So, I was checking my calendar for something, and saw that I didn't turn 11 weeks pregnant today. I'm only turning 10 weeks! Not sure if that is good or bad :-) Well, bad because I thought I was one week closer to being done with the nausea. Ugh. Granted the magnesium really, really does help (especially when I compare it to the week when the magnesium wasn't cutting it...due to being sick), but by golly I feel like an oil slick by the end of the day, or if I am using the Epsom salts as a mag source my skin feels on the dry side.
Today I had a very productive day!!! We will see if I have any consequences tomorrow (fatigue). But for today I was able to turn 3 gallons of milk into ricotta cheese, and yogurt. (I just made 2 gallons of yogurt two days ago). We had a LOT of milk building up in our fridge since I was too sick to deal with it. We still have 3/4 of a gallon left. But, we will now have to conserve it as one of our goats just came down with mastitis. Bummer. I am not capable of treating that naturally right now (takes more time and energy than I have right now), so an antibiotic it is, which means that we have to dump the milk for the next 12-14 days.
On top of that we got a handle on the kitchen. Moira really went to town cleaning it up. And we actually made a dent in the laundry! OOOooohhh. After not being able to stand up for longer than 10 minutes last week, all of this work is just glorious!
That is all, just editing my mistake of which week I am in.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Forget about twins, I'm having a dinosaur
Ha! Ok, first let me say, in all seriousness, that I do NOT believe I am having twins. I would be more willing to think so if I was growing larger than normal, but at a more steady rate. This growing by leaps and bounds in two weeks is a bit much, but exactly what happened when I was preggers with Saoirse. But of course, we can't discount the idea entirely :-) Hence my post yesterday.
But last night I remembered something really cute that Jonah said. It was soon after telling the kiddos that mommy has a baby in her tummy. We have a book that shows (in drawings) the stages of growth that a fetus goes through (week 4, 8, 12, 16, etc.). Jonah brought the book to me and asked me which one (which picture) was our baby. I was just about 8 weeks, so I pointed to the 8 week fetus picture. And Jonah comes out with, "You're having a dinosaur?" WHA!!!???? Ha, ha!! No, honey, I'm having a baby, and right now that is what the baby looks like. He asked me if I was joking. Nope, no joke. So he goes back to the drawings and picks a picture that more resembles a real baby, and says, "No, mommy, this is the baby." I tried to explain that in the very beginning babies really look like the first couple of pictures. So he points to one of those and says, "This is a dinosaur, (and pointing to a baby looking picture) and this is a baby."
So I guess, for the time being...I am having a dinosaur :-)
But last night I remembered something really cute that Jonah said. It was soon after telling the kiddos that mommy has a baby in her tummy. We have a book that shows (in drawings) the stages of growth that a fetus goes through (week 4, 8, 12, 16, etc.). Jonah brought the book to me and asked me which one (which picture) was our baby. I was just about 8 weeks, so I pointed to the 8 week fetus picture. And Jonah comes out with, "You're having a dinosaur?" WHA!!!???? Ha, ha!! No, honey, I'm having a baby, and right now that is what the baby looks like. He asked me if I was joking. Nope, no joke. So he goes back to the drawings and picks a picture that more resembles a real baby, and says, "No, mommy, this is the baby." I tried to explain that in the very beginning babies really look like the first couple of pictures. So he points to one of those and says, "This is a dinosaur, (and pointing to a baby looking picture) and this is a baby."
So I guess, for the time being...I am having a dinosaur :-)
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Always a guessing game
Pregnancy that is. Well, for me anyways, at least some of it :-) For example, besides one pregnancy, I do not find out if we are expecting a girl or boy. Although, for safety reasons, I do prefer to have an ultrasound, to make sure all is well with the baby (there are some surprises I do NOT wish to find out in the end). Then, for a bit there is the..."Did I just feel the baby kick for the first time?" Or, my not so favorite...."WHEN will this all day nausea go away!?!" Lot's of guessing.
