R-Time Online Information for Families in Bedfordshire

Address:  Avon UK Independent Sales Leader, Bedfordshire & Surrounding Counties
Tel:  01604 470297
Mobile:  07787 813123
Email:  marysreps@myavon.co.uk

Be self-employed, give yourself a promotion and work the way you want with Avon Beauty.

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Address: Old School House, Old School Gardens, Barton-le-Clay
Bedfordshire  MK45 2AA
Tel: 01582 883703
Mobile:  07864 985810

Specialising in all aspects of beauty and relaxation….

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Address: 53 Bedford Road, Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire MK45 3NA
Tel: 01234 741941
Web: www.forget-me-not.me.uk

****Portrait Parties****
Contemporary, Passionate, Unobtrusive Photography.

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If your in your teens, you are at just the right time to start taking care of your face properly. It doesn’t take a lot of time, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.  Teen skin care differs from your mums skin care, so don’t rely on her facial cleansers to cure your problems - mums have their own problems but they’re normally different from yours!

By following Angel Beauty skin care tips you will see what you need to do, and what you need to
know!

* DITCH THE BAR OF SOAP YOU HAVE IN YOUR SHOWER.
Find a facial wash that best for your skin like energising facial wash by Susan Molyneux.  This foaming gel wash help’s to vitality and freshness whilst maintaining the healthy balance of the skin.  If your in any doubt as to your skin type visit a professional.  Most beauty professionals are happy to help and asking their advice is free!

* MOISTURIZE YOUR FACE.
The idea that those with oily skin don’t need a moisturizer is false. What you need is a light textured day cream, balancing moisturiser with tea tree and lemon that will leave your skin soft and soothed with a matt finish.

* USE A WEEKLY MASK AND EXFOLIATON.
A cleansing mask with natural clay and essential oils of camphor and geranium, will deep cleanse and help to tighten your pores. An exfoliation removes dead skin cells and impurities, leaving your skin feeling clean and fresh. But make sure you are gentle, if you over scrub your skin may break out even further.

* IS ACNE YOUR PROBLEM?
If acne is a problem for you, just know your not alone. Alot of us have our fair share of pimples.
Treat acne with a spot-treatment and a deep cleanse facial at least every 2-3 weeks.

A cleanser and moisturizer from the clarifying range by Susan Molyneux will help to keep acne at bay. But you could also use an ten day intensive treatment,  each serum contains witch hazel, horse chestnut, nettle, melissa and essential oil of camphor.These 5 ingredients will help to promote a clear, fresh appearance.

If you would like know more pop in and see me at Angel Beauty, Barton-le-Clay where I can quickly assess your skin and advise you with skin routine.

Angel Beauty
Old School House, Old School Gardens,
Barton-le-Clay,Beds MK45 2AA
01582 883703
07864 985810

Specialising in all aspects of beauty and relaxation….

(as featured in Pregnancy and Birth magazine, May 2008)

1. Be aware of “optimal fetal positioning” - sleeping on your left side, spending time on all fours or with your knees lower than your hips to tip baby into the best position prior to labour, this usually makes for a shorter and easier labour.

2. Remember that labour is a marathon and hard work, but that giving birth is a NORMAL process and that YOU CAN DO IT! Prepare well for the marathon by practising yoga, swimming, walking - whatever activity appeals to you.

3. The marathon will require lots of energy, so eat well throughout your pregnancy; in early labour remember to eat and drink plenty of easily digested foods.

4. If at all possible have a midwife you know to care for you - ask your midwife if she will care for you at home or in hospital. If you are able to afford it consider employing an Independent Midwife who will offer you one to one care. All the outcomes are better with a known midwife!

5. Consider a home birth! Women are far more likely to give birth normally, less likely to need drugs, generally have shorter labours, are more likely to breastfeed and be happy with their experience.

Postnatally:

My top tip is that visitors should be restricted to the absolute minimum -you will feel fine whilst visitors are with you, but it is exhausting (even if you are just sitting chatting) - when they leave you will find yourself in tears and having to deal with a baby who probably didn’t feed whilst visitors were around.

