DPP Day Six and Seven: St Nicholas :: Doula Work

 The Tomten put in their annual appearance for St Nicholas Day:

A warm beanie for Ben with a rechargeable integrated head light, great for work given the current weather!

A Pokemon squishy character for Pip.

It was Mum's last morning with us until she returns in two weeks time for Pip's birthday and Christmas.  I made a yummy polenta bolognese bake for lunch which meant reduced washing up at tea time!

The sauce had the added flavour of smoked paprika and the polenta mix was made with milk, a stock cube and dairy free cheese in the mix and then sprinkled on the top - it was really good.

For the first time in aeons we actually managed to play a family board game after tea - Carcassone is an all round favourite:

Today has been a work day for me and I successfully completed my online safeguarding course (not a great subject to undertake but needs must 😕) and submitted my final written piece on continuous professional development.  All that remains is for me to submit two videos:

One outlining the various stages of labour including a demonstration of a baby descending through the pelvis in the second stage of labour - for this I need to purchase a doll and pelvis! 

The other demonstrating positioning of a baby in regards to breastfeeding using a breastfeeding aid AKA a knitted boob!  My crafting skills have come in handy in this regard 😂 

During my work break I treated myself to some knitting time.  Mum H treated me to some West Yorkshire Spinners Yarn in the Zandra Rhodes design and colour-way Forest Stripes.

Tales From The Infirmary

 Well I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later and that one or two of us would succumb to a virus :-(  Thankfully it is not Covid as both Pip and I did lateral flow tests and they were negative.  Pip has been hardest hit and sadly that is because she struggles to wear a mask- every time she has tried wearing one since the PoTS kicked off she has keeled over.  I think we'll look in to either getting her a face shield or one of the well reputed Cambridge masks.

  Last week for various reasons we needed to be out and about and I reckon she picked up the germs at some point during that time with either the lift in M&S or a rest room being a hot bed for a virus.  In addition to her having a greater viral overload she seems to be experiencing a PoTS crash with worsened heart rate, nausea, dizziness and feeling faint.  I'm very grateful that we have an emergency supply of cyclizine which is an anti nausea and dizziness medication and a quick chat with our on call GP and a dose was finally administered at 3:30pm.  Two hours later she was able to finish her electrolyte drink and eat half a crumpet.  She's been asleep since 6pm, which is much needed as she barely slept a wink last night due to sore throat and congestion.  I think we are however slowly turning a corner and Poppy is an excellent head nurse, keeping her watchful eye on the proceedings :-)

All smiles yesterday before the congestion and PoTS symptoms reared their head.

The camp bed fits quite nicely under the window in the dining room, I slept here and Pip slept …

…here!

Definitely not camera ready this morning!  This was before the dizziness and nausea really kicked in.  As I write (10:00pm) Pip is currently eating a toasted crumpet and drinking tea so that four hour nap has done her good. Goodness knows what time we will finally retire for the night though!! 

Despite the sickness over the weekend, we did manage to have some fun moments last week:

On Saturday our dear friends from our time in Crewe (1988-1992) came to visit. The last time we met was two years ago, little did the world know what was just around the corner.

On Wednesday we made a visit to our local large retail outlet as I was quite literally desperate for winter clothing, good old M&S did not disappoint, phew!  Afterwards we took Pip out for lunch at Nandos followed by an afternoon coffee treat in the M&S cafe, whereby Dave was treated to the first sale of the season of Christmas Cake Coffee :-)

Christmas Cake Coffee.

Thursday required a trip to Wigan which is an hour's drive away in order for Dave's Luggie to be serviced.  The last time we were here was, yep just before the pandemic so I hadn't even had chance to use their loyalty card and as a result one of the drinks was free!  

Pip's free Mocha :-)

We had lunch outside next to one of the chalet style serving booths and we enjoyed our lunch of sautéed potatoes, bacon bits and cheese sauce.

Dave kept disappearing and it was only once we were home I realised he was taking various Christmas themed shots to add to the family Christmas calendar.  Gone are the days where we could get the kids to do cute, funny poses though, ah well!

I'm trying to keep up with everyone's posts now that I've almost finished my second round of Doula training.  I'm part of the Lancaster/Morecambe Doula hub which is brill as it's an area I'm very familiar with but also I'll be working with my Red Tent Doula colleague and friend, Jo.

Hope life is treating you kindly xx