Wedding Anniversary

It was our 8th wedding anniversay today!

Kanji got me flowers and sweets. The flowers are still alive and beautiful (as of the following Monday), the lilies having opened up in the intervening days. They have joined Lena's three bouquets from her ballet concert, and the two little ones Jiichan got for Amy and Lena. After a few days having them in various glasses, I finally caved and went and bought some vases. That didn't stop us spilling them though, most recently yesterday when I managed to knock down three bouquets with the laundry. At least it forces me to change the water.

The sweets were chocolate cakes, which I made into sundaes with banana, vanilla ice cream, walnuts and chocolate sauce on Friday night. Also chestnut whip puddings, which are just lovely and come in little ceramic ramekins, which we get to keep! I have five now, gulp, which means I just HAVE to get one more sweet little chestnut pudding, yum yum.

We took the kids out for dinner. We went to the Grand Hotel, which is the hotel we were married in, when it was called the Sunroute. I had no idea the Grand had such a good western food menu! We chose a set menu for us, and curry for the girls. Entrees were persimmon wrapped in ham, then pates. There was a fish course with salmon and sea bream, and a soup, maybe pumpkin and potato, steak with vegetables and a delicious chocolate self-saucing pudding with vanilla ice cream and chocolate and custard sauces. The pudding turned out to be an under-cooked cupcake! Interesting, easy and delicious - you know how yummy uncooked cake batter is!

Erica came too and was reasonable. It would have been a shambles if I wasn't such a consummate breastfeeder, if I may be allowed to blow my own trumpet. I took her from the restaurant when she first cried, but the lobby was large and decorated with hard materials that just echoed her cry. I had to go all the way to the toilet, which I am usually opposed to, as babies shouldn't be made to eat in there. But hotel toilets in Japan are scrupulously clean, and, like in malls, usually have a second separate room for handbasins, and even a third room with mirrors and chairs. This one had no chairs, so I got her latched on standing up. I was wearing a low-cut sweater over a higher-necked t-shirt, so I was able to do so with very little clothing moved, and when Amy came into the toilet to find me, she had no idea Erica was feeding, so I felt confident enough to walk thus across the foyer and back into the restaurant, where I sat down and resumed my meal, with my left hand, but otherwise in comfort. Kanji didn't even know until later on that she was latched on all that time! Everyone just thought she was asleep in a cradle-hold. She stayed that way through five course, which is why it would have been a shambles if I wasn't able to feed her so comfortably, or, for that matter, if I had chosen different clothes. Ladies - high-cut under-top up, and low-cut over-top down. Got it?

Well, I think I can almost say it without reservation...tempting fate here but...it'll all go to pack next week, or next time she has a growth spurt...but I think I can say she's nearly sleeping through the night! She's taken to having a LOOONG overnight stint, from bedtime at around 9-10, to anytime between 3-5 in the morning. Then she wakes, feeds a bit, wakes again around dawn, when I feed her and she sleeps through the breakfast/school thing.

And she just woke from her nap NOW, so off I go, I know she's really awake cos she farted

edited Wednesday: nope, she woke up at 2am and 4am last night. And I really needed the sleep too! I think I'm coming down with something. Or am I just tired?

Above and below left, at the rehearsal the day before, with her much prettier un-made-up face, and plain shoes.
Below, Amy came too, and amused Erica!
Below, in full stage make-up, very bizarre close-up, like a drag queen, but it helps their features stand out on stage

L

Far eft, with a couple of other, equally gorgeously costumed little dancers. Left, the bouquets she received for her performance!

Fun Things About Baby

1) Her smiles. Talking to her. That adorable succession of coos and gurgles as she tries with all her might to communicate with me. It's so exciting to watch her get closer and closer to an out-loud laugh! We are also teaching her to be tickled - squeeze her slightly on the sides of her ribs by her armpits while giggling madly at her. She's slowly catching on! And we're teaching her peek-a-boo (or Japanese inai-inai-ba!).

