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  • I Think It Is Hard To Love A Care Worker

    I think it is hard to love a care worker. We get up early, we come home late and are too tired to cook. We miss weekend events, holidays, birthdays. We don’t get too excited over a minor cough or cold, we have seen far worse.

    We don’t always want to talk when we come home, we have talked all day. We don’t always want to move when we come home, we have moved all day. It may seem that we have left all of our caring, our heart, and our love at work, and have come home to you empty, we probably have.

    I guess it is hard to love a care worker, but know this: we still need your love. We need your understanding. We need to know that you “get it”. We need to be the one taken care of every once in a while. We need someone else to take charge of the details because constantly doing everything ourselves is exhausting. Sometimes we need our feet rubbed. We need a shoulder to cry on when we can’t even tell you why we’re grieving. We need you to do the hardest work you may ever take on, which is…to love a care worker.

    I would like to thank those of you out there who love them and let us do this work, this calling, this life: care work ❤️❤️❤️

  • Let’s Talk About This Photo For A Second

    Let’s talk about this photo for a second.. Brace yourselves, this is going to be a long one.

    So.. Everyone gets super excited to post photos of positive pregnancy tests. It’s so exciting and everyone is so happy for you! But think about it, what happens when you’re on the opposite side of that? You think “maybe this is actually a possibility this time?” But you don’t want to get your hopes up so you talk yourself out of it, “No.. the odds are against us.

    It’s just another false alarm.” But then you wake up one morning and say screw it, you’re going to find out what’s happening. So you take a test. And lo and behold, just like the hundreds before this one, it tells you that you’re not pregnant. What now? You go on about your day like nothing happened. Your body is just rebelling against you again.

    There is no need to tell anyone or do anything because nothing has changed. Every once in a while there are the ones when you have accidentally convinced yourself that it’s really happening and you take a test and boom, one line. Those are the ones that hurt the most.

    You’ve done everything you’re supposed to do. You thought that this really honestly could truly be it. And you wind up sitting in the bathroom floor crying praying that your husband can’t hear you. Wondering what you did so wrong that you can’t have the one chance to have what you want so desperately, what your body is SUPPOSED TO be able to do. When you try to confide in someone else how you’re feeling, they give the same remarks as everyone else, “It’ll happen in your time” and “Give it to God, and He will bless you” and “God has a plan” and my personal favorite, “Have you thought about adoption??”

    Sometimes people just need to talk, they don’t want answers or advice or even people trying to level with them. They just need to let out how they are feeling in that particular moment. Sometimes they need to be a little selfish, self-preserving. Sometimes they just don’t want to hear the BS cliché auto-responses from other people. They just want someone to hug them and say that they understand where you’re coming from and it sucks and it’s hard then leave it at that.

    Holidays are a special kind of hell for people like me. They get with family and friends that they don’t see on a regular basis and then all of the questions start. All of the “when are yall going to have a baby?” “Did you know that so-and-so is pregnant?? Aren’t you so happy for them?” You have to figure out how to be a good sport about the whole thing. You have to find ways to joke about it, or even just let it go in general.

    You can’t bite of everyone’s head when they ask you about something, but then again, why can’t people just not ask about such personal stuff? Especially if you never see them? How is it any of their business? Letting go is the hardest part. Everyone has good days and bad days. You can’t expect them all to be good. There are things that are silent triggers that just happen, most of the time, without warning. And you just have to deal with it. It’s not fun. It’s not exciting. This is the other side of pregnancy. This is infertility. This is PCOS.

     

    Original source unknown

  • Pregnancy Sucks Balls I’m Not Ashamed To Hate It All

    The next person to ask me if I’m ‘excited for newborn cuddles’ or I bet you can’t wait to show your baby off is going to get kicked in the mouth, I don’t plan on winning no mum of the year awards, I will love her and will be there for her no matter what, but being pregnant sucks balls.

    Yes I am excited to have a baby, but who gets butterflies in their stomach knowing they are going to push a crotch fruit out of your tuna taco.

    What I am excited to do is sleep on my belly again, to be able to roll over with ease, I’m excited to drink gallons of wine again, when ever I damn well choose.

    I’m excited to not piss myself every time I try to sneeze, I’m excited to not be a hormonal mess who cries at the hunger games or an advert for an animal rescue shelter, I’m excited to go out out and shake my little arse in a club again. I’m excited to not have heart burn every minute of every bastard day. I can’t wait to never have random people stroking my stomach like it brings them good luck or some shit. I can’t wait to run, and I mean run, this duck waddle is not a good look.

