I've had a couple of busy days, just a two day week for me this week because of the bank holiday though which was nice, I got an extra day with my little spuggy!
I've done a full day at work today (Thursday is usually my half day), there was some training on today which I was really keen to do and I am so glad I went in for the whole day as it has been really positive and has reminded me why I do this.
Before I went off on maternity leave I was working a lot with parents with learning disabilities and trying to make links so that we could improve out multi agency working and improve outcomes for these clients and their children. Having become a parent myself I now have a greater understanding of just how hard it is to be a parent, not just practically but emotionally. I have started to pick up the clients who are parents again since my return to work and the training I did today was about working with parents, and whilst it may not necessarily have taught me anything new it was refreshing to go over things and to network with many of the other agencies who work with parents.
After the training I had arranged to meet with my workforce development department, as I wanted to discuss my professional development and where I go next, having finished my BSc(Hons) last year. I work in social care but as a nurse I need to progress in a different way to my social worker colleague. I came out of the meeting feeling very positive about how I can build my careers from here on in, as well as a plan to contact Uni to look at what modules I can get onto to start in September, it feels good to be looking at undertaking some academic work again...am I mad? Workforce Development have also advised me to contact my operations manager to get the ok to put a portfolio together for approval to move me up the pay scale, which would be automatic for my social worker colleagues who would do a qualification, I am not eligible to do because I am a nurse. Again another positive outcome :)
This afternoon, I attended a meeting with a manager from the health side of our team and other agencies who work with parents. We are discussing how we can improve outcomes for parents with learning disabilities it felt great knowing that work I did for my dissertation, will actually be used to effect change for clients. I sat in the meeting feeling like we will actually do something which will help enable clients with learning disabilities. It made me realise why I do what I do, there are lots aspects of my job which can get you down, and recently we have had a lot of changes in the team with our two first two levels of management leaving closely after each other and posts not being filled, leading to lots of agency staff. We also have some people in the office who can't appear to put personal differences aside and act like the professionals we all should be. It has lead to a horrible atmosphere in the office and massive power struggles. I try not to get involved in all of this which I think is easier now I am part time, but I have to admit I have considered leaving the team because of these problems. I had applied for another job in a different team, but I came home today happy that I am in the right team and that the future is bright and I am going to be able to be involved in some exciting work to effect real change for clients with learning disabilities...and that's why I do it :)
Thursday 6 May 2010
Monday 3 May 2010
Spugy
My life my everything, my darling son :)
What more can I say, before I had him I wasn't really complete...I never realised what being a mummy meant. We were very lucky we didn't really try to get pregnant, to be honest it was a bit of a shock, after being told from some investigations for "womens problems", that I wasn't ovulating and if we did want children in the future we would need help!! They got that a little bit wrong and a month later I was peeing on a stick and seeing the word "pregnant", I'm glad it was a digital test as I don't think I would have believed it if it had been a normal one! As it was I had to do another one once Si got home. I will never forget that day, Si was on a long day and I had to take the puppy to the vets because she had eaten a load of electrical wire...totally surreal all round!
It took me a little while to get my head around having a baby and I worried terribly that I wouldn't be maternal, and that I wouldn't know what the baby wanted! We had some problems early on, they thought because of a scan I had on my kidneys when I was only a couple of days pregnant that the baby might have been effected. Thankfully after some more tests and then a detailed scan at 20 weeks they were able to give him the all clear. We could relax and start to enjoy it then. I thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant, feeling him growing inside me...we had found out that he was a he at 20 weeks because we were both so intrigued!
He was born on a hot day in June 2009, I was in labour for 31 hours and then ended up having an emergency caesarean because he was in distress, he was fine when he was born though, 10 perfect fingers and 10 perfect toes. Si and bought him home three days later and although the first weeks were hard, especially when I couldn't breastfeed we have never looked back.
When Spugy was 12 weeks old I started "wearing" him and got into slings and carriers, carrying him like this so close to me, helped us both, and one day in the middle of the local library I felt the rush of love which people talk about getting when they have their babies! I welled up in the middle of the books and fell head over heals in love with my special little man.
