Health Care in the UK

Oliver and I had the opportunity to experience Health Care in the UK. Oliver started running a high temperature on Tuesday, which did not go down much with medication. Tylenol really did nothing for him. Michael was got home early that day and was sitting in the family room holding Oliver and he threw up all over Michael soon after taking medication. For those who know Michael this could potentially be really really bad, but he handled it like a champ. I called a doctors office at 5pm, who suggested I call NHS direct to talk to a RN. I did and after many many many questions she suggested keeping him cool, providing water and meds etc. He threw up again later that night and by 5pm the following evening his temp was 104.5. I took him to the hospital to see a Pediatrician in Outpatient Peds. No Car, so I took a taxi.

I arrived at 6:15pm and I did not see a Nurse or Doctor until 8:15, when that area of the hospital was closing. They moved us over to inpatient and sent us down for a Chest X ray....meaning they gave us a piece of paper and gave of directions to walk there. All went well.

The windows are open all over the hospital with NO screens. It made for a nice breeze.

They decided to admit him at 9:30pm due to the spiking fevers and then would decide about blood work in the morning. They did give him a cheese sandwich and yogurt since he had not eaten dinner. We shared a room with 2 other families. There could have been as many as 5 children in the room sleeping with their families. You had to pay 1 pound for unlimited local phone calls/TV. We saw a nurse about every 2 hours for a temperature check. They tried to take blood in the morning with no success...it was a little stressful. They decided they did not need to try again. Oliver did really well overall, but he did not quite understand why we were sleeping there. He wanted to go home, but we both slept in the same bed. I could have used a cot, but I think we both felt better sleeping in the same bed.

I talked to a doctor in the morning around 8am and they were supposed to be rounding in the next 2 hours. I finally saw another doctor at 12:30pm. We were just waiting. Luckily Oliver's fever was brought down by meds for the first time in 3 days and he had a burst of energy to play with the toys for a little while. There were play workers there, which is what Michael will be doing during his sabbatical this fall. They played with the kids, provided crafts, made sure the kids had something to play with in their rooms or in the play room, etc. We finally went home at 2pm with the diagnosis of it being viral and to return on Saturday if he is still spiking fevers. He is doing much better, even though he is still running a fever. He has more energy today (Friday).

They served food in a common room for the kids, but the parents could bring it back to the rooms for the kids. I found out afterwards when I talked to my new friend, Sophie, that most people bring their own food/snacks and drinks with them. There was a small kitchen, which I found in the morning to get water for Oliver.

Things just moved a little more slowly. There was a lot of waiting around. The nurses came by from time to time to take temperatures, but that was about it. If you needed something you have to get it yourself or go find a nurse to request it. I told the nurse Oliver needed meds at 4am and she came in around 4:45am with the meds. He threw up in the bed and they came in the room quickly to change the sheets for us. Everyone wears their own clothes. No hospital gowns.

Interesting experience. It did not swing me in favor of socialized medicine. I realize there needs to be a change, but I don't think this is it.

Zip line

They replaced the Zip Line on Tuesday in Rowntree Park, where we frequent on a daily basis. Upon seeing this Harrison decided he wanted to give it a try. I held Lily and another mom helped Harrison get onto it and away he went. He LOVED it! It looked like a lot of fun. He must have done it 5 times. I think Oliver will want to try it out the next time we are in the park.

Museum Gardens

I met a new friend Ruth, her husband and 15 month daughter, and another woman (Sarah) at the Museum Gardens for a tour of the local fruit trees with a lunch to follow. Fortunately I was able to find my friend, but unfortunately not the group tour. I brought Lily with me and luckily is was a beautiful day. We decided to sit down on a picnic blanket and enjoy the day. Ruth and her husband are from Scotland and moving back home in July after living here for 9 months. They are planning to WWOOF for a couple of years. WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, which teaches people how to grow fruits and vegetables on a farm organically. With this organization people find farms who are in need of help and they live on a farm to work and learn in exchange for food and lodging and it can be done in several different countries. They are also able to bring their daughter with them.

It was amazing to be sitting and looking at the remains of St Mary's Abby, which was built in 1088. I might think my house is old in PA, which was built in 1830. This is a whole different level of OLD. Wow!

Lily had a great time walking around, throwing an apple, eating an apple, and playing with her little 15 month old friend Alexandra. I attached some photos and a video of the park. She was talking to her little friend in the stroller when that little girl was supposed to be taking a nap. It was quite sweet.

st Aubyns Place

This video is of us walking into our housing development to give you an idea of what we see when we look outside our front door. We have neighbors with young children on either side of us, so it does seem like a family neighborhood. I definitely feel very safe there. The boys are usually so cooperative most of the time as we walk and walk and walk around York. it is when we have to stop in a store that Oliver gets a little mischievous. More good days than bad.

