People always say to me that they are amazed at how calm I am, even at the hospital after days and days. I say to them, that's because my life never goes to plan. I used to get really stressed when I was younger, but the older I have gotten, the more chilled I have become. I am slowly turning to Daddy Leavins, not caring about most things, except the things that really matter.
I will give you an example of my day today. One week, post baby. I am doing well. We get off to a good start. Jake, (who has been absolutely incredible) takes the “night shift” and lets me sleep. I wake up early, I get to the hospital early. I am impressed because I’m not late, we are on to a winner. The hearing test for Marlowe is all good, then I am on my way to London to see my mum. I am absolutely desperate to see my mum and for her to meet Marlowe for the first time.
From the hospital we manage 2.2 miles up the road to get fuel. I fill up with a tenner and we are ready to rock and roll. Nope. Marlowe is hungry. I go from the petrol station, over the road to the drive through Costa. I get myself a latte and we have a good 45-minute feed. We haven't got very far in an hour ... All done and fed, we are ready to go. I set off, the traffic is clear and all is well.
I pull up outside my parents’ house, I thought, what a perfect moment to film, me introducing Marlowe to his Nana. Awkwardly struggling, phone in one hand, baby in the other, I somehow manage to capture the keys opening the door, waiting to meet Mummy Leavins. Of course my phone dies just at the special moment. It was nice thought...
Mummy Leavins is besotted with Marlowe. It is really special for your family to meet your newborn for the first time and have that first cuddle at eight days old. Such a long wait for my mum. In and out of hospital for us. It has been tough.
She has a cuddle, we sit down and he is hungry again so we have a feed. I message Emma and ask her if she can take Topic for me for a few days, just so I don’t have to worry about him. “Sure, I am in Oxted, come and meet us, we are having lunch soon. Join us for lunch.” Awesome. Sounds good, I will probably be done in half an hour, I will then take Darcy and Topic out for a quick walk. I should be with you in just over an hours’ time.
One hour and 15 minutes later, he has just finished feeding. We are doing well. I don’t have time to walk the dogs. I go to leave but I can’t leave because I don’t know where my shoes are. Darcy and Topic have hidden my shoes around my parents’ house. It takes me five minutes to find my shoes. Having eventually retrieved my shoes, I realise, Marlowe needs changing. Brilliant. Hopefully we’ll be on our way soon.
My dad calls, I ask him if I can borrow his car as my little red car only has two seats in set up. (The rest is folded down and kitted out for the dogs.) Fine. We find the key to the Audi, we go to the car but the car does not start. The battery is flat as a pancake. Dead. It is fine. I will just have to rearrange the back of the red car. This takes about 10 minutes, mats boxes, cages, rubbish everywhere. We’ll get there though its fine, I tell myself. Once this is done we are good to go. Nope.
My phone has stopped working. Ergh. I try looking up the destination on my sat nav, which appears to be more complicated than cracking the Da Vinci Code. I can’t find the destination. I am getting really annoyed now, this is taking forever.
Eventually, we do leave. The sat nav takes us the most stupid way known to man. We arrive about two hours late. (Sorry Emma!) We have a lovely catch up, meet the family and have a good old cup of tea. Tea makes everything better. We say our goodbyes and are about go home, however, Marlowe is hungry again, so we are sat in the car waiting until he has finished. Not long later we do actually leave. Hoorah!
Now because I was lazy and only put £10 of fuel in the car, I need to revisit a petrol station, but I can’t find my bank card. I’ve lost it. (Amongst the three others that I have lost in the last few months.) So I have to ask Mummy Leavins to fill up my car for me. Epic fail. (Thanks Mum!)
We get home, I get another call from Daddy Leavins. “Please jumpstart my car”. Okay, I will give it a go. Problem is, it is now dark and I can’t really see. My dad as a 2.7 litre turbo automatic and I have a 1.0 litre run around that struggles to make it up a hill. I have now lost the Audi car keys and because it is dark, I can’t find it. I spend five minutes looking for the car key. After a good half an hour of trying to jump start the car, I fail. I am getting really annoyed now, I just want to go home. I eventually give up.
A good hour or more later than indented, I am on my way home. This is exactly how my life goes.
When I tell people I have seven dogs, they look at me in disbelief. You have seven working cocker spaniels?! How on earth do you cope?! I say to them, trust me, the dogs are the easy part!
01/03/2020