He is 10 months old now and he is the light of my life, he changes every day and is growing up so fast, I want to press a button and slow it down so that I can cherish every moment even more.
Spugy's favourite things are music, dancing, his treasure basket, stacking cups and his toy ducks. He loves our dog, Scrumpy and he eats just about anything we put in front of him, including curry's and mature cheddar!
I miss him terribly when I am at work, I would be worried if I didn't, but the days seem to fly by and seeing his beaming little smile when I pick him up makes it worth leaving him for. He goes to a childminder who just has him during the day so he gets 1:1 from her. She takes him to some of the same groups I did and some new ones and he loves being there, I think if I wasn't happy with our childcare that I would be happy with being a working mama.
What more can I say, before I had him I wasn't really complete...I never realised what being a mummy meant. We were very lucky we didn't really try to get pregnant, to be honest it was a bit of a shock, after being told from some investigations for "womens problems", that I wasn't ovulating and if we did want children in the future we would need help!! They got that a little bit wrong and a month later I was peeing on a stick and seeing the word "pregnant", I'm glad it was a digital test as I don't think I would have believed it if it had been a normal one! As it was I had to do another one once Si got home. I will never forget that day, Si was on a long day and I had to take the puppy to the vets because she had eaten a load of electrical wire...totally surreal all round!
It took me a little while to get my head around having a baby and I worried terribly that I wouldn't be maternal, and that I wouldn't know what the baby wanted! We had some problems early on, they thought because of a scan I had on my kidneys when I was only a couple of days pregnant that the baby might have been effected. Thankfully after some more tests and then a detailed scan at 20 weeks they were able to give him the all clear. We could relax and start to enjoy it then. I thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant, feeling him growing inside me...we had found out that he was a he at 20 weeks because we were both so intrigued!
He was born on a hot day in June 2009, I was in labour for 31 hours and then ended up having an emergency caesarean because he was in distress, he was fine when he was born though, 10 perfect fingers and 10 perfect toes. Si and bought him home three days later and although the first weeks were hard, especially when I couldn't breastfeed we have never looked back.
When Spugy was 12 weeks old I started "wearing" him and got into slings and carriers, carrying him like this so close to me, helped us both, and one day in the middle of the local library I felt the rush of love which people talk about getting when they have their babies! I welled up in the middle of the books and fell head over heals in love with my special little man.
He is 10 months old now and he is the light of my life, he changes every day and is growing up so fast, I want to press a button and slow it down so that I can cherish every moment even more.
Spugy's favourite things are music, dancing, his treasure basket, stacking cups and his toy ducks. He loves our dog, Scrumpy and he eats just about anything we put in front of him, including curry's and mature cheddar!
I miss him terribly when I am at work, I would be worried if I didn't, but the days seem to fly by and seeing his beaming little smile when I pick him up makes it worth leaving him for. He goes to a childminder who just has him during the day so he gets 1:1 from her. She takes him to some of the same groups I did and some new ones and he loves being there, I think if I wasn't happy with our childcare that I would be happy with being a working mama.
Working
No one ever asked me if I wanted to work, I was brought up that in order to get anywhere in life you have to work hard for it, it was assumed that as soon as I was old enough I would work to earn money to buy the things I wanted.
I guess my parents were quite strict looking back but it taught me a good work ethic, and I learnt a lot when I started working.
I was 13 when I got my first paper round, I got up early, walked to the local shop, picked up my papers and off I went. From memory (it's going back a while), I got paid £2.50 a day for this round which took about an hour to do. If I didn't do it I didn't get paid. Occasionally if the weather was really bad my mum would take me round in the car but this was a rare occurrence! This was the first time I'd had to get myself our of bed independently by using my alarm clock and get myself out of the house at a certain time. I was pretty good at it though from what I can remember, and I used to love opening my pay packet...I can remember it now. I used to save up my money, to buy tapes (remember them), and later on CD's as well as things to play them on, and clothes.
