Author Archive: Robyn

My No Good, Very Bad Day…

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So yesterday Adam woke up at 545 after sleeping all night long without a peep! Ya!

And then as we were sitting and having milk and watching CBeeBies I started to feel headachy and nauseous, the nausea a sure sign a migraine was building. I reflected on what Simon might have on at work and, when he got up, asked him if he might stay home. He said it wasn’t a problem so I headed back to bed. I woke up about an hour later, still headachy and still nauseous and headed to take some migraleave and went back to bed.

When I woke up around 1130 I was right as rain. Whew! Dodged that bullet.

After lunch I had a nice long bath and then Adam and I played and Simon went to have a sleep. We like naps in this house!

At around 345, as we were settling in to watch some CBeeBies, Adam threw up. Violently. I yelled for Simon who came running and we began the clean up. Simon was looking at the vomit and I said ‘why are you inspecting it?!!’ and he said ‘It looks like blood!’ I said ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ and continued to clean up. I should have looked.

Adam was running no fever so we figured it was just a fluke, too much food, something a bit off or similar. And he was acting fine, dancing around, being himself And then he threw up again. I was in the kitchen when I heard him wretch and came over to where he was with Simon and there was blood going down his face. I panicked and went right to the phone and dialled 999.

As an aside, in the US when you dial 911, you are not asked what service you need. It’s on central dispatch centre. I know this because I rang them once when a child was hit by a car outside my apartment. Anyway, in the UK first you have to ask for the right service and then give that service all of your information. I was stunned they needed that. Can’t they trace by telephone?

In any case I threw on some clothes and was getting Adam re-dressed when the EMT’s showed up. It was less than 10 minutes and Simon and I were very impressed. It was two gentlemen and they were very nice, listening to what happened. They decided the best thing was to take Adam to Royal Children’s to be checked out. So we finished gathering our things and off we all went in the ambulance with no sirens, of course!

Once there we were taken straight into triage, thanks to coming in by ambulance. The Triage nurse did the normal checks and said it would be about 45 minutes and if he threw up again, tell her. I changed his nappy, putting the pad they give you for urine collection into it. And we sat down.

Once again, Adam seemed fine, playing with some of the toys there. And then he wasn’t. And then he barfed. It was all clear liquid with no blood, but Simon went and told the triage nurse and we held onto the pan he had used to vomit in. A little got on his clothes but I decided to wait to change him as it had been hard to tell how much blood before as it had soaked into clothes and Daddy!

It was about 45 minutes when we were called back and then waited about 2o minutes more. Why do they do that? Why call you back if you’re just going to sit in an empty cubicle? Why not let the child continue to play until there is truly a doctor ready?

In any case another 15 – 20 minute wait and a doctor came in and took Adam’s history. Now Adam was born at the Royal and has been to their A&E 3 times now. Shouldn’t they have his history?!?

In any case, the doctor then felt his tummy, listened to his heart and lungs and looked in his ears and throat. As usual, Adam was fine until I put him on the exam table. I am really beginning to think he remembers, from 3 weeks old, when they had to hold him down and cut his foot for a blood test and he associates it with that damn table!

The doctor said his tummy was lovely and soft (lovely? 🙂 ) but his ears and throat were red. They wanted to test a urine sample (pee kid!) and his blood sugar (not sure why, forgot to ask) and see if he could keep some dioralyte down but she didn’t think it was anything more than an infection.

Once he had finally peed, and kept down the dioralyte we were out of there fairly quickly with some amoxicillian and the instruction that he’d probably throw up more but if there was no blood don’t worry, the blood was probably from a tear in his throat. Okay then.

So we headed home. Once there we tried to get him to have some toast, no go, and gave him some more dioralyte. He had a bath and his first does of antibiotics and, on the doctor’s advice, we tried some milk. Puke before he even had a sip.

So we cleaned up and tucked him into bed.

The next few hours he was very restless and then I heard little feet in the hall and retching. More puke, but wasn’t he clever to get out of bed first!

I got myself ready to bed and snuggled in next to him. At about 130 I hear ‘Mummy, water?’ So I hand him the water bottle I keep next to the bed. About 30 minutes later, puke. In bed.

Get Simon up, get us cleaned and the bed changed. Adam was fully awake by then so I brought him into the front room and gave him some more dioralyte. He started falling asleep and so we went back to bed.

Man, this is getting long.

Let me sum up:

Fine all night after 2a. Puked again after more antibiotics. Hmmmm. Rang GP, said to stop antib’s until fever was down (did I mention he now had a fever?) and vomiting and diarrhoea (did I mention the 4 totally liquid poos?) under control.

And he’s been fine since. Fever, yes, but bland food and juice is staying down.

Oh and I got to get my haircut, but not have my anniversary lunch. So it was, all in all, a decent, if puke and poo filled day.

