Sunday 31 January 2021

My IVF twins 21st Birthday in lockdown




21 years ago my twins were born. We could have never imagined there would be no parties! So I planned the best I could thanks to amazon! And you can see my preparation video here:

https://youtu.be/GUJj2jmr3Uk We actually ended up having a wonderful day, filled with joy, pride and total love. I am so proud of the people they have become... They are the muse to my upcoming book Happiness In Vitro (see an extract here:) I was only half awake due to the morphine when they got me in a wheelchair to move me from the delivery suite to the ward. A state of confusion and concern, I tried to look behind me to see where my babies were, like a mother to ducklings. But the operation caused too much pain for that level of movement. The midwife assured me they were being wheeled behind me in their cot and soon after, we were all taken to a bed by the window in a ward which smelt like the other new mums had been outside, smoking. The midwives moved quickly, and my drug-induced state lost track of what was going on. But the babies were by the window, on the left of my bed, and so was all of our stuff. Dumped on the visitor's chair in a mess. Bags were in the seat, on the floor, on the back of the chair and the windowsill. The disorganised sight brought tears to my eyes and I knew I needed some help. A small bag of 10p pieces was somewhere in a plastic money bag which I’d saved from my last job when I left six months previously. the pregnancy magazines advised packing your change for making phone calls, back in 1999. The staff brought me the payphone and plugged it into the line next to my bed so I could phone Mum and Dad. My inaudible sounds left a tearful, sobbing message on their answerphone, asking for help. I didn’t know where they were and stopped even thinking about it the instant I hung up the phone. I winced and cradled my stomach as I began trying to move the cot aside so I could reach the big bag with all of our important things in it. I had to organise this chaos, pain or no pain. I zipped open the blue sports bag and noticed an envelope, with my name written on it, on top of our things, in neat handwriting which looked like it was from a girl. I sat quietly and opened it. He had put it there the night before when he came to see the babies. It was from Jen.... Did she have no limits?
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Monday 11 January 2021

How to get people to pay you attention.

 In this video we go through the details of why you must believe in yourself and have the details figured out, otherwise others are going to lose interest in what you are saying.




Imagine trying to cook something and say to someone; I've no idea what the ingredients are or how long this might take and I definitely can't fathom how it might turn out. They would lose interest in what you are saying wouldn't they. So, make it clear. Get to know yourself, your creed, your tribe. Then they will listen and the right people will show up.


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Sunday 10 January 2021

Acceptance softens expectations - Couch to 5k FAIL

My knees began to get painful while running the couch to 5K which you can see in this video: https://youtu.be/UtT2wd1IzJ8

I decided I might have to start walking but still do the couch to 5k. Can you still do that? How will it work?



In this vlog

you will see we are at Center parcs for a family break away and yet still we did the couch to 5k all together. It's about taking in the beauty of the surroundings and making sure you are appreciating what you can do while embracing the negative emotions of not ending up where you thought you might.
Acceptance softens expectations. Back in the summer, I decided to start the Couch to 5K challenge to get fitter and lower my blood glucose levels. Did I manage it? Did it work for me? A big shout out to my couch to 5k bud and total inspiration, Jools. See her on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jools_my_surrey_reno_life/ Find the couch to 5k app here: NHS couch to 5k information: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/couch-to-5k-week-by-week/ BBC Couch to 5k website with links: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/get-inspired/43501261 Couch to 5k playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwf5UN3J86KJ4bpu0-5Y77Hnrh91k95Vb

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Tuesday 5 January 2021

Doing the couch to 5k and I'm failing!

 Week three of the couch to 5k and am beginning to struggle with knee pain. Horrifically bad and I couldn't help but feel my body was letting me down during my efforts to get fitter.

Seeing to Mum as she was rushed into hospital, I tried to kneel beside her to take her blood pressure and I yelped so badly and lept across the room. What on earth was I going to do?


Back in the summer, I decided to start the Couch to 5K challenge to get fitter and lower my blood glucose levels. Did I manage it? Did it work for me? A big shout out to my couch to 5k bud and total inspiration, Jools. See her on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jools_my_surrey_reno_life/
Week 1 vlog here

Find the couch to 5k app here: NHS couch to 5k information: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/couch-to-5k-week-by-week/ BBC Couch to 5k website with links: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/get-inspired/43501261 Couch to 5k playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwf5UN3J86KJ4bpu0-5Y77Hnrh91k95Vb


week two and I was feeling shin splints...


Keep watching to see the rest of the weeks vlogs. Did I stop? Did I carry on?

Louise xoxo

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Monday 4 January 2021

January said...

 



A new week? New year? New working opportunities? Or just labels which fuel anxious pressures?

The tree is on the driveway now, shedding needles. ‘Don’t you get them in your feet,’ Mum would yell when we were children.

Excitement we felt heading into Kings wood farm to choose our tree is history now, seeming long ago. Christmas, something to be excited about at last, was the twinkle in our eyes, our reason to smile. We would wake with those fuzzies and switch on the warm white fairy lights in the darkness of the early morning. We still felt the magic of Christmas, despite 2020.

Now I stand in the starkness of the clean and tidy living room and nod. ‘Hmm, nice and tidy,’ I think as I look around. Yup. Nice and tidy. Fact.

Has it gone; that magic? Or have we closed ourselves to it instead? After all, it is January. That bleak, dark and cold month which carries a thousand pressures to catch up at work, adhere to new shiny rules the boss saw fit to create. January is long.

Of course, we could decide to leave those anxieties on the pillowcase as we begin this working week. We might realise that this is just like any other day, except for the label we have given it. Pressures were there in December; but with fairy lights. Seeming to have the answers to that magic feeling, the decorations and the Christmas warmth enveloped us with its love. Now they are gone. So it’s down to you. And me. It’s up to us to own this day, smash the worries to pieces. We have totally got this in control and we are going to see the magic in January too. Because that is simply who we are.

We are strong. We are achievers. We want the best for ourselves and those around us. Facing January darkness, we need excitement here too.  Warm scarves, flasks in the car, working from home with hot water bottles, lighting candles. Finishing the day with a proud sigh, eating slow cooked meals in front of the fire. Early nights and less rushing around, and of course, memories of the love we felt from those who mattered just last week. If we didn’t feel it, they didn’t matter.

‘Let’s do this.’ January said.

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