When I was 14 I moved onto working in a cafe, I remember seeing a sign in the window of a new cafe which was opening in the town which I grew up in. I went in and put myself forward for it (I think I was sick of the early mornings of the paper round), and they gave me the job! I worked at the cafe two evenings a week after school and all day on a Saturday, I was paid £2.50 and hour so the money was better than the paper shop too. I must have thought I was quids in :)
When I was 15 the two evenings a week after school were beginning to eat into my study time and so I found another job at a local pub advertised in the shop and I rang up and after going in to meet the couple who owned the pub I got the job. I worked Saturday evening and Sunday lunch and got £2.50 an hour for the work plus a meal if I wanted one.
All the time I was learning valuable skills, such as time management, customer service skills and patience. I was also learning how to deal with burns as the chef used to make the plates soooo hot (this skill will be useful to me later in life). Even though I was working every weekend I still managed to work hard enough at my school work to get 9 GCSE's, 1 A, 6 B's, 1C, and 1D.
In the summer after my exams I was 16 I got a job in the local golf club as they could give me lots of work during the summer before I went to college. At this age I had my sights set on buying a car, I lived in a small rural town and to get anywhere you really needed a car. As with everything else in my life if I wanted something I had to save up and buy it myself, so that's what I did. I had enough money from a savings policy my parents had started when I was a baby, to buy a cheap banger, however there was no way I was going to be able to afford to insure a car...so I worked my ass off all summer and by the time I was 17 in the January I was able to afford to insure my banger third party fire and theft! I don't think at the time I realised what an achievement this was, it was only when I chatted to my friends and found out that there parents had bought them cars, and that they were on there parents insurance as a named driver that what I had done was unusual. I was quids in once I started to build up my no claims bonus and the car I bought Dubby, still has a special place in my heart.
I learnt so much in my time at the golf club, pride for myself and my work, managing my own time, I used to run the half way hose on a weekend, even did the rota myself for when I couldn't do it. I learnt about fine dining, silver service, and one of the most important lessons of all, how to smile sweetly and apologise, even though you know you did nothing was wrong and the person you are apologising to is just a prize twat! Golfers, particularly the female ones seem to be a breed of people who can complain about the slightest little thing for no reason, other than they like the sound of there own voice! It put me off every attempting to play the game myself...for life, but boy it taught me how to deal with them!
Again I worked there throughout my A levels, worked hard so I could afford to put petrol in my little car and go out occasionally...when I wasn't working. I still managed to get decent grades in my exams, a B and two C's anyway. During this time my mum was very ill with cancer and she died the next year, I was able to escape when I was at work and do something that I enjoyed and turned out to be pretty good at aswell. I also got a lot of emotional support from the person I worked for and her best friend. I lost touch with Vanessa and Sarah and I can't for the life of me remember there surnames even then (although they've probably changed now), and I do sometimes wonder where they are and what they are doing now. They taught me and invested so much time in me, I would love to be able to let them know how I got on!!
Vanessa moved down to Hereford to be with her husband and the catering at the golf club who I did not get one with and found it very difficult to work with as she had such low standards and Nessa had taught me always to be the best I could be. I therefore left shortly afterwards.
I didn't do nothing though...I got a job in a local pub behind the bar and found a new talent...pulling pints! I was having a year out whilst I got my head straight after my mum dying so I didnt quite a lot of work in the pub and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I can't remember how much I was getting paid now, I don't think minimum wage had come in yet though it was still pretty poor!I was never in debt though, didn't have a credit card, if I wanted something I saved up and bought it, it didn't even cross my mind for a few years that there are other ways to buy things!!
In October 1999 I started Uni as a student nurse, I still worked behind the bar though, and after I did my first placement in a nursing home I worked there on the bank too. I would do a full day at uni or on a ward and then I would go to the nursing home or the pub and do a few hours there. I must have been shattered but I don't remember feeling like that, I had moved out of home and had a mortgage and bills to pay (yes I was only 19), but I just got on with it. I got my college work done (goodness knows how) and qualified as a nurse in 2002. I had by my third year stopped doing bar work but I was still working in Nursing homes whenever I could, usually two evenings a week and at least one day of the weekend dependent on my student shifts and much more in the holidays.
