Happiness is

Better late than never, my Christmas present finally arrived last week. Despite being ordered at the beginning of December it took until last week for my Kindle to arrive, but now that it's finally here, I'm in luuuuvvvv.

Needless to say I've been playing lots and have already downloaded over 100 books, now I just have to find the time to read them all as well. I still can't get over how many free ebooks there are out there.

Will get back to C and E posting shortly ;0)

We've been very busy the last 2 weeks.

Ciara and Enya are officially now Kindergarten kids and are LOVIN' it! They are there over lunch everyday and will be there twice a week for their midday nap as well. So far everything is going great, they have a fantastic set of carers who are amazing, patient and the girls love them already. We were really worried about the naps as the room is quite light and C and E are used to sleeping in pitch darkness but until today the girls have had reasonable naps with no fusses. Ciara today decided to boycott her midday nap and we paid for it this evening :0(.

At the same time I've gone back to work parttime, so far I'm really enjoying the interaction with other adults again and love being able to practice my profession again. I have noticed though my german is not as good as it was 3 years ago! We'll see how long it takes for the shine to rub off working again ;0).

The girls celebrated their 3rd birthday on Sunday, my mom and sister were here to celebrate with us and great fun was had by all, even though it rained ALL DAY and we had a house full of guests when we originally had planned to BBQ and celebrate outside. We had to make alternate arrangements but it all worked out in the end. I have only downloaded some of our pictures so I will be posting more later!

The theme this year was Clown/Circus

The homemade birthday cake

Birthday dolls and prams


Z with his 2nd set of twins he's looking a bit bleary eyed as this was late on Saturday night while we were assembling the girls birthday presents

Just back from visiting a new baby boy in Muenster, looks like a little cute yellow old man, an incredibily well behaved old man though. I find it hard to believe my big girls were once even smaller than him, he seemed so tiny and fragile. The girls were fascinated by him and kept wanting to stroke his head and hands (thankfully this is third healthy child and the mom is very relaxed about the whole thing) although we drew the line at them wanting to pick him up!

That being said for the first time in a long time I wasn't filled with envy for the new mom. I'm actually enjoying the fact that I won't be changing nappies for the next three years or waking up multiple times during the night to feed a baby (just to soothe a restless kid) and that I'm going back to work in 2 months so will have more adult conversations/discussions again!

Second day of kindergarten tomorrow!!

getting old

Having always had perfect eyesight it was with great regret that I had to accept a few weeks ago my eyes were no longer up to scratch. I went to a new opthalmologist (you all know how I disliked the Eye guy, we're now all at a new practice) expecting to just get glasses for reading but instead landed up with glasses to be worn all the time. Needless to say the new glasses have a flex frame as the girls love to play with glasses so my glasses need to be hardy. I dread the day someone says either Ciara or Enya needs glasses, it was mentioned by the orthoptician the last visit we had and we have the next visit to their new opthamologist in 2 weeks so it is geting a bit acute again.

Talking of doctors, I felt like a real Munchhausen by proxy mother ordering 7 doctors referrals for the girls. In the next few weeks we have appointments for opthamologist x2, cardiologist x2 (to check on their Atrial Septal Defects), neurologist (Enya for EEG check) and Preemie clinic x2 (for their play therapy). All important and necessary appointments but considering how healthy Ciara and Enya are, it feels excessive that they need so many medical check ups!

Kur

I'm feeling excited and a little bit nervous, in less than 2 weeks I'm going for away for 3 weeks on a mother child "Kur". Basically it's a 3 week break from the everyday stresses, in a clinic that specializes in preemies and their exhausted mothers. I've been running on empty for a while now and my GP agreed this would be a good start to getting me fit to go back to work in 6 months time (Have I mentioned C and E start Kindergarten at the beginning of August).

The girls come with and will also be patients, the only treatment I'm sure that they will be getting is individual play therapy sessions (here they share their sessions with each other). Unfortunately they don't have a speech therapist on staff although they have said they will get a nutritionist to speak to me instead, to give me ideas how to help Enya progress with her eating. There is also child care there which means that they will be getting their first exposure to playing with other children without a parent being present. Good preparation for Kindergarten!

On my side I have no idea what treatments are being lined up for me although massage and a preemie support group have been mentioned. I'm just looking forward to having a bit of downtime. The clinic is based in the German Alps and Z will be coming down for at least the last 2 weeks so that he too can get away from it all briefly. Maybe we will even get to do a bit of hill walking together, something we haven't managed to do together since my pregnancy. I do miss having alone time with Z and I think our marriage suffers because of it too!

