As we countdown to the joys and delights of the festive season, the stress naturally begins to build, however much organisation and planning has gone into your pre-Christmas preparations. How much harder then, if you have a new born baby or one due this month – after the initial euphoria and the thrill or that very first cuddle along with the overwhelming love you feel for your little miracle, the reality starts to set in.

It’s raining babies! Showers and showers of them if you can believe what the statistics are telling us. There has apparently been a massive surge in the number of parties being thrown to celebrate the impending birth of babies in the UK.  But before we blame consumerism from across the pond - with multi-national retailers tapping into the great American dream – it appears that pregnancy celebrations have been around for a lot longer than we think...

First you feel that momentous first movement and immediately question it – was it baby’s first kick and did I really feel something?  Then you reflect on how it felt because you may not feel that little kick again for a while. Some mums-to-be describe that first flutter variously as butterfly wings, flapping, gas bubbles, growling stomach, twitches or even little fishes swimming. You won’t feel it consistently until baby gets bigger packing a more powerful punch so it’s not until the third trimester that you have to keep a daily count of baby’s kicks.