It was up to us to get to the bottom of the problem. Time for nappy cream!
IT was a normal Thursday afternoon. There was no telling of the drama about to unfold until the nursery rang.
Nothing ever good comes of an unexpected call about the twins. My heart started to beat a little faster and my face prickled with perspiration.
“Hello, it’s Zoe. Nothing to worry about but Thomas has had two watery nappies in the last hour,” she said.
“Oh dear, no way to live a life,” I said assuming a watery nappy related to something physical rather than a Pampers manufacturing fault.
“I’ve spoken to Kath, the manager, and if he goes again in the next half hour, I’m sorry, you’ll have to collect him,” she said apologetically.
“We can only pray for him now,” I said and laughed a little too much.
According to my phone, the nursery rang at 2.39pm so we had till 3.09pm for Thomas to keep a clean sheet.
In the grand scheme of things 30 minutes is nothing and before I knew it, a full 14 had passed.
I heard a voice say, “are you alright?”.
A colleague was concerned because I’d been unresponsive, and ignored the offer of biscuits, since the phone call.
I explained everything was fine but just needed another 16 minutes to pass before normal service would be resumed.
Another three minutes down. It was 2.56pm now and still no phone call.
And then it was 3pm and we were on the home straight.
“He’s going to make it, even if he goes now, they might miss it and it’ll be 3.09pm” I thought.
At 3.02pm still no contact so went to buy some celebratory crisps from the vending machine.
And then the phone rang – at 3.04pm.
“Hi, he’s gone again but he’s
fine, his bottom looks red so get some Sudocrem and he’s not allowed back for 48 hours after it clears up,” Zoe said in a cheery but conciliatory manner.
Unfortunately, this meant balancing work and a poorly child, but at least today was covered because Victoria was working from home so could collect him early.
Although she did make a valid point about why she had to sacrifice her working day, but I pointed out I’d already paid for 12 hours parking so didn’t want to waste the money.
Despite my best efforts to lengthen my own time in work, it wasn’t long before I arrived home to find Thomas on his fifth nappy and Victoria screaming for more wet wipes while shouting “it’s never going to stop”.
“At least Emma’s fine,” I said and we both laughed because we knew the clock was ticking and it was only a matter of time.