Charlie's Bird
living the dream with Charlie and Thandi and chirping all the way back to the nest.Archive for March, 2011
Day 214
…and its hot! Summer is starting to wear a little thin now, please can we have some cooler weather! I’m melting. And so many of my in hospital patients feel they must turn their aircons in their rooms off, or put it on warm, that by the time I’ve done my ward round I am vaguely nauseous, and have to sit in my icebox office for a while to halt the melt!
Anyway, no more gripes today, its thursday, the week is almost done, and I will survive it! Tomorrow we’re heading to the other MJ’s 40th birthday, saturday I have a surgical workshop with my favourite FS, and sunday I intend to do little more than put my feet up. My fitness and stamina are poor t the moment, bt I feel a bit like I am midway through a long run, the point where you just have to put yor head down and get on with it, so I am trying, getting to work a little earlier, pshing myself through overbooked days and machining through my theatre work. Can’t say it’s fun, bt I’m getting throgh it, which is whaty counts.
I’m also trying hard to sweat the smaller stuff less. Even if Tenacious room isn’t sorted out by the time he (generic he) arrives, it’ll be ok, I might not have everything I need, but I have way more already than some have, and my babe will be blessed with plenty of love and care, and that’s enough. I can’t decide what to do about the pram, so for now, I will do nothing. And although I’m sweating, its got everything to do with the incessant heat, and not these matters.
Anyway, off to the local state hospital for my monthly session there, don’t forget to look at the wednesday poll, looking forward to seeing what you all have to say!
Day 213
…and greetings, in the name of peace and calmness today, well, I am trying.
Its been a busy and slightly trying morning in theatre, but I got a lot of work done successfully, and am quite pleased about that. Then I headed off to the man to talk about prams, its crazy how much brain time this pram is taking at the moment, and its crazy how expensive they are! Oy! And then Charlie and I had a quick lunch date, which was lovely, we chatted like old times, and it felt great. This pregnancy has become somewhat all consuming, so it was nice to just natter about other stuff for a change. And it is nice to be over my grumps!
Now I know that there will be some debate here, thoght I’d set the cat amongst the pigeons – hehe! I’ve just reread this and I realise it sounds ambiguous, these are things I’m not sure I will get/use, your answers should be a yes I used a bath/dummy/etc… You can vote more than once.
Have fab wednesday’s – kindle registration and book buying for me, and bookclub tonight!
Day 212
…and I have woken up with the grumps this morning, hate it when that happens, because it just means I drag myself through the day with a heavy heart. Anyway, hopefully, things will improve as the day progresses.
I finally remembered what my rant was about that I mentioned on friday….gladiator shoes. Am I the only one that thinks they don’t look great, unless you are a roman supermodel with ankles like a gazelle’s (super skinny, in other words)? I think they make the average leg lose its shape and look all chunky. They also seem completely ridiculous to put on, and take off, as demonstrated by how long my patients take to get undressed and dressed again when they come for an examination. Hmph – damn those fashion designers who have no appreciation for our time!
While I am ranting, can I have a moan about the drivers in this little town of ours – grr! They will drive me to drink (if I could at the moment), dawdling when they should be moving, rushing and driving recklessly when they should be being cautious, and clogging up intersections in the need to get wherever they are going 10 seconds earlier, all this while I am trying to get to a patient in labour, or to an emergency of some sort. Argh!
Ok, enough moaning, Tenacious is kicking me, reminding me that he (again, generic he) is here… I do love the movement in my tummy, and know I am going to miss that when he arrives…
Day 211
…and time is a-marching, Tenacious is growing, I am still feeling well, and life is good. This weekend saw more things bought for T, and I bought the Avent electronic breast pump. I know a whole lot of you praised the medela, but the on-line reviews said it is noisy, and since I will be pumping at the office, which is severely lacking in soundproofing, I need a quiet option, so chose the avent. We also got some bottles, a sterilizer and some milk storage containers, an expensive exercise, I’ll say! We also did more pram/travel system research, and its now looking like it’ll be a Quinny, we’ll see a man about them this week, I hope, and make a final decision.