Roundabout

The kids LOVE this piece of playground equipment. Lily gets so mad when I take her off of it. I can only ride it for so long with her before I am too dizzy. I think I do much better than her Daddy, as he would not even be able to get on it.

New shoes

Lou Noble would be so proud of me. I took Lily to a Clarks shoe store and had her sized and fitted for her first pair of actual shoes. She looks so sweet in them. It was not a relaxing venture. Lily did not want to be sized. She screamed and curled her feet. I ended up leaving and getting something to eat and returning. The boys were with me of course, but we had to wait when we returned to the store. Oliver was picking up shoes and dropping them on the floor, so I strapped him in the stroller. He was grabbing shoes off the closest reachable rack. Oliver then found a way to get himself out and started running all over the store and throwing shoes as I was trying to get Lily happy to see if her shoes actually fit her. Harrison just started joining in with Oliver. I'm sure they thought oh a nice American mom who has no control over her kids. I was NOT happy! Then they took her photo and placed it in a card for her first pair of shoes. The photo is very sweet. Although I wanted to strangle them I decided that letting them walk back to the house was a better answer, besides it was past naptime and I did not want either of them falling asleep in the stroller on the way home. They all 3 slept when we got home. :-)

Playgroups

Playgroups for parents and toddlers are really big here. Many moms take their kids several days a week to them. I found one in the local methodist church over near the park we have been going to. It was from 10 to 11:45am. They had lots of toys including gross motor, kitchen, playdough, dress up, books, and a baby area. I had to bring a piece of fruit and 1 pound for the family. There was about 25 moms and their children. People were nice. I met some moms from America who have married someone from the UK. The kids loved it especially Lily! After playing we sat down for snack (fruit), juice in sippy cups, and the moms could have coffee, tea, or squash (juice). I had to look that one up. At the end they got out some musical instruments and sang some songs.

I'll definitely bring them back. I got some other suggestions for grocery stores as well. Harrison was definitely the oldest there. Kids start Nursery School/preschool at 2.5 and then are in school full days at 4 years old, so Harrison would be in school for full days 5 days a week right now in UK. That is hard to believe. It would be an interesting experience for him, but most days I want him home with me.

Oliver and Harrison

Oliver loves his brother, especially at night time. We have been placing them in separate room to fall asleep and them move Harrison in with his brother once we come up for bed. Oliver must have heard Harrison say "I'm lonely" when Oliver leaves the room at home, so Oliver always says "I'm only". So cute.

I've been sitting outside his room at bedtime until he actually falls asleep, because as soon as we go downstairs he is out the door into bed with Harrison. Sometimes he is quite stealthy and we find them fast asleep right next to each other.

If Harrison is still awake we'll hear mommy/daddy Oliver is in my bed and I can't sleep.

Oliver will tell me to go back downstairs, because he does not like me sitting outside his bedroom.

fireplaces

While I love our house, I have found one major aspect that makes it not child friendly. There are fireplaces in 4 rooms in the home and within each fireplace there is a stack of coal. The boys don't mess with it, but yesterday i was getting lunch and washing Oliver's hands and I hear Harrison call me into the family room. "Lily is messing up her pretty dress and playing with the coal". It was on her hands, arms, face, her dress, and the carpet. Oh my. She only touched it one other time and I tapped her hand and said NO. She gave me the really pouty lip and she had not touched it again, so i thought I was safe. Not a chance.

recycling and fresh foods

I am finding that they recycle everything. They recycle all kinds of plastic. Many fresh things, including all kinds of meat, cheese, salads, etc come in a plastic container with a clear plastic film across the top. They take the cereal boxes and anything like it if it is flatten. In the grocery store they charge you to use their bags with a handle 9 cents/pence and 6 pence for the smaller bags. Everyone uses their own bags at the grocery.

The food is so fresh. They have lots and lots of prepackaged salads in individual sized servings. I find myself ordering food to be delivered to the house once a week and then I go to the grocery store 4 to 5 days a week to pick up meat/fresh fruit and veggies/milk. The containers of milk are so small 1-2 liters that we drink them quickly and the refrigerators are too small for anything bigger.

The fish is wonderful and so cheap. I made fish and chips (baked) on Friday and it was wonderful! Friday is fish night in our house, so we will see what we find this week.

