Early starts

It was an early start to the day, being called at the crack of dawn to go out to a birth. That said, being winter, the crack of dawn isn’t quite as early as it could have been although it was still quite early enough for a Saturday morning when a lie-in was quite appealing! On the plus side, I did get to see a rather pretty sunrise on my way in and got to attend a homebirth and welcome a bouncing baby boy into the world. I’m feeling quite tired now though and sleep is definitely calling! Night all.

First wedding of the year

My niece’s birthday party turned out to be her wedding reception. She and her fiancé had just gone quietly to the local register office to get married yesterday afternoon with a few friends and immediate family present. They got engaged on her birthday last year and were planning on getting married later this year, although decided to bring the wedding forward as their first baby is due in July. I was very glad I’d booked the night off (my sister had dropped some hints so it wasn’t a complete surprise) – it was great to be able to celebrate with them.

Party time!

The awaited baby from the other day has now arrived (yay!) although things are still likely to stay busy as I have three more January babies due (it is looking like they are more likely to be February babies now!) However, tonight is my night off so can forget about imminent babies for one night and let my hair down. It is my niece’s 19th birthday and she is having a party so I am going to go home and spend some time with my family which will be lovely (and maybe have a glass or two of wine too!)

New roles

My new role within the practice officially starts from next week, although I have already started taking on some new responsibilities and spending more time in the office over the last couple of weeks. My to-do list seems to be growing daily as I seem to keep coming up with new ideas, helped by suggestions from the rest of the team! Today I had my first experience of having to make a decision at the team meeting that I knew was going to be unpopular. I think I handled it fairly well, but I did feel quite nervous about it.

Long pre-labours

Sometimes I think it would be nice to be able to predict exactly when babies were going to arrive and how long the labour was likely to last so that the mother could have enough support without everyone getting exhausted. I’ve been looking after someone this week who has been having a lot of “false” labour (which feels anything but false to her) and have had two long nights spent with her watching a labour which looked like it was going to progress, only to find that by morning, the contractions dwindled and stopped. Fingers crossed this baby arrives soon!

Making our marks

Yesterday’s sermon at church used a pencil as an analogy for our Christian life. A pencil without a lead is pointless; leading our lives without God is also pointless. We use pencils to write and draw, to make our mark on things, and similarly in our Christian lives we should be looking to make our marks on the world by sharing God’s message. The pencils used to illustrate the sermon had rubbers on the end which were used to symbolise how God’s grace means that we can erase our mistakes and start over again. It was quite an interesting sermon.

Sunday service

I love my church. It is much more sedate that other churches I have been to, but it’s so friendly and welcoming. This morning’s service was led by a visiting preacher and was much more animated that usual. She gave out coloured flags to all the young people (and those of us that looked willing to wave them) which we ended up waving whilst singing “Shine, Jesus, Shine” (which is generally about as modern as we get!). I generally enjoy the slightly more traditional style which is our more usual style of worship, but this morning was a nice change.

Hornucopia

I’ve been spending tonight at a concert at church. I’m involved in organising the publicity for these concerts which happen usually every two months, giving (mostly) local musicians a chance to perform. Tonight’s concert featured brass players from the RAF who performed a variety of numbers ranging from classical music, such as the finale to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 to more popular pieces, such as Bohemian Rhapsody and the theme from Star Wars. It was a really good concert, although I spent most of the evening running around organising things rather than sitting down and listening to the music properly.

Runaway brides

I’ve just put in my entry for this year’s Race for Life. For the third year in a row, I will be running with my friend Lindsay. This year we’re going to be running as “Brides on the Run” as we are both getting married this year. We will be donning the obligatory hen night veils and “L” plates, although as I will be a newly-wed (very exciting!) I will have to go for a green “L” plate instead. I generally dislike running but I enjoy doing this race, and it’s only 5km (we ended up power-walking it last year).

The inner child

I’ve been having some counselling recently to help me understand my mood swings (and therefore hopefully help reduce them, which seems to be working so far). My counsellor talks a lot about “the inner child”. Apparently my inner child hasn’t been nurtured enough which has resulted in me reacting to situations in a child-like way (being stroppy without really knowing why). Flippancy aside though, a lot of her ideas make sense. I’ve spent more time recently analysing why I react to certain things and trying to take a step back when I start to feel stroppy which has really helped.

