We put Abbie in her new Regatta rainsuit which looked so adorable on her, it's currently reduced from £30 down to just £9 in case any of you are interested, I've been eyeing them up for a while so couldn't believe my luck when they were on offer! It feels like every year I get excited about Christmas earlier and earlier, as soon as November hit this year, I wanted to put the tree up and decorate the house! But, I do have to rein it in..until December 1st anyway! We've had a super busy week this week, Ben was off work so we've been trying to fit in as much family time as possible! From soft play visits, to park trips, seeing family, Birthdays, craft time and watching Finding Nemo far too many times! But it's weeks like these that really make me happy! There was one moment this week that actually really bothered me, I'm not usually the type of person to complain or write about it on here, but on Saturday I was left feeling anxious and like a crap parent after a dramatic doctors visit.. To cut a long story kinda short, Abbie was booked in for her flu spray vaccine, which I was already feeling anxious about! We were greeted by two nurses who were obviously in a rush, we were asked the usual questions but then asked us "Why didn't she have the vaccine last year?" in such a judgmental way, which straight away made me feel like an inadequate mother, I don't even think we had the letter through last year so that's why she didn't get it. The nurses both looked each other then looked back at me. We were then told Abbie needed her temperature taken first, and came at Abbie with the thermometer, Abbie straight away ran into the corner shouting "no no no, bye bye, mummy?!" whilst bursting into tears. Now I know "most" children will sit down patiently and just let them do whatever they need to do, but Abbie isn't like that, shockingly enough, my toddler isn't too keen on strangers trying to poke something in her ear who she's just met, by hovering over her telling her "it won't hurt, you just need to stay still". I told them she just doesn't like having her temperature taken or nasal sprays (how many toddlers do?), which then resulted in the nurse sitting down to say "Well how DO you take her temperature at home", followed by "Well, I have other things to do and a clinic to run so good luck with this one" to the other nurse, as she walked out laughing. Great way to make an anxious mother feel better, well done you. Very professional. She then proceeded to back Abbie into the corner to try again until I stopped her, Ben & I then both tried a few times but Abbie was so upset, I was getting upset and just told her we might have to rebook the appointment. There was no compassion, no sympathy, no patience and no reassurance either. When did Doctors & Nurses become like this? I couldn't believe it, my child is not being naughty, nor is she being difficult, no she hasn't had a traumatic experience like you politely asked, none of those. She was simply put into a room she's never seen before, with a very stern atmosphere, nothing to distract her or ease her into it, i'm sorry my daughter wasn't like the other children you had seen that morning, i'm sorry she was scared of you, i'm sorry you felt like it was ok to make me feel like a shitty mother because she wasn't doing what you wanted and i'm sorry you had made us wait for 20 minutes in the waiting room before as you are always running bloody late, and my daughter was already ready to go home. Apologies for the inconvenience any of this caused you and your "clinic". So we didn't end up giving Abbie the flu spray, we are hoping to try it again by having a doctor come to us, where Abbie might feel safer. I've never seen her so stressed, she was literally hysterical and there's no way I was making her even more scared of the doctors. Aside from that, we had a great week packed full of fun, and although I can recite every single word from Finding Nemo, I'm just glad I can sit and snuggle with my little girl and watch movies now, i've been waiting forever for those moments! To end this post on a high, I have some photos of our Longleat trip for you all to see, if you can get over there yourself I would really recommend it! :)
Obligatory tantrum 2 minutes into the trip
Hope you all had a great weekend :) x
