Happy Friday!

Hope you all have a great weekend! I will be at work :(

Secret kitten, too cute!




LMM

xoxo

Water Births

I have been having a lot of conversations about different ways to give birth lately. As Obstetrics is my passion, although not a specialist (yet!), people tend to ask me which I think is the preferred method of delivery. The obvious discussions of a surgical scar vs possible vaginal tearing, stay in hospital and which is best for baby, usually ensue. In England, one cannot have an elective caesarian and so often vaginal delivery is the only option. The only choices you have are usually with regards to pain relief vs none and water birth vs normal.

Enter the water birth...

It all sounds lovely. Warm soothing water flowing over your aching body. Your newborn bought into this world in a liquid environment, that it is used to.

But let me be the devil's advocate. Think of all the times you have had a bath and accidentally made it too hot. It is unbearable and all you want is to get out. Next comes the actual birth. Is the midwife really able to help you or your baby whilst you are submerged in a tub? And lastly, but by no means leastly, do you really want to be in a bath full of amniotic fluid, blood, placenta and your own poo? C'mon! It's just plain gross and in no way has the Hollywood glamour one sees on TV.

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A good friend of mine shared an amusing though horrifying story of a friend of hers, who is considering having a water birth. When she told her midwife of her wishes, she was swiftly told that should she want a water birth, she must supply her own sieve.

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WTF?

So after the ordeal of giving birth, you actually have to then proceed to sieve all the shit (literally) out of the bath water. No, I draw the line there!!!!!



P.S: Did I mention that the bath is also usually of the blow up swimming pool variety?



LMM

xoxo

Room by Emma Donoghue

"Room" is Emma Donoghue's seventh novel and was long listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2010. Ever since buying this book, I knew it would be a story like no other and indeed, it was.


More than half of the novel is set in Room, not a room, but Room, where Jack shares this tiny existence with his Mother. Jack was born in Room, five years ago, after his Mother was abducted and they have been held captive there ever since. He has never experienced anything other than this 12-foot-square world. The brilliance in the writing comes through in the depiction of his world and things that fill his daily life. For example, one becomes familiar with characters such as Meltedy Spoon, Rug and the joy in Sunday Treat. I read this book in complete awe and admiration for "Ma", who is never too tired, bored or depressed to turn a mundane day into one filled with fun activities and learning experiences. She expertly teaches him about their closed off "world", but spares him the pain of knowing and longing for "The Outside".


Eventually, through the courage that Jack inspires, the two of them manage to escape to "The Outside". Here it is not all joy and sunshine, as they both battle with coming to terms with a new life, in which they are seen as individuals. They instantly become famous and need more than dark glasses and sunscreen to protect them. Jack grapples with spacial awareness and "Ma" with being her own person, whilst she has to deal with their family, her own mental stability, and putting herself first for the first time in her life.


This novel explores the themes of selfless parenthood, torture and the rediscovery of one's soul. An excellent read, which I highly recommend to anyone looking for something slightly different yet inspirational. This has been my best read of 2011! Read it!


LMM

xoxo

I hate London!

I have become one of those people that discuss the weather continuously! I know it is shocking. Never did I think that I would become lumped in the category of aged folk that talk about the weather in the elevator. I thought that my extended family, in a tiny village in Germany, were the only ones who were reduced to such mundane conversations, but so be it, I am now one of them.

People always say, why did you come to London if you only complain about it? I came here to travel and London's close proximity to everything being its main draw card, is how I ended up here.

My first day back at work yesterday was a bit of a shock to the system, coming back from sunny Croatia to overcast London, where it was practically dark at 5. It typically decided to pelt down with rain as I left work. My charcoal gray trousers were black up to the knee, drenched in water and my feet were swimming in my fuscia pumps. I quickly hightailed it to the tube station, opting for a closer one instead of my normal station. About 50m from the station a red double decker bus drove past and completely soaking me from head to toe. As I finally reached the sanctity of a roof, I first took off my shoes and poured out all the water and then tried to wring out my pants and hair. Once on the tube, I breathed out a sigh of relief and knew I had gotten through the worst of my journey home.

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Changing lines at Piccadilly Circus, proved to be the downfall of my day. I was standing on the opposite end of the doors as we reached the stop and had to barge my way through, whilst more commuters were getting on, blocking my exit. The doors started to beep and I was still inside. I made for one massive push and finally broke free of the throng of people. Finally on the platform, I walked towards the Piccadilly Line and noticed that my entire blouse had come undone up to my belly button, flashing my bra to the world.

