Welcome to the World Seren Angela Joyce Critchley

Sorry for yet another delay in updating the blog!

Although I think I have a pretty good excuse for being a bit behind the times lately, as heartbeat was born on the 30th of August 2012.

It turned out that my female intuition is absolutely rubbish and although I was totally convinced that I was having a little boy, our gorgeous baby daughter was born at 8pm exactly.

I can't rave enough about the healthcare out here in Dubai. I gave birth at the American Hospital Dubai and everyone from the doctors to the midwives were just incredible. Funnily enough both my Obstetrician and my Anaesthetist were British, which was unexpected, but I can't say enough how great they were and how well looked after we felt from start to finish.

I also can't rave enough about the epidural! I was induced so I had the opportunity to have the epidural put in place before my waters were broken, so before labour had really begun for me. It was a really great experience. I knew beforehand that an epidural took away all sensation during labour, but actually having the epidural inserted was a breeze (credit to the anaesthetist, who was clearly very skilled and very well practised!) and the labour in general was straightforward and relaxing.

I did have a bit of a bad hour, because I managed to pull the epidural out of position at one stage, so that all the medication was redistributed to the right hand side of my body, and I suddenly started getting really strong contractions on my left hand side, which was a bit of a shock.

I think it felt worse than it was, because I'd gone from feeling nothing to feeling really strong contractions, but the hour that it took for the epidural to be removed and a new one inserted was a long long hour!

Here are some of the photos from the delivery and a load more of our daughter, Seren Angela Joyce Critchley. She is just gorgeous and a complete dream come true for us.

Me looking exhausted after absolutely no sleep (far to excited to sleep!)

Gary, looking slightly more awake, having had much more sleep than I did, but on a hospital sofa, so probably not that comfortable!  

Thankfully there are no pictures of actual labour! So here is the first picture of me and Seren! 

Our gorgeous girlie! 

Daddy feeding Seren for the first time (she didn't need any guidance, she eats like a pro!) 

So then Seren sensibly got some sleep, while Gary and I just sat and stared at her! Probably not the best idea after over 36 hours with no sleep, but we couldn't help it! 

Seren cuddles at one day old! 

Daddy's little girl! 

Seren after her first bath. 

Mummy, why are you pointing that camera in my face? 

Yummy, nap time for me! 

Ummm hello, it's time to change me please! 

Seren loving her warm baths, just like mummy! 

Daddy has a new role as a hairdresser...

...and a chef! 

Y Village, Doha

Now, I realised after we left Doha that I did not get around to posting pictures of our new home, after we left Education City.

It seemed rude to leave and not to put any pictures up of our home, although I didn't actually take photos of all the rooms, and most of these photographs are actually my mum's!

So here is a little snippet of what we have left behind:

First Night in Dubai

Having been to Dubai in May 2012, Gary and I had already decided where we would celebrate our first night in Dubai, at PF Changs Chinese restaurant.

PF Changs has been a firm favourite of mine since my second hen do in Los Angeles in August 2011, when me and the other girlies headed there to celebrate. Gary sampled PF Changs on our holiday in Dubai and he was also sold of what is probably one of the best chinese meals we have ever had.

So here are some photos from our first night celebrations, including the cheeky bottle of champagne we bought from duty free at the airport (we definitely needed a drink after the chaos trying to get out of Doha).

Our final view of Doha airport as we were boarding the plane.

Gary, ready and waiting for his food. Honestly, just being in the restaurant made your mouth water, everything smelled so good!

Moi, absolutely starving and desperate to steal the food as it came past!

Unfortunately the drinks were alcohol free, but they were really yummy.

We had sesame chicken and kung po chicken with fried rice. I'm glad I took photos of the food at the beginning, because it didn't last long!

The Burj Khalifa, and the dancing fountains, were in full view on our short walk back from the Dubai Mall to the hotel.

My favourite champagne in the world! It tastes so much more delicious when you are celebrating in such a great city.

So, the first night in Dubai was a complete success, now we are just up against the clock to get ourselves sorted before heartbeat makes his/her appearance!

We are on the move.... again!

I know that most of you already know that we are no longer in Doha, but I wanted to post about our move, so I'm doing it in the order I should have posted in! 

Gary has decided that a move from the UK for Qatar in November 2011 was not quite enough, and has  been lucky enough to be offered a great job in a great new country, the United Arab Emirates, to be exact. 

We have headed out to Dubai to start our new life there, and not a moment too soon, we only just managed to leave the country before I was too heavily pregnant to fly. 

We had a complete fiasco at the airport in Doha when we tried to leave. The policy about how late I could fly when pregnant with you was not clear at all and the ground crew decided I was more pregnant than I was, and more pregnant than my doctors note said I was, and refused to allow me to get on the airplane. 

It took a lot of arguments, a trip to see the airline doctor (who refused to see me) and eventually a complete meltdown into tears from me before everything got sorted and we were put on the next available flight! It was lucky we weren't travelling anywhere obscure, with only one flight a day, or we'd have been stuck there. Definitely not good when the Qatari Government have cancelled your visas and legally you have to leave that day! 

However, we are now safely in Dubai, and Gary has begun working for Pepsico. 

As most of you know, Gary is fiercely loyal to the brands for the company he works for. I have spent the last few years being told off for buying anything from Tesco, instead of M&S (not that it happened very often... mmmm M&S Melt in the Middle Chocolate Puddings!). 

So, you will easily be able to guess that Coca Cola is banned from our household for the foreseeable future. Thankfully Pepsico also manufacture many other products, most of which I am a fan of. Here is part of the list of allowable produce, in case any of you want to join in with the loyalty scheme ;-)

• Pepsi
• Sierra Mist
• Tropicana
• Gatorade
• Ocean Spray
• Mountain Dew
• Aquafina
• Walkers/Lays Crisps
• Doritos
• Cheetos
• Wotsits and Quavers
• Quaker Oats

If you want to break Gary out into a sweat, offer him a can of Coca Cola.... 

Turtles in Doha

We were pretty lucky while in Doha that Kerry and Sy discovered that turtles hatch on one of the beaches nearby.

Unfortunately they didn't hatch while Kerry and Sy were with us, but we managed to catch a couple of them near to the end of the turtle hatching.

It was really amazing to watch these tiny little turtles come to life and then scuttle across the sand towards the sea. They start pretty far up the beach, but they seem to know which way the water is.

First Father's Day - 2012

Although heartbeat hasn't made his/her appearance yet, we decided that we should celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day in anticipation of heartbeat's arrival.

For Father's Day we headed to Doha's only revolving restaurant in the Torch Hotel for dinner. The view from our table was lovely and the food was pretty good too! Here are a couple of pics from our celebrations!