Our boiler packed up about two weeks ago and we have had such a kerfuffle trying to get it fixed. Tonight for the first time in two weeks we have hot water. It is bliss. Washing your hands for three minutes a go in an icy stream isn’t much of a giggle, not to mention all the other bits of our bodies that need a wash. I embraced nature and gave up showering a while ago but Neil was brave and carried on being invigorated in the mornings. Jasmine is one lucky girl to be so small and able to get washed with hot water from the kettle.
It is Friday already! What a week. On Tuesday we got our curtain rail up and then had an endless battle with the curtains we had bought and eventually had to take them back to the curtain shop next door to the Argos where we take things back.
On Wednesday we went to see the Grandparents Firth and had a lovely time in a pub by the Grand Union Canal, but got squashed in rush hour on the way back, so next time we will have to get organised earlier so that we can set off earlier. It feels like we are planning a major expedition everytime we leave London.
On Thursday the community nurse came round to give Jasmine her epo injection and us some injection training. We both practised injecting a spongey rubber ball with saline solution. So to give a subcutaneous injection we:
- Prime the needle.
- Divide Jasmine’s leg into four quarters.
- Pick the outside upper quarter which has lots of fat on it.
- Squeeze the fat together so that we have a nice big section.
- Push the needle in at a 45 degree angle until the whole needle is in the flesh.
- Slowly press the needle in to inject the epo and hold for 10 seconds.
- Pull the needle out and press some gauze over it.
- Cover with a plaster.
We have decided that since I do NG tubes, Neil can do the epo injection.
We were really tired on Thursday as Jasmine’s alarms went off nearly all night on Wednesday night and Neil was in his usual coma state so I beat him severely round the head with a pillow since he was supposed to be on night duty, thus waking him, so we were all shaggy-knacked (as my dad would say) for the whole day.
We have finally decided that there is no point him (Neil not my dad) being on night duty and I am the night duty queen now. Last night we all slept well and Neil got up early this morning. When I asked him what for, he said that he wanted to get started on all the chores. When I asked which ones, he said: “Opening the curtains.”
We went to Highgate today and we found ourselves passing the cemetery so we popped in to have a look at the various headstones: Karl Marx, George Elliot, and others (£3 per adult, can you believe it? Plus £1 for a map). It was nice though, as we fed Jasmine on a bench staring at the graves and it reminded me of home. My mother used to always take me to the cemetery on a Thursday night after we had been swimming for a wander round the graves. And once in Whitby she put down a tablecloth over a flat gravestone in the churchyard of St Mary’s Church up the 199 steps and we had a picnic on the gravestone.
Afterwards Highgate Cemetery we had a nice lunch. I had Eggs Florentine ( poached eggs was the only thing I really missed when pregnant) and a pot of tea and we sat outside. Jasmine enjoyed watching the world go by. There was a massive dog on the next table which kept barking and Jasmine looked on amused which made the lady dog owner say that she had never met such a lovely chilled baby before. I bet Jasmine was staring at her to force out the compliments.
For the past few days Jasmine has only vomited small vomits (less than 10mls) a couple of times a day and has been fine through the night. This is fantastic and will give her a chance to put on weight. She has now taken to smiling at everybody all the time. She gave the man who fixed our boiler the biggest, nicest smile ever – she must know how much we appreciated him giving us hot water.