2) Breastfeeding. I just really enjoy it! I like the chance to sit down and just rest and forget everything and reconnect with the baby. It must be the relaxing hormones, because while when I am walking up and down the room to soothe her crying or get her to sleep, I am constantly noticing the things that need to be done, and disturbing her by picking up laundry or rubbish, plucking things up with my toes, but when I breastfeeding, I just kind of review it all with a resigned, "Ah, well, do that later". I love watching her feed, from the shark-like clamp-on when she's really hungry, the little noises she makes, her hands clutching at the boob or holding onto my finger. Her perfectly peaceful face when she drifts off to sleep with a nipple in her mouth - baby heaven! Eating, sleeping, and getting a cuddle from the person you love the most - All at the same time! And my favorite baby face is the one when she just pops off, clamps her mouth shut, lips all pushed up, a dribble of milk down her chin!

3) Bathtime. I've always enjoyed bathing the baby, it's a highlight of your baby day, getting to see the baby naked! You love ALL your baby, and you miss seeing those adorable little rolls and round tummy when they're hiding in clothes all day. But bathtime has taken on a whole new dimension since I started to go in with her. She's happier, because she feels more secure being held firmly in my arms instead of that awkward balance on two fingers behind the ears. The bath can be longer, because the deep tub doesn't cool as quickly as the small baby bath, a vital factor in an unheated Japanese bathroom in wintertime. And I get to cuddle up to her soft warm body! We're both loving it!



4) Watching her sleep

More of the sweet

I should know not to make any generalizations yet! Her next day after the last post was fussy and she cried quite a bit. The 8pm bedtime was a fluke, it seems, and her real habit is to cry and fuss from 8 to 10 or 11! Last night was another wondeful exception, at least I think it is wise of me to view it as an exception - she slept from around 9pm, to 3am, giving me such a refreshing six-hour sleep that I felt quite awake at 3am and read for a bit before sleeping again. She woke again at 6am, and I felt very energetic and got up, leaving her to sleep in until 8:30 while I cleaned up and got the laundry done.

So life with a little one is slowly getting more sane and predicable. She is pretty easy-going, she loves that activity gym, and will sit quietly in her carseat or daybed. She even goes to sleep by herself sometimes at night, and just with a little rocking during the day. Sometimes she needs to be held, but she knows the score so well now that she drops off after just a few trips up and down the room.

She smiles and coos, even in the bath - I've gotten in the bath with her every night since last Friday's wonderful experience. Now there are no more tears at all at bathtime, unless I put her in the baby bath to soap her up (no suds in the Japanese bath, remember!). And it lasts until well after her bath, so no more tears getting into her towel or getting dressed either. And we love it.

Amy and Lena have gotten in with us too, which they loved. They love her! They rock her to sleep, or shake the rattles on the activity gym. She stares at them, smiles at them and coos and gurgles to them, which melts their hearts of course.

Another photo

Six Weeks

I'm sure there's an identical photo of Amy somewhere, and Lena too! That activity gym, which she loves to observe, that cushion, Mum's crocheted woolies, which it is finally cold enough to use!

If she looks a little puffy, that's because she has a bit of a cold, but she's getting her 'mama's milk medicine' so she's doing okay.

She is such a treat! She's settling into a very calm and happy baby. She's at her best first thing in the morning, when she grins from ear to ear. She opened her mouth wide in joy this morning, so I don't think it'll be long before she's laughing out loud. She talks and talks! Just coos and gurgles, but it's so purposeful, and she seems so excited to be having a conversation with me!

Last night she skipped the usual unsettled period, and slept soundly from about 8pm (not counting feeding breaks at 10, 2 and 5, but they were short and she went quickly back to sleep). And she chose the perfect night to do that - Amy and Lena were at Baachan's, and Kanji and I cooked ourselves dinner and leisurely ate it with some wine.

I also had my first bath with my precious baby - it was wonderful, it feels just SO good to hold their soft little body in your arms, skin to skin. She stayed in for ages, even let go of her towels, and really relaxed. Kanji managed to squeeze in too! She's in the day bed in the kitchen right now, talking to the ceiling. I might go feed her and see what comes next.

Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!

A centipede crawled across the baby's bed last night. I had just fed her and was ready to put her back in her bed when I saw it. It ran right across where her head had been. Mum will recall the little one I saw from my feeding chair, when we were still sleeping downstairs. I said then that they were coming up through the tatami from the garden, and I would move upstairs when she left to avoid them. So it's rather a blow to encouter one upstairs! And this was after I abandoned the tatami room upstairs, as the crumbly walls were exacerbating my allergies, which are playing up since I have a cold. I have spent the last few nights on the floor in the girls' room! So, I am left with no-where to sleep.

