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How Floxin has destroyed Paul’s life.

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There is nothing more exciting than the count down to your final days at work before beginning your maternity leave. For so many pregnant women these final few days and weeks can be stressful, and this really needn’t be the case.The important thing is to plan your departure early. Weeks before you leave you and your boss should be discussing how things will continue in your absence. Ultimately this is not your concern, but to leave in the knowledge that someone is carefully tending to your role and responsibilities can reduce some of the stress when you finally do leave!

Making lists is always useful, I found when I went on maternity leave a year ago that preparing a folder of ‘handy hints’ for my replacement was an invaluable tool. Not only did it help me structure my departure, funnily enough it made my boss realize just how much I do in my role!

In the latter days of pregnancy things can be tiring. What you may have found easy to do before pregnancy can become an every day struggle in the final few weeks. For some reason us women can be a little stubborn when it comes to accepting hep from others, with the ‘girl power’ attitude many of us like to be seen to be coping, even if were not! Take extra breaks if you need to, go for a stroll outside, or even go and put your feet up somewhere and have a ‘cat nap’, believe it or not all of these things are a pregnant woman’s privilege you may just not realize it.

Enjoy you last day, and if you’re having a baby shower as many women find this can be an emotional event. With all those pregnancy hormones floating around it is easy to become tearful at the slightest thing! Make arrangements to keep in contact while you are off, although you may be glad to see the back of your place of work when you do leave, keeping in touch will eventually make the dreaded return to work ten times easier as you won’t feel like you’ve been abandoned or left out.

Welcome to Care.TV – your one stop destination for news and views relating to the healthcare industry.

Who is Care.TV? Right now Care.TV is one person, one voice, one opinion and one name – James Barclay! Over time I am looking for like minded people to join Care.Tv and become part of a community that cares.
Why did I start Care.TV? Because I care!! I care that we do not have free universal healthcare and will make it my mission to do my bit in changing the course of healthcare policy in the USA to that of every other major developed country in the world.
Anyone with similar views should watch SICKO by Michael Moore as their first step in realizing what it means to be denied healthcare as a birthright. We have a right to a lawyer, we have a right to handguns, but we have no right to healthcare that could literally mean the difference between life and death.
I care about the stigma attached to the mentally ill amongst us.
I care about prescription drugs that have ruined peoples’ lives.
I care about smokers who want to give up smoking.
I care about addicts and alcoholics both in and out of recovery
I care about those insurance companies that collect premiums for all types of health insurance but will not provide the coverage when most needed through some small print they manage to dig up to avoid their responsibilities.
I care that people with moderate to severe illnesses and /or disabilities should have an online network to reach out to for support and hope and advice.

There is nothing more exciting than the pending arrival of a new baby. Question is: Is it as exciting for the older kids?

It is easy to get entangled in the pre-baby excitement and planning, and it is also easy to forget or pay less attention to the older kids we already have. This is something many parents find themselves doing, and it is only human nature which makes us like it.

The important thing is to include the older kids from day one of your pregnancy. If they already understand that your new bundle of joy is likely to take up a bit more of your time, then they won’t feel resentment when you are not always at their ‘beck and call’.

Include them when you go for scans or make cute purchases for the baby, this all adds to a memorable experience to reflect on.

When my new son arrived, albeit in rather difficult circumstances, we were mindful of the fact that my elder son was being left on the perimeter. Having to stay with family, and spend a lot of the initial time away from mom and dad, he most certainly felt a little left out.

We had always planned to buy him a ‘special’ gift for when the baby arrived and so we had a special teddy bear made for each of them with a cute voice message from us inside. My elder son then thought his new brother had brought him the teddy and he was already his best friend!

Another important thing is not to be too over protective of the newborn. They may be fragile and tiny but to discourage the older kids from having the occasional cuddle can add to feelings of jealousy. My son got involved right from the first day possible by giving a helping hand while Oliver was in ‘special care’. The nurses let him bathe and assist with feeding and Toby was overjoyed, in fact he felt very grown up and responsible.

There is no reason not to give equal love and affection to all the kids. When the baby is asleep play games and have fun with the older ones. It may be tiring and a logistical battle in the early days, but actually having older kids can be quite useful too!