Friday 6 May 2011

Time Goes By

When do children learn to tell the time. I argue it must be in the womb! This is a whimsical little post really, I know Joseph can't really tell the time.

We have a little ritual when my husband is going to be off work the next day. We put Joseph to bed and my husband books a wake up time. He says "sleep in until 8 tomorrow". And you know what? It actually works. I have no idea how. This morning is a good example. We normally get up around 6.30 on a weekday morning, but this week my husband has today, Friday, off work. So last night he asked Joseph to wake around 8. Joseph awoke at 8.45!

Joseph has had this spooky ability from when he was tiny. I remember the first Monday he was born. It was his fourth day on planet earth, he was in the first incubator in NICU and I was still an inpatient. I had gone to see him before breakfast, and said before I left, I told him I will come back at 10. I went up for my breakfast, then I went to antenatal to cancel my GTT test and my growth scan scheduled for 28 weeks. I got told off, and lectured about how important it was for me to still have these! It took a while for them to believe me that I had delivered as I was so cheerful.  I saw the sonographer who had done the emergency scan, and showed her my pictures whilst we had a natter. I got to the the door of the unit at 10.

However, in front of me was an old lady trying to open the door (our NICU, like most, has very high security). She looked at me and said "I'm not at Physiotherapy am I?" She was fairly confused so I walked her to her appointment and walked back. It took all of 5 minutes. I got back to the unit, rang the bell and got let in. As I walked down the corridor all hell was breaking loose in NICU, two alarms were sounding, it was Joseph. I ran to the door before the nurses could get to him, and said "oi I am 5 minutes late Joseph", opened the incubator doors and put my hands on him in a containment hold, and it stopped. He was having a bradycardia (where the heart rate slows, and oxygen saturation drops).

The two nurses and the doctor looked in utter disbelief, then giggled "wrapped around his tiny finger already", one sagely said! My reply was "I'd like to know who put a watch in his incubator" . After that day I alway made sure I appended any time with "ish"!

And I know its all coincidence, but it makes a great tale. And he's still like a ticking clock now!

1 comment:

  1. I'm sitting here, reading your posts about your NICU etc experiences, and it is probably very inappropriate to say but you tell a fantastic story - I know its not fictional, but as I sit at my computer with tears running down my face my heart goes out to you and your family! I don't have any experiences to say that I know how you feel, but I worked as a ward clerk on NICU in St Mary's for approx a year so I have seen similar stories to yours from a different perspective. How amazing you are to share your story with us - thankyou for that!

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