How much trouble can beads be...

Well very in our case.

On Friday at 4.30 while I was washing up and just about to start dinner. It was a bit too quite in the living room. Upon going from the kitchen to the living room which is only a case of going through a door. I find my son saying to me 'mummy I have a bead up my nose'! After telling him off and looking up his nose I can see a blue/green bead stuck up there. So off I go to get my daughter, who was no where to be seen, telling son not to try and get the bead out.

So up the stairs I go and half way up is my daughter covered in blood! She had put a bead up her nose too but instead of telling me she had gone upstairs to the bathroom to try and get it out herself.
This consisted of sticking all of her fingers up her nose which pushed the bead past the point of no return.

Not sure what to do I got them both to put their coats on while I called our GP, as I thought they could help and I would not have to end up in A&E but if they couldn't help I would need to catch a bus to A&E which I can pick up from near the doctors.

So being on hold to speak to the GP we walked down our road and by the time I got to speak to someone we were only a few minutes away from the GP practice.
But the procedure is that a doctor would call me back and then they would decided what to do. But at this point I was so close to them that I decided I would wait in their waiting room for the phone call.

This came about 10 mins after we arrived. So explaining to the doctor what had happened and that I was in the waiting room she came to get us. Once we were in the room she said there was something we could try and explained that if she held my sons unblocked nostril closed and I breathed as hard as I could in his mouth the bead should come out.
So with a ping the bead flew across the room and I was covered in my sons snot!

We then tried it on my daughter but aftet 4 attempts nothing.  The doctor said she could not see the bead and it was time for a trip to A&E. Just what I had wanted to avoid as my husband was picking up my sister as she was coming to stay for the weekend.

After a long bus ride to A&E we were booked into the children's A&E department and were told it could be a long wait.
An hour and a half later we were finally seen. By this time my husband and sister had arrived. The doctor looked up her nose but couldn't see anything and said we might be off to another hospital which had an out of hours ENT department but luckily for us there was an on call ENT doctor at our hospital.  After a little wait he saw us and looked up my daughter's nose and said he could possibly see something but he was not sure. So to be on the safe side he would book her in for an emergency operation in the morning and we were to come back at 8am to The Blue Bell ward for the operation.

So on Saturday off to hospital we went and we got to The Blue Bell ward quite early and were told to sit in a play room. Then at some point just before 9 am we where taken to my daughter's small room. It was quite nice and had a telly and an outside patio area but it was raining so we never went out there.

My daughter was admitted to the ward and received her customary wrist band with her name, hospital number and date of birth. She had the magic cream put on her hands and we were told the doctor would be along shortly to see us. So here we were and in for the long hall.

The doctor came around about an hour later and he had a look up her nose but couldn't see anything.  So he said there are two options, one was to leave it and the other was to operate. I decided that the operation was the best option as if the bead had gone down into her tummy the operation would confirm that and if it was still there the doctors would be able to get it out.

We waited and waited and waited lunch came and went. Which disappointed my little girl as she had picked the buger for her lunch. Then meny dvds down we got told that it was time to go down for the operation. My girl was laying on her bed the whole time.  The anaesthetist came and explained what she was going to do and asked a few questions about her medical history.  Then we were taken to the anaesthetic room. The anaesthetist got the catheter in but my daughter got so upset she pulled it out before they could stick it down. Then she started to fight even though I was holding her. The anaesthetist then gave me a mask which was pumping out laughing gas. As she would not let the doctors put the mask on her but I just tried to force it onto her face and tickle her with my other hand so she would breath in the gas. Once she had fallen asleep I was taken out of the room by the nurse who had come down with us.

I went off to go buy my little girl something nice to wake up to.  Then I was called back to the recovery room. The operation only took 10 mins.  When I got to the room she was fast asleep on her bed with a mask and wires measuring her heart rate.  Then she suddenly woke up bolt up right and ripped all the wires and the mask off. She also tried to get the new catheter out. But we got her to stop by asking if she wanted a drink. Lucky enough she was so thirsty that it look her mind off pulling the catheter out.

After a sort while we were taken back to her room on the children's ward. She finally got some food and then fell asleep.  It was getting late by this time so I asked when we would be aloud to leave as it was nearly 7pm. The nurse said that we could go as soon as our ride got to the hospital.  The catheter was taken out and we got to leave. Once we got home my girl was a bit teary and very tired. She went to sleep in just a few minutes.