So I gave the room a thorough clean, and sprayed bug spray in every corner. Kanji, who managed to find and kill the creature last night, looked it up on Wikipedia this morning, where it said that the centipede-killing sprays are not very effective, and hazardous to human health. It's best to eliminate its prey - cockroaches and other small insects. I've never seen one before upstairs, so I'm hoping it was a one-off! And luckily I am tired enough to sleep anyway, even though I had to banish horrible images of the room being overrun with centipedes a few times before I slept!

See photo here

Erica comes to life

My squishy newborn is turning into a bouncing cuddly wee baby! I was just holding her here as I read the online news, and I looked down at her to find she was intently studying me, and grinned as soon as I looked at her. She was just waiting for me to talk to her.

She talks - she goes 'goo'. It's so cute! Kanji will be home this afternoon, so I'll try to video it, it's one of those precious things that go so soon, that you forget so quickly!

She turns those big steel-grey eyes and fixes her gaze on me with a look that says, 'You're my Mother' and nothing more. But oh how much that means!

Erica is growing fast! She holds her head up really well, even improving in the few days since Mum left. She likes to lie across my arm or leg on her tummy, gnawing away at whatever her mouth can find, and lifiting her head up to look around the room. She is starting to watch her sisters, and enjoyed watching them dance yesterday. She also likes to look at a painting Lena did, that has sat stuck to the side of the bookshelf for months, neglected and forgotten until Erica found it!

Amy and Lena have become expert cradle rockers. Amy can nearly pick her up, but I'm still a bit unsure about that! Their lives go on of course. Amy had her first field trip last week and Lena had a sports day where she aced the relay -the girl can fly! She is also doing very well with ballet - she is Little Red Riding Hood in the concert, and it sounds like she's getting her steps down very well.

I am managing to get the laundry done! I will go hang some now, but it looks like rain today so it will have to hang on the kitchen window. Typical, Erica wet her bed today! The typhoon passed over, and, alas, didn't ground Grandma and force her to stay in Japan for another week. Now it looks like we have a cold snap coming over, and I need to go bundle up. On the bright side, it is finally cool enough for me to take out some of the beautiful woollens Mum brought for Erica. She will wear a cardigan today!

The bad news is that I have a blocked duct. I think a combination of lying on it to read, then Erica falling alseep after feeding off the other side and it getting engorged caused it. So that's two reasons why Mum's post won't be going today - the other being the fact that our scales died, so I can't be sure of the weight, and the weight is important because there are special discounts avaialble for up-to-1kg and up-to-2kg packages, so I have to be careful to get them exactly one or two kgs!

Erica is sleeping right now, so I'm going to get a cup of tea and have a rest and a sleep and nurse this breast, and hope it doesn't develop into mastitis.

Halloween and no Grandma

Well Grandma left yesterday morning, a very sad day and we all miss her terribly! Poor Amy had a dream that she was gone - then woke up and it was true! Erica did not smile at anyone, and Lena was very sad. I was sad too of course, and we're all counting down until we return to NZ in August next year.

Erica slept most of the day yesterday, although she had a hard time settling in the evening, leaving me walking up and down for about 2 hours until she finally settled at about 10pm. Today she had her unsettled period over lunchtime, while I was hosting a party!

Yes, mad though it may seem, I decided to have a Halloween party! I made a pumpkin pie on Friday, so Mum could try it. I roasted pumpkin (or more acurately, butternut squash) yesterday for the pasta, and started tidying yesterday morning. The girls took care of the decorations. I even got a load of laundry out this morning!

Maia and Emily and Masaki and their Mums came, bringing muffins and drinks and bread rolls to add to our feast. We played 'trick or treat' with Maia's Mum taking care of the front door, Joanne being house No.2 at the living room door and me being house No.3 in the kitchen. Then they just played outside while we talked, I didn't have time to arrange any elaborate games or activities.

Tonight I think we'll have take-aways, and then get to bed early. Erica slept for six hours at night on Thursday and Friday nights, but woke twice again last night. On Friday we took her for her one-month check-up. She's now 5kg, well above average for her age! Big in every direction!

Smile! Smile! Smile!

Yes, our baby is smiling at us! A few days ago, that big-mouth type, the day before yesterday, a wide one, and today, after an unmistakeable grin when I picked her up and talked to her after changing her clothes, she smiled at us several times. Of course, now the challenge is to either video or photograph the little miracle, and what's the bet she thwarts us!

