We spent over 2 hours this morning at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH). Little had changed since last week. Appointments were still impossible to make so Jacinta was told to come in early and wait.
It was crowded last week, but if anything, it was worse today. Most seats were taken but it’s a funny thing about some people – even when there are seats to sit on they’ll continue to stand. Even heavily pregnant mothers. I can’t figure it out. Martyrs?
This last week has seen Ireland sweltering under a blistering warm sun and conditions in the hospital were as stuffy as before. I stood near a radiator in the corridor and was shocked to find it was lukewarm. Expectant mothers looked on in disbelief when I mentioned this!
You’ll meet all sorts in the hospital. All races and creeds are represented in those hallways and unfortunately Irish racism is alive and kicking. A man at the end of the corridor was heard to say, “I should learn a foreign language and get an interpreter. We’d be seen sooner.” Shortly afterwards, his partner commented on the pronouciation of a foreign doctor saying that it was hard to understand him.
Good news however, I’ll be a dad within the next 7 to 8 days (hopefully). Due date is tomorrow but if nothing happens, Jacinta will be induced by the end of next week.
In related matters, Justin provides a transcript and commentary on Green Party candidate Patricia McKenna’s assertion on national radio that there’s a link between MMR and autism. That link has been discredited and I’m following this closely, but all it takes is one comment from the parent of an autistic child to make me doubt my convictions. Conor has more to say on the matter too.
He also reported a few weeks back that children in a Cork creche were found to have Tuberculosis (TB). Munster, the southern region of Ireland, does not have a programme in place to vacinate babies and children, but after the recent outbreaks, the HSE will introduce it later in the year. The vaccine is called BCG and has been administered in all other parts of the country. The Wikipedia page on Tuberculosis has a lot more information on the disease.
More and more bloggers I read are becoming parents. Maybe I’ve become more aware of the announcements, or maybe it’s simply that they are at that stage in life when they’re starting or expanding families. Remember when you and all your friends were celebrating your 21st birthdays?
oh yeah, it’s definitely an age thing 😉
Regarding those two commenters — seriously, don’t be too easily swayed. The main reason people assume there’s a link is because autism appears around the same time as the MMR jabs are administered — however, afaik that’s just because that’s simply when it makes itself evident — before that age, it’s just very hard to spot autism. that’s exactly as that one commenter described it. however she assumes that it has to be connected.
by the way, I should have posted that entry with a codeword instead of the key “M” word — obviously those two found my post using a blog search feed, since they’re obviously not subscribers to my blog, and both posted within 20 minutes of each other. one of them in particular has left comments all over the internet whenever the M word is mentioned…
Good luck over the next few days!
Glad to hear Jacinta is down to the final few days Donncha.
Both the excitement and terror are growing daily I’m sure 🙂
I wanna see LOTS of piccies when babba arrives.
Don’t be as sad as me by live-blogging the birth via phone but you might send the odd Tweet so we know all is well!
Re one of the waiting people’s comment on interpreters and doctors whose accent is hard to understand … good that foreign doctors are here; there is a shortage of medical staff in Ireland so they should not complain about their accents. When it comes to interpreters – well that’s their job and that’s what they get paid for. I do not know much about CUMH bugdeting, maybe they want to spend less on interpreters’ services. But never in my interpreting career a foreign pregnant mother jumped a queue to be seen before an Irish one. Racism and bias – that’s all this comment proves.
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best of luck Donncha.
I think it is typical of something like this MMR jab bringing up a lot of scaremongering. It seems to be indicative of a lot of people in this country. All it takes is one person to make an accusation and all of a sudden it grows legs and runs and runs and runs until it reaches critical mass and ultimately becomes a major issue. More often than not it is all over nothing.
I think we should consider ourselves to be lucky because we are capable of making an informed choice. It is a pity that there are so many people out there that think that there is such a conspiracy against them and are unable to make a simple logical choice. A choice that could seriously threaten and harm the life of their child.
The fact that come are blithely ignoring the facts and continuing to believe what they want to is worrying but at the end of the day it is our own children’s welfare that comes first and if they want to endanger their own children then although it is something that none of us would wish on anyone else, there is nothing we can do about it except hope that they change their minds or get better informed.
Best of luck again to the two of you!
Robert — the problem with things like vaccinations is that people opting out will, in fact, affect the health of others due to the “herd immunity” issue.
Good luck you two!
Justin — Yep. indeed that was also what I was thinking but I started rambling on in my post and figured I would cut it short a bit 😉
Of course no doubt that if there is a measles epidemic the same people who declined vaccinations would be the very ones who would blame it on the health service!
The link has long been discredited. The dangers of not getting the MMR far outweigh getting it.
Make sure to get the TB shot for the new arrival – Cork is the only place in the country where you have to request it.
About understanding foreign doctors:
It took me more than six months of living in Ireland before I understood most casual conversation in the heart of Dublin–and I speak English as my first language. I figured I had to train my ears to the accents.
Then I started visiting Cork and the process started all over again.
Imagine the plight of the foreign doctors who can read and write English to a higher level than most bloggers. For my part, I can understand every piece of advice giving by the Scot and the Brit attending our pregnancy. And I’ve never considered them foreign doctors.