    I want people to ask about ME, ask me about my job, my life and not keep asking “you not had it yet” or the oh so funny “are you sure you’ve got only one in there”.

    But yeah hun I can’t wait to push a baby out my lady hole, to bleed for weeks and to be in pain!!! Yay how exciting

  • I Grew Up In A Time Where Everything Was Better

    I grew up during a time when everyone treated each other like Family.

    We went outside to play on streets, build dens and make tree swings, we got dirty, bathed on a Sunday we didn’t eat fast food….we ate a Sunday dinner…proper home made food  and chips cooked in a proper chip pan!

    We got ice cream from Mr whippy when we could afford it, otherwise a choc ice from the freezer. We played football , kerby , Hide and Seek, british bulldog and  Made life long friendships and are still in touch with them today albeit not on a regular basis, but true friends.

    There was no bottled water  we drank water from the tap (bathroom tap at night) we shared the same bottle of pop… After we’d wiped it with our mucky sleeves, We only had kids tv after school and Saturday mornings.

    We rode our bikes for hours, There was no such thing as a mobile  or any other electronic device.

    If someone had a fight, that’s exactly what it was… a fist fight.                                     Kids didn’t have guns or knives. The street lights were our curfew or until our mum shouted us. School was mandatory . We watched our mouths around our elders because we knew we’d get a clip.

    Sayings like “What’s for tea?” your guaranteed reply was shit with sugar on “where’s Mum?” Run off with the milk man would be the answer. Nothing was too PC back then.

    And you know what everything was better back then, respect was given, manners were used and everyone looked at for one another, life was more simple but it was kinder and happier.

  • A True Gent Who Will Never Stop Fighting

    Michael was born with Transposition of the Great Vessels and had open heart surgery when he was just a tiny baby. He was doing great, living a normal full happy life. Until a few years ago, when he started having major health problems. His cardiologist said that he would need a transplant but that he wasn’t a candidate for a transplant due to being overweight. He has had many surgeries, several stents, a pacemaker/ defibrillator, av-node ablation, among several others. He coded on the operating table and died and they brought him back to life. It’s been quite the adventure.

    Michal is the most amazing father, friend, husband, brother and man in the whole world. He has always been there for anyone that needed him. From hosting toy and food drives, helping a friend in need, giving the last £5 in his pocket, giving rides, blessing bags for the homeless, fundraisers for others, he is always trying to think of a way to help others.

    Which is why it didn’t surprise me when he decided that he was going to fight this fight, and that he wouldn’t let anything stand in his way. He decided to have gastric surgery, so that he could be a candidate for transplant. Just before the surgery, one of the medicines they gave him caused his kidneys to fail and almost killed him, he had to have dialysis.

    When they took the picc line out, they didn’t apply pressure and just dressed it and left the room. A few minutes later the site burst and was spraying blood everywhere, he pushed the call light and nobody came, finally he started screaming while he was bleeding out and a cleaning lady came running in and grabbed a towel and applied pressure while screaming for help. She saved his life. Fast forward a few months. After special diets, appointments with nutritionists, battles with insurance, he finally was able to have the gastric surgery.

    Shortly after the surgery, he started fainting. He ended up being admitted to the ICU and almost died after he had a massive amount of blood loss in his stomach and went into hypovolemic shock. They saved his life again. Fast forward again, he ended up fainting again and breaking two vertebrae in his lumbar spine. Guess what? He kept fighting! Through lots and lots of hard work and a few tears, a year later he had lost close to 200 pounds and was finally a candidate!! The battle did not end though, this was just his ribbon cutting ceremony.

    There were many other battles along the way. His pacemaker battery had to be replaced, he had to have more stents, heart catheterizations, ablations, and so many procedures, surgeries, hospitalizations and doctors.

    His cardiologist found 2 doctors in Arizona that were capable of performing a transplant as complex as his (his heart is kind of backwards so they need to be not only qualified in heart transplants but also congenital birth defects of the heart). The first doctor in Tucson said absolutely not, he refused to even see him. The second doctor at Mayo said that he would be willing to do an evaluation.

    His insurance approved the first appointment…after that…let’s just say Mayo was not the easiest hospital to work with. It took over a year, countless hours of phone calls, arguments with Mayo and the Insurance company, we weren’t getting anywhere. Finally we caught a break, we were blessed with an amazing caseworker who personally knew the director of his insurance company! She was able to get things moving! He saw the doctors at Mayo and had probably 50 tests and appointments. It was finally the day we found out if they were going to approve him for the transplant list!!! Yay!!!

    We get to the appointment and the doctor says, unfortunately the doctor that was going to do the transplant has moved to a different hospital in California! They said they didn’t have anyone capable of doing his heart transplant and they denied him because he was too high of a surgical risk.

