To the Golblimey

Tickles and my parents in happier times - although Tickles may be feeling a little self-conscious about weight gain.

Even when extraordinary events, like the birth of your first grandchild, hoist their bright flags above the mundane, ordinary existence continues to plod along from dawn to dusk.

My Dad gets frailer by the day and can’t be left alone. There’s supposed to be a Homecare Team who show up to give my Mom respite for a few hours now and then; so far, however, their performance has been less than stellar. One day, after an absence of less than 45 minutes, Mom returned to find the ‘worker’ pulling out of the driveway, apparently not caring a whit that she’d just left my Dad alone and helpless in the house. It’s always possible that Dad started quoting gloomy poetry, but that’s no excuse. The Tickles half of my team has been exchanging indignant e-mails with the Homecare Programme Director. So far, resolution escapes us.

My parents live about an hour’s drive from Creature and Nym and it’s starting to feel as if I spend all my time hurtling between the two locations. Saturday, yesterday, I picked up and delivered some ointment – Dad has festering bed sores – then went to visit Finn, proudly bearing a Toys R Us sale flyer with some scribbles about carrots scrawled in its margins. Mom always likes people to leave with “a little something” tucked under their arms. Since she can’t get out, the flyer was the only gift she could send.

You may be wondering why the home birth went so suddenly awry. Well, the midwife’s potion started working with a figurative bang! about three o’clock Thursday morning. Creature decided she needed painkillers NOW, so she and Nym set off to the hospital, a 45-minute drive. Upon arrival, she agreed to a quick physical examination. Mild panic descended. Cries of “This lady’s about to give birth!” bounced off the sterile walls and the cold, tiled floors. Almost before Creature could catch her breath, out popped Finn at 5:35. And so his public history begins.

Inside the cosy, fir-draped cabin yesterday afternoon, I sat and cuddled him. He is so tiny and peaceful and perfect, I could have held him, gazing with rapture at his little face, forever. Like falling off the edge of the world.

“I’m glad you’re not in China, Mom,” said Creature.

Meanwhile, Nym found many exciting items in the Toys R Us flyer – a swing that plays music when it moves, a baby seat that vibrates, all kinds of toys that pop, squeal and bleat. He can’t wait until Finn is old enough to help him take them apart and figure out what makes them work.