We had her weighed the other day, she's around 4.4kg, and seems to have grown 2cm since birth. She'll be in kindy in no time! Here are some photos

Baby Erica

For obvious reasons I've been rather too busy to keep this updated!

She will wake up any moment so if this post is unexpectedly cut short, you'll know why. In the meantime I'll try to provide a brief update.

She was born, as expected, on September 27. I went from the blog to resting on the sofa with Kanji, and we left for the clinic around 1am. She was born at 2:35am, after a fairly mild labour and a very quick delivery - in fact the nurses held her in so the doctor could get there on time. I didn't like that and fought it, though I tried to hold off pushing a bit when the doctor came. I held myself off the reclined birth chair-bed to push in a more upright position, and I avoided an episiotomy and tearing too!

She was bathed with he Daddy and Grandma watching, and after that she was with me pretty much 24/7 except for her morning baths on the first two days, and a temperature check in the afternoon. I cuddled up with her in bed for hours after the birth, dozing and letting her suckle. She was cold after the bath and they gave me a warm mat to put her on, like a mini electric mattress, which I had in bed beside me, so I could keep her close for body warmth, the most effective way to warm up a wee baby.

The clinic stay was rather long, and fairly relaxing, although the amount of mother and baby health checks all day long prevented me and her from getting any sleep! The meals were superb, and the best thing was my friend Maki gave birth the same day, so I had someone to chat to and ask questions! We came home on the following Tuesday.

I developed a cracked nipple, and decided to use a nipple shield, which did me further damage. After trying to go bare again and suffering excruciating pain, I tried a pump to give it a rest. That worked, although I wish I'd just persisted with the nipple and not tried the shield in the first place! As of yesterday we are back to nature, no extras, which is such a relief, as I seem to have so many more hours in the day when I am not pumping, washing, disinfecting and warming bottles! Time to blog, for example!

She's now two weeks old, and a treasure. She is quiet and contented, and only really lets rip while I am getting her dressed after her bath. She sleeps well at night, wakes around 1 or 2 and again around 3-4, and then sleeps until about 7. She fed all day yesterday, but that doesn't bother me as much as it did with Amy! I know better than to have any expectations of a newborn. And I know that in about five minutes she'll be walking, and tomorrow she'll be starting kindy....so I get as many cuddles of my newborn as I can while she'll still this tiny, floppy, velvetly soft, milky-smelling and endlessly cuddle-able creature!

Birthing Time Has Begun

It's 10:40, Mum's asleep, and I think I'll leave her like that for now! Kanji finished work at 10 but is not home yet, so I am alone right now, being very quiet and relaxed, waiting for things to pick up. I've been having hard BH contractions all day, although that didn't stop me going shopping! We thought it was better I should keep moving.

I started to feel hormonal late in the afternoon, a bit moody. But it wasn't really until I put the girls to bed that I really felt it had started, because the hard tummy finally coincided with the back pains! I came back downstairs and had a nice long bath, and I have just finished doing a couple of puzzles. To those in the know, I had a bit of 'show' and the easiest visit to the toilet in months, if you know what I mean....that's a sign, they say!

I thought since I had a few moments I could do a little update, let you know how things are going. I might sit on my birth ball in a minute and listen to a relaxation recording on my iPod. Or lie down and sleep until Kanji gets home. And he's home! I'll let him eat dinner and we'll probably be off to the clinic soon! Wish me luck!

So it looks like she's going to be born on Corbyn's birthday!

Mum in Japan

Mum got here finally, after a long tiring flight and a major drama at Auckland airport when she lost her passport! It slipped out of its cover when she was shopping, and she nearly missed her flight. Luckily it was found in time!
Kanji went alone to the airport to pick her up, and they arrived back here by 11am. We had her favorite champon noodles for lunch, went to the park and then came home so she could put her feet up for a few hours, since she'd blown up like a balloon after all that flying and stress! We went out again in the evening with Kanji's mum to a barbecue restaurant, followed by green tea and ice cream at Baachan's.

Yesterday the kids were off from school for a public holiday, so we decided to go on a picnic. We spent the morning shopping - the most unproductive shopping trip I think I've been on, since we didn't get even one of the half dozen or so items we needed. We did, however, get tons of other stuff we don't need.