This is why I hate London:

- walking in the rain
- running in the rain
- walking with heavy grocery bags in the rain
- always having an umbrella in your bag
- commuting with thousands of others
- having a stinky armpit in your face for an entire tube journey
- flashing your bra to commuters (that would never happen in the privacy of one's own car)
- comparing London and Cape Town temperatures in Summer and Winter respectively, and them being the same!


I think that was enough ranting for one day!

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LMM

xoxo

I'm Back!

I am finally back from my gorgeous holiday in Croatia, a few shades browner, a few kilograms heavier and a few pennies poorer, but it was amazing and a definite must see holiday destination. (I promise to post some more pics soon).

As today is a Monday, and we all hate Mondays, here's something to brighten up your day...

Kids and video games...



LMM

xoxo

Movie of The Week

This week I watched Love & Other Drugs. I have been looking forward to seeing this film for ages, especially because it seemed to be a bit more than the usual Hollywood Rom-Com.

Starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal as the leading roles and directed by Edward Zick, this film is based on the non-fiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by Jamie Ready.

It is set in 1996, where Jamie Randall, a slightly lost individual, decides to branch into the world of pharmaceuticals and becomes a Sales Rep for Pfizer. He starts off selling Zoloft and Zithromax and is eventually upgraded to the big league of the new wonder drug, Viagra. Inbetween his womanising he manages to meet Maggie Murdock, who suffers from early onset Parkinson's disease.

The movie flips between Jamie bribing the medical community with free pens and other Pfizer merchandise (I love free pens!) and loads of sex scenes between the leading couple, involving a lot of nudity. Strangely enough the vast number of sex scenes actually fitted in with the plot and after I got over the first glimpse of Anne Hathaway's breasts, it wasn't actually that disturbing.

This is Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway's second film together, the first being Brokeback Mountain and she won a Best Actress accolade in the 2010 Sattelite Awards.

'Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review. He stated, "The energy is far too great -- manic even -- at the beginning but calms down for a while to focus on the highly competitive but not always ethical arena of drug sales, then gets distracted by unusually bold sex scenes for a studio picture only to wander off into the cultural phenomenon of Viagra before the movie decides it's a romance after all and so concludes in a highly conventional final embrace.'   

          -Wikipedia-


I personally enjoyed this film and awarded it a 7/10.


Any good films that you can recommend?



LMM

xoxo

Pet Peeves

What is it with mothers taking their boys into the ladies toilet? The other day I went into a public toilet only to find what looked like a 9 year old with his mother. Surely he is old enough to wait outside or go to the little boys toilet on his own?



LMM

xoxo

Dubrovnik

The Boyf and I have spent the last 2 days in Dubrovnik. This city is phenomenal and I absolutely fell in love with The Old Town...definitely one of my favourite places to date. Here a few pics...

                                                    view from the Old Town wall

                                                     beautiful turquoise waters

                                                           Dubrovnik harbour

and my absolute best...most delicious oysters ever!

And now onto Split...



LMM

xoxo

Movie of the Week

Javier Bardem stars in this motion picture film, as Uxbal. Set in Barcelona, we follow the story of a struggling middleman, who sells fake brand names items. He is the father of two children and his seperated wife, who suffers from bipolar, flits in and out of their lives, always casuing chaos. He is diagnosed by his doctor as having a short time to live and we become privy to his world, as the pieces start to fall apart.

This film is directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inamitu, who also directed Babel and 21 grams. Biutiful won Best Foreign Film at the Oscars and Javier Bardem picked up Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival.

The title of this film comes from the misspelling of the word beautiful by the character's daughter. In my opinion this is Javier Bardem's best performance to date and I am excited to watch him in future projects.

"...devoted father, tormentd lover, mystified son, underground businessman, ghost seeker, spiritual sensitive, consumer-googs pirate, guilty conscience and urban survivor..."

This is the best movie I have watched in 2011 and I give it a 10/10.It is an absolutely beautiful portrayal of human emotion and the outstanding performance of Bardem is what really makes it an epic tale.


LMM

xoxo

Officially on Holiday

I am officially on holiday and sorry to gloat but tomorrow I am off to the wonderful and sunny paradise of Croatia...

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I am spending the day packing, getting a pedi and have a great evening of bookclub lined up with the girls.

I will be posting, though not as often!

See you in 10 days :)


LMM

xoxo

7 Links

I was recently nominated to do My 7 Links by a friend of mine, Rory. Basically it involves finding seven posts that you have written, according to certain criteria and reposting them. You then in turn nominate 5 new bloggers and so the cycle continues.

These are the posts I chose...