When I was a student I always seemed to have enough money to go round by working in the nursing homes too I managed to pay all my bills and have enough left to have a couple of vinos with my friends too! I rarely went overdrawn and I still didn't have a credit card. In fact looking back the only time I got into debt was when I got involved with a fella!! Nevermind I lived and I learnt lol, you can never regret what you didn't do eh?
When I qualified as a nurse I went to work in accident and emergency, I earnt £17000 when I first qualified, and I thought I was rich beyond my wildest dreams. It was the first time in a long time I only had one job! I still used to do a fair bit of overtime though as I didn't like to have many days off, I would get bored! I used a lot of the skills I had learn thus far and developed many more which still stand me in good stead now. I also met my soul mate, who is now my husband (although it was many years before we became an item), whilst I worked in A&E.
After four years in A&E I was ready for a change, and the matron told me she would never give me a sisters post because I was too balshy, and I decided to get out, I applied for a job as a care coordinator with people with learning disabilities on a whim during a quiet night shift...I got an interview and was offered the job! always one to believe in fate I took the job and that brings me to now, I've been doing the job for nearly four years, and I enjoy it tremendously. Every day is different, I manage my own caseload, and time and am developing a reputation as a bit of a specialist in working with parents with learning disabilities. I have whilst working full time over the past five years also undertaken a bachelors degree in which I gained 2:2 honours, and up until I found out I was pregnant in Oct 2008 I still did shifts in A&E just to keep my hand in.
I worked until I was 35 weeks pregnant with my son and then I went off on Maternity Leave in May 2009 and I was off for nearly a year. This is the longest I have not worked for, but I can honestly say I didn't miss it...becoming a mama was the best thing that ever happened to me. My little spugy is the most fabulous thing in the world and I love being a mummy to him, I enjoyed going to new places, meeting new people and watching my little man change in front of my eyes. I joked about never going back to work as I liked the idea of being with him all the time...in reality though I think I would have got bored by the time I went back to work I was ready to tax the old grey matter. I didn't want to work full time any more though and I went back in April 210 18.5 hours per week. So I now work two and a half days a week, and I am at home with spugy the rest of the time. It is the perfect work life balance, and the financial benefits are also very nice.
I don't know what the future holds for me work wise, there have been a lot of changes in the team I work in whilst I have been off. I thought all my ambition had gone, however I recently saw a new job advertised which I thought sounded really interesting so I applied for it...and there is also talk of an opportunity to act up in a more senior position, which again I have expressed an interest in, so maybe I am still a career girl after all. I worked hard to get where I am, and as long as I can achieve a balance maybe I can still progress!
The most important thing in my life is Spugy, there is no way work would ever come before him, but I am pleased to be a working mama and to get a balance, I am teaching him the same way as my parents did me, that working is important, I pay tax and contribute to the county I live in. I have high self esteem because I know that I have worked hard and have achieved. I don't know that I will encourage him to get a paper round at 13 as times have changed but I will encourage him to work and also to work hard at school, college and uni so that he can get a good job in the future :)
I guess my parents were quite strict looking back but it taught me a good work ethic, and I learnt a lot when I started working.
I was 13 when I got my first paper round, I got up early, walked to the local shop, picked up my papers and off I went. From memory (it's going back a while), I got paid £2.50 a day for this round which took about an hour to do. If I didn't do it I didn't get paid. Occasionally if the weather was really bad my mum would take me round in the car but this was a rare occurrence! This was the first time I'd had to get myself our of bed independently by using my alarm clock and get myself out of the house at a certain time. I was pretty good at it though from what I can remember, and I used to love opening my pay packet...I can remember it now. I used to save up my money, to buy tapes (remember them), and later on CD's as well as things to play them on, and clothes.
When I was 14 I moved onto working in a cafe, I remember seeing a sign in the window of a new cafe which was opening in the town which I grew up in. I went in and put myself forward for it (I think I was sick of the early mornings of the paper round), and they gave me the job! I worked at the cafe two evenings a week after school and all day on a Saturday, I was paid £2.50 and hour so the money was better than the paper shop too. I must have thought I was quids in :)
When I was 15 the two evenings a week after school were beginning to eat into my study time and so I found another job at a local pub advertised in the shop and I rang up and after going in to meet the couple who owned the pub I got the job. I worked Saturday evening and Sunday lunch and got £2.50 an hour for the work plus a meal if I wanted one.