The weekend was great, friday saw us have a lovely date night, although I’m becoming a cheap date, I really can’t eat as much as I did, and even then I can barely finish what is on my plate… Oh, Tenacious, the things I give up for you!We dined at the Barking Bistro, and Charlie started with the wild mushroom risotto, followed by a delicious lamb curry, I skipped starters and had the beef fillet, with a potato cake and roasted beetroot – yummy. No pudding for either of us – a sad day indeed.
Saturday I met Em and her mommy for a cup of coffee at one of the markets, it was great to catch up with her, and see how Em is growing so quickly! Em’s mom is opening a baby shop and coffee shop in a month’s time, so it was nice to hear how every thing is coming along, and I am so pleased that Tenacious will benefit from it too! Then after a bit of light shopping (groceries – boring…) and relaxing, it was time for dinner at the MacAdam’s. They served us a beautifully braaied fillet, with Hasselback potatoes and some mixed salads – delish! Pud was a home-made ice cream – also very good! We ended up chatting the night away, and getting home after midnight! Sadly though, for me, too much cool drink to drink saw me up and weeing every 5 minutes (well, it felt like that!) for the rest of the night.
Sunday was a relaxed day, breakfast, shopping (for Tenacious), sewing, napping reading, roasting, tidying etc… And now its monday, monday…. Please let this week be better than last week!
Goodness me, my spelling was atrocious, I had to update this post quickly to make it readable, sorry to those who had already read it.
Day 208
…and it’s friday – TGIF! its been a long week, by the end of today I will have seen 125 patients in my rooms, considering I am not in the rooms on wednesday morning or thursday afternoon, that amounts to 125 patients in 16 hours, which works out to an average of 7.7 minutes per patient. That is insane! It probably actually amouts to more time, because I have run over into lunch and after official close of day, but still. My poor bod is starting to take some strain, my ankles are very puffy at the end of the day… Oh well, 72 days to Tenacious’ expected arrival, and 41 days left of work for me. Die einde is in sig.
Yesterday I composed a whole post in my brain, it was a rant about something, but, clearly, today I am in a better place, because I don’t remember what it was about anymore, maybe it’ll come back to me at some point, and I’ll post about whatever it was then. The long and short of this tale, is that you’re going to get a fairly arb post today. I am very g;ad its the weekend, I haven’t booked my weekend treat, but hope to sqeeze in for a facial/pedi sometime this weekend, tomorrow we’re off to friends for dinner, and Charlie and I hope to spend some quality time together. I am still working on my embroidery, and hope to do some of that this weekend, and I might wash some of T’s linen. In other words, I intend to do very little! Which is a good thing, because next weekend, my favourite FS (who got me pregnant) is coming to town to do some surgery with me, so I will have a very long saturday next week. What are your plans this weekend?
Anyway, before my nurse growls at me, and tells me I’m already running late, I’d better look sharp! Have good fridays and fab weekends!
Day 207
…ah, thanks for putting a smile on my face, you guys are great! Yesterday’s poll was definitely the best supported, even if some of us voted repeatedly for our favourite name (ahem, Charlie). I guess it is the normal fragility that comes at this time, knowing that this kicking machine in me is almost ready to grace us with his presence, and my general unpreparedness that has made me insecure and anxious. Anyway, I’m sure there will be a few more posts about these fears and insecurities to follow.
Now Litchi was the only one who responded to my question about the breast pump (thank you!), any other answers out there for me? To run the paragraph again:
So today I need to figure out bottles and breast pumps. We’re going to use the avent bottles, and assume that one then uses the same pump? Now I have also been told to get an electric pump, no manual stuff, the avent range have an electronic pump, is this the right thing to buy? It’s all a bit overwhelming! Oy!
Remember any and all suggestions are taken under consideration, and what you say here will influence what I expose Tenacious to. (and I know that that is poor sentence construction). Have fab thursdays!