Now I have a small little specimen jar with the bead that was removed from her nose.

Son's 1st Day at Nursery

So today is the day! My little boy is off to nursery for the very first time. Where have the three and a half years gone?

I am sure he will be fine if his settling in seasons were anything to go by. At everyone he has been the first child through the door. The last one that he went to was last Thursday and I felt like a spare part. I didn't know what to do with myself. He just got on with playing and making friends. He even went to nursery in his school uniform.  He is so excited that I have needed to stop him sneeking in to nursery until his start day. The nursery stagger the start days so the first group started on Friday.

As he know the school so well, his sister was in the nursery last year, he just goes off and plays until it is time to go in.

So no I am all on my own, I think I might cry. He is getting so big.

Ambulance trip yesterday

Well what a shock I had yesterday.  My little boy fell over in the school playground, he doesn't start until Wednesday,  while waiting for his sister to finish school.

All I heard was the thud then nothing, then crying but he didn't get up. I dropped everything I was carrying and picked him up. There was blood streaming down his face and a pool of blood where I had picked him up from.

Me an another mum ran him to my daughter's classroom where her keyworker put a cold compress on his head which was still spurting blood all over me and my son who was crying his eyes out. I was then taken to the head teachers office were we looked at the wound but he was so covered in blood that you could not see where it was comming from.

We were then joined by my sons keyworker who is first aid trained and the decision was made that he needed to go to hospital and an ambulance was called. Which got there so quick. They put a bandage on his head and took a few details down. Then we headed to the ambulance where they put some stickers on him and attached him to a monitor to check his heart and blood pressure. We then were taken to hospital.

Here I must say how good the school were in sorting everything out and getting my daughter sorted and taken to a friend's house while my son and me went off to the hospital. 

At the hospital I was given some wipes to clean the blood of his face. Then after a short while my husband arrived. The school had called him while we were waiting for the ambulance.  My son at this point was playing with the toys in the children's waiting area. Soon after we were called into see the nurse, who took more vitals and looked at the wound. She gave him some calpol and ibuprofen which would help when my son was glued back together.  She also said that we could use the hospital shower to clean all the blood off his hair, as there was so much. I know that head woulds bleed but this was so much more than I was expecting.

We then had to wait for the doctor to see him. After the doctor saw him we were given towels to go shower him. Now he hates showers at the best of times. This was no exception, the screaming was emence. But we got all the blood off him. The cut itself was so tiny but it had gone deep and cought a vain which is why it had bleed so badly. When we got back from the shower we had to wait for a nurse to glue him back together. 

When we were called in the nurse cleaned up the wound as it had started to bleed again but this time much slower. And she then glued it back together.  I will say that the wound is so so very small. After all this we were finally let home with instructions to keep an eye on him for 6 hours.

So that is one stressful afternoon. But with my son I fear it will not be the last time!

Daughters First Week of Big School

So the first week of big school has ended and it has been a weeks of ups and downs.

First I ask my daughter what she has done every day and her reply was 'nothing' she used to say that when she was in nursery but I didn't think she would carry on in Reception.

Then she decided that she wanted to go to the park and when I said no she through one hell of a hissy fit, something that she has not done before.  I am putting it down to tiredness from being at school full time.

Today she has come home with her first home work, which is to read a book called Drat That Fat Cat and we have to fill in her reading record.

She also has show and tell every Wednesday and next weeks theam is A favourite story, rhythm,  poem or book. The book that she has chose is Goodbye Mog, she loves this book since I bought it after our cat Jezebel died at the beginning of the year.
It is such a lovely story and explains the death of a pet really well.

First week down loads more to go!

First day at big school

Well tomorrow is the day, my little girl is off to big school.

Last year she was at the nursery at the big school but this will be her first day where she will be going every day, all day.
She has said she wants pack lunch so tonight I'll be making her first proper lunch in her new Hello Kitty lunch bag.

Today I spent time putting her name in her school uniform. Packing her PE kit and making sure I have everything she could need.

I also took her to the hairdressers for the first time, to get her a proper hair cut instead of a mummy cut. I don't think I have done too badly but for her first day at big school I thought she should have a proper cut. No she looks so grown up.
The hairdresser was surprised that she had never been before, she sat nice and still, did everything that she was asked to do.

So here we are an new chapter in life.