Life is so delicate. Can I wrap you up in cotton wool?
I guess I’ve always know just how precious life is. Having lost my mum to ovarian cancer in 2005, I’ve spent my adult life without a mum, and now that I’m a mum, I really appreciate everything my own mum did for me. It’s just so sad that she’s not here for me to tell her that.
It’s not just the loss of my mum though that’s made me come to realise how delicate life is. When our twins were born prematurely weighing a tiny 2lb11 and 4lb3 I’d watch their every breath, their chests rise and fall, whilst hearing the sound of the machines that surrounded them, helping them to breath and regulate their own body temperatures.
More recently, M, was in hospital with a severe infection. Tests for meningitis and brain infections were carried out. She looked so helpless and when I saw a glimmer of hope, a slight boost of energy in her, she’d soon fall back to sleep again, making me fear the worst. Thankfully she’s completely recovered and is back to her old self, but it was really scary to see how just quickly she deteriorated.
A few weeks ago I watched a TV programme hosted by Louis Theroux about people with brain injuries and it just highlighted the issue even for more for me. The thing that I found most staggering was the reasons why people had these brain injuries.
One lady fell off a horse. A young man had passed his driving test and his mum bought him a car. Two weeks after passing his test, the young man crashed the car. He was speeding and as a result killed the passenger. He was in a coma for 18 months and now has a brain injury. His mum said that he looks like her son, but his entire personality had changed since the accident. Another lady was a diabetic and after an eventful, turbulent marriage she injected herself with too much insulin in an attempted suicide, but now has a brain injury. She has no recollection of her attempted suicide and says that she got her injury from a bump on the head.
I think that’s incredibly scary. One day you could be sitting down watching TV and the next you could trip or fall and bam. The end of life as you know it. I can’t be the only one that finds this scary?
I just want to wrap my kids up in cotton wool. I won’t as I want them to take risks and learn from their own mistakes, but it’s tough to not step in and intervene at times.
What do you think?
4 Comments
Peonie & Me
May 25, 2016 at 7:13 am
Oh sweetie, I just want to wrap you up in cotton wool. This post sounds so incredibly sad. Go and give those gorgeous twins of yours a big kiss and cuddle.
You're kids are more likely to give you cheek, mess up their rooms (a lot) and slam the doors than get a brain injury. Plus they've got their Angel Nana watching over them.
Big hugs Renee @peonieandme #bestamdworst (mostly best) X
Alison
May 25, 2016 at 1:33 pm
Sometimes I feel like this with my 11 year old twins (and 6 year old too). I want to give them more independence as they get older but worried about their safety as well as worried about what they're being exposed to from the bad language of older children to the lyrics in pop songs. But I tell myself that if I wrap them up in cotton wool they won't know how to fend for themselves when they're older. It's a fine balancing act. They don't tell you this stuff in the new baby magazines! It's all trial and error.
Helen Gandy – Beautiful Things
May 26, 2016 at 9:15 pm
I have to be honest I often worry about things, working in healthcare I think makes you uber paranoid and always looking out for things, we can be our own worst enemies so between that and being a Mum it's no surprise really. I think you are just a completely and utterly normal mama 🙂 Thanks for linking up #bestandworst
Random Musings
May 30, 2016 at 11:07 pm
It really is scary when you think of it like that! I'm glad to hear M has made a good recovery, it must have been horrible to see her like that
Thanks for linking up to #BloggerClubUK 🙂
Debbie