Take time to establish feeding and “babymoon” with your baby and partner before welcoming visitors.
Other suggestions include:

• Massage is great for you and your partner. It helps relieve your pain, creates a diversion and makes you feel loved and supported. Your partner has a focus too, making them feel more involved.

• Consider using complementary therapies for pain relief.

• Relaxation is the secret to a good labour and using a Hypnobirthing CD or techniques learnt in a class work wonders for many women. It helps you achieve deep relaxation as you get in tune with the primitive part of your brain, breathe effectively and believe your body can give birth.

• Once in hospital, don’t be persuaded into rushing into induction or a hormone drip to speed up your contractions as it often leads to further intervention. Instead ask if it is safe to be given more time. Change your position or move around to ease labour aches or even have a rest or sleep to get your energy back up.

• If you can have something light to eat, and drink plenty of fluids, you will be working really hard in labour and your body needs fuel.

• Don’t rush into hospital at the first twinges - labour is usually very long (much longer than you imagine), consider using a TENS machine, having a walk or a bath or sleep, even bake a cake! Do what feels right for you and stay in your own surroundings as long as possible - much nicer than spending hours in a hospital delivery room.

• Remember to urinate every few hours, you don’t want a full bladder slowing the descent of the baby.

• Consider having a couple of birthing partners, labour is very long! Your partner will get tired. Having a woman who has successfully birthed before can be an amazing support for you both.

• Staying active, mobile and upright reduces the length of the labour. Good positions are leaning forward, sitting on the toilet, a birthing stool or ball or, if you are tired, make a “nest” of pillows on the bed so that you can lean forwards, relax or even sleep between contractions.

• Have a birth plan. Obviously labour is unpredictable; but if you can’t guarantee continuity of care from one midwife I suggest that you write down what you’d like to happen in a Birth Plan.

• Use a birthing pool. Water is soooo relaxing and the buoyancy helps you to move around. I would encourage you to save the water until the going gets really tough, then you have another level to go to.

• To birth your placenta naturally, wait for your contractions to return then clench your fist, place it over your mouth and blow into it without letting any air out, just like blowing up a balloon. It relaxes your pelvic floor and helps push out the placenta.

• Sleep when your baby sleeps - don’t use the time to put on a wash or catch up on chores.

• It is never too early to start doing pelvic floor exercises after the birth. As you get older you’ll be glad you did!

Written by Valerie Gommon, BA (Hons), RM, Independent Midwife
www.3shiresmidwife.co.uk

Preparing for the birth

So you are having a baby! Fantastic, or maybe it’s been a bit of a surprise? Having a baby is the most wonderful thing, but also a huge responsibility. You are going to need support, so if possible try to involve your partner, your family and friends.

It is important to see a midwife as soon as possible - many women think they have to see a doctor, and it is fine to see your doctor if you wish, but you can just go straight to the midwife. Your local midwife will usually be found in the local doctor’s surgery, but sometimes also at Children’s Centres, you will usually be seen less often at the beginning and then more frequently as the pregnancy progresses. Don’t feel that any question is daft - it isn’t a daft question if you don’t know the answer! Mums and friends can be great and really supportive, but they may not always have the correct information, and you can ask anything in complete confidence. A midwife is expert in pregnancy and birth and will help you throughout the pregnancy, birth and early days of parenting. She will also help you make decisions and support you in your wishes.

During the pregnancy it may be suggested that you take supplements and you will also be offered various tests and you will be asked to see the midwife regularly so that she can make sure that both you and the baby are well; use the appointments to ask any questions you may have. You should also be offered some antenatal or parentcraft classes which can be variable in quality, so consider NCT (the National Childbirth Trust) or active birth classes as well, they can be an opportunity to make friends with other expectant mums - often the friends made in these groups stay friends for years to come with the babies growing up together - it can be very supportive to be able to ask a friend “is this normal?”, “did your baby do this?”

