The never ending drama!

So in a huge build up to my husbands exam on Saturday we both thought life would settle down to normality. 

That was naive, my parents joke that I am a drama queen and it certainly feels like there's always something going on.

I'm been feeling pretty ill in the run up to the exam but carried on then Sunday came. I just couldn't keep any food or water down at all and ended up with the most horrendous migraine type thing. I sat in he dark putting hot tea towels on my head to try and help but it was one of those horrible throbbing ones that's excruciating when you move. My husband card the out of hours but of course the local one was closed and the next nearest was completely full up so we waited 6 hours for a gp to come out and visit. 

She was very lovely and admitted me to at michaels hospital we eventually got there about 4am! 

So I've been on a permenant drip since as well as various pain medication and anti sickness medication. 

I've taken photos for full dramatic effect!

(I have to say that IV paracetamol is miles better then tablets!) I still couldn't really eat yesterday but today I've managed 3 pieces of toast!

I have to say that having a bug has it's plus points, I have my own room with en-suite and a pretty pleasant view of Bristol  

This is because I'm deemed as infectious. My room even has a TV- although mine is broken! 

On the down side is that you're treated a bit like a leper, everyone has to wear a plastic apron gloves etc before they come in. When I commented on the nice red plastic apron I was told these were different from the white one to further indictate your risk! 

My isolation notice (please note I am in the 'nightingale' suite!)

This morning I was finally deemed as Uninfectious and exitedly headed out the room I have been in for so long. I went 2 minutes down the corridor before realising that the grass really isn't greener on the other side and nothing interesting existed outside the room! With that I headed back! I felt quite proud of my Uninfectious status until the tea lady came round. She put on an apron and gloves before offering me tea. I proudly said I wasn't in isolation anymore and she said I know but I think I'll wear it anyway! Gutted!

I can forgive her as she did bring me tea and shortbread!

I've really been missing Nemo and my husband, I was so unwell yesterday to be truly honest I was happy with the quiet but as I've felt better I've felt so desperate to see then. My husband brought Nemo for a flash visit this morning (I can by-pass visiting hours because Nemo needs breast feeding). It made me so happy to see them.

 

I'm hoping to be discharged late this afternoon and can't wait to see them both then. Meanwhile Nemo is having his first day at the child minder. Unfortunately my husband has been off the last two weeks on study leave so this has been terrible timing for him to be off more. Hopefully he'll be able to get some work down with Nemo out of the house! 

My dad is coming down tonight and my mum is coming the day afterwards to help out which will really make a difference.

Hospital food (although I've not been able to eat very much) hasn't been too bad. 

Lasagne 

Raspberry sponge 

Chicken curry (with mash potato because they had no rice!) 

The portion sizes aren't overwelming generous but I imagine a lot of other like me don't have the largest appetite right now.

I'm looking forward to turkey in gravely with roast potatoes for lunch but I wonder if I'm being overly optimistic about it- in hindsight mass produced roast potatoes aren't usually great. Perhaps I should have gone with the mash- it tasted good yesterday- even with the curry! 

At 3am the nurse changed my drip but unfortunately this woke me up and I've been awake since then. Because I'm feeling better boredom has definitely hit and I've tried to think of innovative ways to entertain myself with the sparse things nearby.

The outside of a sick bowl becomes a hat! 

And the inside I just doodled on!

I have also spent far too much time trying to get a good photo of my room mate 

Have you ever tried taking a picture of an ant? They are amazingly fast! 

I have to say that the staff here have been really lovely to me. There are aome extra nice things about St Michaels instead of Southmead which namely is the towels. At Southmead you only get these ridiculous hand towels -nothing bigger. This meant that when I was 42 weeks pregnant and in labour I had to attempt to cover myself up with several of these (this failed badly but that's another story!) here are my two massive towels 

Bliss.....

Unexpected joys of parenthood

I have always always (!) wanted children and always known what a privilege being a parent is (even at 2am!) 

Being Nemo's Mummy has been amazing, just like I knew it would be, albeit not without it's challenges! Here are just some of the things I love about being a parent that I didn't expect! 

-Taking a sleeping Nemo upstairs:

I love carrying a sleeping Nemo upstairs after he has fallen asleep in the car or downstairs. Sometimes he will stir and look at me briefly before closing his eyes again and sometimes he will be dead to the world and I will be able to put him in his cot without his even knowing!

-Hide and Seek:

Out of all Nemo's toys his favourite is probably his plastic balls. They are balls that come from a toy with a ramp to run them down and a hammer bench toy. Every day Nemo will chase the balls around the house and everyday I go round the house retrieving them. Here are today's hiding places:

Bricks and balls end up on top of this toy

Knitting wool basket

Nemo likes to use the bath tub as a ramp for various toys! 

Behind the bathroom bin

On top of the nappy bucket

Underneath the kitchen table.