But we get to have a wee bit more guessing than normal this time around, at least for the next few weeks. Now, this new twist has happened to me before, when I was expecting Saoirse (our 4th daughter). It would kind of seem fitting, if this was to be our 4th son, and we are just going through the same deal. Time (or an ultrasound) will tell! About a week and a half ago I started to experience round ligament pain. Odd, I am WAY too early to be having that. Then a handful of days later it felt like my uterus was popping up over the pubic bone and getting 'squeezed' if I bent over. That feeling lasted about 3 days and just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. But the past few days when Aubrey lays across my tummy, it's felt very uncomfortable.
So this morning, I decided to check my suspicions. I felt for my uterus, which, at one day short of being 11 weeks pregnant, should not even be able to be felt. And lo and behold, I felt it...big time. My uterus is 3 finger widths below my belly button! That is BIG.
Now, that being said, this happened with Saoirse, and an ultrasound revealed that I just had a big uterus. Ha! But there are a couple of other things that I am experiencing that I wasn't the last time. BUT, all of those other things have other possible reasons for happening. For example, the extreme need my body has for magnesium. Lots of it. When I was sick last week, I had all my pregnancy symptoms back, with a vengeance, worse than any other pregnancy (especially the fatigue, and the fact that my nausea was actually 24/7 a few days). But, you know, those could be explained away.
The only other odd thing is that the past two days I have felt some things that made me think I felt the baby moving. But I am WAY too early for that, at least if I only have one in there! But, again, that could be explained by the fact that my uterus had a tremendous growth spurt this past week, and it could just be muscle twitches. The uterus being a bag of muscle, I can imagine with it stretching so fast may have a few twitches to be had.
Time will tell. Jeremiah would prefer to know, like right NOW. Ha, ha. But, even though I do want to have an ultrasound done, I like for it to be when they can check my placenta, the baby's heart/lungs/kidneys/etc. Too early for those in depth checks. So if I went now, just to see if there is more than one in there, well, that means at least two ultrasounds, and I like to keep those at the very bare minimum.
I just think it's fun to try to 'figure' out. Hey, with all the yuckiness I've had, let something be fun! Being older does put me at a higher chance for twins (by golly I will be 42 when this baby is born), but I also think with this being number 8....chances are likely that I just have a really BIG uterus! Ha, ha!
But for the record, my sister pegged this pregnancy (she just *knew* I was pregnant before I did), and last week, when I felt so horrid, she said, "Um, I'm thinking this is twins...that would explain your body's high need for magnesium." So there you have it. But, also for the record, she swore I was having a girl last time around...and well, we know how that turned out :-) So anyone want to take a wager?
But we get to have a wee bit more guessing than normal this time around, at least for the next few weeks. Now, this new twist has happened to me before, when I was expecting Saoirse (our 4th daughter). It would kind of seem fitting, if this was to be our 4th son, and we are just going through the same deal. Time (or an ultrasound) will tell! About a week and a half ago I started to experience round ligament pain. Odd, I am WAY too early to be having that. Then a handful of days later it felt like my uterus was popping up over the pubic bone and getting 'squeezed' if I bent over. That feeling lasted about 3 days and just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. But the past few days when Aubrey lays across my tummy, it's felt very uncomfortable.
So this morning, I decided to check my suspicions. I felt for my uterus, which, at one day short of being 11 weeks pregnant, should not even be able to be felt. And lo and behold, I felt it...big time. My uterus is 3 finger widths below my belly button! That is BIG.
Now, that being said, this happened with Saoirse, and an ultrasound revealed that I just had a big uterus. Ha! But there are a couple of other things that I am experiencing that I wasn't the last time. BUT, all of those other things have other possible reasons for happening. For example, the extreme need my body has for magnesium. Lots of it. When I was sick last week, I had all my pregnancy symptoms back, with a vengeance, worse than any other pregnancy (especially the fatigue, and the fact that my nausea was actually 24/7 a few days). But, you know, those could be explained away.
The only other odd thing is that the past two days I have felt some things that made me think I felt the baby moving. But I am WAY too early for that, at least if I only have one in there! But, again, that could be explained by the fact that my uterus had a tremendous growth spurt this past week, and it could just be muscle twitches. The uterus being a bag of muscle, I can imagine with it stretching so fast may have a few twitches to be had.
