Morning morning.
Delia's recipe for puttanesca sauce is pretty good and freezes well. I know a lot of people don't like anchovies - but you don't notice them specifically in the dish - they just contribute to the overall gutsiness and zest of it. I got some of those pies in at the weekend. The salmon and broccoli is good, but unfortunately it was out of stock.
Had an appointment with the consultant yesterday (who - just to recap - I haven't seen since March 1st, despite all this extra monitoring I'm supposed to have because of the antiphospholipid thing). I had copied the blood pressure readings, urine results etc from my midwife's booklet into the NHS booklet - but of course there are no blood test results between February and two weeks ago because I had 'slipped through the net'. When he realised this, he went right off on one and told me that I "can't" book with an independent midwife because I "have a medical condition" and that she had no business accepting me. I think he assumed that I had failed to turn up for hospital care with regard to my medication, rather than that nobody indicated that regular testing was advised, or arranged it. Apart from the fact that I don't respond well to being treated like some delinquent idiot child, I patently obviously CAN book with an independent midwife - and in fact have had more regular care than the NHS has managed to drum up. He then started trying to frighten me by saying "Don't you realise you're at higher risk of pre-eclampsia...?" Well - yes I do - but only because I've done my own research. And I have therefore been taking my own blood pressure regularly and the midwife has been doing urine tests fortnightly.
He calmed down a bit when he realised that the f*k up was theirs, apologised and went off to savage a midwife. He wants me to have a growth scan this week and see him again next week - when I'm sure the home birth topic will come up and I'll be cast back in the role of delinquent child again. Of course, my parents then go and say 'Ooo - we strongly think you should take the consultant's advice...' which only serves to undermine one's confidence and overlooks the fact that the consultant hasn't actually said anything I don't already know. I suspect that if the consultant said I should birth on the central reservation of the M25, clad in a purple space suit, they'd probably assume he's got good reason for saying so and accept it unquestioningly.
No Braxton Hicks here, incidentally. Uterus obviously slacking on the job.
The washing machine has packed up - which is a bit of an inconvenience, to say the least. However - better that it go now, I suppose, than in a few weeks time. Repair man coming this afternoon, but I suppose we might be looking at getting a new one (since the drum isn't turning and it might not be cost effective to repair it). I've no idea how old it is, since it came with the house. We were planning to get a new one when we redid the kitchen - just not now...
By the way - the spicy noodles were from the Chinese stall on St Albans market - and they were indeed washed down with a Gaviscon chaser...