Mr Potato Head
With our 3 day old grandaughter back in hospital, I have to
remind myself that a few years ago she would still have been there, not yet
released to the outside world. Unlike the modern approach to childbirth.....no
obvious problems, then out you go, back on the streets within hours. I remember
being the longest staying resident on my post natal ward...one woman left exactly 3 hours
after giving birth. I relished my 3 nights with my new born, safe in the
knowledge that if I did anything wrong, help was just a button press away, and
it was “our” time, not shared with anyone. I was virtually institutionalised by
then though, having spent the last 11 weeks of pregnancy on the ante-natal
ward. After such a stay, 3 nights felt like no time at all.
Anyway, back to the point. The beautiful new baby is
a little jaundiced ....very common by all accounts, but clearly it is important to get things right before she comes home. It would just be good ( for her parents) to get her home and start really enjoying having a daughter as well as their adorable son and to get a
some sort of normal routine established.
With the baby in hospital, taking care of her 3, soon to be
4 year old brother while mum and dad concentrate on the little one, has been
uppermost in all our minds. Grandma Carole will be taking him swimming today,
he had one day back at his nursery so he could tell all his friends about his
new sister, and we had him for an overnight stay, and for most of yesterday.
As it was a hastily put together arrangement, we had no
spare clothes for him at our house. All the spare children’s clothes have been taken
to France, to wait for all our expected young visitors later this year. So, I
dug around and found my now 21 year old’s infant school sweat shirt and a pair
of 12 -18 month old clown trousers that she had worn.....well, 20 years ago. Luckily
he loved them....and a new pair of pjs was born.
He likes Hebden Bridge....previously mentioned canals,
ducks, sweet shops, and bridges all feature in his routine when he comes to
stay with us.
So, we had a glorious day, chatting about little sisters, drawing,
watching the water rush under the bridge near our house, duck feeding and
choosing sugary delights from his favourite shop. He played with the playmobil
people, the Toy Story characters, and spent quite a long time whirling around
with a big plastic snake. His most creative result of the day was playing with
Mr Potato Head in a way that Slavador Dali would have enjoyed.
We took him back to the hospital later in the afternoon, to
see his sister, have a cuddle with mum and dad, before dad was going to take
him home for some normal time. Life must seem a little confusing for him at the
moment, but not as confusing as for Mr Potato Head.
So sorry to hear that the little one is back in hospital, Janice, and hope she will be home very soon. As one grandmother to another I love your post and photos, which bring back a lot of memories of having our eldest grandson to stay whille mum was busy having his bother. Glad o see you still use reins for safety - much better than trying to hold onto a wriggling little hand. :-)
ReplyDeleteA lovely post, Janice - though I do hope that Izzie is soon out and safe at home. Certainly can't imagine 11 weeks in hospital - with Mateo, I had 10 days and thought I was institutionalised after that short spell!
ReplyDeleteLove Mr Potato Head!
Axxx
(Just wondered whether both your and Perpetua's typos are deliberate.. I love the idea of Mr Potato Head being a Slavador Dali - perfect! And Perpetua's grandson waiting for his 'bother'!)
ROFL, Annie! Talking about a Freudian slip. :-)
DeleteHi Janice. So sorry to hear your granddaughter is back in hospital, but I agree with you that mums and babies are discharged far too quickly these days. I find it quite worrying really. My daughter was discharged very quickly after the births of both my grandsons and they both had problems that had to be dealt with at home by the GP, midwife and health visitor, plus the youngest one was back and forth to the hospital. I'm sure a lot of this could have been avoided if they had stayed in a little longer.
ReplyDeleteAnyway mine were both absolutely fine after a while and I am sure this will be the case with your granddaughter too.
Congratulations on being a grandma again...it's just lovely isn't it?
Mr. Potato Head saves the hour! What a handsome young man your grandson is and an equal delight will be seeing pictures of his baby sister when she gets to come home, which will be soon. How comforting for your daughter and son-in-law to know he is safely in the arms of family until things settle down.
ReplyDeleteI was in the hospital for three nights with both of our girls' births. That security of the nurse's call button was so appreciated then. Times have changed, haven't they?
Oh, I love your ability to improvise pjs on such short notice.
Thanks lifeonthecuff, my daughter was delighted at the use of her 20 year old garments, although she was possibly surprised that they were the items I had chosen to keep. Hope the spring is starting to show itself in Illinois. J.
DeleteI did of course mean lifeonthecutoff....who knows what life on the cuff might mean.
DeleteOh, the typos I make could start a new dictionary, Janice.
DeleteThe daffodils are poking their heads up higher and higher and we were spared the snow the more northerly 'burbs got last night. It's been a mild winter here, though tornadoes have hit the south something fierce.
Thanks Annie, Perpetua and Ayak. Your reassuring words are very welcome...my typo was not deliberate Annie....no matter how many times I check posts...there's always something I have to go back to to alter. I think i@ll leave this one though...Slavador sounds pretty good to me. I could never have been a proof reader. Luckily, when the work I did required accuracy ( do you remeber those days Annie ?) I worked with 2 people who were brilliant at noticing and tweaking my first attempts.
ReplyDeleteThanks again all, lovely to hear from you. J.
oops...just looked at the above and I have no idea how "i@ll" and remeber got through my read through. never mind.
ReplyDeleteVaguely, Janice...only vaguely! I do remember with great relish the hazy days in Anna's office though. :-)
ReplyDelete