Time will tell. Jeremiah would prefer to know, like right NOW. Ha, ha. But, even though I do want to have an ultrasound done, I like for it to be when they can check my placenta, the baby's heart/lungs/kidneys/etc. Too early for those in depth checks. So if I went now, just to see if there is more than one in there, well, that means at least two ultrasounds, and I like to keep those at the very bare minimum.
I just think it's fun to try to 'figure' out. Hey, with all the yuckiness I've had, let something be fun! Being older does put me at a higher chance for twins (by golly I will be 42 when this baby is born), but I also think with this being number 8....chances are likely that I just have a really BIG uterus! Ha, ha!
But for the record, my sister pegged this pregnancy (she just *knew* I was pregnant before I did), and last week, when I felt so horrid, she said, "Um, I'm thinking this is twins...that would explain your body's high need for magnesium." So there you have it. But, also for the record, she swore I was having a girl last time around...and well, we know how that turned out :-) So anyone want to take a wager?
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Bumps in the road
Wow, what a slack blogger I have been! It's certainly not because there is nothing to write about, but that I just haven't had the energy to write. It seems I am hitting yet another bump in the road, which is putting me behind in all areas of life. This bump came during the same week that my older two were volunteering at Runner's Camp. Two oldest out + mom out of commission = disaster.
This started last week when we had to make a detour on our GAPS diet. Finances have grown tight, too tight to keep fully on GAPS. I had some extra food that I try to keep on hand, but I had to use those up, and when those were gone and the reality that my shopping budget was not going to handle our regular food, well something had to give. So for the time being we have added in rice, potatoes, and oats. We are still sticking with all the other GAPS regulations, except those three. This has really helped to stretch our food! BUT, since I had run out of my probiotic two weeks ago, AND with raging pregnancy hormones, these foods have induced a fungal (yeast) sinus infection. From my experience with the short viral we had a few weeks ago, when I am sick the magnesium I am using no longer goes to fight my nausea and heart racing issue...oh, and the fatigue issue.
This meant that everyday this week I have taken a 2.5 to 3 hour nap, and am STILL falling on my face. I have been feeling so, so, so nauseous, which is not a feeling that remains only in my tummy, but where my head even feels like it is nauseous (how is that possible?). It has taken all my effort to just get up and make some food so that the kiddos don't starve :-) My house is a wreck. And I do mean it is a WRECK!!! Laundry? What's that? Dishes?...have to be washed every time we need something because every dish in the house is dirty. Don't get me wrong, I've been making the kids to dishes, but they can't stay on top of them. This has been very discouraging. It was discouraging because at first I didn't know why I was feeling this way (my sinus infections do not present themselves like a normal sinus infection would). But a few days in I started getting clues. By the time I realized what was going on I didn't have a lick of energy to do anything about it. Totally catch 22.
Thankfully, I got a small break, that being Jeremiah being home! So today I made up a sinus wash with a bit of hydrogen peroxide in it. Ah! In just one day I am getting somewhere. All week long my 24 hour allergy relief (yes, I have to take an allergy pill, which I HATE, but at this point it can not be avoided) would stop working early afternoon (around 11 or noon) when it should have lasted until 9 PM. This morning I used the sinus wash and this afternoon, no exploding head!! Yay! I've done another wash this afternoon and was actually able to stand up for about 15 minutes to clean off the stove top. I had to sit down afterwards, BUT at least I didn't fall asleep! Now it's almost 8 pm and most of my nausea has subsided (it has been going ALL day even when I am trying to go to bed at night!).
This has been such a roller coaster of a ride! I am praying for a break from any illness so that I can try to get on top of the magnesium deficiency. It takes 1 to 3 months of constant use for the body to catch up. I just received my order for my probiotics. They are almost 3 times stronger than the ones I was taking, and I am taking 2 of them right now. I don't know if they are helping. Too much going on with my body to tell. All I know is that I am REALLY done with the excessive bloating in my tummy! There is no reason to look 4 months pregnant when I'm not! But it is all bloat! Oy.