8 Years Ago Yesterday…

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my brother drove me to SFO and I permanently left America for good.

8 years ago today I arrived in Belfast. For good.

I’ve been back, of course. But for never more than a month or two. Northern Ireland is my home now.

When people ask me if I’d go back my answer is always no. Of course I miss my family. And some of the familiar food. But I married a Coleraine boy and gave birth to a Belfast one. Here we will stay.

Adam, of course, can go to America when he grows up, if he wants. He is a full citizen of both countries, with 2 passports. I wouldn’t want him so far away, of course, but if that’s where his life leads? More power to him!

I used to dream about retiring to the coast of Maine and getting snowed in all winter with a pile of books and plenty of food.

Now maybe I’ll retire to the North Coast of Northern Ireland. I won’t get snowed in, but I can still lay in a pile of books and pretend I am.

I haven’t decided yet if Simon is coming with me. 🙂

PS 7 years ago this Sunday, Simon and I were married. More on that soon!

I Am Not A Farmer

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I do not live in Scotland.

But, please, read these two blogs: –

Awful News on The Farm at the back of beyond

21st Century Clearances on Salt and Caramel

The first is written by a fellow MN blogger who lives on a tenant farm in Scotland. Thanks to the meadeval Scottish land tenancy laws, she is about to lose everything due to a negligent landlord. Her roof has, literally, fallen in, she has no clean water, no heat. Her husband’s family has been on the land since the 1800s and their house is about to be declared unsafe and they will be forced to move. She has very little legal recourse.

The second is also written by a MN blogger. She has some more details about the plight of the farmer and some ideas on how to help.

I am feeling fairly helpless. I often do in these situations. I am not a citizen of the UK so feel I can’t really write my MP/MLA as I am not actually represented by them.

If you are a citizen of the UK, please Tweet, using #21stcenturyclearances as your hashtag. Even if you’re not, let’s get the word out. Let’s get the world watching.

Let’s get this powerful internet tool working. My farmer friend has made the decision to go public, even if it’s too late to help her and her family.

Let’s see what we can do to help her.

Thanks to Everyone with Advice About The Burnt Pot

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but it’s still burnt. And I’ve done everything everyone has said, some of the twice.

So today I went pot shopping.

And found a 4 qt non-stick at TK Maxx for £19.99.

I am still working on The Burnt Pot, but I really can’t live without a good size sauce pan any longer. So I may wind up with two.

Or I may chuck The Burnt Pot in the bin.

It could go either way.

No Spoilers, Sweetie

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but I just tripped over a paradox.

Of course, with Dr River Song around, the show has a pair of docs.

And, if Rory was a doctor, rather than a nurse, and Amy wore a doctor costume for her singing telegram gig, we’d have a double pair of docs.

Thoughts like these are why I rarely sleep well.

🙂

With thanks, and apologies, to Robert A Heinlein and The Number of the Beast

Things, As A Mother, I Know Nothing About And Never Will

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If breast feeding makes you hungrier than being pregnant. Breast feeding didn’t work for me. I do know, however, the being pregnant made me starving.

What it’s like to hold your baby immediately after birth. Both of my arms had IVs in them, one with saline, one with glucose/insulin with them stretched out like Christ on the Cross on those board things, so Simon held him for the first 20 minutes of his life while they stitched me up and unplugged me.

How to care for an umbilical stump. Adam’s was cut off by SCBU staff so they could put a line into his belly button. I do know, however, that cutting the stump off creates a slight outie.

If raising girls is easier or harder than raising boys. I will only ever have a boy. I do know, however, that my brother and sister in law have 2  very  different girls.

Baby and Toddler groups. Everyone said I should go. I said no, I have nothing in common with those 20somethings except that we have children. Now, however, it’s a moot point because Adam gets plenty of interaction at nursery and I can continue to be a misanthrope.

What do you, as a mother, know nothing about and never will?

 

Feet Up Friday (or Crack for Lunch)

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So today was my first truly free Friday since Adam has started going to nursery 3 days a week. The other Fridays I have had to catch up on work or go out or do some other thing rather than just relaxing, which is the point of him going 3 days a week now. So I can have a day to rest.

So what did I do?

Simon gets up with Adam on Fridays anyway, so I slept until 730.

Then I got Adam and Simon out the door at about 815.

Then I put a load of wash on and set the burnt out pot to boil with some vinegar. Still isn’t completely unburnt. 🙁

Then I had breakfast and an entire cup of hot coffee (only mothers and fathers of small children will appreciate how wonderful that is).

Then I played my game for a bit. It’s a video game.

Then I went back to bed. And read. And read some more. And then I slept until 11. And then I read some more.

And then I had a bath. And read some more.

Then I got out of the bath and had crack, aka Stove Top Stuffing, for lunch followed by the rest of a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food. Yes, really.

