When I Grow Up....

Heidi, at the grand old age of three and a half, has already chosen her career. She wants to be a nurse, that looks after sick babies. This honestly could not make me prouder, my little girl who needed so much looking after when she was a baby, wants to give back and give some much needed love and attention to future babies who may need it.
Lets face it, what with all her stays in hospital, Heidi certainly has a bit of a heads up on the nursing front! She knows what most of the pieces of equipment are for, she can dismantle a nebuliser in less than 30 seconds, she knows how to take blood pressure, temperature and how to use a stethoscope, on one occasion even placing the end of it in the right place because the doctor was taking too long to do it himself! She associates syringes with canulas and taking blood, rather than giving medicine, and now swallows the most vile of medicines without a flinch. She smiles beautifully for her x-rays and likes to help when being scanned. It is often commented on by doctors and nurses about how knowledgeable she is about anything medical, and she looks forward to trips to see the doctors like a trip to the park.
Heidi had further chance to practice her nursing skills when my second daughter was born at 34 weeks and spent time on the same NNU as her. I got to show her all the pieces of equipment that helped her, and introduce her to the nurses that cared for her. Heidi then used this knowledge to start looking after her little sister, 'Mummy, Elsie is beeping, I press this!' Heidi then starts to fiddle with the incubator oxygen levels and any other buttons she can get her little fingers on.
Although all of this, and the fact that my little girl apparently makes the perfect patient, makes me incredibly proud, it is also tinged with sadness, she shouldn't know all of this at such a young age, and my heart breaks just a little bit when she comes out with some piece of new medical knowledge she has picked up at her last visit, but these are the experiences that shape our lives, and although it's been hard, life with Heidi is fantastic :)

Oh, change of plan, Heidi has just told me she wants to be a chef when she grows up.....on TV!