This week I’m… encouraging sounds.

Oh, the delights of good health! Ah-goo! Ah-gah! Oh-boo! Since May’s health has returned, so have her giggles and cooing. She’s also back to bouncing, something she didn’t do for a couple of weeks. Now that was a terrifying realization for me. No bouncing? Seriously ill. Cue conversations with my husband where I ask, “Should [...]

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May is Anti-Cuts and Pro-Ice Cream!

Today, my husband and I took May along to the TUC ‘March for the Alternative’ protest in London. Our family has already been severely effected by these cuts. In an article today in The Guardian, I illustrate a couple of those ways: May’s lack of funding for one-on-one care at nursery and how her Speech [...]

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A formal apology to The Great Fake

May, I’m reaching out to you. Please forgive me. I know I called you the Great Fake when you were ill. I see now that was wrong. I know you are angry. But, I don’t think passing on the stomach flu to both your Mama and Daddy was the right way to express that anger. [...]

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The Story of the Delivery

You’ll excuse me if the following sounds a bit clinical, but it has taken me almost two years to put May’s delivery into writing. I find it easier to deal with if I am straightforward, so I’ve left out a lot of my own personal thoughts or fears at the time. I don’t write it [...]

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Fevers and Misery Update

A typical day over the past few days opens with tears. Lots of fake crocodile tears. May imitates the sound of crying, without even the slightest hint of wetness in her eyes. May has perfected the skill of manipulation. As in: “Listen to my piercing cries! Don’t I sound like I’m in pain? Pick me [...]

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If you had to pick one: adorable photos or political rants?

Reader Eils wrote in after reading my post Thank you, David Cameron. She said: Dear Stacie please give us more pictures of delicious May rather than the government stuff – I know it’s a massive issue for you, and you have to deal with it, but May is so gorgeous that I’d rather see her, and [...]

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Health and Money (and a baby with a fever)

This week has been a tough one for May. In some ways, it was a very normal week in terms of illness and a baby. Sleepless nights. Struggling to get food and drink down her. Lots of tears (from her, but I felt like it at times). May received her MMR and flu vaccine last Friday. [...]

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Thank you, David Cameron.

David Cameron knocked on my door this morning. He handed me a box, wrapped in a satin blue ribbon. Inside, underneath mounds of delicate tissue paper was a giant turd. Or, a turd dressed up as Green Paper on Education. In the Green Paper, the government puts forward their ideas on how to free up the [...]

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The Cost of the Half-Brained Baby

Half-Brained babies should cost half as much. It’s only fair. There could be an equation. Something like: (1/2 brain + seizures – arm control) ÷ the amount of crap we have to go through = one cheap baby Instead, a disabled child costs a lot of money. A lot. In our family, even though May [...]

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Abracadabra! Seizures Be Gone!

For almost two years, May’s entire life, she has been afflicted with seizures. These ranged from her first week with seizures so severe her doctors worried she’d stop breathing, to minor seizures that didn’t affect her health, but did disrupt her concentration. At their peak, these kind of seizures occurred several times every 10 minutes. [...]

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