We came home and cooked a bacon and egg pie and made some sandwiches, then went up the mountain for the picnic. It was much cooler up there, with a nice breeze which made it much more like a NZ summer. It was very hot on Sunday, over 30 degrees, so Mum was really feeling it. Luckily just after our picnic finished, a thunder storm came over, so last night and this morning are much cooler.

Mum cooked a delicious chicken salad - a little different from the NZ version, I gather, since we could not get red wine vinegar or smoked chicken, but delicoius all the same. Today we are going to try to do the shopping again, and I hope we can make it to the onsen this afternoon!

Nearly Here!

Speaking of baby and mother, that is.

I had a bit of a worry last night when I got a sore tummy. But it wasn't a pain in my back, which is where my other labours were. I got a tummy rub (at one stage all three of them were rubbing me!) and lay down and then had a bath and felt all better again. No more painful contractions, but lots of painless ones.

I called Mum last night to see how the packing was going, and convinced her to swap a cardy for a sarong and a couple more t-shirts! I know how hard it is to imagine how hot/cold you are going to be when the real temperature around you keeps interfering, and I could tell the cold winter was making Mum worry about being too cold here!

But it really is still stiflingly hot here, though I had thought it would have cooled down a bit by the time she got here. But I spent yesterday morning outside at the 'Mini Sports Day' (regular school day full dress rehearsal for the real deal School Sports Day next Sunday) and that got me thinking about how hot it still is, and what a shock poor Mum is going to get, because it's still hotter than a NZ summer. I informed her that is has cooled down just enough that I now need - sometimes - to put a sheet on at night. And I don't need to put the air conditioner on until nearly lunchtime, as opposed to around 9-10am. I usually change my clothes at least once a day (making three changes counting pyjamas) just because I get so sweaty.

Kanji is all set to go pick up Mum. Mum was a little worried about what would happen if I went into labour while he is gone, and it is a concern. I asked Kanji and the only answer he had was to pray! Okay, so I'm not allowed to start until lunchtime tomorrow. I think I can hold on that long. The contractions continue, but my dilation hasn't changed at all. I think it's rather silly checking actually, since it means absolutely nothing.

I wasn't too pleased with the clinic visit this morning. I got a very sore back lying flat on my back for the non-stress test, a situation that was not helped by my believing such tests to be mostly unecessary and pretty useless. After all, it only tells me how she's going for that particular half and hour, and I don't usually lie on my back, so it's all wrong anyway. It's not so easy to endure discomfort and pain if you don't believe it's necessary. I hope they are lenient with the goddam monitor during labour! I know from experience just how much less it hurts to simply sit upright or lie on your side.

The other thing was, the doctor started to tell Kanji about how long they'd let me wait to go into labour naturally - while I was in the next room getting ready for the (useless) dialtion check, no less. Lucky I heard through the door. Medical personnel ALWAYS do this to us, and I have come to prefer not to have Kanji there, so that they will make an effort to communicate with me. Usually the doctors, although shy of using English, do know the technical terms, and are much better than Kanji at explaining things to me - he not only just nods and agrees whether he understood or not, he then forgets half of what they said. This is not a good way for me to get information about my health! Not to mention he is unlikely to - god forbid - ask questions or disagree.

So I had him promise that 'on the day' he would ask them to direct their questions, explanations etc, to me. He's quite happy to do that! He knows he can't relay it all to me in either language, and I think it makes him extremely nervous when they do start telling him stuff, as he knows he's going to get questioned intensively by me later on!

Still here

I'm feeling very relaxed and not too tired today, enough energy to do a few light jobs, sort through some papers, get some last minute baby things organized. Maybe because the kids stayed with their grandparents last night, making for a very quiet and gentle morning here! Today is a public holiday in Japan, so no school. No school means no getting up to make lunch and rally the children to get ready on time - but also means a constant battle to keep the place relatively tidy!

The baby has no bed yet! We'll probably just sleep downstairs on the floor, and I have a daybed, but I just set it up, and it doesn't look too secure. I have one I can borrow off a friend if need be, or get a Moses basket. And I've just embarked on getting the carseat organized. Last night when we dropped the kids off I remembered about the baby carseat - it's been waiting upstairs at Kanji's parents' house since we came back from New Zealand when Lena was one! So it needs a bit of a clean. The cover is now soaking in the very last bit of Napisan and the shell is waiting in the kitchen for me to get around to scrubbing it.

