European Union - in or out?

I have just been reading this article by the BBC, and was horrified by some of the facts and figures contained within it.

I have never been a fan of the European Union. I remember, when I was in school, feeling disappointed that I would never get to go to France and pay with francs. Since then there has been more and more which has disappointed me about the EU.

The EU is expensive to the UK, costing an estimated £8.5 billion in 2015. The cost fluctuates yearly, with 2009 costing £4.3 billion and estimates for 2016-2020 ranging from £7.9 billion to £11.1 billion. And that is the cost to the UK after receiving a rebate and money from the Agricultural Guarantee Fund. When other publicly funded services are experiencing a reduction in the money they receive, how is it fair that UK's contribution to the EU doubled between 2009 and 2015?

The UK cannot set its own VAT bracket for products means that the EU is dictating to Britain how internal issues should be managed. Britain is unable to change the category in to which items fall. In the recently publicised 'Tampon Tax' it was highlighted that the "VAT rate charged on the items is the lowest allowed under EU law" and "The UK does not have the ability to extend unilaterally zero rating to new products," despite the fact that a whole host of other items, including exotic meat, flapjacks and aircraft maintenance are all VAT-free. Why should the EU have a say on VAT categories and prevent the UK government from charging VAT as needed by the UK population.

The running of the UK should be left to the UK, not to someone sitting in Brussels. It is for this reason, regardless of David Cameron's negotiations, that I shall be placing my vote to leave the EU when we have the referendum.

A quick catch-up

So, once again, I have been probably the world's worst blogger. I haven't posted anything since last May! That is terrible! I have just read through my last post. Wow - I had not had a good day at work. I remember that day vividly but I did not realise that it was that long ago. It seems as though it was just before Christmas.

I've had a busy eight months since the last time I was here. We'll get the boring stuff out of the way first - work has been manic since Christmas. The NHS isn't having a good time of it at the moment. In the last few weeks we have had a sudden influx of A&E patients, and, although I work in scheduled care, we have still felt the impact of this. Some admissions and operations have been cancelled and sometimes that has meant that we have had to see patients again in our clinic thus increasing our workload. Fortunately, we weren't too badly hit by the junior doctor's strike, and hopefully, the strike announced today won't have too much of an impact on us. Having said that, I completely understand why they are striking. I just hope, with the talk last year of the NHS not paying staff on Agenda for Change contracts (and that is almost everyone who isn't on the medical or dental pay scale) an unsociable hours rate, that the doctors will be just as supportive of us as my nurse and midwife friends have been of them.

Life outside of work has been pretty hectic, too. We have a new addition to the family - a brand new little cousin. He is absolutely adorable and we all love him to bits. My phone contains mostly photos of this gorgeous little man.

I seemed to spend a lot of time away last year. I had a couple of weeks away on holiday over the summer, which was a great break. And I've had a number of weekends away too, which made a lovely change.

Unfortunately, with the hectic year I had in 2015, there was no time to even look at starting IVF. This year, I am hoping to make a big dent in my credit cards and, possibly towards the end of the year, I will be in a suitable position to start IVF.

I have spent some time researching IVF. I would love to be able to work as a fertility nurse. Firstly, I find the whole speciality fascinating and at the cutting edge of healthcare. Secondly, I would at least have some inside knowledge on the whole process. It seems quite difficult to get a treatment plan. I know it depends on the response to the treatment, but I spent considerable time trying to find out the basics, like how long I would need to spend in Denmark. I have come up with my own version of what I think I will need to do, but I don't know if it is right. I think it would involve three trips to Denmark, two only lasting a day or two and the third lasting up to five days. I thought I might take the opportunity to travel whilst I am there, but I obviously can't make any plans at the moment.

I'm in two minds to tell my family about my decision about IVF. Particularly over the past couple of weeks, I have been quite ready to tell them. I have even considered asking my sister to come with me when I go to Denmark. So far, though, I've not yet built up the courage to do it.

I have taken up some new hobbies over the past couple of months. My mum has decided that she wanted to start knitting for her new nephew, so I was roped in to this and I'm actually quite enjoying myself. I've also been looking at plans for making a patchwork quilt. I would love to have a handmade special quilt for my future baby. I've even considered taking up sewing cloth pads and cloth nappies. Pads look fairly straight forward, but the only patterns I have as yet found for nappies seem so complicated. I've loved looking at all the different materials, though. There's such a selection, and they're beautiful.

Hopefully, it won't be so long until the next time...

A Difficult Week

So, as you probably know by now, I am desperate to become a mum. Despite the fact that the desire is always there, sometimes it is more controllable than others. In that respect, this has been a bad week.

I'm currently working in pre-op assessment. We see patients who are having elective general anaesthetics. A number of the patients have cancers of some sort, but usually these are localised and hence they are able to have surgery to remove it. Therefore, unlike on the wards, I don't really feel very much emotional involvement towards my patients.

This week was different, though.

For the first time since I have been working in pre-op, I saw a woman who was coming in for a termination. Now, for years, I have struggles with my beliefs about terminations. I have flipped between pro-life and pro-choice. On one hand, I struggle to understand how women can choose to end the life of an unborn baby just because it does not fit in with her life plan. However, I also don't think it is fair that it is purely the woman who may be left with the consequences of an unplanned pregnancy. On the other hand, friends of mine had a termination when they were pregnant with a baby who would not have survived. Having this baby, carrying him to term and delivering him only to watch him die would not have been fair on this couple or the two other young children they had at home who would have struggled to understand.