And now I am writing this blog post.

I still have an hour and about 45 minutes until I have to leave to get Adam.

I think I’ll go have a nap.

I Was Very Brave

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One thing that heightens my anxiety is having to take a bus to somewhere I’ve only been once or never been at all. I have a total panic that I will get on the wrong bus and get lost. That panic is heightened when Adam is with me.

The rational side  of me realizes, of course, that if I wind up on the wrong bus I can always get off and call a taxi. Especially as I have an account with a local firm so I don’t even need to have any cash on me.

The anxious side is postive I will be lost forever, Adam and I wandering around Belfast, alone, hungry and, probably, needing a pee.

So when I get on the bus I always confirm it is going where I think it is. For some reason this annoys Belfast drivers. I have no idea how tourists cope. I also put the destination address in my GPS on my phone so I can keep an eye as to when I need to get off.

So Adam and I were off to view a house today. I have been to this part of Belfst before, just not by bus. I had a pretty good idea where I was going, but because it was the first time going on a bus, I was anxious. So I confirmed with the driver that the bus was going where I thought it was going, he grumbled but confirmed. So I got on, settle Adam’s pram in the wheelchair space (fully intending to move if a wheelchair user needed it. It was our smaller push chair, so easy to fold if necessary) and sat down with my phone in hand to watch the progress of the bus.

Except the bus went what appeared to me to be 100% the wrong way. Small panic. I breathed and kept an eye on the map and the street signs and my watch. I had left plenty of time. And the bus still seemed to be going the wrong way. And I contimplated getting off. Or asking the driver again if the bus was going where I thought it was. But they don’t typically answer questions when driving. And then he made a right. And went around a roundabout. And we were suddenly going the right way again! Whew.

I got to my stop and got off, thanking the driver. And we went and saw the house. Which would have been a great place to live for the right price except that it had no bathtub!! Forget the fact that showers scare Adam and I think he’s too young for a shower, anyway. I cannot live without a bathtub.

So I got another bus home. And now that I knew which way the bus actually went I didn’t panic on the way home.

I felt very brave.

And I was.

“If You Don’t Know What Work To Do, Do the Work That’s In Front Of You.”

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The title of this post was said by an American President. I am just not sure which one. It might have been Hoover. I’ve tried look it up on the ‘net but I am not getting anywhere. I know I read it in a Cook’s Illustrated Magazine but I am not sure what issue. If anyone knows who said, do please put it in the comments.

Anyway, whenever I am feeling overwhelmed by life, which happens quite a lot with a toddler, a company and house to run and constant aches and fatigue, I pull that quote into my brain and look around. And I find the thing in front of me that a) most needs doing and b) I have the spoons for.

Today it was folding the laundry mountain. My laundry mountain comes out of the fact that I have combination washer/dryer and the dryer takes, literally, hours to dry things. So if I put a load on in the morning, it might be dry by lunch. But it might not. So then I have to wait to fold it. I know a lot of people will do things like that after their child is in bed. I am not a lot of people. By the time Adam is in bed my spoons are gone.

Now, this was a particularly high laundry mountain. You see, in the last 14 days I have taken 2 days to be ill. One day with a migraine and one day with just general” OMG I hurt”. And those 2 days off put me about a week behind. Due to my fibro I can’t really count on being able to do a lot all at once, so I do it in small bits. I “do the work that’s in front of me”. And doing nothing for 2 days really got things piling up.

So today the thing in front of me was the laundry.

Tomorrow it will be work I am paid for and (hopefully) some work on the marketing I am trying to get together for the company.

After taking Adam to nursery and having a cuppa at my favourite coffee shop.

Also, remember this?

After a boil with a dishwasher tab, a scrub with bicarb, a boil with bicarb and another scrub it now looks like this:

So I live in hope.

I Think I am Going to Cry…

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So today we are test driving our new slow cooker by making Nigella Lawson’s Gammon in Coca Cola. So far so good. Seems to have cooked well.

To go with it, I make my own apple sauce. It’s very easy to do, is a good way to use up oldish apples and has nothing in it but apples. Adam tends to wear his food, as 2 year old’s will, and we have noticed that when we have jarred apple sauce, his cheeks get very very red. I assume it’s from the sulphates. I think he has other allergies, which is a whole other post.

Anyway, I cut up my apples, put in some water and turn on the burner. Usually, 15 minutes later I have apples to be smushed into sauce.

I also had both of my ovens heating, one for roasted potatoes and one for glazing the gammon and when I smelled something burning I assumed it was something in one of the ovens, because they certainly could use a clean.

I was wrong.

Here is the pot, with the apples scraped out:

It is currently on the stove with baking soda and water and I am praying. I am not hopeful, however, as the outside of the bottom of the pot is black as well.

Hanky standing by as the tears form.

The ham was delish, BTW.