Messy men

I’m quite a tidy person. Unfortunately, Michael is quite a messy person. I wonder if this is a male trait as it is a trait shared by all the men with whom I have shared houses (apologies to any tidy men who are reading this). I find myself wondering: did Prehistoric Woman have the same problems? Did she spend hours scrubbing the cave and then grumble at Prehistoric Man for bringing in mud and goodness knows what else when he returned with a sabre-toothed tiger for their tea? Any useful tips on house training a man would be gratefully received.

Quote boards

I remember back in my student days, we had a quote board in the lounge which was filled with funny comments that people had made. Of course, you had to have been there to find most of them funny, but there were a few that still make me smile, including:

“I wonder if they do the written driving test in Braille?” (my friend Helen)
“England is in the southern hemisphere, isn’t it?” (my lovely half-American friend Tany)
“I knew you were going to Africa, but I didn’t realise that you would be leaving Southampton” (possibly my most ridiculous comment ever!)

Lazy evening

I’m someone who likes to keep busy and be on the go all the time. Sometimes it’s nice to have a lazy evening though and just curl up on the sofa and watch television. It’s even more tempting at this time of year when it’s cold and dark outside and the thought of venturing outside just isn’t appealing. Tonight would normally be my ballet class night although I’m giving myself this week off dance lessons anyway to give my toes a chance to heal (I’m not limping any more so I think they’re just sprained as they’re still quite sore).

Glasgow

Arrived back from Glasgow earlier this evening, having managed to get through two flights without panicking at all which was great! We have had a lovely weekend staying with Gilllian and her two cats. We went out for a meal last night and met lots of Gillian’s friends – it was a great evening, during which I probably consumed a little more wine than was good for me but fortunately it didn’t result in a hangover this morning! Today, we went to the Willow Tea Rooms on Buchanan Street for afternoon tea and did some shopping before heading back home again.

Up, up and away

Flying isn’t one of my favourite things to do in the world, but it is often the easiest way to get places so it seems a necessary evil. I was too scared to fly at all until about six years ago when I finally booked myself on a fear of flying course. I had a panic attack on the flight, but at least I’ve managed to get myself on planes ever since (sometimes without hyperventilating on take-off and landing!), even if I don’t enjoy the experience. I’m flying off to Glasgow to see my friend Gillian and celebrate her birthday.

The best things in life are free

As the song goes - the best things in life are free. Here are a few of my favourite things that money just can’t buy: getting a hug, spending time with friends and family, hearing a song I love on the radio, receiving an unexpected compliment, sitting in a park in the summer and watching the world go by, smiles, curling up with a good book, seeing the joy on new parents’ faces when they hold their child for the first time, looking through old photographs, hearing a child laugh, and the realisation that God loves me despite my imperfections.

Damaged toes

I’ve been limping around today after damaging a couple of toes in the ballet scene at last night’s Oklahoma! rehearsal. It’s quite a physically demanding number so getting a bit bruised whilst being thrown about is to be expected but last night’s injury was somewhat unexpected. The leading man decided not to lift me midway through the ballet due to the low ceiling in the rehearsal room, but I didn’t realise this and jumped, pointed my toes automatically and landed straight back on them. Hopefully I haven’t broken them, but suspect that tap-dancing may not be advisable for a while.

New job

I had an interview last week for the post of “Development Midwife” which is a new role within the practice and am very pleased to say that I got the job! It will mean that my caseload will be reduced and I will be spending about half my time working in the office, focusing on training and guidelines and improving practice standards. I had been wishing for some time that I could find a job that was half midwifery, half office work so it really was the answer to a prayer. Now that it’s a reality, I’m a little nervous.

Old before his time?

Michael made me chuckle whilst watching “Million Dollar Traders” on BBC2 last night. He was saying how he’d have quite like to have had a go at City trading but it was too late now as it was “a young man’s game.” It made him sound like he was pushing retirement age, but he’s only 29! That said, the city trader who was mentoring the novice traders had retired at the age of 27 having made his millions so I could see his point. It made for interesting viewing seeing how much skill there is to playing the stock market.

Sharing the load

I’m not very good at delegating or sharing concerns and have a tendency to take on too much, trying to do everything all by myself. All too often, this extends to my prayer life. It sometimes seems that I only share my concerns (and hopes) with God when the strain of trying to carry the load alone becomes too much. Needless to say, when I do finally reach that point, it is amazing how quickly things can happen! It’s something I need to focus on doing more often, particularly in a year which looks set for a lot of change.

Sunday

Sunday is often a very busy day for me. I go off to church in the morning and then by the time I’ve finished chatting to everyone after the service, there’s just about enough time to grab some lunch before heading off to rehearsal until early evening. Sometimes we will then go to Michael’s parents for Sunday dinner after rehearsal, so often I can leave home just after 10am and not get back until after 10pm! It’s been nice to have a relaxing evening at home tonight, sorting through old photos and phoning friends to catch up on their news.

