My "choosing the 'right' hospital" saga continued today. I had booked to go on the official tour of other hospital (the one I am considering switching to). So I decided to leave early and catch the train into the city with DeepSpice so that BallFiend could experience what dad does when he goes to work.
Needless to say, BallFiend loved it. Oh, the excitement of a trip on a train (including picking the grotty crumbs out from the gap between the seats!), going into the office where his dad works (and pointing out the big computers) and then a bit sight-seeing around town (where every two seconds had BallFiend asking "What's that?" and pointing at some mundane thing like a sign or a verandah). Two-and-a-bit year olds really are cheap to entertain.
We wandered through a major shopping centre and went into a large department store where BallFiend saw "Thomas the Train". Then we stopped by the Library for a quick coffee with The Librarian. BallFiend had a babycino and played with the table number sign. Afterwards, we still had some time to kill before I was due at the hospital for the tour so we dropped into the Experimedia area and read a couple of stories (Hugo, the flying firefighter by Lorette Broekstra and Mr McGee and the Big Bag of Bread by Pamela Allen). Then I discovered that BallFiend still had the table-number from the cafe, so stopped back there to drop it off.
Then off to the hospital. BallFiend delighted in a short tram trip. We arrived at the hospital with nearly half an hour to spare, so I dropped into the childcare centre on the off-chance that they might be able to mind BallFiend for an hour or so. As it turned out, they had a place available. So I quickly filled in the 4-page enrolment form (!), including the section on which GP to contact for health concerns (it should be noted that the childcare centre is about 100 metres along a concourse that connects the maternity hospital to one of the major public hospitals in the city and therefore a trip to the emergency department would take all of 5 minutes!). I said goodbye to BallFiend and went off to meet the tour.
Whilst waiting for the tour, I bumped into NurseLynn, who had been my local maternal and child health nurse when BallFiend was a baby (she retired about a year ago). It was nice to see her again. I had thought about her several times since I got pregnant and wished I could see her again to tell her, because she was always really good to me and interested in whether I was going to have a number 2. (Incidentally, when I was on the tram on the way home again some hours later, I saw her again walking along the street. Weird seeing her twice in one day after a year of not at all!)
The tour was informative and the midwife who led it was very friendly and nice... although had some bad jokes! It was quite different to the informal tour I did with my midwife friend a few weeks ago. Even though what I saw was much the same, the information the midwife gave was much more detailed. I still didn't get to see inside a shared room though. So I am still in a dilemma of whether to switch hospitals or not!! This is getting really frustrating.
Anyway, after the tour, I collected BallFiend and was pleased to find out that the childcare was free as I was a patient at the hospital! Then we headed for the tram and I clambered aboard, backpack on my back and lugging a folded-up pram in one hand and helped my toddler climb up the enormous tram steps with the other hand. Meanwhile various passengers watched me and smiled at my 'so cute' little boy. I would have preferred that they got up and offered to help. We weren't the bloody hired entertainment of the day!
Finally nearly home, I managed to get BallFiend, myself and all our luggage off the tram (again, no offers of assistance from other passengers) and we set off home. I stopped by the GP to collect my 20 week ultrasound referral (which I requested about 3 weeks ago and still hadn't gotten around to collecting yet!) and then finally made it home.
After ensuring BallFiend didn't need any food or drink, I put the TV on the kids channel, set him up on his little couch with his dummy and 'blankie' and then collapsed on the couch myself. Even though BallFiend didn't sleep, I still got to nap and rest for about 90 mins! And I really needed it too!!
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