Friday Film Day

I decided to have a bit of time away from work today so accompanied Shannon and Alice, first of all, to McDonalds for breakfast. The Double Sausage/Egg McMuffin thing is about the only thing of theirs I like. And then into the city where it was far colder and more miserable than we thought it would be: post-Christmas bleurgh and a general air of lethargy. It was like the footage of the high street you see on the teatime news when they’re banging on about the recession.

But we bought socks, blank CDs, a bargain priced Laurel and Hardy encyclopaedia, various baby requisite-t-t-t-s and a selection of the day’s finest newspapers and mags: The Sun, The Telegraph and The Spectator (because I’m getting more right-wing as I get older). Plus a couple of copies of the local newspaper, the EDP, because my article about Twitter and LinkedIn was in the Business section.

My second article no less. With my picture and everything.

Then up to the hospital to see little Maggie.

She was in really good spirits all day. She was awake on and off but during those times she was bright, alert and very happy. We’ve recently been taking her into the kids’ playroom and blasting music at her while dancing around. The standard stuff you’d do with any baby, for sure; but for Maggie this is new. It’s a real change from the somewhat stultifying atmosphere of the ward where they’re obsessed with dimming the lights and creating an artificial dusk any time after 2pm. So in the kids’ playroom it’s all bouncy and loud and bright. The only drawback is that the CD/radio player seems to be permanently set to Radio Norwich. This afternoon we had to put up with old shit like M People’s Search For The Hero.

If you haven’t heard Radio Norwich, it’s here. And yes, it really is the world of Alan Partridge brought to life.

But anyway, Maggie loves the music and it’s obvious that this will play a big part in her ongoing stimulation. But not M People. Something else beginning with M. Er... Max Romeo. Babies love a bit of reggae.

Tom turned up later in the afternoon, still nursing a killer hangover, but alive enough to be able to keep an eye on Alice while we went with the ophthalmologist to have Maggie’s eyes checked.

As far as he can tell, her eyes are physically fine. However, the nerve leading from her eyes to her brain is somewhat pale. This could be a problem. He’s seen it before in babies who are premature and it often turns out okay. But of course Maggie isn’t just premature – she has a whole host of other, far more serious, issues to contend with. So it’s possible she’s got problems with her eyes. Or it’s possible she may not. As usual, it’s a matter of waiting. As the ophthalmologist said, we are by far the best people to recognise if Maggie’s having problems with her vision. Sadly, we’d already noticed that she wasn’t really focusing and following, which is why we asked for the tests in the first place. But still, it could all just be a matter of time.

Or it could just be related to the fact that there's always a degree of retardation when it comes to any baby that spends a significant amount of time in the hospital.

Talking of which. There's a baby in the same ward as Maggie who was visited by quite a few people today: family and medical types. I lost count of the times the parents brought up the fact that their boy has been in the hospital for six weeks and that this six weeks has been like a lifetime for them. A lifetime? I wanted to shout, you should try three fucking months you amateurs!

Well, you know how competitive parents can be when it comes to their kids.

It was, on the whole, a good day today, as you’ll see from the film below. Before you watch it though I have to point out that Maggie can move on her own. She was just having a bit of a pullabout session at the time.

Oh, and for some reason the quality of the film is much lower when posted on this blog than it really is. So I'll try and put it somewhere else a bit later.

Shannon’s staying with Maggie at the hospital tonight. Let’s hope they have a good one.

Click the pic to see the pics. Click the film to see the film.

And yes, I know that, strictly speaking, Max Romeo would be filed under 'R' not 'M'.