Tuesday, 28 June 2011

Being a full time working mummy...

is sometimes flipping hard.

When we're all 100% well and everything goes to plan it works like a dream.

I get up at 5.30am (well 6am by the time I've hit snooze a few times), OH gives Immie a bottle, watches TV with her etc while he has his brekkie. At 6.40am I take over, get her washed and dressed, we leave for nursery at 7.06am (precisely!) and I drop her off at nursery about 7.25am. She happily goes to one of the nursery practitioners for cuddles, lots of smilies and off I go. I usually pick up some lunch in Tesco on the way and arrive at school about 7.55am. I work all day, my lessons go like a dream, my  pupils all make progress, I have the odd meeting, do some paperwork leave at about 4.55pm, pick Immie up at 5.20pm. She will have had a great day, eaten all her food, had lots of naps, said a few new words/done some walking with a walker, possibly jumped in the water tray and got soaked, making her key worker laugh. We go home, she plays with her toys till about 6.30ish then its bath, bottle, bed. She drifts off to a deep sleep, doesn't wake up. We get dinner in peace, I do a bit more work (AKA watch Corrie) then its off to bed all ready to do it again the next day.

Then you have days like this

I wake at 3.30am because I don't feel well, Immie wakes around the same time boiling hot due to a reaction to her MMR jab (see yesterdays post!) I cant get back to sleep to go and watch TV and do some ironing. Immie wakes again inconsolable, this time its teeth, so after a bit of bonjela and lots of mummy cuddles she goes back to sleep, at this point I feel guilty because I realise sometimes she just wants her mummy and today she will have to settle for daddy as mummy is going to teach other peoples babies :(

I then decide to cut my losses and get ready for work (after  updating my blog) I decide to go to work early to catch up on paperwork. Then the realisation that I've only had about 4 hours sleep hits home and today I will be teaching 2 Y6 classes full of kids I've never met before, as well as one of my own classes. I've got to get 3 sets of reports written just incase Immie is ill tomorrow (because it will be my turn to stay home!) then I've got to rush for a docs appointment, back to school for a governors meeting followed by my yoga class.

Well looks like I'll be sacking off yoga tonight, I'm just not up to it. Governors is hanging in the balance too, but I'll see how I get on at the docs.

Phew, with any luck I won't fall asleep teaching.

Mama x

MMR

So there has been shed loads of press about MMR and how safe it is. One doctor wrote an article in a medical journal and now people are convinced it leads to autism, deafness, watching porn etc

We're quite practical parents in this house, we take the opinion that the "research" which kicked off all the controversy was scientifically flawed (well this is what the OH reckons), that the press misinterpreted it and over-hyped it and the diseases that MMR prevents are far worse than any side effects. Therefore we are of the opinion that modern medical intervention is good and Immie will be having all her jabbies.

What we didnt bank on was that the MMR is what they call a live vaccination and therefore you can display some of the symptoms of Measles, Mumps and Rubella. So today, 6 weeks after the jabbies, Immie has started to experience the symptoms of mumps. I get a phone call from nursery saying that her temperature is sky high (40!) and that despite being given a dose of our favourite branded paracetamol suspension, she's not well and I need to pick her up. Fortunately, I wasn't teaching this morning so I rushed across town to pick her up.

On arrival at nursery I find her stripped to a nappy, laying on a beanbag while her keywork mops her brow with a damp flannel and takes her temperature. Immie is doing her best 'I'm ill please look after me" look.

She clearly wasn't well, so I took her home, arranged a doctors appointment, then OH turned up to take over.

Doctor was mystified to the cause, she was only sent home from nursery a few weeks back with similar symptoms, but after a while he deduced it was probably a reaction to the jabbies which we had forgotten all about (despite being told by the practice nurse you can get symptoms for up to 8 weeks!)

So prescription for ibuprofen has been written so nursery can give her that as well as paracetamol.

