storbarnsförälder

This morning we finally got some essential pre-baby errands run. Rob took me into town and pushed me around in a wheelchair. It was immensely liberating, being able to go more than a few paces without pain. I'd almost forgotten what being outside the house was like. Linnea enjoyed pushing too, though she spent a lot of time riding Rob's shoulders or my lap, since she was easiest to keep contained there.

Rob's working from home now, since Linnea has agreed to watch telly. We had hoped to have NCT people here from 2-4 but the guaranteed help has sprained her foot so can't come. There's still a chance of drop-ins, luckily.

At 4 pm we have guaranteed childcare (the reliable teenager's mother) so Rob may even get as far as his office, if we're lucky.

My mother's flight tomorrow will be delayed, at best, and it seems likely that it will be cancelled. This is awkward; we were rather depending on her being here by 6 pm so that Rob might be able to work late. She can get the ferry instead, but there's no way to do that and arrive before 7 pm, assuming there are no problems with the trains. The train and ferry is a lot more expensive than the flight, too. But it's really not worth it. She's diet-controlled diabetic with other food issues as well; she can't wait indefinitely in an airport for a flight, not knowing what food will be available and not able to bring her own food through security with her. Aer Lingus have no way of knowing whether they'll be flying at all tomorrow; our best option is to hope that they're not, because then we can get a refund on her outbound flight to cover part of the cost of the train and ferry.

She's quite looking forward to the train trip, though. She'll be allowed a book, she hasn't much luggage, and she's never seen the parts of the countries she'll be passing through before. I just hope the ferry isn't too full of people determinedly getting as drunk as they can (though the Ireland-Wales leg tends to be less full of those than the Wales-Ireland leg; I think fewer Dubs get the ferry over for stag weekends).

At worst, she'll have to get the ferry on Monday, I suppose, and my operation is on Tuesday. That means Rob would have to take some time off on Monday to take me to hospital again, and we'd need to find childcare, too.

Still, it could be worse. I could be facing a flight to Australia with a toddler, armed only with a clear plastic bag containing nappies, wipes, a wallet, my housekeys, our passports, and no Blankie or Jim Rabbit or stack of cardboard books or... *shudder* Now that's terrifying.

The cleaners came today and cleaned while we were swanning around town; they even got the scale off the sink, though I have no idea how. I think they scratched the porcelain but I'm not complaining.

There was also post; I got some tie-dyed baby clothes, which I can now pack in my hospital bag, and another cheque for the new book, and a wedding invite for self and Rob, and some junk. I'm very pleased about the clothes because I was looking forward to them and hoping I wouldn't have to buy nasty pastels or stuff from websites outside the UK with uncertain postal practices.

We bought lots of things for Linnea's lunches for while I'm in hospital, so that packed lunches will be easier, and we bought a vast amount of meat for roasting and slicing and freezing.

My mother got a ferry ticket and train tickets and should arrive sometime about 7 pm tomorrow, all going well. She also has a mobile phone, which I'm delighted about. I hope she likes it as much after a week's use as she does now.

Being in a wheelchair is massively liberating on account of not being able to walk around otherwise, and takes Attitude. It would be very, very easy to be invisible. One guy responded to "Excuse me" in a shop with "I'm leaving in a minute." A few minutes later a shop assistant asked him to move to let me past, in my wheelchair, and I said "Oh no, he's already refused to move once." He got Looked At by everyone else there, I think. (If he had any physical disability preventing him from moving swiftly and nimbly, it was cured by the shop assistant asking him rather than me asking him).

Reading town centre is beautifully set up for wheelchair use though, really - I knew it was good for buggies, and it turns out that that does translate to good for wheelchairs. In general, people in shops were pleasant and responded to me when I spoke, though a few people responded to Rob. I have been wondering how to find out what it's like to get a wheelchair onto the buses that give me trouble with a buggy, but I can't figure out an honorable way to do it, since it's clearly a misuse of the free loan of a chair from the shopping centre.