All the time I was learning valuable skills, such as time management, customer service skills and patience. I was also learning how to deal with burns as the chef used to make the plates soooo hot (this skill will be useful to me later in life). Even though I was working every weekend I still managed to work hard enough at my school work to get 9 GCSE's, 1 A, 6 B's, 1C, and 1D.
In the summer after my exams I was 16 I got a job in the local golf club as they could give me lots of work during the summer before I went to college. At this age I had my sights set on buying a car, I lived in a small rural town and to get anywhere you really needed a car. As with everything else in my life if I wanted something I had to save up and buy it myself, so that's what I did. I had enough money from a savings policy my parents had started when I was a baby, to buy a cheap banger, however there was no way I was going to be able to afford to insure a car...so I worked my ass off all summer and by the time I was 17 in the January I was able to afford to insure my banger third party fire and theft! I don't think at the time I realised what an achievement this was, it was only when I chatted to my friends and found out that there parents had bought them cars, and that they were on there parents insurance as a named driver that what I had done was unusual. I was quids in once I started to build up my no claims bonus and the car I bought Dubby, still has a special place in my heart.
I learnt so much in my time at the golf club, pride for myself and my work, managing my own time, I used to run the half way hose on a weekend, even did the rota myself for when I couldn't do it. I learnt about fine dining, silver service, and one of the most important lessons of all, how to smile sweetly and apologise, even though you know you did nothing was wrong and the person you are apologising to is just a prize twat! Golfers, particularly the female ones seem to be a breed of people who can complain about the slightest little thing for no reason, other than they like the sound of there own voice! It put me off every attempting to play the game myself...for life, but boy it taught me how to deal with them!
Again I worked there throughout my A levels, worked hard so I could afford to put petrol in my little car and go out occasionally...when I wasn't working. I still managed to get decent grades in my exams, a B and two C's anyway. During this time my mum was very ill with cancer and she died the next year, I was able to escape when I was at work and do something that I enjoyed and turned out to be pretty good at aswell. I also got a lot of emotional support from the person I worked for and her best friend. I lost touch with Vanessa and Sarah and I can't for the life of me remember there surnames even then (although they've probably changed now), and I do sometimes wonder where they are and what they are doing now. They taught me and invested so much time in me, I would love to be able to let them know how I got on!!
Vanessa moved down to Hereford to be with her husband and the catering at the golf club who I did not get one with and found it very difficult to work with as she had such low standards and Nessa had taught me always to be the best I could be. I therefore left shortly afterwards.
I didn't do nothing though...I got a job in a local pub behind the bar and found a new talent...pulling pints! I was having a year out whilst I got my head straight after my mum dying so I didnt quite a lot of work in the pub and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I can't remember how much I was getting paid now, I don't think minimum wage had come in yet though it was still pretty poor!I was never in debt though, didn't have a credit card, if I wanted something I saved up and bought it, it didn't even cross my mind for a few years that there are other ways to buy things!!
In October 1999 I started Uni as a student nurse, I still worked behind the bar though, and after I did my first placement in a nursing home I worked there on the bank too. I would do a full day at uni or on a ward and then I would go to the nursing home or the pub and do a few hours there. I must have been shattered but I don't remember feeling like that, I had moved out of home and had a mortgage and bills to pay (yes I was only 19), but I just got on with it. I got my college work done (goodness knows how) and qualified as a nurse in 2002. I had by my third year stopped doing bar work but I was still working in Nursing homes whenever I could, usually two evenings a week and at least one day of the weekend dependent on my student shifts and much more in the holidays.
When I was a student I always seemed to have enough money to go round by working in the nursing homes too I managed to pay all my bills and have enough left to have a couple of vinos with my friends too! I rarely went overdrawn and I still didn't have a credit card. In fact looking back the only time I got into debt was when I got involved with a fella!! Nevermind I lived and I learnt lol, you can never regret what you didn't do eh?