I'm very lucky work have been so understanding. Hopefully the symptoms will go tomorrow and we can get back to normal, or maybe this is part of Immie's cunning plan to get out of sports day at nursery tomorrow!!

Mama x

Saturday, 25 June 2011

Anabelle's Angel Day

So today has been an extra special Saturday. Today was Anabelle's Angel Day! The culmination of tireless fundraising by a very special mummy and daddy, Caroline and Jon.




Caroline and Jon are Mummy and Daddy to their beautiful angel baby Anabelle. Anabelle was born sleeping at just 32 weeks. Caroline and Jon have had to deal with possibly one of life's cruelest twists but they have done it with courage, love and honesty. A support to each other at the darkest of moments.

They have focussed their efforts in to fund raising for SANDS (The stillborn and neo-natal death charity). There has been an online line donation page, a fundraising walk and today, a special fete in honour of a very special angel baby. With the support and kindness of friends, family and total strangers they have well exceeded their target! An amazing achievement!!!!

If you want to find out more about Anabelle, Caroline and Jon then check out the following links

Anabelle's Angel Day on Facebook
After Anabelle, Caroline's blog

And now I have a favour to ask, if you have any spare cash, anything at all even just a pound, then donate it to Anabelle's Angel Day Just Giving Page!

Help support mummies, daddies and families just like Caroline, Jon and Anabelle.

Mama x

Monday, 20 June 2011

Why is my baby mute around other people?

When Immie is at home with us she is a right little chatter box. She says a variety of words, some very clearly now including -

- hello
- bye bye
- Beans (the name of our cat!)
- Beebies (CBeebies!)
- Gone/Done
- Papa (Papoose, this is what OH says when he wraps her in a towel after bath time)
- pappy (nappy)
- Beh (Book)
- Mama/Dadda
- B (beddies/bedtime)
- Shush (shoe)
- Fsh (Fish)

And so on. So why if we see people out and about, even people she knows does she go mute?? Once upon a time she used to smile at EVERYONE! Not anymore, now you only get treated to smilies if you are very special!! (Or if you have milky buttons to offer!)

Mama x

Sunday, 12 June 2011

Stuff work, your baby comes first...

I hear this a lot, usually from well meaning friends and family.

Immie has been poorly again this week. Which has resulted in OH taking a day off work, me taking 2 days off work. And of course people are right, Immie DOES come first. But it isn't as simple as people think to be able to just walk out of work/not go in to work and not to worry about the impact on my job/OHs job.

My job in particular relies on continuity with my classes and completing lots of other tasks like learning walks (thats an observation to most people), work scrutinies, department meetings etc. Yes they can get a supply teacher/cover supervisor in to cover my classes and I can set appropriate cover work but there comes a point where you need a subject specialist, there is only so much appropriate cover work I can set. For example year 9 are creating videos, yes they can do all the planning and scripting etc but there comes a point where they actually have to video something, and when you don't know who is covering your lessons you cant leave some poor unsuspecting soul the job of managing a class of teenagers and video cameras!

The learning walks and work scrutiny are done by me. I have to be physically in school to watch someone teach, I cant observe from my sofa.

There is also the fact that after 5 days off with Immie, they won't pay me (OH doesn't get paid at all!), so far I have had 2 & 1/2 days off and Ive not managed a full week at work, how would that look to my employer/potential employers, all this absence in a short space of time??

If you are lucky you might live near family who can share the childcare, but we don't. So it is literally me and OH sharing it between us. I'm not moaning, it is our choice to live where we do (well it's down to OHs job but you know what I mean), but it does make life complicated. All my friends locally are teachers so they can't help out.

So yes, Immie does come first, of course she does, but that doesn't mean there aren't massive impacts elsewhere in my life. This is certainly all stuff I didn't consider before we had Immie, not that it would make any difference though!

Hopefully Immie's immune system will sort itself out soon and we can get a proper routine going!

Mama x