Essiequard's blog

A Taste of Egypt

To make up for not blogging for so very long, I now offer a huge amount of photos that highlight just some of the great things that we did in Egypt for the last two weeks.

Good times included, but were not limited to:

• The largest waterpark I have ever seen
  

  Waterpark

Here comes Ebbie!

• Riding camels
  

  Camels on the beach

• 

  Ebbie's up and away

Camel ride

• 

  View from the top

A Bedouin experience

Bedouin Boys

• 

  Bedouin Restaurant

• Off roading in the desert
  

  Off roading in the desert

 

• Snorkelling (so much better than Hawaii)
  

  Damian and Jude snorkelling

 

• Just laying out by the hotel pool, exploring the wildlife and enjoying the culture.
  

  First in the pool
  

  An evening out in Namaa Bay

Cannon ball

Camel patiently sitting on the pavement while we pose with it

Family

Hunting for geckos

Hyrum and Jude

In the desert

Local kids

Off to dinner

I'm just checking....

that I still remember how this thing works.  And I'm psyching myself up to respond to Hannah's tag.

Off on holiday

I know, I know...I rarely blog on here anyway so you won't even notice I'm gone. 

But I just thought I'd be polite enough to tell you that we are off to 'sunny' Scotland in the morning for nearly two whole weeks of walking, and such.  With the dog.  And the mud.

Wish me luck.

Tagged

Ohhhh, I have been tagged by Jen. That was ages ago actually but it takes me a while to get round to things.  So I am meant to divulge ten things that nobody knows about me.  Hannah pointed out that this should be easy for me since I haven't shared that much about myself on Vox, so here goes:

1) I hate the sight of blood and gore.  I am so squeamish I surprise even myself sometimes, for example by nearly fainting at the first birth I witnessed.  However, I seem to get desensitised to certain things and now birth, Caesarean sections, postpartum haemorrhage etc doesn't faze me.  But, I spent last week in Gynae theatres watching all sorts of delightful surgeries and that was a different story.

2) I sometimes compose little entries for Vox in my head, when I am at work or running, but never get around to writing them.

3) If there was no consequences whatsoever I would eat junk food and nothing else.  I do honestly think I would be satisfied with a diet of donuts, chocolate, crisps, sweets, ice cream and Chinese.  Alas, my genes are crap and it is not to be.

4) I have recently been diagnosed with Raynauds disease. Doesn't that sound terribly dramatic?  Unfortunately, it's not.

5) When I was younger (about 8-10) I used to imagine that I was being filmed in some fly-on-the-wall documentary.  I was the subject of the film of course, and I was also the worlds youngest professional footballer/cricketer/basket ball player.  Does it sound like I didn't get much attention growing up?

6) I loved English at school but always wanted to be a vet.  I wish now that I had applied myself more to the sciences and had the foresight to realise that sometimes you have to study things you don't enjoy to get the job you really want (I think I could be a careers adviser, heaven knows I needed one.  I am often asking my children what they want to be when they grow up and encouraging them to aim high).

7) I would love to have another child but the timing never seems right.

8) My toes are stubby.

9) I have no problem growing my finger nails long.  It used to be such an effort not to bite them when I was younger, but I guess that's one bad habit I've out grown (probably the only one).

10) I am enjoying watching 'American Dad' at the moment, having recently discovered it.

There. What more could any body possibly want to know? 

Do I Smell Ammonia?

I can promise you one thing that you will learn after you have worked on a gynaecology ward for just 12 hours, and that is the importance of pelvic floor exercises!  The midwife really wasn't lying when she told you to do the ten times a day. 

After toting women back and forth to theatre all day for various pelvic floor repairs, with names of procedures too horrible to recall, I am a convert to the old pelvic floor exercises.  I mean, I really should have been anyway considering the fact that I can't jump on the trampoline with the kids or go for a run without voiding my bladder first.

Altogether now ladies; squeeze...and hold.

This Love Affair Must End

My supply of Rice Chex that Hannah brought over for me has run out.  That means, no more Muddy Buddies.

On the plus side, I might be able to slim down for Mexico now.