-Wiping rusk debris from toys and furniture

Rusky fingers get everywhere in our house from door frames, to Nemo's toys, so our sofa. It's funny to see where Nemo has been from his trail and it probably means that we will never replace our £10 leather sofa!

-Checking on Nemo before I go to bed

Every night I check on Nemo before I go to bed. I almost feel naughty sneaking into his room and checking his breathing.  Despite being put in his cot on his back Nemo will always end up in the most amazing positions, usually on his front sideways in the cot with his head squished into the corner! Last night he managed to get entirely free of his blankets and wrapping him back up woke him up. I rocked his back to sleep whilst he held my hand. I was there for ages and when I removed my hand from his he just took my hand back. It was such an amazing moment and it makes me remember how lucky I am.

-Watching Nemo try out foods

I love cooking for Nemo and watching him eat food he hasn't had before. Nemo had his first 99 ice cream (well he shared mine!) Fair to say I think he enjoyed it! 

He also had his first taste of a sausage roll! 

On a recent trip to the supermarket Nemo grabbed a tomato from the trolley and tried to eat it, meaning that the lady had to scan it with a large bite mark in it! He is is enjoying the rest in the car.

Maternity leave is coming to an end in August and it seems to be hurtling towards me all too quickly. After much negotiation I agreed to go back to work 4 days a week, this is more then I would like but I am going to give it a try I just don't want to feel like I'm losing out! 

Positively going back means that we have some pennies for a midweek holiday in centreparcs in September- so exciting! 

Birthday and Dedication weekend

Well it's been a really busy few weeks. My poor husband is working like mad preparing for his CFA exam. 

It's this financial exam which he spends 9 months preparing for. It's a truly evil exam which has 6 300-500 page textbooks in it's content and you have to memorise around 250 formular for it just to name a couple of the evil things about it! Unfortunately it means that around this time of year we don't see each other a lot as he works 2 hours before work and 3 hours afterwards. 

However the 2, 6 hour exams are on Saturday so for two months there is no CFA yay! 

Unfortunately I've also had viral gastroenteritis so it's been interesting to try and balance everything! 

Anyway last weekend it was exciting as it was my birthday and Nemo's dedication at church (a way of welcoming a child into the church). 

We went up to my parents for the Friday and Saturday as my sister and her husband from N.Ireland came over. On the Saturday I opened all my presents, I was a very spoilt. Here is a summary but by no means an exhaustive list of my presents:

 

My husband made good use of a sale in m&s (so proud of him!) 

And yes he did buy me stickers and a baby wooden toys because they are cute!

And a basket!!!! I love baskets, I'm a bit addicted to them :)

And finally my hubby went shopping at www.strayjewellery.com (amazing jewellery with free p+p) and got me loads of things but here's a couple of my favourites:

Little tea cup and tea pot :) 

A little owl pocket watch necklace- how sweet! 

 

My brother and law and his wife got me this beautiful locket.

My sister and her husband got me lots of clothes and two extra scarfs (because I always need more whatever my husband says!) 

This is one of the lovely tops they have me 

They gave me my presents in this bag though- I really am a big kid! 

My mum and dad got me a deckchair go the garden, I love the stripes and how old school it is. 

Here's a picture of it wrapped up!

They also gave me a new crochet book and a massive pack of soft dk crochet wool that will keep me going for ages!!!

I've started crocheting granny squares for a bath mat. 

So the weather having been gorgeous the weekend before was terrible on my birthday so we decided to go to Lincoln for the day. Unfortunately on the way we encountered what promised to be a huge traffic jam so we diverted to a place called Southwell. We had some tea and cake in a cafe and then went round he charity shops. We picked up some good bargains including these posh ties for my husband at £3 total:

We then went to the park with Nemo whilst he rest of the family was cultured and went to a World War exhibition at the local cathedral. 

Daddy and Nemo enjoying playing on the  swings. 

A really blurred picture of the local squirrel eating an acorn.

Then there was an massive outpouring! After the rain trailed off we continued in the park using a nappy to try and dry off the slide! My sister took photos so I will have to steal them from her. We then used the nearby assault course (for children) for our own competition. We must have looked a sight, 6 adults doing this childrens assault course, it was very serious with rules and time trails! 

We finished the evening with a Home made Thai curry and birthday cake!

So on the Sunday morning we traveled down to Briatol for Nemo's dedication. Of course 5 minutes before we were due to go up Nemo decided that he wanted a feed and having borrowed my sisters dress for the occasion which didn't allow for easy access I had to bribe Nemo with breadsticks and rusk. This did mean during the dedication he was dropping bits of rusks all over the platform in the front of church! Again my family have the photos. 

Afterwards we went to a local cavery with my parents, sister and brother in law, my husbands mum and my husbands god parents. I made a cake for Nemo (a blue iced square cake with his name as a wooden train on top). You can see that Nemo enjoyed it! 

It was a lovely but tiring weekend so we spent our evening just relaxing at home, such a lovely weekend :)