Think Big

See this fat git here:

He lives down the road from us in Ipswich and is supposedly the world's fattest man. He costs the British public £100,000 a year to look after (which has so far totalled £1 million). He lost a load of weight once - 10 stone - during the time he spent in prison for stealing mail while working in a sorting office. But apparently he doesn't want to lose weight now because he's enjoying his new-found celebrity status. He is, in many ways, an odious individual.

He gets a mention here because I was chatting about him with my friend Matthew today. I was wondering whether it was right to say that it was horribly unfair that he gets all that money spent on him when, at the same time, there's a real lack of resources and staff in areas such as children's health. I wanted to believe that it was silly and irrational and mean-spirited to make that comparison. But, of course, it isn't silly to make that comparison because, on every level, that fat git is much less deserving of NHS money, time and effort than my daughter.

It's been a couple of days of ups and downs for Maggie. Sometimes she's breathing well and managing to control her levels and sometimes she isn't and needs suction and oxygen. The problem is that she still hasn't got her swallowing sorted - something that is causing us a great deal of anguish. It's why she still needs to be tube fed. More than that, it's a real reminder that things aren't good for her.

Both Shannon and I believe it's time for the people at the hospital to be a little more active. Less sitting back and waiting - more treatment and advice. Maggie was supposed to be seen by the speech therapist last week but the speech therapist was on holiday. Maybe if that fat idiot in Ipswich stopped wasting NHS cash they could afford to employ another one. Maybe.

See how this thinking goes? Not good is it?

Shannon was on the internet last week and came across a new, pioneering treatment for developing the swallow reflex in new born babies. Our consultant, however - and anyone else at the hospital - hasn't mentioned it. Which suggests to us that we're going to have to do a lot of our own work here. And it looks as though we're going to have to kick some arses.

We'll keep you posted.

Alice is a real sweetheart. She sleeps pretty well, waking every three hours or so (so Shannon and I are just about managing to stay awake during the day). We had a milestone last night when we had her sleeping without the radio on and with the light off. She's piling the weight on too and should soon be the proud possessor of big fat Saxton cheeks. Ample Alice, that's what we'll call her. Hey, if we keep going like this we could make her the fattest baby in the world and claim our £100,00 a year from the UK taxpayer. Hurrah!

Our friends Ben and Julia came to see us yesterday, armed with a cute pink suitcase full of goodies for the girls: bunting, lotions and teddy feely things. And today we entertained Matthew and Maria (and Patrick and Joseph) who brought lovely home-knitted dolls, hats and a jacket. Thank you all!

Pics of the girls, taken today:

Maggie:
Maggie & Mum
Alice, Maria & Patrick