Day 206
…and the meltdown is starting, last night I had a good howl on Charlie’s sholder, I’m really starting to get scared, and insecure. Those books have made me terrified, they make out if you don’t do everything exactly right, your child will be scarred for life. I know that that isn’t the case, but it’s very intimidating. If you guys have learnt anything about me, it’s that I don’t cope particularly well with change, (which is why my house is newly painted in exactly the same colours as before, and believe me when I say, what a drama it was to choose those colours initially) so I am also getting extremely anxious about the changes which are going to swoop through our lives. I like our life at the moment, Charlie and I are in a great place, we have our little routines and rituals, and just the thought that those things are going to change, fill me with horror. I get that I will probably be fine, and “it’ll all be worth it” (tired of hearing that), but the anticipation fills me with dread. Not that I don’t want to meet Tenacious, but I am scared.
So today I need to figure out bottles and breast pumps. We’re going to use the avent bottles, and assume that one then uses the same pump? Now I have also been told to get an electric pump, no manual stuff, the avent range have an electronic pump, is this the right thing to buy? It’s all a bit overwhelming! Oy!
Today’s poll is another fun one
and as a bonus today, a second oneDay 205
…and time for the tuesday that feels like a monday. I’ve got 42 patient booked, I hope it flies like the wind. So I delivered one more baby yesterday, bringing it up to 7 for the weekend on call – I am really looking forward to this coming weekend, I think it’s time for the hairdresser or a facial or something.
And with the weather looking promising, hopefully the painters will get finished today or tomorrow, then we can slowly put our house back together. Then it’ll be the fumigator’s turn, I don’t want any bugs to bother our Tenacious when he arrives, the blind and curtaining people after that, and then home improvements are hopefully done for a while. Then we can concentrate on getting T’s room finalised, and then we wait to sing happy birthday! I keep feeling like I should be doing stuff, like cooking and freezing meals, while I still feel good, but I know it’s still a bit early for that, so I’m sewing instead, just some embroidery that I’m working on for T’s room, a lovely Noah’s Ark picture, and some little bunnies and bears which I will try to incorporate into a quilt or something, so I’m keeping my often idle hands busy. I’ve been reading the baby nazi lady’s book again – really enough to put the fear of god into me! These books with their pronouncements definitely increase my anxiety levels, but then I look at some of my patients, and know if they can do it, and raise kids that don’t appear to be serial killers, then so can I. I hope! Does the confidence just come? Or will I feel this insecure all the time? I’m not sure I can wrap my head around the reality that in a mere 10 weeks, I will be a mama. At least I still have 10 weeks, I suppose.
Day 204
…and the weekend on call drags on… today being a public holiday and all, and I am trying to find fertility drugs for my patient, which of course noone really stocks in our little village – oy…. Anyway, we shall just keep trying.
The weekend has been consistent so far, things keep ticking along, we’ve had 2 babies on friday, the premmie twins on saturday, 2 yesterday, and so far today, we wait… so a running (or shold I say, catching) total of 6!
Our dinner on saturday was good fun, between potatoes, and green food, we maintained our Irish theme. Starter was a tallegio, truffle and potato pizza, which was really nice, mains rack of lamb with a grass green crust of pitachio’s and various herbs (gorgeous and tender, served with dauphinoisse potatoes and pea salad – yum!), and pud a subtle green mint and white chocolate mousse. All very delicious! But I must say, I am loosing my ‘gees’ for entertaining now, by the end of the day, my ankles were swollen, feet were aching and I was shattered, I’d spent most of the day on my feet, between prepping food, setting tables and working, so I think from here on out, until Tenacious has arrived and settled, it’ll be bring and braai’s. Sorry! I spent yesterday recovering, and aside from deliveries, spent all day with my feet up, so I at least feel a whole lot more human today.
Tenacious is growing like a champion, check out my new belly shot!
Charlie's Bird 