Oh my goodness, it has been a long time. Loads has happened, including my third Grandchild being born. Yes, after giving everyone several causes for concern, prem labour at 34 weeks whilst our local SCBU was closed to admissions, footling breech at 37 weeks, with daughter insisting that she was not having having a caesarian, and then refusing to be turned at the first attempt at ECV (external cephalic version), baby finally gave in and allowed the turning to be successful. Meanwhile I was turning even greyer than I was before, what with the stress of what was happening with daughter and the amount of pressure that was being put upon me by the 'powers that be'. Yes, once again I was public enemy number one for caring for my daughter, at her request. They decided that the way to really pressurise me would be to also find as much fault as they could with the care I had given two colleagues/friends I had also looked after and helped birth their babies. They pointed out that clinically there were no problems, however I had not informed one of the G.P's that I was caring for their patient, her midwife had and so had she but courtesy demanded that I told him and also I had used equipment issued by the hospital when I conducted the antenatal examinations, this could be construed as misuse of Trust equipment. How they worked this one out I can't imagine since I was not being paid by the two women and they were having their babies at the hospital I work for! If I wasn't so upset that they called my professionalism into doubt I would have laughed, however the way they went about it made me feel truly abject.
Daughter was planning a homebirth and wanted me to be second midwife, I was told no. A Supervisor of Midwives was sent round to interview daughter and partner, not sure why, coercion was mentioned, we all started to feel under seige. Daughter then went to see the Head of Midwifery and an extremely heated discussion took place, I could go into detail, horror stories about severely damaged babies, scenarios involving daughter and/or baby dying, the end result though was a victory for daughter in that I was allowed to be second midwife.
At 9pm on 31st January daughter phoned, she growled down the phone that her waters had gone, the contractions were fierce, and I was to get there NOW with the gas and air. At 11.30pm Isabel Corrinne cruised into the world, a dinky little 6lbs 14ozs who, unlike her brother knew immediately what to do and went to the breast like an angel.
So, everyone was happy but the 'powers that be' still held a grudge, and also they held the power so just after little Izzy entered our lives I was summoned to the lair of the beast and was told that I was being 'rotated' to the other hospital within the Trust and would be covering an entirely different area, and all this in 3 weeks time. So that's where I am now, and all is very different, hence some of the stress. If I could afford to give up work I wouldn't think twice, I would be gone.
Anyway, a couple of weeks after Izzy arrives other daughter, Amy's Mummy, announces that she is pregnant. Yippee, last time it took them nearly a year to conceive, this time it took 2 days! At 12 weeks they went for their nuchal scan, I was in the middle of a clinic when my phone rang, I feared the worst as they all know not to phone me at work unless it's urgent.
'We've had the scan.'
'How did it go, is everything okay?'
'Hmm, sort of..........the babies are fine!'
'What?'
'It's twins, identical twins'.
I continued with my clinic in a state of shock and also desperate to see my daughter. When I did get to see her she and her partner were still in a state of shock, and terribly concerned. The scan report was positive about how the babies were at that time but then went on to quote the risks for twin to twin transfusion, a condition my sister had lost twins to at 28 weeks pregnant, and the likelihood of severly preterm delivery. The scan photos were amazing though, several of them were 3D and so you could see two tiny babies, it is very exciting but tinged with more than a little worry. She is now 17 weeks. Last week she saw the Consultant who outlined the plan of care, 2 weekly scans checking growth and blood flow through the placenta, plus a detailed cardiac scan at 20 weeks and her routine anomaly scan, with delivery of the babies by caesarian section planned for 34-36 weeks.
Gosh I started this year with 2 Grandchildren and it looks as if I will end it with 5. Whose a lucky Grandmother then?