In the meantime I've started writing a new packing list so I don't forget anything essential and am now counting the days until our Kur starts.

And the crowning moment....

was when I opened a demand for over 1200 euros in tax (pay up front tax for a consulting contract that had been cancelled- we won't need to pay it but the adrenaline hit nonetheless).

I'm going to bed now!!

new year plans and miscellaneous

Having survived the rare visit to my FIL, we are now getting ready to visit Z's closest friend for New Years. I love visiting them, not least because with 2 young boys in their house, everything is already kiddy proof and I don't have to worry too much about the destructive duo wreaking their normal havoc.

The wife has also just informed us she is unexpectedly pregnant again and I think now all my german friends are pregnant or have just had a baby in the last month! Even the non german friends are falling like skittles! I wish them all the best but wish that I could skip the next year or two!

JS had her baby girl last month and is having a hard time this time round as the baby is colicky. Last night we met up for an evening out in the sauna and she started whinging about how "it was hell at home" and she "didn't want to go home". After hearing that for the third or fourth time I'm afraid my leash on my tongue slipped and I had to remind her that a year ago she was crying on my shoulder because she wasn't pregnant, she wanted this child so now she must pick herself up and get on with it! It really irritates me because she knows how much I want another child (we discussed it often and at length last year when she was trying for this baby) and now she comes to ME to whine about how hard she has it with 2 children! People can be insensitive sometimes...

Fishwife

I feel like a fishwife. I seem to spend the whole day yelling at one or other child not to do something or for doing something (or for not listening!).

Last night as I was doing the blog jumping thing I came across a blog talking about yelling at children (as usual I can't find it again so I can't link it). Now obviously I knew that yelling is not exactly beneficial to the child, but I've always thought it less harmful than hitting on those days where the frustration levels just keep rocketing. However this blog really put into perspective that yelling alone is also very destructive. The sentence that remains with me and kept me up late last night was along the lines of ....the intent of yelling is to frighten and terrorize the child. Do I really want to be terrorising my precious girls? I think we all agree the answer is a resounding NO!

So I'm setting myself a challenge: 30 days without yelling at Ciara and Enya. Wish us all luck!

I'm having a bit of a hard time right now, nothing to do with C and E they are as delightful as ever. Have I mentioned they keep wanting to do somersaults? They position themselves with head on the ground between their hands, feet on the ground and bums in the air and then whinge until I flip them over, lather rinse repeat x2. We have Krabbelgruppe to thank for this exciting development, now it's all the girls want to do. Enya also managed to climb out her high chair, onto the chair next to it and from there on to the ground. Thankfully I didn't see this "amazing" feat as it would have given me heart failure, instead Z described it to me. Her harness has gone back on her chair, we'd taken it off to use outside when we were out walking.

Anyways I will get back to more regular posting ASAP.

All me....

I worked again today and am working half days for the rest of the week. I'm really enjoying being back at work although at the end of the work time I run out the door and hot foot it back home to my darlings. I think the reason I'm so happy at work is because I know it is only for one week and next week I get back to being a fulltime mommy.

My mum is enjoying having her granddaughters to herself and they have been very well behaved for her up to now (or so she says anyway). The girls have warmed up to her beautifully and now go to her for cuddles when I'm not there. Granny even got to help with the bathing this evening, her comment afterwards was she was glad she never had twins!

We checked out the 3rd Kindergarten on Tuesday: it was also really big with 70 children and nicely laid out if a little rundown (but clean). The hours suit as best of all the kitas we've seen so far but I still prefer the first kindergarten as they seemed to offer more activities and work a bit more with the kids. At this kindergarten I had the feeling the kids are just there to be kept busy, the educational development takes a backseat. Unfortunately my boss can't give me an idea in which hospital I will go back to work in which is a factor in our decision to which kindergarten the girls will go, from the sounds of it she will only know next year. There are 3 hospitals in the group and I will be sent where the need for a part time physio is greatest.

Oh well off to bed, I have another busy day tomorrow that is being crowned off by a visit to the dentist tomorrow evening!

So what do I say?

Perspectives revisited.