As Oliver is working on potty training still and doing better on most days, I have found the bathrooms in several area businesses. When I am about to check out Oliver will tell me he needs to go potty, so we find the elevator, go to the 3rd floor, use the potty, and return to shopping. I have all my groceries stacked up on top of the double stroller and I take the boys into the bathroom while holding Lily. Motherhood takes so much patience. At least he told me. :-)

More in the Park

The kids are not tiring of going to the park/playground each day. They loves to run and chase the birds (ducks, geese, pigeons, etc) I try not to encourage that activity. They want to feed the birds, but today I saw a sign stating no feeding the animals. I have chatted with a few moms at the park. I met 1 American mom, who gave me her email as a contact if i had any questions etc. That was really nice.

The boys have been working on relearning the rules of the playground.

1. stay where mom can see you
2. don't run off into the wooded area
3. listen to mom

I'm finding it challenging to take all 3 when the boys don't want to follow the rules. So only 1 day we have had to leave a little earlier than expected.

Easter Egg hunt in the park

The boys during and after the picnic in the park.

THe hotel behind our house.

OUr dryer when it is not raining.

MOre photos

Easter

Even though I realize that Easter is coming, I seem to have difficulty bringing home something to eat for Easter. I decide to take the boys with me to a small grocery store and the selection of meat is somewhat limited with only thin ham slices and a couple chicken breasts and small lamb chops. Much to my husband's dismay I brought home meatballs and shrimp. We ended up having meatball grinders for dinner. They tasted great, but not exactly Easter Meal. I doubt we'll forget it.

The Easter bunny came and delivered Easter baskets and hid Easter eggs around the house. It looked like rain, so an indoor Easter Egg hunt was the way to go. They were delighted with their baskets. As you will see in the photos, Lily was definitely the best dressed of the bunch. THanks to an outfit from "Nana" Aunt Martha.

For some reason I find the boy's temper tantrums much more embarrassing in England that I ever did back home. I'm not sure what that is, but I think I feel judging eyes on me being an American I guess.

I am trying to build my strength and endurance by pushing the stroller with at least 2 kids in it each day. I leave 1 child home with daddy and take the other 2 for excursions. My body is so sore! I was able to go for a run a couple days ago all alone, which was heavenly. :-)

OH we found out that we can put out 1 large trash can for pick up once every other week. The opposite week is for recycling and removal of grass cuttings and trimmings from the yard. Our trash can started out 1/2 full when we arrived and we were 3 bags over, which they did not take. Our can is starting out the next 2 weeks 1/2 full again. Not good and we are not sure how to solve this issue.

Today I took Harrison and Oliver to an Easter Egg hunt in the park with about 50 other kids and their's moms for the most part. Then we sat down on a picnic blanket and ate lunch. I was told to bring a rug along with me and come to find out that means a picnic blanket. Luckily I clarified that before we went. I went into town that morning to pick one up. I met a couple nice moms and hope to take the kids with me to a mommy and toddler playgroup at a local church each week.

I think that is it for now. Enjoy that 80 degree weather in PA. It was in the 40s and sunny/partly cloudy today. No rain.

York UK

The home is lovely! We found some surprises at the house...2 bathrooms. The upstairs bathroom has a shower too. Yeah! Our other surprise is in the attached photo...our dryer. The funny part lies with our first 3 days here were rainy. Makes it difficult to hang out the wash. We are able to wash about 2 towels, 3 shirts, and 4 pairs of socks at a time and it take about 1.5 hours to run the washer. What else do we have to do right?

It is a little bit cooler than expected too. The heat in the house shuts off between the hours of 11pm and 7am...Burr! It is a good thing we have duvets to cover us up. They have kept us all warm. We have also find nightly visitors in our FULL size bed. That makes sleeping quite cozy.

We finally got internet today. It is quite strange being cut off from all contact from the outside world. Our land line is installed on April 6. We also have cell phones for calling within the UK as of today. We weren't able to plug in the iphones or our computer initially due to fear of them getting burned up. We plugged in the baby monitors and they burned up within 30 seconds. Bummer. I went to an electrician today, who gave me a good plug for the computer. No issues with it as I am currently using it. Yeah!

It is a 15-20 minute walk to the grocery store. After pushing the double baby stroller with the 2 boys in it 2 days in a row, I'm a bit sore all over. Life is a little different without a car. We definitely have the bare minimum. In celebrating Oliver's birthday, I made a trek out for scotch tape in order to wrap his presents, but I forgot the matches to light a candle. Oh well. I think he forgave us. We picked up a hedgehog birthday cake for Oliver, which was enjoyed by all. Happy 3rd birthday Oliver!

More to follow.

THe airport and plane ride