    So I suppose at this point, he could have easily given up and nobody would’ve blamed him. However if you haven’t learned by now, Michael does not give up!

    So we tracked down the doctor in California, made some changes to health insurance, and contacted his office. His nurse knew who Mike was! He must’ve made an impact somehow! So fast forward again, we had Mayo send all of the test/eval results to UC San Diego Hospital. Then we had to go to San Diego and be admitted for more testing. Finally some good news….the doctor had agreed to proceed with trying to get Michael on the transplant list!!! However, since he is in California and we are in Arizona, we’ve had to make trips monthly or bi-monthly for tests, procedures, checkups, occasionally hospitalizations and other medical stuff.

    Michael has had many other health battles in the meantime. One of them was his foot. He had MRSA and sepsis from a bad bone infection in his foot. He had to have surgery and was on IV antibiotics for several months. When that did not work and he went septic and almost died, they amputated his toe. His immune system was so weak that he has caught just about every cold and flu going around that year. It was an extremely difficult year for all of us.

    Fast forward again. Michael had gone through all of the screening and testing at UCSD (University of California San Diego). The transplant team has agreed to take Mike’s case and feel confident that they can do a successful heart transplant. They have listed him on the transplant list as of October 2017. He started as a status 2, and then his heart failure rapidly decided, and they were able to bump him to a 1b. Now we just have to wait until they can find a matching donor. This is the next challenge in the journey. Because Michael is 6’6” and blood type O-. They haven’t found anything yet that even comes close to being a good match.

    Fast forward again. Michael’s health continues to decline. He is constantly on 3 liters of oxygen and his heart is not strong enough to pump blood through his body so he faints frequently. They are worried that his heart strength is rapidly declining faster than expected and feel that the LVAD (left ventricular assist device) will be needed for him to make it to transplant. The LVAD is considered a bridge to transplant in this case. It will require open heart surgery, a pump installed on the outside of his heart with wires coming out of his stomach to a battery pack that will be worn around his waist. This pump will beat his heart for him. These batteries must be charged every 6 hours and will keep him alive until they find a matching donor heart.

    Fast forward again. Michael had the LVAD surgery. He is now dependent upon batteries and electricity to keep him alive. Unfortunately because of the anatomy of his heart, they had to put the LVAD in at an angle and it is hitting the septum in his heart. So he is constantly going into v-tach which is a very dangerous heart rhythm. The only thing they can do now is hope to find a matching donor and to have a heart transplant. We are hoping that the vtach gets better with time. It has been quite the roller coaster. He was inpatient in the hospital for 36 days, he had developed an infection from his picc line and had a rough couple of weeks. He has been discharged now and we are currently staying in an apartment right next to the hospital. There wasn’t much more they could do for him in the hospital, so now we just wait and keep a close eye on him.

    Michael’s doctor was able to bump him up to a status 1A so he is currently at the top of the waiting list in San Diego for a transplant. They are getting matches, just nothing perfect for him yet. So they are continuing to look through the offers. We are just praying for a good match now. One that will give him a long healthy life with his family and allow him to do things that he never dreamed were possible! 💜

    We hope that he can walk his baby girl down the isle someday. .

    We will not stop fighting! He deserves a long happy healthy life, just like you and I!

    Please take a look at Michael’s Facebook page

    Facebook.com/Newheartformichael

  • Strong Woman Still Need To Be Loved

    STRONG

    When they see you as a strong woman, they think that you do not need anything or anyone, you can bear everything and will overcome whatever happens. That you do not mind being listened to, cared for or pampered.

    When they see you as a strong woman, they just look for you to help them carry their crosses. They talk to you and they think you do not need to be heard.

    A strong woman is not asked if she is tired, suffering or falling, if she has anxiety or fear. The important thing is that she is always there: a lighthouse in the fog or a rock in the middle of the sea.

    The strong woman is not forgiven anything. If she loses control, she becomes weak. If she loses her temper, she becomes hysterical.

    When the strong woman disappears a minute, it is immediately noticeable, but when she is there, her presence is usual.

    But the strength that is needed every day, to be that kind of woman, does not matter to anyone.

    Honor, recognize, respect and thank the strong women in your life, because they also need to be restrained, loved and feel that they can rest.

     

     

    Original source unknown

  • Tommee Tippee Bottle Warmer Flask Warning

    WARNING ⚠️

    I’m not doing this to bad mouth the company but rather just to make people aware and to take extra precautions because I’ve always been a tommee tippe customer when I’ve had both my babies; however Sunday night (9.9.18) my 4-year-old son and I was taken to hospital and treated with 2nd degree burns as a result of the TOMMEE TIPPEE BOTTLE WARMER FLASK.

