Mama's Haven

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My Miracle Child

Published by Oana

Those of you who have been reading my blog consistently would know that since our precious boy was born we struggled with sleep and what we thought was a very strange case of reflux.

Two weeks ago on Friday things took a turn for the worse and I decided to take Georgie into the A&E. He had this diarrhea he didn’t seem to be able to shake off and was starting to run a fever at night. Plus an extreme agitation and restlessness that kept us up basically all night.

To cut a long(and very painful) story short, last Friday, following blood and bone marrow tests and two lumbar punctures, our sweet baby boy was diagnosed with acute megakaryoblastic leukemia, a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia. He was put on chemo as soon as he recovered from the critical condition he was in, following the two medical procedures under anesthetic he went through last week.

As you can imagine, we are still in complete shock. Our lives have been tilted upside down, with our baby living basically in the hospital for the foreseeable future, the doctors say.

But we have also been humbled and amazed by the support we received from friends here and everywhere in the world.

And we are also encouraged by the constant prayers presented before God’s throne by people from diverse denominations and countries. We know that our son is well covered in love and care and we trust he will be well and will amaze the doctors with his speedy recovery. He has already responded fantastically well to the chemo, his fever has ceased a couple of days ago and his diarrhea has improved since he was put on a different milk.

o thank you all for being on this journey with us. Spare a prayer for Georgie, press God with requests until the moment is ripe, until He says “enough is enough” and He hands us back our miracle baby, totally healed and unharmed by the trauma of his experience.

My mind is full of thoughts but since I only have a couple of hours at home I don’t have the time to put them all down. I hope I will find a way to write from the hospital, will enquire today of possible alternatives. Meanwhile, keep in touch through my Facebook page where I post an update on Georgie’s condition daily. Many thanks!

Baby troubles

Published by Oana

If you have been following my blog for the past few months, you know by now that it hasn’t been an easy ride for me, having a baby. Not the first time with Emma, not the second time around with Georgie. We have dealt with stomach troubles with both. Diagnosed with reflux, they both struggled for the first three months to sleep for stretches longer than 45 minutes to an hour, cried uncontrollably at times and required me to enroll help, with my mum moving in with us both times for months on end…

So you can imagine that I treasure peace and I seek to keep my babies as comfortable as I possibly can. I have convinced the doctors this time too to put George on special milk, in case he suffers from food intolerance. I go to bed ridiculously early, to ensure the baby gets the rest he desperately needs. I have no social life whatsoever at the moment because my kids are my priority.

But there are things that enrage me as they cause unnecessary suffering to my baby. Last week, little George got his second set of jabs. After the first one, he reacted almost immediately with fever, irritability and a stubborn diarrhea that lasted for more than a week. This time around, he seemed fine. For a few days. Then the nightmare began! Fever, incessant crying, baby waking up at night every 30 minutes or so wriggling with stomach cramps and flatulence. Thick saliva that seemed to almost choke the poor guy.

I did my research and realised that the rotavirus vaccine they give in three stages to babies now (there was no such thing when Emma was a baby, four years ago!) causes exactly these symptoms! I did more research and realised that although it seems like an impressive figure, the virus is responsible for 500,000 infant deaths WORLDWIDE, out of a 7 billion world population. So in the worst case scenario, my baby would have 1 in 14,000 to die from it and probably 1 in 140,000 to be hospitalised with it. The thing is, and I am taking a wide guess here, that most of these deaths occur in poor countries where there is a crass lack of hygiene. So that reduced even further the chances of my baby ever being near it, as we live in a country where everything is almost oversanitised, from hospitals to public places to homes( I use bleach excessively and for everything).

So what is the logic in inoculating a baby with a sensitive gut with a live virus that in both cases gave him a mild case of rotavirus, as far as I am concerned? Why is it more important for the health system here to tick a box rather than consider each case individually and act accordingly?

I have decided NOT to give him the third rotavirus dose next month. I need to protect him for further useless pain.

What is your opinion on the subject? I know it is a very hot potato but I am putting it out there as I want to hear your opinion, folks!

Photo Credit to The Guardian

Hubby’s Fantastic Prawn Pasta!

Published by Oana

Let me start by saying that the picture doesn’t do the recipe justice. At all, like…

Hubby started making this recipe last summer in Thessaloniki. With fresh from the open market, to-die-for prawns. He would have made it at the weekend, when he had the time. Cause, you see, he is Greek and Greeks don’t mess up with food! Food is as important as family to them and it gets as much attention in detail and preparation!