Yesterday after I posted a friend asked me how did I cope with the disappointment every month when I wasn't pregnant. She thought she could be pregnant but unfortunately her AF arrived yesterday. This friend (lets call her JS) has a daughter exactly 8 months older than C and E, her daughter was not planned and when JS first found out she was pregnant she was not overjoyed. Now nearly 2 years later again JS and her husband were a bit frisky at the right (wrong) time, this time it didn't work and JS was fairly devastated. Although again this would not have been the ideal time she was really looking forward to another pregnancy/child. For the first time I think she has begun to grasp what the 3 and a half years prior to C and E's arrival was like for me.

I told her it is considered normal to try up to a year before getting pregnant when there are no fertility issues, the thought of which she finds unbearable. I'm finding it difficult to be suitably sympathetic to her situation, as this is the first month and they are not even trying yet. They knew about our struggles in real time and she never mentioned it to me ever, not even during her pregnancy.

I honestly don't know what to say to her.

Perspectives

The news right now is full of a trial happening right now in my city. A woman is being tried for the murder of 3 of her daughters. She managed to hide the pregnancies and after giving birth, killed them and hid their bodies in the freezer. She was only found out when her 18 year old son went looking for a frozen pizza in the freezer and instead found the frozen remains. The first little girl was killed in 1986 and the last in 2004. We've had a spate of such sick things in the news in the last few years but this time it happened in our neck of the woods! The news reports state by the last pregnancy this woman had alcohol problems but she does have 2-3 other kids that did live through the perinatal period. I have to wonder what would drive a woman and mother to do such a dreadful thing, not once but 3 times!!

Another bit of news is my ex-sister in law is pregnant again. She had a baby a couple of months before C and E arrived with her new fellow and is now apparently expecting their 2nd child together. She had 3 kids with my brother in law and is generally described as a dreadful mother. The kids used to do all the housework (cooking, cleaning, ironing, washing) while she sat in front of the TV vegetating. Her oldest child (20 years old) refuses to have anything to do with her and while the younger two do live with her they are not happy. The only reason the youngest is still living with her is she told him if he goes back to his dad not to bother coming back to visit!

I think about how hard it was for me to get pregnant and how I tried to be so careful during my pregnancy and despite this it was cut short and yet some other people who are "fertile Myrtles" with trouble free pregnancies don't appreciate their good fortune. I suppose that might be the difference, for them it isn't good fortune, it is their normality. My normality means pregnancy is an unattainable goal without doctors, drugs and loads of visits to the fertility clinic, followed 6 months later by a 4 month hospital stay for the babies. For them it is just the result of a good night in bed at the right (wrong) time, followed 9 months later by a healthy baby. I guess for those who have struggled in someway to get/stay pregnant, pregnancy gains an extra lustre and the baby at the end is that little bit more precious. Please note I'm not saying that we(infertile Myrtles) are better mothers, just that we know this baby probably wouldn't be here without lots of help from modern science and the chances of another child are poor without the same help again.

Any how I think I'm going to go hug my precious little bundles now as they are waking up from their morning nap.

Shock

Yesterday I went grocery shopping with the girls by myself, NEVER AGAIN! Or at least not until they can walk by themselves. Our local store doesn't have twin carts and I needed to buy too much to take my buggy and a basket. So I had Ciara in the shopping cart and Enya tied to my front in a sling, you should have seen me trying to get Ciara into the cart while wearing Enya!! Of course there was no harness to help keep Ciara sitting, her latest trick is to try and stand/kneel/escape from any seat be it high chair or bath seat. She wanted my car keys to play with, but haha clever mom, I'd bought her keys with me for her to chew on. Unfortunately not a good twins mom as I'd only brought one toy with me so I landed up letting Enya have my shopping list to chew on. That worked well in the first shop, unfortunately by the time I reached the second shop the list was no longer legible, so a couple of items were forgotten (dispatched Z to get them, I wasn't going near a shop again). One question I have is why don't they make any babyfoods with the flavour of paper, my girls think books are for eating and Enya will bite, chew and swallow paper without choking or gagging.

By this time the girls were about an hour overdue for lunch, overdue for a nap and generally NOT happy, and my back was letting me know about the extra 8 kilos I was carrying, and wouldn't you know there was also a looooong queue at the till in the second shop. I think the other customers and the employees were as glad to see us leave as we were to go.