Feeling fragile

I think I have been quite lucky over the last few weeks in that I have managed to avoid the severe colds and various viruses that seem to have been doing the rounds almost everywhere lately. However, today sees me feeling rather fragile thanks to a migraine last night. Fortunately, this is not something I suffer from regularly (the last time was four years ago) but it has left me feeling like I’m hungover, but without having had a night out on the tiles. Hopefully a good night’s sleep will sort it out, so fingers crossed the pager stays quiet.

Waiting

Good things come to those who wait. I’m not very good at waiting patiently for things to happen although there is a lot of waiting to be done in life. Waiting for a bus; waiting for the traffic lights to change and the traffic jam to ease; waiting for the baby to be born in a very long labour; waiting eight years for Michael to propose and now waiting for the wedding! Despite my impatience, time spent waiting can be quite useful – it is time to reflect and think about things, time to prepare for events and time to pray.

Wedding-related distractions

After the busyness of the last few days, it was nice to have a visit-free day to try and catch up on household chores and little jobs that need doing. I had a trip to the hairdresser to discuss hair ideas for me and the bridesmaids, which was great, but meant that my productivity for the rest of the afternoon was somewhat diminished as my brain was in wedding-mode and so I spent most of my time after that surfing various wedding websites and investigating florists, videographers and potential honeymoon destinations. Maybe tomorrow I’ll find time to finish the chores…

Restarting rehearsals

Now that the holidays are over, rehearsals for Oklahoma! have restarted. There are just over two months left until we are in the theatre so the director has started putting pressure on all of us to rehearse without scripts and scores. I’d learnt my lines before Christmas, but having a two week break has meant that I’ve started forgetting them again so had to be prompted a couple of times. There seems to be quite a lot of kissing in this show! I still find myself getting nervous when rehearsing kissing scenes – hopefully I’ll be more relaxed by show week!

Recharging the batteries

It was another early start to the day being called at 4am to go and attend a birth. By lunchtime, the lack of sleep was catching up on me when Bridget, our work counsellor and general therapist (for want of a better description) arrived. She runs monthly sessions where we can debrief births, talk about any emotional issues, and also does aromatherapy massage and healing. Everyone else had forgotten the session was today so it was just me, and I spent an hour having a lovely aromatherapy massage which left me feeling completely refreshed and ready to face the world.

Twelfth Night and snow

This morning started with the first snow of the year, but it had pretty much all melted away by lunchtime. I still get excited whenever it snows, probably because it doesn’t happen all that often, although I don’t like it when I have to drive to work in it! It’s Twelfth Night tonight. I have never been very sure whether Twelfth Night is the 5th or the 6th January but Wikipedia has informed me that it is tonight and so the Christmas decorations have been taken down and packed away and the flat is looking a little bare without them.

Baby boom

Has someone put castor oil in the water?! Virtually every midwife in the practice has been out attending a birth at some point in the last 24 hours. I’ve been at two labours overnight (handing over care with one before the birth and then being at the birth of the second baby). It is times like these when good teamwork really is essential to try and make sure all the visits get covered and all the women have known midwives and somehow we have made it happen. I’m now looking forward to an uninterrupted night off the pager to recover!

Lunar thoughts

As a midwife, I have become more aware of the cycle of the moon as births often seem to happen around the new and full moons. It’s not unusual for me to glance into the night sky and remark “It’s going to be a busy night by the look of that moon.” The limited research that has been done on the lunar cycle and birth suggests there is no link and the last few days have seemed to agree with that as we are currently halfway between the full and new moons and there have been quite a few births.

Slow blog days

Newspapers have slow news days. I, on the other hand, have slow blog days when life trundles along without being particularly eventful. I get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner and then sit at the computer and wonder what to write. I have no deep, meaningful or witty thoughts to share and suddenly 100 words seem like a lot. Sometimes I will look across at Michael whilst contemplating. He now recognises that look – it usually gets the response “I don’t know what you’re going to write about!” As you may have guessed, today is a slow blog day.

New Year's resolutions

I’m never very good at making New Year resolutions. Most of the time I start out with good intentions and then break my resolutions within the first week of the new year, and then give up on them. This year my New Year’s resolution is to give up making pointless New Year’s resolutions and just make a general effort in areas of my life where I’d like to improve. Hopefully that way, I won’t feel that I have failed the first time my good intentions fail to live up to reality, and might keep trying instead. Happy New Year everyone.