I have 5 kids and the oldest is 9, im 17.

chapter 13.

Its been almost five years, and what a busy five years its been.While I'm cooking the dinner,  I'll brief you quickly on the kids, Well Benny, who prefers to be called Ben, is now almost 15, he is 5,9 and still growing, his hair has grown and he has turned into a striking young boy and is a big hit with the girls. He is doing his junior certificate this summer, he is in a boarding school in Dublin, He has followed Matt's suit and plays Rugby, Football and he swims in a club. He has taking to boarding school very well and he is almost finished his third year. He comes home most weekends if he doesn't have matches. Sheila and Cáitlin have now barely turned 13 and they are in their first year of Boarding school, they settled in well. Sheila is still very sporty and she plays hurling and football, she also swims.She is now a tall girl of 5,6 and she is still growing she has her hair cut up short which shows off her large eyes and high cheek bones but make-up and dresses are still a big no, she is just one of the lads as always. . Cáitlin is completely different to her sister, her hair is long and perfect, she has a full fringe, and her make-up is always perfect. She is the same height as her sister but that's all they have in common, her high cheekbones make her the perfect candidate for modelling. She loves her dancing and she models and acts. She loves to sing aswel and she plays the piano and guitar. Scarlett has really developed into a beautiful girl and she loves to Run and she plays the tin-whistle, she is a very talented musician for a ten year old. She has followed her big sister Cáitlin in the fashion department, although she is still not allowed to wear make-up. She also loves to bake and that is what she would spend her day doing if I allowed her. She still ahs two more years of primary school. Aaron, now thats my Baby, all grown up, he is just 8 years old, he has just made his communion, 2 weeks ago. He made 465€, he was so happy with himself. We hired a bouncy castle and invited all the family and friends. He is a happy sporty little boy and he loves to help on the farm, He also loves to play the tin-whistle and he loves to Irish dance. Now last but not least is my Baby Gabby, she is a happy, bubbly young child of 5 and a half, she helps on the farm, and she loves to help me clean, and do the food shopping, she loves to help on the farm and she has a small garden full of vegetables and flowers, She aslo has her rabbits and Guinea pigs. She is such a caring little girl. lately she has been slightly out of sorts and her immune system seems to be down, I looked down and glanced at the ring on my finger, I am 23 now and Matt is 24, last summer we tied the knot , He is playing for Irelands rugby team, and the Leinster team but he is also doing a course in criminal forensics. he only has his final exams this june  before he is qualified. The kids watch him play Rugby every 4 weeks, he stays here and leaves for his course every morning, it is only a half hour trip to Dublin where he is doing his course in Trinity, but he trains up there from 6-10 and he comes home usually before half 10 he is always very tired , but he always has time for me and the kids. He often has to go away to play his games, especially to france and the UK, but when he is finished his course he will have more time for us. At the moment I am studying to be a Oncologist Doctor, On Sundays I bring the kids to Boarding school and stay with my  friend in Dublin, I attend college until Tuesdays and then I come home Tuesday nights in collect my three small kids from Bettys and I head home, I spend time with them and the next day i look after my children and I go back up to college on Thursday morning and stay until friday midday , I then head home ready to cook dinner and pick up my kids from school, The kids have lessons on friday evenings so they come home from boarding school with Matt. At the weekends we play at home or go for a ride on the horses, sometimes we just stay at home or wach the matches or go to dancing competitions or music festivals.

A small whimper brought me out of my trance, and I go to investigate, I hear it coming from the sitting room, it must be Gabby as Aaron is on the farm and the kids are at a match with Matt, he is their Daddy now, he adopted them once we were married.I looked into the sitting room and find Gabby in the fetal position, squirming and moaning on the ground. I rush to her side, all the colour in her face has drained and her eyes are dilated, I quickly pull out my mobile and dial 112 , "Hello emergency, My five year old daughter is sick, her eyes are dilated and she is in the fetal position, I live on Willoughby Farm, in Killiney Village." "Ok ma'am there should be an ambulance there soon, Please check your daughter for bumps and bruises." I did as i was told and found her purple bruises all over her legs and stomach, there were a few on her neck and back aswel. I panicked and told the operator, she told me not to worry and that they would be here soon, I sat with my daughter and rocked her and I left the front door open. I shouted for them to come through from the left and They quickly tended to my daughter, they wrapped her up in a foil blanket and brought her to the ambulance, I quickly followed, we drove to the hospital with the sirens on, and almost immediately she was whisked off to an emergency room, I pulled out my Phone and rang Betty to pick up Aaron and take care of him, I rang Matt and he told me that they were just leaving the match, as I was speaking to Matts parents on the phone, The doctor came out and told me that they were transporting her to Temple Street Hospital, I quickly rang Matt again and told him to meet me at the hospital in Dublin. Six hours later, we were sitting in the room beside our baby girl, she had a breathing tube going through her mouth and she ws attached to an IV and a Heart Monitor. The doctors told us that she had Meningitis, a severe case of it, they had it under control and they had caught it early enough.

I stayed in the hospital with her for six weeks before she was released from here and brought back to our local hospital, during her time here, her heart had stopped due to respiratory atttack twice but they had brought her back, she was comatose for 4 weeks, but when she started to began to improve, they transferred her closer to home. After 8 weeks in our hospital, we took her home. Glad to see she was back to herself at home, we walked on eggshells but eventually she was much better, The kids and Matt had her spoilt. It was finally summer and I took classes in my course so that i could catch up on what I had missed over the last few weeks.

In Late July, Matt told me that in early August Matt  said he had to play a match in Australia and we were heading over for a 3 week holiday, thanks to the Irish board of Rugby federation, it was a fully paid holiday and many day excursions organised, we would be staying in a villa with the families of two other of Matt's fellow players. I was shocked but delighted, I had never been abroad in my entire life, neither had the kids bar Scarlett but she hardly remembered. After quickly going through our accounts, I found that the income that I brought in from the chemist was giving us €650 a month and the mortgage was €100 a month, the electricity bill was €150 a month and the grocery cost was a little under €300 a month as we were growing our new vegetables and baking our own bread and cakes, this left us with a €100 for miscellaneous which was always spent, I checked the account our dad had left us and saw that i had only 8,000 left in that, How on earth was I supposed to sent three more kids through Boarding school, I looked on the waiting list and applied for three scholarships to the same school their siblings attended.It was my last hope. I checked our other account and saw that in it from what Matt earned we had €17,050, hmm maybe we could scrape by on that.