Dear Tooth Fairy

As I mentioned in my last post Hyrum knocked a tooth out with a stick, while slipping down a canal bank.  The tooth was lost, he was crying in pain and I promised him that the tooth fairy would bring him double the amount of money.  In our house the going rate for a lost tooth is £1.  When I went to put the money under Hyrum's pillow I found this letter he had written to the tooth fairy.  I wish you could see the artistic teeth that he has decorated it with, complete with roots and speech bubbles declaring things like 'I'm free!'.  The paper was folded up and on the outside he had written:

To the tooth fairy Please read Please.

My tooth was lost - anyway read please.

Here is what the letter said:

Dear tooth fairy,

please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty please please please please please please please please with 700,009, 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 cherries on top (if you could fit it in!) Give me £5 OR OVER!

P.S I'm litrelly begging you....litrely

P.P.S Litrely do you hear me? LITRELY LITRELY!

Alas, the tooth fairy still only left £2.  Even though she thinks the boy is a creative genius.

Together Again

Our family was briefly separated this week when Jude went on a residential school trip for three days.  As our youngest child he is following in the footsteps of his older brother and sister who have also participated in this pilgrimage to Quorn Hall.  Damian has always gone with the school, as a 'helper dad' and this time was no exception.  He actually loves going, playing football with the boys and flirting with the teachers. It makes me feel better to know that he is there.  Jude has been looking forward to this school trip for a long time.  On the way up to school that morning he described to me in detail how he imagined Quorn Hall looking.  I hope it lived up to his expectations. I was so happy to have them back again, one of the reasons being the delightful greeting I received from Jude.  Nobody is ever as pleased to see me as Jude is, even if we've only been apart for a few hours.  I am one lucky mummy.

 

CIMG1943

I was lucky enough to have Beth, Alfredo and the girls come down to stay with me while Damian and Jude were away.  If they hadn't come to help me with childcare I don't know how I would have been able to work my shifts and get everything done.

In other news, we have just come back from a walk along the canal where Hyrum slipped down a steep bank, cutting his face and knocking a tooth out.  Poor little guy.

Saturday's Thoughts

What a week at work.  I am working on the ward now, ante natal and post natal.  This is right up my street, much more so than delivery suite.  I love sitting and talking to women, getting to know them a bit.  Although delivering babies can feel satisfying it is such a tiny part of the whole process and I feel you can't get to know a woman very well when she's in labour.

After some of the conversations I've had with women this week I fear I could end up as a bit of a man hater.  I wish that I could write some of the stuff on here, but I don't dare for confidentiality reason (obviously I wouldn't mention names but all the same...).  Some of the situations that the women I have been working with have had to go through really makes me sad.

I have been feeling so down for the last few days and can't seem to shake it off.  Then, in the post this morning I received a parcel.  A gorgeous T-shirt and some chocolate, just beacuse.  It has made my day so much brighter.  Everyone deserves somebody like her in their life.  I'm so glad that I do.

Can you say 'exhausted'?

CIMG1799

This is Donna and I at mile 23 of the London marathon on Sunday.  We ran it in record temperatures in about 5 hours.  Here are a few things that I learned that day:

1) Marathons are not altogether enjoyable. 

2) The first 13 miles were amazing.  The following 6 were passable.  The last 7 were nearly impossible.

3) I have never been more exhausted in my life and that takes into account the delivery of three good sized children.

4) I am not as competitive as I thought I was.  I really didn't care that I got overtaken by Bananaman, Scooby Doo or a man in a giant nurses uniform.

5) The supporters were so motivating.  I really do like to hear complete strangers shouting out my name and telling me how great I am doing.

6) Despite swearing 'Never again!' I am already thinking about doing it next year.

7) But unlike childbirth I am not convinced that the pain was worth the end result.

8) After two days I am beginning to assume a normal way of walking again.

9) It really was fantastic to see my little boys in the crowd cheering me on!  I wish Ebbie could have been there too but her broken toe wouldn't allow all the trapsing around that occured.

 

 

10) My boys are creative enough to make a 'sand castle' out of empty water bottles.

11) The Thames is home to an array of various bones (and who knows what else) which Jude fished out while he was waiting and are now polluting my home.