Birmingham

Yesterday Noah and I went to Birmingham Children's Hospital for an appointment with the consultant who operated on his tummy when he was tiny. It was just Noah and I. It did look for a while as though Eve and Thom would be coming too - not unmanageable but a lot more work and effort for all of us. It was a real 'luxury' to be able to just take Noah. We had a lovely train ride (with extra points for actually catching it - 7.57am, car problems and a sick-in-the-night-time mummy - phew). Noah was on top form on the train down - he was so excited about it all - loving the dragon painting on the waiting area wall and a big "Wow!!" as the train drew into the station. He was still governed by his appetite though and started eating his lunchtime sandwiches as soon as we sat down.... When we stopped at the next station quite a lot of people got on. He greeted the man who sat down opposite us with a cheery "Hello, Man!" and a kind of sandwich-salute, and then when I asked him where he thought all the other people were going, assured me they were, "Going camping." Of course...... (maybe because of all the luggage??)
I'd forgotten to pack ANY toys or amusements of any kind so we improvised with a pen and the back of the appointment letter - and Noah telling me what animals to draw and how useless I am at drawing - "Not cow, Mummy, bear!", "Not cow, Mummy, hippo!" - my third attempt was grudgingly accepted as a reasonable approximation of a cow.... Thank goodness....
He loved giving the train ticket to the guard at New Street Station.
I was a bit concerned in the lead up to this appointment. Noah only sees this surgeon once a year, but last time we saw him he talked about giving Noah a general anaesthetic and endoscopy to check things were ok in about a year's time (ie now) - and this is perfectly reasonable in theory - but in practise I don't really want Noah to have a GA unless necessary because they do seem to rather knock him about. We waited in Main Outpatients for a while, then were interviewed / examined by two final year medical students just before we saw Noah's consultant. One of them took a detailed history, and asked me about my pregnancy with Noah, and the first few days and weeks after his birth, as well as how he's been doing over the past year. It was good (bordering on amazing, if I'm honest) to think about how far he's come in the last two and a half years.
Noah's consultant was very happy with him. Noah was very happy to show off his tummy - he jumped up on the couch and then, just after being examined, sprang up to his feet with a big beaming smile and proclaimed "I better now!" Brilliant!
So he was discharged - wow! And I am very chuffed - and a bit emotional - about it.
As an immediate reaction, I am obviously pleased that he won't be having anothe GA and endoscopy, but on a deeper level, the early operation (as opposed to the cleft repairs which I'd been preparing for from his 20-wk scan onwards) had such a defining effect on our relationship, and this discharge comes as some kind of closure to that, so it has made me quite reflective over the past day or so. And my conclusion is very simple - that I am so amazingly grateful for my fantastic, resilient, energetic (yes, exhausting), funny children.