I’m taking part in Living Well Wednesday – a fun, weekly blogging meme, focusing on achieving our new year goals ONE WEEK AT A TIME!

Diet & Fitness progress for this week:

• I’m now firmly back in the healthy BMI range, having lost half a stone (7 lbs)  in just one week!  Yay!
• I’ve started using an i.Fit machine to top up the workouts I’ve been doing.

i.Fit is the latest state of the artWhole Body Vibration machine, using BOTH oscillation AND vibration.

• I’ve being attending a Zumba class, as well as doing Zumba Fitness Wii workouts at home.
• I’ve been doing daily yoga workouts on Wii Fitness Plus.
• I’d been doing Tony Horton’s 10-minute workout DVDs until my DVD player blew up!!  Thankfully, my clever Hubby managed to rescue my treasured fave workout DVD, but sadly the DVD player was beyond help and has had to be replaced.

You can join in with Living Well Wednesday over at Natalie Collinson’s blog.

Last year I spent the entire summer in my fabulous white Avon Fitflops!  I LOVED them!!  They were soooo comfy!!

Fitflops help to stabilise feet to improve posture and enhance your natural walking motion.  They have shock absorption soles to cushion feet.  These shoes retail at around £18 from Avon, which is less than half the price of similar products on the market.

This year, Avon have launched black sequinned fitflops, and I intend to buy them and spend the entire summer wearing them.

What about YOU?  What is YOUR favourite item of summer clothing?

You can join in the Girls Talk fun over at the Beauty Queen Gene.

A particular family favourite of ours is Wii Party.  Here’s a taste why…

Board Game Island game (1-4 players) Players throw dice to move round the virtual board game, having to compete in various mini games along the way! (This takes approximately 45 minutes.)






Statistics are shown at the end to illustrate each players progress.

If you don’t want to play a structured contest, then you can just use free play to select your favourite mini games from 1 versus 1 to 4 Player Battles.

Wii Party

Games include:
• Hide ‘n’ Hunt (2-4 players)
• Animal Tracker (2-4 players)
• Time Bomb (2-4 players)
• Word Bomb (2-4 players)
• Buddy Quiz (3-4 players)
• Board Game Island (1-4 players)
• Globe Trot (1-4 players)
• Swap Meet (1-4 players)
• Spin Off (1-4 players)
• Balance Boat (1-2 players)
• Friend Connection (2 players)
• Match-Up (1-2 players)

Wii Party available at Toys R Us for £24.97.

Controller sold separately.

Are you pregnant? Or thinking about becoming pregnant? If so, the following news items will be of interest to you:

• Dieting While Pregnant - Expectant mothers who diet during pregnancy are putting their babies at risk of low IQs and behavioural problems, scientists say.  A new study found that cutting back on vital nutrients and calories in the first half of pregnancy stunts the development of an unborn child’s brain.  Read more: Daily Mail Website.
• Advice for New Scottish Mothers - A new infant strategy by the Scottish government aims to highlight how nutritional choices start before conception and do not end after breastfeeding.  The government is to advise women who are planning a pregnancy to take vitamin D supplements, and will also urge new mothers not to wait too long before introducing lumpy food to their babies.  Read more: BBC News website.

This week’s Girl’s Talk asks:

As a shopaholic, what do you usually fill in your grocery basket from the health and beauty section?

As an Independent Consultant for Vie At Home, I actually buy most of my health and beauty products from there. (Makes sense, huh?) I buy practically all my makeup and skincare from Vie At Home.

However, I frequently pop the following health and beauty items into my basket / trolley, when shopping at the supermarket:

• TRESemme Shampoo & Conditioner (For Colour Treated Hair)
• VO5 Styling Wax
• Silvrikin Hairspray (Natural Hold)
• Dove Deodorant
• Carex Handwash
• Johnson’s Baby Wipes
• Nivea Lip Salve

Unlike me, Hubby does not have brand loyalty.  His preference for male grooming products are cost-orientated!  He tends to be more interested in BOGOF offers than particular scents or ranges.

I buy my daughters’ shampoo, bubble bath, bodywash and detangle spray from Avon, as their kids range is far superior to anything I can find at the supermarket.

You can join in the Girls Talk at The Beauty Queen Gene.

“A 31-year-old woman has given birth to sextuplets at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxfordshire.

The four girls and two boys, ranging in weight from 1.3 to 2lb, were born 14 weeks early on 14 May.

The mother, from Oxfordshire, is said to be recovering well and all of the babies are in the hospital’s specialist Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.”

[Source: BBC News website - accessed 21 May 2010.]

Congratulations to the family!  I wish them all well! 

You can read more of this article on the BBC News Website here.

I also have another amzing multiple birth story via my friend, Jennifer Miller of Twin Happy.  It’s the story of a family who had twins – one via IVF and the other naturally – and the family will never know which one is which!  Watch this video of the lucky family here.

“Many new fathers experience post-natal depression, yet most cases go undetected and untreated, experts warn.

One in 10 new fathers may have the baby blues, US researchers believe – based on their trawl of medical literature.

While this rate is lower than in new mothers, it is more than currently recognised, they told the Journal of the American Medical Association.”

[Source: BBC News Website accessed 19 May 2010]

You can read more of this article on the BBC News website here.

Did you have any complications in your twin pregnancy?

