Back in sheffield

After quite a while away me and the boys and girls are back and settling back into being here. I've just done two twelve hour shifts on labour ward and am about to do my third and last. The nice thing about coming back from my nights is that everybody is awake and sitting up in their cages, then when I go to sleep they all do too. It's sadly comforting!

gerbil problem

Ohhh, Gerbils are so lovely as well. I saw some fantastic tanks yesterday although I agree they can be very costly. Only thing I can think to suggest is looking on ebay for a second hand tank. I have bought a lot of pet things from here and it makes the whole process a lot cheaper if you go on a bit of a bargain hunt. I don't think I could have afforded mt girls and boys otherwise.

gerbil problem

Ohhh, Gerbils are so lovely as well. I saw some fantastic tanks yesterday although I agree they can be very costly. Only thing I can think to suggest is looking on ebay for a second hand tank. I have bought a lot of pet things from here and it makes the whole process a lot cheaper if you go on a bit of a bargain hunt. I don't think I could have afforded mt girls and boys otherwise.

Safely transported

The mice and the rats are safely installed in Gloucester. The mice are in a new cage which is very different to what they are used to but they appear to love it. A very exciting few days for them really with a lengthy journey and then the sampling of new kinds of food.
In terms of my main success I think going into pets at home shop and managing to come out without another pet (saw some lovely chinchillas) was pretty good!

Poorly mouse

I don't want to speak too soon but things seem to be getting a bit better. The lump on his head has gone down massively! He still doesn't look totally right, I'm not convinced he can see properly out of one eye, but he looks so much better. Continues to seem unphased. I've just prepared everybodies travel cages so we're pretty much ready to go. Just got to get through labour ward tomorrow.

First week back on labour ward

Survived my first two nights. Delivered three babies, always lovely. Then was sent on my own with no supervision to care for a woman for 4 hours [2 hours over when i should have left]. The levels of staffing are awful, but once I'd got over my terror that I would not know what to do we had a lovely time. She hadn't had an opportunity to make a birth plan so we made one together in between contractions with her partner. It was really lovely, and good experience for me to explain all the options with the pros and cons. She asked if it was ok to do it that way and did I mind, it was a classic example I think about how women are backed into thinking that we're the ones in charge and going to make all the decisions. I have worked with a few midwives who work this way, but thats one thing that I won't ever do. I went home really pleased, in a way I wish I could have stayed, but its not practical, and I've learnt my lesson doing that before.

Mouse doing ok I think, as crazy as ever. They're all mad for their wheel, and last night managed to empty all their food everywhere. The rats pushed their ceramic bowl off their house, but thankfully it didn't break.

Just really looking forward to going home now. Doing a shift on Saturday night then straight onto train Sunday morning.

Would love a link to blog, I'm going to have to sort out some of mine I think over the holiday.