On the up side I'd bought a glass of baby food while shopping so I could feed the girls as soon as we got home. Sea fish and tagliatelle in broccoli cream sauce- tasted as disgusting as all jars of baby food do, but the girls ate all 200+g of it. Admittedly Enya refused at first (threw a temper tantrum), got put into bed to calm down and then got offered it again thinned with grain porridge. In the end she ate all of it without gagging once and at one stage was opening her mouth before I even brought the spoon near her face, progress! I hasten to add here there were loads of lumps in the food so can someone please explain this child to me! I will now be buying some jars of babyfood so I don't have to cook quite as much.

We have guests again this weekend so I'll have to do a cleaning blitz and make some treats for the kids, as well as that Z and I have date night tonight. We've agreed that we will go out once a month as a couple and spend a bit of time on us, as we as a couple are feeling the effects of parenthood. Tonight we are going to see the new 007 film IN ENGLISH so I'm really looking forward to it.

frustration levels

We're going through another patch where Enya is being very difficult to feed. She threw up on Z last night and me this morning. Almost every meal now she is retching such that we clear the area around her "just in case". Initially we thought it was due to the texture but she retches even if it is completely smooth, then the thickness but again even if we make it very thin she will retch, size of the spoonful is also not the cause, SO WTF is it ?!? She also is taking longer and longer to swallow the spoonfuls she does accept in her mouth. I mean come on we have now been trying to introduce textures for almost 6 months, she has been eating solids for 8 months. When does this get easier? We're lucky to get her to eat 300g in a day, which I know in comparison to some is a lot but it is such a fight to get her to eat these 300g that I sometimes just skip a meal to avoid the stress and aggravation. Ciara continues to eat everything we give her and look for seconds which underlines how little Enya eats even more.

I'm still preparing all their meals myself but I'm thinking of stopping and going to jar foods as at least if I then throw away a half full bowl,it's not something I've spent hours preparing for her.

In case you're thinking well at least she is still drinking her milk, she isn't! I'm lucky to get 350ml of liquids in total down her in a day. She is back to being very difficult to bottle feed and sippy cups just don't do it for Enya. She will take max 3-4 sips from a normal beaker and then she refuses that too.

Z once said if I wanted to take a week away he'd happily look after the girls by himself, it's getting to the stage where I'm going to take him up on that offer. My frustration levels are rising with every meal and I've just put the girls to bed because to be honest I don't trust myself around Enya right now. I know intellectually that Enya is not doing this deliberately but that doesn't help in the middle of one of our feeding fights.

Unfortunately the chances of getting any competent help or advice is remote, the SLT at our local hospital was incompetent and beyond useless when we went to him for bottle feeding trouble, the ESKB (behavioural team) were not much better and our paediatrician doesn't see that we have a problem, " she'll eat when she is hungry" (she doesn't) and "in 2 years time she'll be as big as her sister" (ha die ha ha)are his idea of help.

I need a break from this!!

Do we, don't we...

..try for a third child?

Z and I have been having some long discussions about this lately. I adore my girls and now that they are no longer babies and are demanding in a different way that is somehow also loads of fun, I would love another baby. I want a normal pregnancy resulting in a normal birth and hopefully a healthy full term baby. Z on the other hand is still in shock after all we've been through this past year and is hesitating/resisting.

He is terrified that we would have another preemie not least because the chance that we'd have multiples again remains. In order to stimulate my ovaries enough to ovulate I require injectible hormones and its impossible to control the dose so that only one egg is produced. Both times we got a response to the drugs I had 3 "mature" follicles (>18mm) and multiple smaller ones. If I'd had more than 3 big'uns they would have had to cancel the cycle, as in Germany they are not allowed to proceed with the IUI if there are more than 3 mature follicles (likewise they are not allowed to put back more than 3 embryos with IVF, to reduce the chances of high order multiples). The cycle which resulted in C and E started off as triplets, but one of the embryos didn't develop past a sac. So when they speak about a 2% chance of triplets I get a bit antsy! I'm not comfortable with the idea of embryo reductions. Our other option would be IVF and single embryo transfer but that is a lot more invasive, expensive, has a very uncertain outcome and I'm not sure if our medical insurance would allow it, given that we got pregnant with an IUI last time.

I was also on modified bedrest from week 7 of my pregnancy and if the next pregnancy was as difficult I would not be able to go onto bedrest with 2 toddlers at home, we have no family that lives close and could give me a hand. The doctors at the hospital have already said if I get pregnant again I would get a cerclage at week 16 especially if I had another twin pregnancy (of course if they'd listened to my obstetrician I would have got that with C and E as well). So that is another con to consider.