It takes him hours to make it because the sauce involves a lot of simmering and adding of delicious ingredients.

I finally coaxed it out of him this morning, so here goes:

– A dash of olive oil, add a finely chopped onion and fry until translucent(not brown, never brown, folks!).

– A knob of butter then your tomatoes. Half fresh, about 3-4, half canned, a can. Add them to the onion.

– Simmer the sauce with bahari(a Greek spice mentioned in Politiki Kouzina), cinnamon and a drop of honey for 45 minutes. Add a drop of water every 5 minutes or so.

– “Sauce needs to taste cooked tomato, not raw when it is ready!”

Now for the prawns:

– Marinate them separately with salt, pepper, chopped tomato and olive oil.

– Simmer them on low heat for about 45 minutes as well, until sauce cooked and dry.

– “Don’t throw the juice out as it tastes prawns!”

I challenge you to try it. He made it here as well, with prawns bought from the Belfast Saint George’s market but declared himself unsatisfied with the taste. Nothing taste the same as in Greece, phisika :-)!

Living Arrows – 16/52

Published by Oana

It has been ages I linked to the Living Arrows. Actually, it has been ages since I wrote anything decent on my blog. So, here is a rusty attempt at it!

Emma, since I last wrote about you, you settled a good deal! It helped that you stopped going to the childminder, it was explained to me by experts that you were feeling kicked out of your own house by your little brother, I am sure that didn’t feel very nice!Daddy and I made conscious efforts to spend time with you alone, so that you feel reassured of our love. Here is us having coffee in Belfast, while Bica minded Georgie at home:

You are happy enough to play on your own once you get home from playgroup and your Bica is constantly in awe of your games and the richness of your imagination and play! These last couple of weeks you were home, as you had your holidays, and she was able to enjoy seeing you around, being part of your coffee shop “clientele” and simply bonding with you! She will be missed, she is heading back home on Sunday, I am sure your room will feel empty without her in the morning!

Georgie, you settled a good deal too but just when we thought you were heading the right direction and did a couple of nights of 9.30 to 1 and the 5.30, you started waking up again ridiculously often, sometimes even up to 8 times a night! We put it down to some sort of colic/ wind issues and we truly hope things will settle soon for you. And for us too :-).

Otherwise, you are a lovely wee boy, smiling loads and interacting with us. You love being held, love cuddles from your sister and falling asleep close to mummy and this week, you managed to hold a toy in your hands, for the first time! Well done, son! You will turn three months tomorrow, where does time fly,ha?

I love both of you, even if I am still tired most days and grumpy. I know that things will settle soon and we will be into some sort of routine, sooner than later but until then hope you guys will be able to tolerate me a bit more :-). Proud to be your mummy!

Tommee Tippee Sangenic Plus Nappy Wrapper Tub – A Review

Published by Oana

I was over the moon when I was contacted by the lovely folk at BabiesRUs and informed that our application to become a babyologist family has been successful!

The first product we got to try out and review was the Tommee Tippee Sangenic Plus Nappy Wrapper Tub. Bang on, I thought since I had a baby 12 weeks ago and there is definitely a lot of nappies being disposed of at the moment in our household!

The moment we received the product on the post I was a bit surprised to find it so light. As a “nappy disposal system” I expected something sturdier but it was actually a plastic bin with a film inside meant to wrap around and completely isolate the offensive smells emanating from the disposed nappies. I decided to put it to the test immediately. I found the system easy to use, the film is meant to be tied and secured inside so that the nappies don’t actually fall through. Easily done! Once the first dirty nappy was delivered that day, we enthusiastically placed it in the nappy tub and waited for a few hours to see if it does what it claims to be good at: actually isolate the smell! I was a bit disappointed to find my bathroom smelling foul a few hours later when I went to dispose of the next nappy and decided to remove the nappy and put it in the bin outside.

I would recommend the system as a bin where you can dispose of wet nappies mainly. If you live in an apartment and don’t have the easy option to dispose of offensive nappies right away, I would recommend it, on condition that it is emptied at the end of the day/every 24 hours max!

I am sorry that my first review for BabiesRUs hasn’t been as positive as I would have liked. I hope the next product we get to try would be better 🙂