    Even when locked it leaks badly, as I went to kiss my son good night the whole contents had come out of the flask; (I’m not entirely sure whether the water leaked from the gap by the lock button of whether theirs a fault with lid and it came from there.

    I wasn’t really looking at the flask at the time due to us both needing to be under water; but when my partner when back it was locked and the lid was on so Who knows). I took three-quarters of the boiling water that was contained in it and my son had the splash back. My sons wound is healing perfect and should be gone within the next week or so; however I’ve damaged two layers of skin and damaged the nerves in my hand.

    Tommee Tippee Bottle Warmer Flask Warning
    Tommee Tippee Bottle Warmer Flask Warning

    I have my dressings changed every two days and the nurses at the hospital are concerned because my skin isn’t blistering nor blanching so they had to keep a closer eye on me at the moment. I’m on strong painkillers and ibuprofen to try to ease the pain. They can’t tell me how it’ll heal until it starts to blister and can’t tel me whether I’ll get the nerves back until it starts changing and getting better.

    Until this is investigated I would highly recommend using a different alternative for now. I’m so glad that I took the majority of the water because if I didn’t my son would have come of worse and maybe next time this might not be an adult and more a baby. 😭

    I’ve rang the company and they are investigating – so are aware of this issues. (Seems to have been an issues for more than a few years) ‼️‼️‼️ I do understand some flask have been fine; and that’s amazing! I just wanted people to go careful that’s all, extremely unfortunate event.

  • Young Girl Beaten By Grown Woman

    Tiffany Leanne Schofield’s daughter was vicioucly beaten by a grown woman.

    Her mum took to Facebook and said

    “So after recent events and conversations with multiple people about the scum named Jayde Binch I just wanted to give people an update on the effects my daughter has suffered since she got beaten by a grown ass women.

    Just a quick recap of the events, my daughter was 11 years old when it happened she was ‘best friend’s’ with Jaydes daughter and because they fell out (as girls do) Jayde took it upon herself to go find my daughter and beat her punched her several times in the face till my daughter fell to the floor which she then proceeded to kick her while she was down, then grabbed her by her hair and tried to shove her into the car.

     My daughter with all her courage and strength managed to break free from Jaydes grip. This woman is a trained boxer so as u can imagine the punches would have came down like bricks to my daughter.

    She was taken to hospital and police was called out, it got taken to court I had to sit and watch on cctv what that evil women did to my daughter without saying a word. The judge who also watched the cctv footage gave her a fine, a fucking fine how is that justice?.

    A year and half later my daughter is still seeing a councillor, still has flashbacks of that awful night, she now has a barrier up which she will not lower, she don’t understand how someone could do what this evil person did and yet get away with it”.

    Written by Tiffany Leanne Schofield

  • Justice For Preston- A Must Read For New Parents

    5 years ago today our worlds fell apart around us, that was the day you grew your wings. It feels like a lifetime but at the same time just yesterday. The pain and feelings of missing you have never left us.

    11th September felt like any other day, it was a Wednesday and I’d planned to go into town to get some wallpaper, We were still decorating the house we’d moved into 2 months prior. We’d never had a house before. Before that when Preston was first born we lived in a little one bed flat that you couldn’t even swing a cat in. 2 adults and 2 babies, our eldest daughter was waking at every noise so us and Preston moved into the living room. It was a tight squeeze so there was a real excitement to make our nice spacious new home perfect. We didn’t know that 2 months later everything would change, our lives would change forever.

    Back to that day, I woke up and went straight to the bathroom to get washed and ready for the day ahead. I walked straight past Preston’s bedroom. You’d think you’d know, you have a connection with your children after carrying them for 9 months but I didn’t know, I didn’t feel dread, it felt like a normal day. I went downstairs to find cuc in the kitchen supervising our daughter eating her breakfast, she’d just finished so I asked if Preston was up yet?, he said no and said he was going to get him. He put our daughter in front of the tv and I sat down with her.

    A minute later I heard a moan, the only way I can describe it is like a wounded animal. We had 2 dogs so I thought they were playing, I shouted through to them to “pack it up”. Seconds went by and my stomach dropped, I felt the dread I should’ve felt earlier, I shouted “what?” No reply “what?” Again, the feeling of dread got stronger so I ran up the stairs. That’s when my life changed. I found cuc in Preston’s bedroom door cradling our baby, fighting back tears, time had stopped.