When I qualified as a nurse I went to work in accident and emergency, I earnt £17000 when I first qualified, and I thought I was rich beyond my wildest dreams. It was the first time in a long time I only had one job! I still used to do a fair bit of overtime though as I didn't like to have many days off, I would get bored! I used a lot of the skills I had learn thus far and developed many more which still stand me in good stead now. I also met my soul mate, who is now my husband (although it was many years before we became an item), whilst I worked in A&E.
After four years in A&E I was ready for a change, and the matron told me she would never give me a sisters post because I was too balshy, and I decided to get out, I applied for a job as a care coordinator with people with learning disabilities on a whim during a quiet night shift...I got an interview and was offered the job! always one to believe in fate I took the job and that brings me to now, I've been doing the job for nearly four years, and I enjoy it tremendously. Every day is different, I manage my own caseload, and time and am developing a reputation as a bit of a specialist in working with parents with learning disabilities. I have whilst working full time over the past five years also undertaken a bachelors degree in which I gained 2:2 honours, and up until I found out I was pregnant in Oct 2008 I still did shifts in A&E just to keep my hand in.
I worked until I was 35 weeks pregnant with my son and then I went off on Maternity Leave in May 2009 and I was off for nearly a year. This is the longest I have not worked for, but I can honestly say I didn't miss it...becoming a mama was the best thing that ever happened to me. My little spugy is the most fabulous thing in the world and I love being a mummy to him, I enjoyed going to new places, meeting new people and watching my little man change in front of my eyes. I joked about never going back to work as I liked the idea of being with him all the time...in reality though I think I would have got bored by the time I went back to work I was ready to tax the old grey matter. I didn't want to work full time any more though and I went back in April 210 18.5 hours per week. So I now work two and a half days a week, and I am at home with spugy the rest of the time. It is the perfect work life balance, and the financial benefits are also very nice.
I don't know what the future holds for me work wise, there have been a lot of changes in the team I work in whilst I have been off. I thought all my ambition had gone, however I recently saw a new job advertised which I thought sounded really interesting so I applied for it...and there is also talk of an opportunity to act up in a more senior position, which again I have expressed an interest in, so maybe I am still a career girl after all. I worked hard to get where I am, and as long as I can achieve a balance maybe I can still progress!
The most important thing in my life is Spugy, there is no way work would ever come before him, but I am pleased to be a working mama and to get a balance, I am teaching him the same way as my parents did me, that working is important, I pay tax and contribute to the county I live in. I have high self esteem because I know that I have worked hard and have achieved. I don't know that I will encourage him to get a paper round at 13 as times have changed but I will encourage him to work and also to work hard at school, college and uni so that he can get a good job in the future :)
The begining
I tried to start a blog once before, it wasn't terribly successful, because I didn't update it very often. A recent status has been doing the rounds on facebook which got me thinking about why that may have been. The status went,
It kind of got me thinking that maybe that is why I wasn't terribly great at blogging before! I am however going to try and do better this time. I am sure this would be a fabulous, massively funny, intelligent, entertaining blog...but in actual fact it will probably just be a collection of bizzare ramblings I am a working mama after all!!
"...is a cook, a cleaner, a nanny, a nurse, a handy man, a maid, security, a comforter and an entertainment manager. I don't get holiday, sick pay, or a day off, and I work through the day and all of the night. I am under paid and over worked. Now tell me that your job is harder then mine."
Generally this is posted by people I have as friends on there who are stay at home mums. Now I have nothing against those that stay at home and look after their children...but I do all the things they mention and then 2 and a half days a week I work as a nurse in the community with adults with learning disabilities. And often I do it on my own as my darling husband works away in various parts of the country and sometimes abroad.It kind of got me thinking that maybe that is why I wasn't terribly great at blogging before! I am however going to try and do better this time. I am sure this would be a fabulous, massively funny, intelligent, entertaining blog...but in actual fact it will probably just be a collection of bizzare ramblings I am a working mama after all!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)