BUT despite ALL of this, I still hold to my firm belief that children are a gift from God. There are soooo many things in life that are wonderful and good, BUT that are hard work. I've gotten a couple of comments that have kind of sounded that possibly this should be the last since this has been so hard on me. But I got to thinking how hard homeschooling can be. I mean by golly, do you realize how many hours I give up to homeschool my children? Or how many tears I've faced during my teaching (theirs AND mine). But regardless of how hard it can be, I still believe it is in the best interest of my children, and I persevere. And homesteading? Are you kidding? Chickens tearing up the garden, bratty goats to deal with, foxes or vermin coming in and killing or stealing, the list goes on! BUT, it is good for us to gain these lost arts and to pass them on to our children. It is good to be working hard on the land, and to realize how much we really truly need the Lord in these endeavors! Of course we need Him no matter what we are or are not doing, but it becomes even more evident when you are faced with drought, or vermin, or your own bratty goats tipping over the milking pail so that all 3/4 gallon of milk is wasted. Phew. And so it is with raising children. I mean, talk about time consuming :-) Hard work, tears, sweat, worry, time, sacrifice. And we do it all to the glory of the Lord. Well, we try to! I fail miserably....every. day. And so it is with this pregnancy. It is hard. Many times I ask myself...why? Will I ever feel normal again? Will I get in shape enough, and eat healthy enough, and pray hard for as long as I need to so that I might be successful with another homebirth? But in the end, we will be blessed. Blessed with what GOD has determined is a blessing, a child made in His image. And that makes all the hard work, all the nausea, all the fatigue, worth it.
Just don't bring this up while I'm on the couch ready to puke ;-) Ha, ha!
So, if I go missing for a stretch please do send up a prayer, because chances are I'm stuck in a funk.
Praying for some normal days to catch up on work around here. All in time for next week when the oldest 5 will be at runners camp!
This started last week when we had to make a detour on our GAPS diet. Finances have grown tight, too tight to keep fully on GAPS. I had some extra food that I try to keep on hand, but I had to use those up, and when those were gone and the reality that my shopping budget was not going to handle our regular food, well something had to give. So for the time being we have added in rice, potatoes, and oats. We are still sticking with all the other GAPS regulations, except those three. This has really helped to stretch our food! BUT, since I had run out of my probiotic two weeks ago, AND with raging pregnancy hormones, these foods have induced a fungal (yeast) sinus infection. From my experience with the short viral we had a few weeks ago, when I am sick the magnesium I am using no longer goes to fight my nausea and heart racing issue...oh, and the fatigue issue.
This meant that everyday this week I have taken a 2.5 to 3 hour nap, and am STILL falling on my face. I have been feeling so, so, so nauseous, which is not a feeling that remains only in my tummy, but where my head even feels like it is nauseous (how is that possible?). It has taken all my effort to just get up and make some food so that the kiddos don't starve :-) My house is a wreck. And I do mean it is a WRECK!!! Laundry? What's that? Dishes?...have to be washed every time we need something because every dish in the house is dirty. Don't get me wrong, I've been making the kids to dishes, but they can't stay on top of them. This has been very discouraging. It was discouraging because at first I didn't know why I was feeling this way (my sinus infections do not present themselves like a normal sinus infection would). But a few days in I started getting clues. By the time I realized what was going on I didn't have a lick of energy to do anything about it. Totally catch 22.
Thankfully, I got a small break, that being Jeremiah being home! So today I made up a sinus wash with a bit of hydrogen peroxide in it. Ah! In just one day I am getting somewhere. All week long my 24 hour allergy relief (yes, I have to take an allergy pill, which I HATE, but at this point it can not be avoided) would stop working early afternoon (around 11 or noon) when it should have lasted until 9 PM. This morning I used the sinus wash and this afternoon, no exploding head!! Yay! I've done another wash this afternoon and was actually able to stand up for about 15 minutes to clean off the stove top. I had to sit down afterwards, BUT at least I didn't fall asleep! Now it's almost 8 pm and most of my nausea has subsided (it has been going ALL day even when I am trying to go to bed at night!).
This has been such a roller coaster of a ride! I am praying for a break from any illness so that I can try to get on top of the magnesium deficiency. It takes 1 to 3 months of constant use for the body to catch up. I just received my order for my probiotics. They are almost 3 times stronger than the ones I was taking, and I am taking 2 of them right now. I don't know if they are helping. Too much going on with my body to tell. All I know is that I am REALLY done with the excessive bloating in my tummy! There is no reason to look 4 months pregnant when I'm not! But it is all bloat! Oy.
