Another year goes by

So it's the 6th of December which means it's another anniversary of my brain  haemorrhage. 27 years today.
I always think about things at this time of year.
When I was younger it wasn't the happiest of times.  Remembering what had happened and thinking how I was ever going to have a future, a decent relationship, a family.

Obviously now that's totally different.  I look back with pride and happiness of how far I've come,  and how lucky I am to have such great friends and family. And my own family. With my amazing wife who makes my laugh and smile constantly. And my beautiful kids that amaze me every day. My life is pretty damn awesome.

This year I noticed the Independent had chosen Great Ormond Street Hospital as their charity for Christmas and I was asked to write an article for them.
This was interesting due to the timing. And how I always think of Gosh at Christmas.
I had a long chat with my parents about the details of when I was in Great Ormond Street before writing the article. Mainly because I was in a coma for 10 days so don't remember that much.
It was interesting as I learnt a few new things I never knew.  And got to see my brain scans again, I forget how big an area of my brain is damaged.

The article is here and was also republished in the Evening Standard here.
Not sure if it made it into paper form, but it was strange seeing an old photo of me on the front page of the Independent website for over 24 hours!

I hope the article helped explain what a great job Great Ormond Street Hospital do and a lot of money is raised in the GiveToGosh campaign to help them carry on the excellent work they do for children and the help they provide for the parents.

The NHS tends to get a bashing, but they do some great things every minute of every day. The saved my life for one, and my son's  life too when he was born !

So thanks Great Ormond Street, thanks NHS, and thanks to everyone else. As I said my life is pretty damn awesome and that's due to you all !

Rob

Picking up and carrying a baby with one hand

I thought I'd write a couple of blogs that outline certain situations you kinda need to know as a parent with only one hand. 

So lets start with the basics 
the first time I held my children I was sitting comfortably and someone handed them to me gently so I could rest them in my arms and look at them in amazement.
After a while though reality hits you that you can't have someone else hand you you child all the time, you need to be able to pick them up yourself.

With my son, I tried several different ways to pick him up, such as running my hand up his back and supporting his his head with my hand. However I found a way which seems to work quickly and I use for my daughter which is basically using my hand to grip round the ribcage and then turn her so the weight is on my hand and support the head with my fingers. Then I can place in my arm or on my shoulder etc.

The best thing to do is try a few techniques and see which one works best.

Now you can pick the baby up, you need to think about carrying.
This can be tricky as you want to be comfortable that the baby is secure and held properly before moving.
And you don't want to use a standard baby carrier as you need something which is quick and practical. 
With my son, I was looking to see if someone had come up with something useful, but never found anything.
But I lived in a flat then so carrying a baby upstairs wasn't something I had to think of too much.
Now I was in house, so this was a concern.

However before my daughter was born I found a company called Snugglebundl which is basically a blanket with handles and a head support (you can see it in the picture above). They kindly sent me one and I've used it quite a bit. the fact that you can carry the baby like a shopping bag means it is very easy and quick to move around. Although when walking around you do need to be careful of other objects,  There website has more details and I'd recommend them. 

The more you carry and move with the baby the more confident you get, then it just becomes second nature and you don't have to think about it at all.

As the child gets older they will adapt as you will. 
For my son who is now two and a half I still scoop him up with one arm, but then normally throw him over my shoulder or have him sitting on my arm.

Hope someone finds this useful.
I'll focus on something else next time.