On the occasion of my eldest's entry into teenage-hood it felt only right to leave a heart in her favourite colour at Homerton Hospital where 13 years ago today she came into the world.
Her grandmother (my mum) also arrived in our world on this day. 76 years ago. I think her mum (whom Esta is named for) had her in a maternity home. Somewhere between a care home and an hotel by all accounts. Kay Esther Styles went in for at least a week to have her baby, her second of four girls, sometime in late February 1939. I remember her saying how wonderful it was to be cooked for, to be made to lie in bed and to escape the family melee. Sounds like a nightmare to me.
The Homerton only kept me in overnight (and that was only under duress) as Esta had pooed in the uterus. But there was a builder and building site outside my door and no one brought me tea in bed.
I feel very grateful to have a good hospital on the doorstep, though I have friends who have not felt well served by it. Our NHS seems to be on such shaky ground. It still feels like an amazing institution but who is caring for it long term? Seems to me that the Tories are just continuing the long slow sell out that Tony Blair begun.
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