The Countdown Begins........

A few weeks before the baby is due I started to feel very anxious about how I would cope with 4 children.

I even considered giving the baby up.

But I plough on with support from an online parenting forum and start organising practical things for the baby. Everyone is very kind and things are donated from nappies to cots. 

I crack on with trying to make the house more liveable. I managed to carpet the stairs, landing and 2 bedrooms initially and then the other bedroom a month later. This is another major hurdle for people starting again from scratch. The abolition of Community Care Grants means that there is no longer any support available to help with the cost of new flooring. If your housing association is like mine, any old flooring will have been removed for health & safety reasons leaving you with bare chipboard and exposed gripper rods. A great combination with small children! 

With a couple of weeks to go before d-day (or should that be b-day?!) I start trying to get some professional support and a referral to social services. This proves easier said than done! 

Eventually social services - or children's services as it is now known meet with me a few days before I go into hospital. 

I'm not going to lie, their initial response was pretty slow and inadequate but in the end they have offered a good package of support and for that I am truly grateful.