We are also not getting any younger which adds time pressure to the whole decision. Z asks if would I cope with 3 babies under 3, but at the same time he doesn't want to be looking after a newborn baby when he's over 40 (he doesn't want to be the dad that's mistaken always for the grandpa!). So ideally it needs to happen in the next 2 years, if we're going to try again.

I think I dealt with the events of this last year a bit differently to Z. I found support on the internet with a preemie moms group and many of the moms there have had another child since their preemie. Most of their pregnancys were very strictly monitored but have ended happily in full term or near full term births. This gives me courage that we could also be lucky next time. Isn't it strange, for most people a normal pregnancy is taken for granted or even in some cases an unwanted burden, while for others it is the most precious gift one could ever receive.

Decisions decisions...we need to think more about this one.

A year ago today.....

I was 24 weeks pregnant and lying in hospital, hoping beyond all hope that we would get at least another 4 weeks before the girls came.

We'd had a ultrasound 3 days before and everything had looked fine, although the girls were small the doctors were pleased with the placental function and confirmed we were having 2 girls. They didn't check my cervix as they didn't want to risk introducing an infection, and I wonder now if they had if maybe they could have done something. When I was admitted to hospital that Thursday night, I was 2cm dilated and they ascribed the bleeding due to the dilation.

Right now I'm gearing up for the girls birthday and it will be a happy day but I'm finding the lead up difficult. All the what ifs and what could have beens...

We got the reports from the last neurodevelopmental follow up and for once they were IMO relatively accurate. I was criticized for putting too much pressure on myself to ensure Enya drank enough, but I knew that was coming. Ciara now is described as only having mild tone and coordination problems although Enya is astonishingly still classed as at risk of cerebral palsy! I think if we had the appointment tomorrow we would get a completely different description as Enya is now doing everything Ciara was at that time and more!

I'm off to go and organise my new bookcases now and enjoy the Olympic Games so I wish you all a restful Sunday

new low

Do you remember me writing I wouldn't panic? Well last night I couldn't help myself.

Enya hit a new low: she drank only 280ml of formula the whole day yesterday! Eating wise she was not any better. For the past few weeks she hasn't really wanted to drink, she is biting down on the teat so nothing can come out and then pushing the teat out her mouth with her tongue. You got to give her marks for ingenuity. But yesterday was the pits!! It was only thanks to the last feed last night that we even got in to the 200's!

Repeat after me : I will not panic, I will not panic, I will not panic.....

We have swopped back to our old formula in the hopes that she will drink that at least, but bang go any hopes of increasing her calorie intake.

On the positive side Ciara is now holding her own bottle when we give it to her although I still cuddle her while she's drinking. They don't get cuddled as much as a singleton would so I don't want to lose these four definite cuddle times per child per day if possible.

flying on a jet plane

If anyone is reading this from San Diego and is planning to go to the BIO expo being held there this week, please go visit the German booths and keep a look out for a tall bald (good looking) guy in glasses. He won't be hard to recognise as HE WILL BE UNSHAVEN! Darling Z flew to the US today and in his untypically non methodical packing, forgot to pack his shaver. He also forgot his VISA card so I won't be getting more than a mug this trip! Normally he starts packing at least 3 days before he goes anywhere and has a list so he doesn't forget anything. How times have changed, this time he was packing between feeds and football (yup, we have the European championship on right now- I'm a football widow;-)). I can't wait to rag him about this, as he always tells me I'm the worst packer out, doing everything at the last minute.

My folks have in the meantime come to stay for the duration of Z's trip, to help me and to visit their only grandchildren. I'm loving having them here, my mom has already done one feed by herself (while I was taking Z to the airport which was a 4 hour drive) and has pretty much told me to take at least one evening off as she wants her granddaughters to herself! Thank god for grandparents!! She's even managed to get Enya to drink her bottle, I usually don't let other people try as she is so difficult to bottlefeed that she usually lands up only drinking 50ml out of 130ml. Now I just got to find a way to keep the folks here!

On the eating front Enya remains very variable but I am trying to ensure her feeds last no longer than 15-20 mins (milk and solids both together), this was the sum total of the help/advice given to me from the ESKB team. They said that Enya is very difficult to feed and that most of what I'm doing with her is right but that I'm also dragging her feeds out too long. She is getting enough to take the edge off her hunger and then gets bored and therefore stops eating/drinking. The solution is to ensure the meals are kept short and "teach" her to eat it when it is offered.
My new mantra should be: I choose when and what she eats, she chooses how much she eats!
i.e. I'm also to stop worring so much about her eating as I'm just reinforcing her behaviour. Only I find it very difficult not to worry when, like this last week, she isn't putting on any weight! I've agreed to give this a couple of weeks trial and then we will meet up and talk it all through again.

