Last week I read the Courier from cover to cover for the first time on Wednesday morning along with everyone else. It was an unfamiliar experience to not have subbed, edited, checked and double-checked every square inch before publication. But unsurprisingly, quite a pleasurable one.
I had been up since 4am with a very cranky baby that Monday morning and we went to the doctor first thing to have him checked. I assumed we would be in and out with a prescription and the paper would go on.
The doctor took one look at him and bundled us off to Alberlito Hospital (me looking rather wide eyed and breathless) and before you could say ‘deadline day’ he was hooked up to oxygen and very cross about it. Our pediatrician, Dr Chetty, had cut his gym session short to rush over and treat him and the nurses were excellent, but nothing mattered to Ruben except his captivity.
You have probably seen those memes where parents joke about how difficult it is to change a toddler’s diaper, likening it to wrestling a crocodile. Well, that is child’s play compared to hooking up a 16-month-old human to oxygen (mostly because you can’t dart it first).
Ruben is fiercely independent. He loves nothing more than to explore and get up to mischief. So being confined to a cot was not his idea of a good time. I must have made up a million and one games and nursed away just as many tears of frustration. A clever nurse gave us some respite by turning a surgical glove into a funny chicken balloon. Looking back, I wonder if the enormous ear-shattering tantrum he had just had in my arms had anything to do with the isolation ward we were shortly escorted into (high-five Ruben!).
That night we were told that while he was responding well, we should buckle up because we would likely be here all week (oh no!). We prayed, our friends prayed and then a miracle happened. The next morning Dr Chetty was amazed at his recovery and pronounced us well enough to continue treatment at home.
A week later and roar of clicking keyboards tells me that the journalists are preparing their stories for submission, its deadline day again. Of course in this digital age, every day is deadline day, but there is something special about the hard copy. The newsroom buzzes as creativity flows and designers and journalists put the finishing touches on their work and then we get cracking fitting it all together – like a giant jigsaw.
Speaking of the website, let me be the bearer of some exciting news. You can now receive breaking news directly to your device (be it your phone or PC) with our newly-launched push notifications. Simply click on the red bell icon that appears on your screen and you will receive a notification when significant stories are published.
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On Sunday Piet and I visited the new Butcher Block in the Ballito Village for their Sunday carvery.
I love the look and feel of this new restaurant.
The meal was delicious, and accompanied with a glass of red wine and a delightful thunderstorm that broke overhead, it was a fitting way to celebrate our littlest’s dramatic recovery.
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