I was told from the outset that my twin pregnancy was “high risk”, but I never really gave it much thought.  Fortunately my twins were in separate sacks with their own placenta, which presented less risks than identical twins who share the same sack and/or placenta.

Thankfully, my pregnancy went very well (apart from common minor complaints such as heartburn, restless legs, back ache, pelvic ache and swollen hands and feet) until my waters broke at 34 weeks.

I was in bed and had just heaved my huge bump from left to right when I heard a loud pop, and a torrent of water was released onto the bed.  I was shocked at the amount of water.  I had no idea that there would be that much!  I was soaked, my jammies were soaked and the mattress was drenched!!

Hubby missed out on this surreal experience because he was working away from home at the time!  (In fact, he was working away through much of my pregnancy and during the first few months of the twins’ lives!)

I did not panic, but immediately went into auto-pilot.  I waddled and squelched my way to the bathroom.  As my waters were still trickling out, I skidded about the bathroom tiles like a hippo on ice!

After showering, I phoned the hospital and was advised to make my way there as soon as possible.  I then phoned my parents, and my mum made her way to my house, as soon as she heard my predicament, to drive me to the hospital.  Before she arrived to collect me, I phoned Hubby and told him to make his way back down to Glasgow (a two and a half hour journey!) ASAP.

When Mum and I arrived at the hospital I was strapped to a monitor, and advised that my doctor was on holiday!  (This was six weeks before my due date remember!)  The midwife told me that she would not be examining me.  I would have to wait for a doctor.  However, all the doctors were currently busy with emergencies.  (Apparently two ladies gave birth in the car park just before I arrived!!)  I was told that the doctor would give me medication to delay labour and to boost my babies’ lungs.

By the time Hubby arrived at the hospital a couple of hours later, I had started feeling contractions (though the midwife didn’t quite believe me!) and felt the need to empty my bowels (though several visits to the bathroom were fruitless!)

Mum went home (reluctantly!) to bed not long after Hubby arrived, and I was given a bed in the ward and a couple of pain killers.  As soon as I laid down on the bed though, my contractions came thick and fast.  Pretty soon, it got so bad that I literally barked at Hubby to go fetch the midwife.

This time the midwife conceded that I was indeed contracting, and assured me that a doctor would come examine me soon.

I was extremely relieved when two doctors eventually arrived to examine me.  However, this relief was short-lived, as the doctors discovered a major complication when examining me internally.  It transpires that a cord was presenting, which could result in a loss of oxygen to Baby 1, and was potentially life-threatening to all three of us.

I was immediately flicked over like a pancake (pretty difficult to do, considering my size!), and I was wheeled off to theatre with my contorted face in a pillow and my backside up in the air!  (How very dignified!  Not!!)  The midwife had her hand pressed firmly between my legs to stop the cord from coming out!  (I was too terrified to be embarrassed by all this!)

When we reached the operating theatre, I could tell that there was about a squillion people in the room.  A doctor told me that I was about to have an emergency caesarean.  I was told that they would attempt a spinal block, but if it didn’t work they would have to knock me out!  This filled me with absolute horror!

“No!  I want to be awake to see my babies!  I don’t want to be put to sleep!”

“We’ll do our best, but our main priority is to get your babies out quickly.”

Fortunately, they managed to get the spinal block in, but I very quickly developed a very painful headache, and felt very queasy.  I actually threw up a couple of times – once before the babies were born, and once in between the birth of the girls!

I only got a brief look at my beautiful girls, before they were whisked off to intensive care, where they only stayed for twenty-four hours, before being moved to the Special Care Baby Unit, where they stayed for just over two weeks.

All in all, we were in hospital for three weeks, and the girls have thrived since getting home five and a half years ago. 

But how about you? Did you suffer any complications during your pregnancy or labour?

Please leave a comment and/or link up on the blog hop below:

Here’s an approximation of how much water I’ve used today:

• Eight visits to the toilet (8 flushes and 8 handwashes)
• 5-10 minutes in the shower
• Face washed in basin twice
• Teeth brushed and rinsed twice
• Six cups of tea / coffee (kettle half-filled each time)
• Three visits to office water cooler
• Four times washing up in kitchen sink
• Two loads of laundry in washing machine
• Salad leaves rinsed in water
• Potatoes boiled in water
• Windscreen wash used in car
• Rabbits water bottle refilled
• Damp cloth to wipe down table and kitchen surfaces
• House plants watered

These are activities that most of us in the developed world take for granted. 

Unfortunately, a billion people in the world lack access to clean, safe drinking water (Charity: Water).  Every15 seconds a child dies somewhere in the world due to unsafe water.  In fact, unsafe drinking water kills more people per year than AIDS & cancer combined (Hydraid).

You can find out more at: www.worldwaterday.org/

Also, check out hydraid.org, charitywater.org, and tapproject.org
And watch: bit.ly/hydraidvid

Parents of children deemed unfit are to be sent warning letters from schools.

Secondary pupils will be forced to take an annual fitness test.

If they fail, their parents will be told they are at risk of heart disease, brittle bones and obesity. The scheme was outlined yesterday by the Government’s chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson. 

He warned that lack of exercise is placing a greater burden on the economy than smoking – costing £8.3billion a year compared with £5.2billion. But the initiative was criticised by campaigners as yet another example of Labour’s ‘nanny state’ interference in family life.

Read more on the Daily Mail website.