Today was very odd. Today Sally went to the hospital in preparation for the caesarean section she'll have tomorrow. She was due in at 4pm and there was some preparation and packing to be done and our offspring were excited by all this, but Sally and I were sort of ... waiting. It was like it wasn't worth starting anything because it'd never be finished. She had a huge lunch because she reckoned that she would be nil by mouth from when she checked in; although this turned out to be incorrect -- she's only starved from midnight until 9pm tomorrow.

So we went to the hospital and she checked in and they put the baby heart monitor on and Paddy examined every inch of the room and wondered where he was going to sleep. After the admitting nurse did all the paperwork and the consultant stuck his head in, myself and the three kids slunk off.

Sally's up for the operation tomorrow at 9am, so I'll be there at 8:30. As Sally's mum is in hospital, this causes some logistical problems, but our friends have rallied and we're sorted.

Sally's mum is still in limbo concerning her eye as it turns out that there is an infection and it is preventing a definite diagnosis. Her retina may be dislodged as well, and this will mean an operation. Google tells me that most surgery of this nature is successful, which is comforting. But then you read on and the success is in re-attaching the retina, your sight, however, might not recover.

Anyway apart from the small explosion in the kitchen I caused by cracking a vacuum flask, I guess we're all set. *deep breath*. I'm a bit emotional and somehow starting again brings back all the worries that you have at the outset. It's the anticipation that's the problem. Once you're in the thick of things, you deal -- waiting for them to happen is the hard part.