There is not enough time in the day at the moment. The twins are both poorly with bronchiolitis, Jamie has just been discharged from hospital, Louis has been admitted. Just when things are starting to look up with good news about the health concerns surrounding Louis they both become ill. Daughter is exhausted, she is staying at the hospital with which ever babe is in, and what with them not settling due to their coughing and the alarms from the monitors, her sleep is averaging about an hour and a half per night. I have been looking after Amy, fighting off a cold and had a 24 hour sickness bug so I'm rather low on the energy stakes as well, life is rather like the weather today, dismal.
I have always said that my daughters having babies has given me a hugely increased insight into my job and the feelings of the women and their families, the twins being hospitalised has increased that insight even more. On the surface, certainly to the hospital staff, all is serene. Daughter stays at the hospital, partner goes in for a couple of hours, harmony. Under the veneer there are phonecalls, schedules for childcare, arrangements for collecting from nursery, cancelling other commitments, e-mailed shopping lists, bags of laundry being ferried around and at the end of every day there is a logistical puzzle being unravelled to ensure that every eventuality is covered for the next day. We are lucky as we all live very close to each other so there is a good support network, it must be hell if you are new to an area, away from family and friends and suddenly your ordered little life is disrupted by an illness.