Super woman business tycoon meets hassled Mum!

It was 16th January and it had been a good week for super woman and business tycoon – I felt like I was really going to change the world!

Monday a big invoice had finally been paid so our cashflow could flow again.

Wednesday I led a seminar with third year student midwives. With hubby’s help I had restructured the whole thing and I was rather nervous – but it went so well – they were such a brilliant class and I learnt so much. These midwives are questioning practice, questioning evidence, reflecting on their practice and that of their mentors, Passionate about good birthing and good care. I left Huddersfield inspired and proud!

On Thursday, four of us met to plot the expansion of the Choices network (to subscribe go to www.aquabirthsathome.com ). How fab! To finally be planning what I have dreamed of for years - to take Choices to the next level. We made plans and took minutes.

Friday, at short notice I was asked, and accepted, a place on the interview panel for a Consultant Midwife in Normality for Bradford, to take place on Monday. How fabulous is that – a Consultant Midwife in Normality! And to be privileged to be part of the selection process. And if that was not enough I had an interesting and fruitful conversation with Huddersfield University again.

At the end of this conversation, however, I looked at the time and the mother in me gasped in horror – 3.30pm – I was late collecting the children from school again! My super woman cloak was exchanged for harassed mother hat and I abandoned office, swearing at the rush hour traffic. I begged apologies yet again at one school as I collected one child and crept quietly into the second to collect the rest, trying to avoid the frosty gaze of the staff member in the office.

I returned home in a turbulence of triumph and chaos for the weekend, to be met by my matronly neighbour: “ You daft *****! Did you know you left your front door wide open this morning?” 'No I had not', being the honest answer, since I am not into open invitations to burglars. “You never came back, so we shut the door in the end and have had to keep an eye on your house all day!” It never ceases to amuse my neighbours that this business woman and mother of five can be so scatty.

And so that was the end of the triumph of super woman and business tycoon, Ruth the harassed mother of five, Ruth the modern embodiment of the old woman in the shoe – was home for the weekend. Throw your laptop in the cupboard and tie on your apron!

But I want to shout from the roof tops – I want it all! I want a career, I want to run my own business, I want to have a large and happy family, I want a happy marriage, I want to save the world. And I am so proud that I am having a fair stab at it all! And so what if I can’t keep all the plates spinning! So what if I leave my door open by a mistake (the delivery man kindly left the parcel in our living room!), so what if I am late picking up the kids! (This is not the 1950ies – most women work now so we need schooling that caters for real life work) If that is what it takes to make the whole thing happen then so be it. I am proud of what I achieve and proud that I try. And I am just glad that I have a loving patient husband and five fab kids who think my antics are very funny and love the fact that as my hubby put on a ‘welcome home’ poster years ago: ‘Ruth, about to save the world, as soon as she finds her bus pass.’ We all need clay feet I say. It keeps us humble.