It’s All About Me!

So I am Steph, a 33 year old Nurse from Liverpool.

To be honest, there’s not an awful lot to say about my childhood and early adult life- which is a good start to an interesting read! At home was my Mum, Dad, Sister- Claire and Brother- Nick and we had a very bog standard yet privileged upbringing. Bog standard as in, we were never part of a drug cartel, never had to buy a fake passport or new identity, we’ve never been to prison or dodged death; my parents were both hard working people who, without us knowing, at times needed to make every penny count to pay the bills…….. Especially when I ran up hundreds of pounds worth of phone bills- at one point I remember my totally stressed out Mum telling me she wanted to punch me in the face every time she looked at me! For the record she never did, but needless to say I went out to my friend’s house that day. Our privileges included going on holiday abroad every year, within reason we got what we wanted, we always had a roof over our head, food in the cupboards and we were rich with love and nurturing.

I suppose the first significant thing that happened in my life was when I lost my eye. I was 16, just left school after completing my GCSE’s and was on holiday in Costa Del Sol with my friend and her parents. While the adults thought we were angels tucked up in bed, we were actually being little shits, and snuck out to party in the next resort! I was in the wrong place at the wrong time when some scrote threw a bottle which just so happened to hit me in the face. The impact caused fractures to my orbital floor, cheek bone and nose and obviously irreversible damage to my eye which was removed the following day.
The security staff from the bar were really helpful. (Not sure if you can feel the sarcasm there?) After skidding on the slippery blood-filled floor, they gave us some paper towels and sent us on our way; I was taken to hospital in a police car after they saw us waiting for a taxi!
I remember being in what I assume was an observation ward in A&E, being impressed that my underwear was the same colour as the not so flattering hospital nightie I had been given after receiving needles in both arms and my arse! I was being sick into a bin (classy!) while a male hospital worker stood at the foot of my bed shaking his head, gesturing with his hand that it was because I was drunk! I lay in bed that night thinking of my worst-case scenario: being blind in that eye and having to fly home alone, given we were only 5 days into the holiday. It didn’t enter my head that I would actually lose my eye.

The next day my parents were the first people I saw after I came out of surgery. I didn’t know they were coming and it felt so good to see them. It felt just as good to have that fruit pastel lolly ice my Dad fetched since I had been fasting since God knows when.
Just under a week later, the three of us flew home in an air ambulance and went straight to our local hospital, where there was a bed waiting for me on the Regional Maxillofacial Unit. After spending the night there, it was decided I didn’t need to have any further surgery to fix a metal plate onto my cheekbone, which was a turn out for the books after being told by a junior doctor that they might have to shave some of my hair to reach down and secure the plate. I had my stitches out and off home we went.

Fast forward a bit….. I met Adam on a night out in Liverpool when I was 18. I’ll skip the bit where I kissed his friend first. (He was playing hard to get!) We became joined at the hip practically straight away, meeting up every evening which progressed to weekend sleepovers, or hideouts when I would bunk off during my training because my placement wasn’t great. I became a qualified nurse in 2008 and Adam has always been in the building trade. We worked hard and played hard, and maintained that bog standard, privileged life that I loved.

We bought our first home together in December 2009 and married in April 2011. I know everyone will say it about their wedding day, but ours was amazing! It was very traditional- Church ceremony, staged photos (and lots of them!), speeches, food and partying! My parents had booked singing waiters as a surprise and they were amazing! By the end of our wedding breakfast they had everyone up singing and dancing which set the tone for the evening as the dance floor was never empty!

Well, I hope that set the scene a little bit. Tune in to my next post to hear about my first pregnancy and how we found out our baby wasn’t healthy.