Anyway, this woman was having a termination as she didn't want to have another baby (her youngest was a little under a year old). I was almost tempted not to pre-op her (under the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) regulations, we have the ability to conscientiously object to providing care for women having such procedures, except in a life-threatening situation). All the other nurses had patients, this lady had asked the healthcare assistant twice in the few minutes I was reading through her notes (before I discovered what she was coming in for) how long it would be before she was seen by a nurse as she had to leave soon to pick her older children up from school. She had quite complicated medical history, hence why she was coming to hospital for the termination and not to a clinic. I decided I would have to see her.

It was quite a difficult pre-op. She was reluctant to engage in conversation. The baby was screaming. She wouldn't make eye contact. She was on the defensive. I finished my assessment and sent her on her way.

I almost cried when she left my room.

I felt guilty that I had participated in some small way to that termination.

I don't think I will pre-op women in the future who are coming in for a termination. Instead, I will use my right to conscientiously object.

Now, I don't know if I have just been in a rather vulnerable state, or if it is something I have only just noticed, but this evening, driving home from work, I had to switch off the radio. The presenter was, once again, talking about babies and pregnancies. Pretty much every show of his seems to feature a phone-in about either babies or pregnancy, and it's really getting to me. Do they not have any tact and sensitivity for the women who may be listening to the radio station and who are desperately try to conceive a baby?

VE Day Anniversary

This weekend has commemorated the 70th anniversary of victory in Europe (VE) at the end of World War 2. Reading the article on the BBC News, it suddenly hit me that these veterans are getting older. These men and women, who fought bravely for Britain, now remind me of when I was a child and would see the veterans of World War 1 at the Cenotaph at Remembrance Day services. And it made me think that we must listen to these men and women and hear their first hand accounts of serving in World War 2.

Whilst there were 1,000 veterans at the service attended by the Queen, and obviously many more throughout the country, their numbers are falling. It is almost six years since Harry Patch, the last British veteran of World War 1, passed away and four years since Frank Buckles, the last known veteran of World War 1 passed away. However, these men were not the norm, with Mr Patch passing away at 111 years of age and Mr Buckles at 110 years of age. along with a small handful of other veterans who passed away at around the same time, these men lived exceptionally long lives; much longer than the UK average of 83 years for men and 79 years for men. This means that these veterans are already on 'borrowed time' and we need to value them whilst they are here.

70 years is a monumental anniversary and we should celebrate it. However, the anniversary has been poorly covered in the media, with more focus on how wrong the general election polls were. Instead, we should have been focussing our efforts on celebrating the end of World War 2 and the service these veterans provided to the country. Without them, we may not have had a general election at all.

So, on a final note, if there are any World War 2 veterans reading this, I would like to say a massive thank you to what you did for this country and the sacrifice you were prepared to make. Thank you!


11/5/15 - edited to add that, whilst Mr Patch was widely publicised as being the last British veteran of World War 1, it appears that this information is not completely accurate. Whilst he may have been the last British survivor to have fought in World War 1, Florence Green, who passed away in 2012 aged 110 years had been a steward in the officer's mess and a member of the Women's Royal Air Force.

Periods and Stuff

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by the changes my body was going to go through once I hit puberty and I was on my way to becoming a woman. I was fortunate that my mum was very open about the whole thing, and I felt as though I was better placed, having the idea of puberty presented to me gradually from a young age, than my classmates who suddenly had it thrust open them by the school nurse.

For those of you who need a bit of inspiration, a friend of mine has published a book on Amazon, called Periods and Stuff, and which is available free from the 28th-29th September. Follow this link to have a look, and preview the book.

All she's asking for in return is a review of her book (not obligation). Please download the book, have a read, and a leave a quick review.

Elimination Communication

Until I joined a parenting forum, elimination communication was not something I had ever heard of. Whilst it is not something I think I could do, it does fascinate me, as I had wondered how women in the distant past coped with a baby's elimination needs.

Elimination communication is the choice not to use nappies, either all the time or part of the time. Parents observe their baby for the signs that they want to empty their bowels or their bladder. Babies learn to go on command. To me, in some ways, it sounds natural; no other animal wears nappies or urinates and defecates whenever and wherever they wish. On the other hand, a lot of other mammals are unable to pass urine or have their bowels open independently and rely on their mother to stimulate them. It also reminds me of toilet training my dogs - watching for the cues they make when they want to go out and do their business, or alternatively, me sending them out before bed or whenever I want them to go and telling them to 'go wee wees.'

I'm torn by what I want to do when I become a parent. On the one hand, I think it would be lovely not to have to use nappies. On the other, I would worry about picking up the cues, or what would happen if the baby was looked after by someone else.

Noise Pollution

I feel sorry for people who live next to noisy neighbours, I really do. I am fortunate enough to live in a quiet village; at night, I occasionally hear an owl, the cows in the nearby field or the flock of birds which seem to love my back garden first thing in the morning. But I love it. I love hearing the sounds of nature. Once, I was disturbed by a neighbour's party and it drove me mad; I had to get up early the next morning for work.

Anyway, the point of this post is this BBC news article. I don't understand the problem here. The resident, who moved to the flat years after the venue started playing live music, is complaining about the noise. He reports the volume has been increased. The owners of the venue deny this. Surely, if someone choses to live next to a pub or club or some other venue which plays live music, then they expect there to be noise. It would be different if the place opened after the person moved in, but it was there long before the resident moved in. Personally, I believe that the resident is the one at fault here and should not cause such a business to be damaged.