Milly and her love of calpol!
The start of this year has been less than rosy with the once “lovely, happy, sleep through the night Milly” turning into the ” pull on my leg for an all day hug, don’t even try to go for a wee with out me, and what was sleep again?! Milly!!!
I know she has a cold but like a good NHS citizen thought it best not to bother the docs with something so trivial (trivial to them that is, not to poor milly who really doesn’t know why her nose has turned into a running tap and her head into cotton wool).
I thought I’d better wait until it had been over a week so as to seem less like a moaning mummy, so today being the twelth day I made an appiontment. And off we trundled ready to hear its just the sniffles and that “we don’t give out meditine for that kind of thing you know” lecture. Well the lovely doc checked Milly’s head …not hot…good… checked her chest….ohhh slight chest infection…. oh not so good…checked her ears…double ear infection…. OHHHH..I FEEL AWFUL!!! All this time I thought she was just a bit sniffly and she’s probably been in agony. Bugger !!!
But the good “worst mum of the year” news just kept on coming… As the Doc looked at his screen he discovered Milly was due a baby jab..last APRIL!!! I had totally forgot her 4 month jabs… now she’s nearly due her twelve month one!
I left the surgery feeling awful, if you have ever seen those men beating themselves with sticks in religious ceremonies in India you’ll understand when I say I was just lucky there were no avalable sticks! But I have been beating myself up about it in my head ever since.
Why am I not at all practical?? Why aren’t I the kind of mum who sets her phone alarm for these things along with great Aunt Hilda’s birthday! I don’t even carry tissues or plasters in my bag, let alone a dairy! although there is always lip gloss and mascara….I am evil!!!
Maybe I just dont carry the practical mum gene. Come to think of it I don’t think my mum did either. She was always forgetting mine and my brothers name, in fact I apparently don’t have a middle name because she didn’t think she could remember it!
But strangly I had a lovely childhood. It may have been absent the odd practical plaster but it was full of fun stair climbing with mum adventures ( we used to pretend it was a montain, and take packed lunch for the top) as well as indians in teepee adventures ( dining table, chairs and blankets) and lots of drawing and painting, I remember mum used to buy cheap end of line wall paper, roll it out the length of the living room and let me and my brother draw on it. Great fun!
So maybe there is hope for me yet…maybe my three won’t remember the missed doctors appointments and constant lateness and remember instead the Christmas we made Rudolf the reindeer food or the summers I spent filling paddling pools full of warm water and bubbles for outside bubble shark adventures!
I suppose we just can’t be who we’re not, although I might treat myself to a 2010 diary..who knows I might actually learn to use it!
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We’ve all done it, or at least I have! When my kids are sick it takes a while for me to realise what is bad enough for the Doc and what isn’t. It doesn’t help that the times I have been to the Doc with them, I’ve been told it’s just a virus and turned away within 30 seconds.
OH! Pleeaasseeee! You are the best mummy ! Don’t even think about beating yourself up. It’s impossible to tell how ill a small child is, they all present symptoms differently. Look at Jarvis ! He had swine flu for God’s sake and we didn’t know and I was still merrily twittering away !!! Too much social pressure these days! I nearly died from a burst appendix when I was a teenager and my mum thought I just had period pains!! Big hugs to you and Milly …. and not forgetting Big J xx
Ah don’t beat yourself up. It’s easily done. I’ve just ordered myself a Family Life Diary in order to curb these little hiccups.
((hugs))
x
Aww honey, you are so NOT a bad mum!!I’d say anyone who claims to have never forgotten an appointment or similar is fibbing! And more to the point, surely the doctor should have been sending reminder letters?
xx
You have a gorgeous littlegirl, whose head, I’m sure, is full of nothing but happy memories – just like her siblings! – which I reckon makes you a pretty brilliant mum actually
(personally, I swear by notes on the fridge – anything I don’t write down, just doesn’t get done!!)
I’m sooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad you ended on such a positive note. I know it is poopy to think of Milly being in pain. We had a similar think when Evan had a urine infection and I thought she was teething. She’s not a very moany child so it wasn’t until she started to shaking and frothing at the mouth that we rushed her to A&E. In fact when I was frightened of coming home with her after our 2 night stay the doctor congratulated me on how well I’d kept her temperature down so I thought well I can’t be all that bad then.
You are such a fab mum. Your kids get to have so much fun with you and I wish I was creative like you and loved cooking xx
Why not leave the organising to big J – being an IT geek I’m sure if you asked him he’d find a way to have pop ups appear on your laptop to tell you when you need to get injections, etc done (sorry J if I’ve given you a task
)
Thanku folks for all your lovely support, did’nt mean to be misery guts, just felt a bit rubbish, but as usual you guys made me feel better! thank god for twitter pals and blogging therapy! lol…does that sound too sad!? xxx
Oh my lovely! Don’t you beat yourself up – it’s easily done and Milster will soon bounce back!
Hope she feels better soon – and you too! xx
I’m a chaotic mum, too. Don’t beat yourself up for it. All you can do now is nurse her back to health. x
(Making mental note to get some wallpaper – great idea!)
im exactly the same, ben has been comlaining of tummy ache for about 4 days now, and said he has had the runs, as i don’t go anywhere near the toilet when the kids have been in it. lol i didn’t quite believe him, because i know what he’s like after been off school for a while, he allways says he’s ill, and i still send him back. bad mother i know, well so ben tells me, untill today when i have a very bad tummy ache and the rest, ewwww. lol so i now owe ben an apology, and possibly a treat.. as u well know i forget my own name most of time, u r a great mum and ben would rather live with u then me, cos u do lots of cool stuff, bens words. lol hope milly feels better soon. xxxxxx
I am exactly the same. I could have written that post. Only, Joey didn’t have his third set of jabs as a baby. He’s nearly 4. We moved house and it confused me! But that was no excuse for me not getting Isabels third jabs done… I just forgot. And remembered when reading your post. She’s 2. They’re alive. I’m not concerned for their wellbeing!
Hope Milly gets better soon. And buy a diary! But if it’s not built into your genes, you may not use it past February… but it’s worth a go!
Thanx guys! I do feel better knowing all you lovely professional business type ladies have trouble too ;D…not bad mummy… just mummy under pressure!!!
ahhh your definatley not a bad mummy. We all miss little things. It took me a week to notice Snaffles first ear infection. Unfortunatley for us ear infections are now a regular occurance and we have many a visit to the Dr with them (not in any way connected to his first one!).
As for the jabs your GP/health visitor should have reviewed theses and reminded you.
Hope she is feeling better soon x
Done that before… thought it was a bad cold and it turned out to be tonsillitis and he needed antibiotics… I felt awful when the doctor looked at him after I said “I think he has a bad cold” and he replied “It doesn’t sound like a bad cold to me… it is slightly worse…” looking at me like a failure mum. I felt miserable for ages… we all do this at some point I think.
Hope she is better now x