. I’m also using shields while the soreness clears up. They’ve been a lifesaver as she can continue to feed like a champ, is piling on weight and we still get the closeness associated with being on the boob. ▪️ Touch wood it’s kick started her wanting feeds more like every 3 hours which is more manageable and soon I’ll start again with getting the latch right without a shield. But... if the shields turn out to be a long term solution then that’s how it is, bit fiddly but it’s working for us. Maybe one day we’ll exclusively breast feed but to be honest it’s really nice Niall can be involved too. ▪️ Fed is best and no one should feel guilty or ashamed of the choices they make in the best interests of their family. For the martyrs that get through some sort of six week pain barrier struggling with sore cracked nipples - I salute you! ▪️ #breastfeeding #doingourbest #breastfeedingmama #breastfedbaby #normalizebreastfeeding #worldoflittles #motherhoodrising #newborn #unitedmotherhood #dailyparenting #motherlove #mamatobe2019
🐦 Birth story 🐦 . . Had to rewrite this as it got too long to fit! I started labour on the hottest day of the year, 25 July at about 7pm. It felt like waves of period pain and poo pains at the same time. They weren’t especially consistent at first. I felt quite hungry so we ordered Domino’s 🍕 🙊 😂. ▪️ Then after a while there was the 💩 and I started to be sick. I think the waves were coming in at about eight minutes apart. I rang the hospital and they said to call back when I was getting 2-3 waves every 10 minutes. So at some point in the morning I did. But their response was that it had to be happening for like two hours 🤦‍♀️. The discomfort got too bad though and Niall called them to say we were heading in. ▪️ When we got there they’d put us in The Rowan Room 💫. Strictly speaking I wasn’t dialated enough but they gave me a two hour window to see how things went. I went into a bathroom and sat in a massive bath and we played my calming music playlist. When it was time to get out I stood up a lost the mucus plug 🦠- grim and exciting all at once 😂. ▪️ Our next midwife prepared me for the fact I might be sent home. I was filled anxiety. But I used my hypnobirthing til she examined me and said I could have another four hours. Phew. ▪️ We put on my birth playlist and I was given codeine and paracetamol as pain relief. Four hours on and I had to prepare to be sent home. Thankfully I was dialated 6cms and it was time to get in the pool! ▪️ During my first contraction in there I screamed for gas and air. In fact I screamed a lot from then 😂. After two hours of feeling like I was pushing out the biggest poo ever the midwife struggled to monitor us so I got out onto the bed. ▪️ The only position we could monitor well in was me on my back sadly. We heard *that noise* from the machine and it sounded like a bad thing but I didn’t panic. Midwife asked to break my waters... 💦. ▪️ The next few contractions were big ones I had to push hard on. And then she was out! And just perfect. I had no tearing so no stitches 🙌. ▪️ We opted for delayed cord clamping and cutting so we had skin to skin cuddles while still connected for about 25mins. 💖 🐦

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