A positive note to end with: Ciara pushed up onto her hands and knees this evening and managed to hold the position for a couple of minutes. She still needs to learn to push her weight back over her knees but she is definitely developing trunk control and balance needed for crawling.

Mommy feeling

I don't know if this is common with moms whose babies land up spending a lot of time in hospital just after they are born or if it is just me, but the "mommy" feeling hasn't really hit yet. Intellectually I know I am a mom but I still feel that the girls aren't mine. Understand I am not saying I don't love the girls because I do, I just don't feel that they are all mine.

It maybe because we didn't get to bond immediately after they were born. I had a general anaesthetic for the CS as the spinal didn't work and only got to see them the next day. Even if I had been awake they had to really fight to save Enya so I wouldn't have seen her in the theatre, Ciara did cry when she was born but was also then intubated (and then extubated by that evening when Z went in to see the girls).

We were really lucky as by the 3rd day after the girls were born we were allowed to start kangaroo care with Ciara (Enya had an IVH and so we were only allowed to start kangarooing the week after with her). When I read other micropreemie blogs I realised we were very lucky in that our unit was very pro kangaroo care and we could almost always kangaroo. Even when they reintubated Enya and they had to bag her during the transfer to the parental body, they encouraged us to kangaroo with her. They said the benefits from the time spent on us far outweighed the stress of the transfer, as she was always more stable when we cuddled her.

However we were not involved in the actual care of the girls until they were nearly 2 months old. We missed their first baths, their first attempts at bottle feeding, we didn't get to put their first clothes on, we didn't get to hold them first, we didn't even get to accompany them for their first car journey, we even had to ask before we touched them. Although I spent most of the day in the hospital with them, the nurses spent more time with them and knew more about them than I did. When they finally were allowed into the warm beds I still had to ask before picking them up, changing their nappys or bathing/feeding them. I felt that they belonged to the nurses and I was just a very frequent visitor. This feeling was not helped by the saga with the breast milk (They made me feel my milk was poison for Ciara). I felt there was nothing I could offer the girls because anyone could cuddle/bath/feed them, the nurses could even do the feeding/bathing much better than I could.

Now even though Ciara has been home longer than she was in hospital (as of the weekend:-)), the feeling still persists that they are not all mine although it is subsiding veeerrry slowly. However I still don't have the classical mommy feeling and feel I should be asking permission before I change anything in their care. I guess it will take longer to make up the time we lost and to bond with them.

5th anniversary

Warning: Whinge follows
At the start of April I had my 5th anniversary of when I moved to Germany. In some ways it's hard to believe I've been here this long. I've lived longer in Germany than in any other country other than South Africa (I've also lived in Australia and England).

When I arrived in Germany I didn't speak any german (I hated languages in school-always my worst marks) but I found there is nothing like living in a country to help learn a language. It helped that my boyfriend, now husband helped me by not laughing at my attempts to speak german and encouraged me as soon as possible to get a job where I was forced to speak/practice (highly recommend the "deep end" method of learning a language). I feel sorry for the first few patients I had as I really battled to communicate but after the first 3 weeks my german came on in leaps and bounds.

Now 5 years later I still don't like talking too much but don't (often) hesitate if I need to phone /speak to strangers. My german is by no means perfect (can one learn a second language as an adult so thoroughly, that one could be mistaken for a native speaker?) but I can usually can communicate my thoughts. Why then do some people not take the time to listen?

Case in point I needed to order new SaO2 sensors for Enya's monitor, the old ones only go to 3 kg and she weighs 5kg now (Yup we cracked 5kg on Monday ;-)). First phone call, they listened and sent a sensor that goes from 5kg, unfortunately it didn't have the correct connection to fit our monitor. Second phone call the guy wouldn't listen- I tried repeatedly to explain that we wanted sensors that fit a child who weighs over 5 kg but he kept interrupting and talking over me. I thought he had however understood as he did repeat back to me "for over 5kg" but when the sensors arrived they were the old type ie under 3kg. Now we can still use them, as they still read overnight when she is still, but really is it such an effort to listen to what was being said and not immediately jump to the conclusion you know what I wanted to say?

Okay whinge over.