    I noticed Preston wasn’t moving, he was an active baby so normally he’d try and make his escape but he didn’t. I knew immediately then that he was dead. I asked cuc if I needed to ring an ambulance and he said yes. I think I needed him to confirm I wasn’t imagining this nightmare.

    I screamed, screamed like I’d never screamed before and ran down the stairs still screaming and grabbed the phone from the dock at the bottom and dialled 999. When the operator answered everything was in slow motion and she was asking what service I needed, all I could think was that this was wasting time and I was confused so I screamed “all of them, please help me, my babies dead” she asked me to take the phone upstairs, I didn’t want to because I didn’t want to see my baby gone, all I’d seen was the back of his head before that but I ran the phone upstairs and found cuc in our bedroom trying to revive Preston but it was obvious we were too late, he was grey, I fell to my knees and felt like I’d died the most painful death.

    Recently he told me during one of our many arguments at this time of year that I’d “lost it” so he had to be strong for us, to keep what was left if our family together. He was right.

    Minutes felt like hours before the police arrived, 2 local officers I’d known for a few years with it being a small town, their lives changed forever too. they went upstairs and I wasn’t allowed back up again and all I wanted was to hold my baby but if I did I wouldn’t have let them take him. Paramedics arrived soon after, cuc was still upstairs. They didn’t even try but I understand why, nothing would’ve saved him, it had been too long. Before long the house was swarming with police, rumours circulating the town of murder which was as far from the truth as it could get, rumours which had a massive effect on me.

    It felt like hours before one of the officers I knew came downstairs and asked if I wanted to make the arrangements to take Preston to the hospital, I couldn’t I was in no fit state and I wouldn’t have known where to start. I asked him to do it and told him to make sure it was somebody respectful and told him to close the door when they took him because I couldn’t watch him leave the house for the last time. I liked this officer and days later he came around to see how we were, I got the feeling Preston was the first baby death he’d attended.

    The 2 officers we knew drove us to the hospital to identify Preston and sat with us until CID arrived. In the waiting room something switched in my mind and I wanted to know what happened, I wouldn’t stop pushing even though cuc was telling me I couldn’t handle it, he was trying to protect me. I kept pushing and he told me when he’d gone to get Preston up, he thought he was asleep so he tried to pick him up but couldn’t and that’s when he realised his bumper was wrapped around his neck, he unwrapped it twice. It was secure, knotted 3 times, so secure it had to be cut off with scissors, the tie that snapped still remained on his cot. He was right I couldn’t handle it, I felt like it was my fault and guilt ate at me.

    When we identified Preston he looked so peaceful, for a second I thought he was asleep. I bent down and stroked his head, I begged him to wake up and we could go home. I stroked his hair, I remember touching him and he felt empty, I could feel the life that was inside of him was gone.

    That night I couldn’t stay at home, I stayed with a friend and I vowed I would make some good come from this, when I got home I opened the laptop and googled “cot bumper deaths” there was loads, i felt sick, if I’d have done that sooner Preston would be here now. That’s when I made this page, there was no time to lose and I knew bumpers were on cots all around the world, I needed to reach people immediately and that’s what we did.

    5 years later Preston’s death wasn’t in vain, he died for a reason. Advice has changed, laws have changed all because we stood up.

    Despite the changes made babies have still died, unnecessarily. If there’s ever a day to save a life it’s today, Preston died on this date, we can save a baby on this date too with a single share or tag.

    This was the last photo I ever took of Preston, we will treasure it until the end of time. 💙

    Please help spread awareness and support justice for preston https://www.facebook.com/Justice-for-Preston

  • This Flea Treatment Killed Our Dog

    We lost our beloved dog Reggie he was only 19 months old.

    Reggie was treated with Wilko spot on flea treatment within ten minutes he showed signs of not being well.

    Reggie was taken to the vets within half an hour of being unwell. The vet suspected poisoning and felt it was the flea treatment that caused Reggies condition and within 24 hours his death.

    I have spoken with Bob Martin the makers of the spot on treatment and an enquiry is now ongoing with them…. also local Wikos manager has been seen as to this as this store is where I purchased the flea treatment.

    If Reggies legacy could be to save another pet from suffering then his death will not be in vain. BEWARE THE DANGERS OF PET PRODUCTS…. THE PACKAGING CARRIED NO DANGER WARNINGS ….. BE AWARE ….. HOPEFULLY REGGIES DEATH WILL SERVE AS A STARK WARNING WHEN BUYING FLEA TREATMENT. GOD BLESS OUR LITTLE REGGIE … R.I.P. MY LOVELY XXXXXXXX.

    Credit James Whitley

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