Prompted by my mother's concern over whom Sage will go to should I "pop off my perch." We have spent the last weeks visiting with all our UK cousins, and this has been wonderful. We have been so busy meeting people that many a time when Sage should have been napping, she was busy flirting with a new relative.
Consequently she came down with a cough. I tried to ignore it, but on Sunday evening I realized we would have to make a visit to the emergency room. Somehow I managed to talk my way into having the receptionist think that it was just a clerical error that we were not registered with a UK doctor. After that we were seen in less than 10 minutes (for free). I was worried we would be given a load of antibiotics - but no - the sensible doctor, checked everywhere and declared "Of course she sounds awful, she has a cough, what do you expect! No antibiotics, its a virus, she will be fine!"
Now that she is sleeping more, she is definitely getting better. On our train ride home - I was worried about breastfeeding in public. As it happened we were seated opposite a very glamourous mother with a baby only 3 days older than Sage. She had no qualms about whipping out her tit in front of all the men in the carriage. She just looked at me and said "he's hungry." Needless to say I felt hugely relieved, and it was only a matter f minutes until I was doing the same!
What I then found out had me feeling a little jealous. It transpired that after her son was born, she found it difficult to breast feed, so they Readmitted her and the baby into hospital, until they had comfortably got the hand of feeding.
I was reminded of how I pleaded with the doc in the emergency room when Sage was 4 days old to readmit us to labour and delivery (because I was losing my mind, and had not slept since her birth - we were also having feeding problems). He said this was not possible - and then I had to skillfully dodge questions to prevent myself being admitted without my baby to a mental health ward. Things would have been so different for us, had I been given the care I would have been given as a matter of routine on the NHS.
There are days I wish I still lived in the UK.
