Being a Birth Partner and Baby Shower Gifts

As I shared last week, I've just had nearly 2 weeks annual leave. I pre-booked to have Halloween and Bonfire Night off, because I like the celebrations and it wasn't half term in Nottingham. It ended up working quite well, because it also happened to be the week that my cousin was due and she had said she probably wanted me there as a birth partner. In the end, baby came 5 days late, following a long induction process but super speedy labour. 

Not going to lie, being a birth partner is nothing like being a midwife and it was honestly, the most stressful few weeks I've had. I didn't want to miss the call or text, so I would leave my phone on loud on a night, and go through and manually turn off notifications for every other app and mute all other contacts on Whatsapp, except for my cousin. I slept so poorly because I would wake up every couple of hours and check my phone. 

In the actual labour room, is also very different and I totally understand why people say they feel useless. I get it. I totally felt useless and seeing someone you love in so much pain is truly heart breaking. Due to ultimately my cousin's heart rate, she ended up going for an emergency c-section, so I had to wait in the waiting room for any sort of update too, which felt like eons and I was just on edge. 

It was truly an honour to be the first to meet him and have a snuggle. He's absolutely beautiful and everyone's happy and healthy so that is all that really matters at the end. Whilst he's not a true nephew, my family tend to call cousin's aunts and uncles so he's my second nephew and fourth to call my auntie. I can't wait to have more snuggles soon. At the moment, I'm just giving them space and so hopefully later this week, I'll be able to drop off the presents. 

I bought both my aunt and cousin a card for being grandparents and parents. 

I bought Emma a little treat pamper bag, including some stretch mark oil that everyone swears by. I got a newborn box with a blanket, towel, teddy, some clothes and a little plaque. I also got some Alex and Ani swaddles. I love the large size so they can be multipurpose.