Today, "The late JC" as the bikers fondly refer to him as, smiled on us and it was sunshine all the way. That meant that I got to ride in leathers like a real biker instead of the very unflattering rain gear that I has been my uniform for the past two days. Obviously, I looked VERY cool!!
So, 14 counties, two more hospitals and several more babies. One of the hospitals was presented with a 'syringe driver'. A machine thats keeps the babies intravenously fed a drip of glucose at a time until they are able to be fed in a normal way for a prem baby. Again, it wasn't my turn to see the babies. But my big brother, who is on this trip with me, did get to visit the prem unit. Normally a man of many words (must be a Brennan thing), he had very few when he came out. He swears that the baby he saw moved her hand when he waved at her as the nurse held her upright. He was a bit emotional. I know how he felt.
While he was in there and the rest of the group were waiting outside, I was chatting to one of the riders who rides in a different group to mine. He told me that he had had two prem babies. Neither had survived. I have no idea how to put into words how that must have felt/feel, so I am not going to try...
I also spoke to a lady this evening whose husband Liam, is on the trip, that had a prem baby 43 years ago. She had to watch him develop through a glass window for the first month of his life. She didn't get to hold him until he was a month old...again I have no words! How times have changed. She made me cry with her story, but she had endless praise for the nurses that, through their dedication, she got her baby home, on her second wedding anniversary, when the porter from the hospital cycled down to her house to tell her to bring her baby home.
So day three on the road. I have decided that I don't like motorways on two wheels. Normally when four wheels are at my disposal, a motorway would be my first choice, but on two wheels, they are just boring, and windy, and scary!
After our hospital visit this morning, we had a longish journey to get to the ferry, so having sorted the earphones for my iPod and the speakers for our communication device, and finally getting them comfortable under the helmet, I plugged myself in and off we set. Being plugged in with the sound up, on the back of a bike, is very isolating, you are very detached from everything. It wasn't unpleasant (except for the motorway bit) and I sat comfortably in my isolation until we stopped for lunch.
After lunch we had a shorter trip to the ferry at Tarbert so myself and Joe chatted on the radio. At one stage we passed a wind farm. I asked him to stop so that I could go in and tell them that some of their produce had escaped and it has been following me for the past two days!!! He said we'd miss the ferry if we stopped...
Made the ferry in nice time and we were all very giddy, buying lollipops from the little kiosk on board and taking photos up on the top deck. A very pleasant crossing, but No dolphins today tho'.
Another learning day!! Today I learned:
That you need to make sure that all your hair is tucked in under your helmet as loose strands flapping in your face can be very annoying.
That no matter how hard you try, you cannot avoid helmet hair!
That you need to check that the zip on your leather trousers and the zip at the back of your jacket are compatible, other wise you can't zip them together and keep the draught out. I had several offers of help with that problem from the bikers...hmmm...
That being isolated from the world with only my music and my thoughts was very good for me.
And last but not least, I really need to delete some of the rubbish that I have on my iPod!!! :-)
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