Most beautiful post:  Happy Anniversary

Most popular post:  Tube Wonders - Part 1

Most controversial post:  Poppy Day 

Most helpful post: Tuesday's Tips

Post that was surprisingly successful:  Patient Crush

Post that didn't get enough attention:  BFFS

Post you are the most proud of:  Labour Ward Antics  (one of my very first posts)




I actually had fun looking through past posts and reminiscing a bit. Now to hand the magic baton over...

My 5 nominees are:

what jacci did next - the adventures of a girl with too much time on her hands.

Luck Pony - a zaney girl with a cool sense of style.

Indieberries - the blog of Che

Pharside - wildly South African in London

A Million Miles from Normal - A Sunday Times columnist, author and funny chick.


Hope you had fun looking at some of my older musings and finding some new cool blogs to have a peak at!


LMM

xoxo

Bag of Moans

I am doing something that I never do...posting twice in one day, but I just have to!

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Today I had one of the worst days ever. Actually the last few days have been shit. Today was especially shit.


I have started working in an A+E at a new hospital. To say I hate it is putting it mildly. The nursing staff are rude. the patients are always drunk, smelly and annoying and to make matters worse I am working as an Emergency Registrar, which I am not, and means supervising junior doctors.

Lowlights of the Day:

1. Having to take my own patient to the ward. I admitted a patient. She needed to be taken to the ward. I ended up pushing her wheelchair there. All my life I have wanted to be a porter and schlep patents around the hospital! JOY.

2. A patient shat in the A+E again! Seriously? Twice in one week?

3. I got denied for a credit card. How the hell can a doctor not get a credit card in the UK? In SA they send you offers in the post... :(

4. Having a German patient. She noticed my surname was German and that was the end of it. I can speak German, but my medical vocab is terrible as I have never had to use it. So after a shit day I now had to stumble my way through explaining things like fractures and emboli in German.

5. My German patient wanted special treatment and demanded me to phone her medical insurance to explain why she should be upgraded to first class on her flight home.

6. I finally left the hospital only to be stampeded by a psych patient outside. She was German. What are the chances?


Highlights of the Day:

1. Having a G&T in the bath

2. Eating Ben&Jerry's Cookie Dough out of the container for dinner.


I have a sad, sad life!



LMM

xoxo 

Jiving Granny

I saw a patient a few weeks ago. She was 93 and quite demented and had fallen. It was really difficult to get any kind of history out of her and so I headed to the computer to look at her old notes from a year ago...and this is what I found...


"92 year old female was found in her flat with her ethanolic friend at 2 am. They were dancing to Robbie Williams, when the patient fell backwards over her Zimmerframe..."

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Robbie Williams?.......................Good taste :)


LMM

xoxo

Tear Jerker

A friend of mine posted this on FB. I am always such a sucker for these stories and I definitely did have a bit of a driz!

Happy Tuesday



LMM

xoxo

A pile of POO!

Last night I was desperately trying to endure the last few hours of my shift when I caught a whiff...no not a whiff...more like stench...

In the medical field there are many disgusting smells that we face on a daily basis; the rotting flesh of a diabetic's foot, the smell of warm placenta and the lovely aroma of an unwashed person, but this was far worse.

I went off to investigate the source of this fetid fragrance. The further I walked in the A+E, the stronger it got. I ended up in the waiting room where the reception was. An inebriated homeless man had decided that this was the perfect place to take a dump. He had literally had the hugest shit in the corner and then fallen over and immersed himself in his own faeculant pile. He was then bought into the department to be seen. I flat out refused to see him and my heart went out to the nurse who undertook the mammoth task of bathing him.

Three hours later as I was taking a break and contemplating having my dinner, the whiff had made its way to the tearoom and I had to give my lasagna a miss.

Seeing patients covered in shit is a common occurrence, but that is usually due to the fact that they are aged and incontinent. This was just too much for me on a Sunday night...

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Hope you had a better weekend!


LMM

xoxo

And the winner is...

The winner of the lovely scarf is...

Congrats! Please drop me an email so I can get that sent to you ASAP.

Have a great weekend!

LMM

xoxo

Drunks

 

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Why are drunk patients the MOST annoying type of patient?

Yesterday I had 2 such patients. Susan and Paul.

Paul drank 3 litres of cider a day. He decided to come to the A+E because he had a problem with his one leg that was swollen. It had been swollen for 6 months, but today it was so sore he could hardly make it out of the house to buy the standard cider and decided that something had to be done, as this was now serious.

Susan drank 1/2 a bottle of vodka and smoked 30 cigarettes a day. She had drunken her poor pancreas into absolution and was vomiting her guts out and in severe pain. Vodka will do that to you...


On a lighter note, the giveaway has closed and the winner will be announced tomorrow :)


LMM

xoxo