Just after 9 this morning I got a phone call from the nursery saying that Ingrid had “gone floppy and her eyes rolled back”. Very scary, and not the kind of news you want to get about your one and only baby. (Not that you’d want it if you had more than one baby, either, but you know what I mean.) She recovered quickly and seemed fine, but just to be on the safe side the nursery called an ambulance (and me) and we took her to the hospital (Royal London) to be checked.

Nothing interesting was found but they wanted to keep her for observation. Nothing interesting was still found after a full day of observation and various tests, and the best they could tell me in the end was that “these thing sometimes happen and quite often we have no idea why, and it never comes back”. So I hope it’s one of those cases.

Useful outcomes:

• Blood tests were done and while they didn’t show me any of the results (of course – for some reason doctors here very rarely share any information unless they absolutely have to), they did mention that her iron values were a bit on the low side. Leafy green vegetables, coming up!
• Ingrid can sleep quite well in the Connecta if needed.

Outcomes that aren’t exactly useful, but are nevertheless interesting

• They measure babies’ blood pressure around the calf, and the pulse on the foot.
• They also take blood from the foot.
• Some nurses and doctors, despite working in the pediatric ward, seem never to have handled an actual live baby. They spent an eternity trying to stick electrodes on her for an ECG while keeping all the cables in a tangle just in front of her kicking feet, so of course she kicked them which pulled them all off again. After I had pointed this out three times, one of them finally realised the futility of it. Another nurse was going to take her temperature while she was asleep, and started off by lowering the side of the cot with a loud clang, and then seemed surprised that she woke.
• I got the impression that some of the tests they did were done not because they really expected any results, but because it would (a) preclude anybody from coming back and suing them, or (b) ensure they hit some kind of target.

Outcomes that are neither useful nor interesting:

• Most of the staff were actually helpful and sensible.
• Spending the day in a hospital for observation is about as exciting as spending the day in an airport, but with fewer shops. Most of the time is spent waiting, sitting in uncomfortable chairs. And just like airports, it’s exhausting even though you don’t actually do anything much.
• The hospital food was utterly abominable.