It is really worth reading all you can about birth and babies. Your midwife will give you lots of information, but you can also go to the local library and borrow books. There are also sometimes local discussion groups, for example at Surestart Children’s Centres, NCT and Meet a Mum (MAMA), La Leche League and Association of Breastfeeding Mothers (ABM) both breastfeeding support groups may also have meetings to which pregnant women are invited - you midwife may know what is available locally or ask in the library.
There is actually quite a bit that you can do to prepare for the birth - you probably are young, fit and healthy and that is great. Giving birth is a bit like running a marathon - it is one of the hardest day’s work you will ever do, so if you are relatively fit that helps (I don’t mean that you should be exercising hard, but gentle exercise like walking and swimming is good). There may also be pregnancy yoga or aquanatal sessions in your area and both will be helpful to you. If you already exercise there is probably no reason why you shouldn’t continue, but don’t overdo it and ask your midwife for advice. Other strategies include learning self-hypnosis or ‘hypnobirthing’ techniques and seeing complementary therapists such as acupuncturists, homoeopaths, reflexologists, chiropractors etc throughout the pregnancy.

As you get heavier it is hard to want to do too much and tempting to sit on the sofa, but this actually is the worst thing you can do. Instead sit on a dining chair, but sit on it backwards, with your legs open and facing the chair back - this is great because it keeps you in a nice upright position, opens your pelvis and tips the baby forward. If you slouch backwards onto the sofa it tends to tip the baby towards your back and this can make labour longer and more difficult. If you have access to an exercise or birthing ball these too are great to sit on for the same reason - you can sit on a chair or ball and watch TV or even read a book!

Some women prepare for the birth by gently massaging their perineum (this is the area of skin between the vagina and the anus). If this is something that you think you might be able to do ask your midwife for more information about how to do this.

You also need to start considering where you want to give birth. Depending upon where you live you may have several options: at home, in a birthing unit or in a hospital - again this is something to discuss with your midwife.

The Antenatal Classes or Parentcraft Classes are usually run over a period of time, and you should be able to take along your partner or your Mum or a friend if you wish. The classes should give you lots of information about what to expect when you go into labour, they will tell you when you should call your midwife or hospital - bearing in mind that labour is usually a LONG process and women expecting their first baby nearly always contact the midwife before they really need to! The class may well also organise a visit to your local maternity unit so that everything can be explained to you - it is far less scary if you know what the place looks like and what machines are used for! Sometimes a Mum will come along with her baby and a feeding or bathing demonstration may be given. The midwife will also talk about how you can help yourself during the birth - I would really encourage you to go along!

Written by Valerie Gommon, BA (Hons), RM, Independent Midwife
www.3shiresmidwife.co.uk

Photos from forget-me-not

Please come back soon as this category wil be updated during the forthcoming weeks……

If you know of any company that you feel should be listed in this category please contact us.

Address: Based in Luton, Bedfordshire
Tel:  07779 129161
Email: enquiries@completelycake.co.uk
Web: www.completelycake.co.uk

Individual cakes for all occasions. Creative, inspiring, beautiful.

Please call us to discuss your ideas informally or visit our website for a small taster of the creations available for a wide range of Wedding and Celebration occasions.

We all know about them, a lot of our daughters are them.  But as parents just how involved do you get?  Week after week we can drop them off and then pick them up to smiles and chatter about the brilliant time they have had - who are we talking about?

BROWNIES!  And your local brownie group needs you.  Let us know of a group that your daughter attends and we will place them in a draw.  r-time will then donate a proportion of our profits to them.

Contact us now and let us know why your Brownie pack is the best!

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Let us know of businesses that have impressed you with their service or product, tell us why they are so good and you will be entered into our prize draw to win a £30 Marks & Spencer Voucher.

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September 13, 2008 9:00 am to September 14, 2008 5:00 pm

Bringing the countryside to life; The Steam and Country Fayre. Steam traction engines, old time fairground, vintage vehicles, morris dancing, trade stalls, aerobatic display, plus much much more!
Venue: Old Warden Park, Old Warden, Bedfordshire, SG18 9EA

Tickets: £12 Adults, £8 Senior Citizens, £5 Child (under 5’s free)
includes FREE admission to the Shuttleworth Collection, Bird of Prey Centre & Swiss Garden

Gates open 9am on both days

All enquiries to Paul Worby 01462 851711