I also finally got around to buying some nappies yesterday, and some baby soap. And I finished packing my hospital bag. So I guess I'm all set. Hurry up Mum!

But for now, I'm probably going to search for a nice photo of me for facebook and send off a few more emails.

Any Day Now...

The race is on to see if my Mother or my daughter get here sooner!

I'm a few cm dilated, and having strong braxton hicks contractions constantly. I'm suddenly ravenously hungry, while at the same time unable to produce more than a tablespoon in the lavatory, which means the baby's head is engaging. I'm exhausted and all the last-minute 'I wanna just do this' things have all been sidelined. NOW, if I suddently start cleaning things, you have my permission to call it nesting.

sick, sick, sick

Amy's turn. She over there on the sofa today, moaning away. She is having trouble breathing and has a sore throat, so I will probably take her back to the hospital. I have to decide soon, as I have to be there before 11am to get an appointment.

I finally figured out the system. I have to go to get an appointment before 11am. That means bringing the kid then and seeing the doctor then, NOT making a booking for later on. So I decided yesterday that I just had to see the doctor we had been seeing before, so I went at 10:30 to make an appointment, after doing several other jobs, but realized finally that I should have brought Amy with me to see him now. So I rushed back to school, parked by the entrance nearest her classroom - only to find that they were in the hall at the other end of the school! Raced down there, fetched her, then back to the hospital where I had to park miles from where I wanted to go, of course, raced back in and got to see the doctor.

And completely exhausted myself. I spent the time in the waiting room wondering if my waters were going to break, because I kept on having Braxton Hicks contractions. I took Amy back to school, did one more important job and was almost in tears as I drove home because I was SO exhausted! I rushed inside, drank half a litre of water (I realized as I ran around doing my errands that I had had nothing to drink all day, and only about 1/4 of a cup of cereal, since we had run out of milk) and scoffed about 8 pieces of chocolate for quick energy replenishment!

Kanji was busy getting his licence renewed, and couldn't pick up Lena so I had to do that too! But once she was home, it was over for me - I had a TWO HOUR nap, waking briefly only when Amy came home.

I feel a bit more normal today, and a more determined to take it easy. We may have to go back to the hospital - she's still heaving and moaning over there - but I won't be rushing anywhere. I have to go to the clinic this afternoon anyway, so we'll see if those braxton hicks contractions are doing anything!

Gotta go, her breathing just gets worse!

Above: Baby's face. I know people find it a bit hard to see at first, but once you can see it, it really pops out at you! The whitest part is her forehead above her left eye. The eyes are closed, the dark curve beneath the whitest part is her closed left eye. You can see the nose to the left of that, and just a hint of a mouth at the bottom, approximately in a line with the red dateline. This one is self-explanatory! See how nice that new nursing bra set is! Only I forgot to clean the mirror first...might have another try nearer the time with the red set.
Another face shot, this time in profile. She is facing the left. The tip of her nose is approximately parallel to the '20' of 2007, a rounded cheek to the right of that, and the black line above is her closed eye.

......


Lena's off kindy sick today, she's finished watching Harry Potter and is just starting to get bored, she's taken the box of cards out of the toy closet, and is sitting there humming a song and sorting through the Charades cards. She's still in her pyjamas, because she thinks they look cute. She's wearing long-sleeve pyjamas again after a long hot summer.

It's finally cooled off a bit, enough to require some covering at night anyway. It's 11:25am at the moment and the air conditioner is on. I've totally finished work. It's strange but relaxing to have no set schedule. I'm giving myself lists of things to do...I have to finish marking some tests today, clean the bathroom (hands and knees is actually quite a comfortable position!), visit the 100yen shop, clean up at least one of the shelves in here and repair some broken things.

Two weeks to go! I can get tons of things done in two weeks, I suppose, but I'm still not calling it nesting, because I'm not restless, I'm feeling quite lazy, and I might just go have a wee nap after lunch!

Amy is not too well either, although she went to school. I should have taken her back to the city hospital where she was being seen, but I didn't want to brave the red tape and fight staff who seem to make it their goal in life to make things as difficult as possible. But we took her to the pediatrician, but he was away and we got the spare, who is a bit of a doofus, and just gave us ten days of cough meds. Well, if all this practice for the school sports day gets her asthma really bad again, I guess I'll just have to brave the city hospital's wacky way of organizing things!