1. C U D D L E S – L O V E
I loved the cuddles. Feeling my baby snuggling into my chest has got to be one of the best feelings on the planet, and with it having been just her and I 90% of the time, I got a lot of them! The fact that she feels safest when climbing into my body is just an indescribable feeling, and one that I will never take for granted in motherhood! Also, Brooklyn never took to a dummy, and I have to say, I fall more in love with the sight of her sucking her little thumb every single day!
2. B A T H / N O S H O W E R – H A T E
I do love a good bath… but ONLY in my own bath at home. I’m very funny about sitting in a bath that hundreds of other people and sick kids have sat before us 😱 hence the reason I left my hair unwashed for 4 Days 🙆🏼 I obviously did Bath…! But it was a quick in and out!
My inbox was flooded with comments about my hair after telling you on my Insta stories that I still had vomm in it from two days ago 😂😂
You guys, it wasn’t bad I promise – it was like a tiny section of hair and right at the tips/ends. I DID try rinse it out but only had water at the time, and to be honest the water coming through the taps is not amazing there. It’s yellow and it has a very strong smell… the nurses told us it must not be drunk… so Ja! I decided a tiny bit of vomm on the ends was not worse than trying to wash my hair in a bath with gross water – I don’t mind if you judge me on this 🙂 I was honestly too tired to care about my hair 💁🏼
3. N U R S I N G S T A F F – M I X E D
So, this is a love-hate relationship for me. Some of the nursing staff were AMAZING, while others; well, not-so-much!
As a whole the staff were lovely, attentive and considerate (more so than those I experienced in Mat ward)
And if you follow my Insta stories you would have seen we posted about one of our FAVOURITE ladies – the sweetest, kindest soul who also has a baba the same age as B. Always the biggest smile and so quiet and considerate of baby’s sleep times. Some ladies are just made for this job with their enormous hearts.
BUT… then there are those few who barge into the room in the middle of the night, waking you and baby by almost tearing the curtain that hangs over the door off the rails, asks YOU where the light switches are, and proceeds to tell you she actually hates hospitals 🤦🏼♀️ no words. None. Especially from this overtired mama!
4. T H E F O O D – H A T E
Ugh! I don’t recall the food being this bad in Mat ward! Tuesday morning I got All Bran Flakes served in a polystyrene take away box…! Ja, I didn’t eat that.
Thank the Lord for kind friends, sis in law and my precious hub who brought me delishy food and good coffee !!!
5. T H E N O I S E S – H A T E
It’s not that it was noisy, per se. But what I really struggled with was the crying, moaning and sometimes screaming of other sick babies at all hours !!! Absolutely heart breaking to say the least!!! 💔 It was in these moments that I was so grateful that although my baby girl was sick, she was not in a huge amount of pain. A gentle reminder that whilst we went through one of the toughest weeks of our parenting life so far, there are so many Mums and Dads whose hearts are breaking at the sight of their babies hurting so much. And there can be nothing worse than that feeling of helplessness.
6. T H E L O V E & S U P P O R T – B I G G E S T L O V E
The kindness shown to us as a family was overwhelming to say the least. Hospital visits, meals for me (breakfasts, lunch, supper and most NB; COFFEE!) were all so very appreciated. What meant the absolute world though, was the constant stream of messages that poured in to both Justin and I. I have to mention too, the messages I received from my beautiful community of concerned friends on Instagram blew me away. Personally, it’s all these messages from friends, new and old, that gave me the strength to get up every morning (albeit at 3am), and feel like “I could do this!!” Again, and again! Because that is what you all made me believe through your words of encouragement and love. I had some super low and lonely moments in there, but not an hour went by without someone sending me some love! It was literally a God-send 💌
I seriously cannot encourage you guys enough to reach out to people who may be going through tough times. You may feel that a msg is a fairly insignificant act, but then you underestimate the power of words. The strength those few lines of love can bring someone can literally change the way they handle their day.
So once again… thank you everyone.So so much 💛