BUT despite ALL of this, I still hold to my firm belief that children are a gift from God. There are soooo many things in life that are wonderful and good, BUT that are hard work. I've gotten a couple of comments that have kind of sounded that possibly this should be the last since this has been so hard on me. But I got to thinking how hard homeschooling can be. I mean by golly, do you realize how many hours I give up to homeschool my children? Or how many tears I've faced during my teaching (theirs AND mine). But regardless of how hard it can be, I still believe it is in the best interest of my children, and I persevere. And homesteading? Are you kidding? Chickens tearing up the garden, bratty goats to deal with, foxes or vermin coming in and killing or stealing, the list goes on! BUT, it is good for us to gain these lost arts and to pass them on to our children. It is good to be working hard on the land, and to realize how much we really truly need the Lord in these endeavors! Of course we need Him no matter what we are or are not doing, but it becomes even more evident when you are faced with drought, or vermin, or your own bratty goats tipping over the milking pail so that all 3/4 gallon of milk is wasted. Phew. And so it is with raising children. I mean, talk about time consuming :-) Hard work, tears, sweat, worry, time, sacrifice. And we do it all to the glory of the Lord. Well, we try to! I fail miserably....every. day. And so it is with this pregnancy. It is hard. Many times I ask myself...why? Will I ever feel normal again? Will I get in shape enough, and eat healthy enough, and pray hard for as long as I need to so that I might be successful with another homebirth? But in the end, we will be blessed. Blessed with what GOD has determined is a blessing, a child made in His image. And that makes all the hard work, all the nausea, all the fatigue, worth it.
Just don't bring this up while I'm on the couch ready to puke ;-) Ha, ha!
So, if I go missing for a stretch please do send up a prayer, because chances are I'm stuck in a funk.
Praying for some normal days to catch up on work around here. All in time for next week when the oldest 5 will be at runners camp!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Airplanes
Airplanes, not a subject I write about much :-) Unless it has to do with making a visit to the big airport to watch the planes come and go....something we really need to do soon. But today I am not talking about that sort of adventure.
We live close by to a county airport. This means we are used to seeing lots of small planes come and go. On the weekend, if we are heading toward the airport we can sometimes catch sight of people parachuting! Very cool. And, not sure if they take off at the airport or not, but we see lots of hot air balloons as well.
Jeremiah and I have had plenty of conversations about the military type aircrafts that have passed by this way. A few months ago we saw some carrier jets. They are HUGE, and they fly so slowly. Everytime I see one I am watching and waiting for it to fall from the sky as it doesn't seem possible for something so big to be able to fly through the sky! We've seen our share of helicopters as well. The kids all go running outside when you hear a whole slew of them coming. Always impressive, if not a wee bit scary.
So aircraft passing our house is nothing new. But I had two separate experiences the past couple of days that were a wee bit out of the norm.
The first one was a few days ago, I was out milking the goats. I brought the boys out with me so they could get some play time in. I could hear a small plane approaching. I was filling a watering bucket, so I was out from under the tree cover. As the plane was getting closer I thought, "Wow, that must be one low flying plane." So I called to the boys to come and see. And as it came over the tree line (our house is surrounded by trees on all sides, with only so many feet cleared around our actual house. I knew right away that this plane was flying much lower than any other plane I've seen since we've lived here, 6 years. I could clearly see this plane had a blue stripe, and from the sound of it there was something not right with it's right engine. It was making a noise I didn't think a plane should be making! I immediately thought..."Um, if I didn't know any better I would say this plane was going to crash." I wasn't worried it was going to crash next door or anything like that, but for a while I kept my ears opened.
Fast forward to that same evening, I went online to check the weather (storms were rolling in). Off to the side, where they have small thumbnails and a tag line of recent stories, imagine my surprise when I saw a tiny picture of a downed plane, with a tag of "Small plane crashes in a field". Yup, you got it, it was the SAME plane that had flown over head that morning. It crashed in the next county over, about 10 to 15 minutes after I had last seen it. Thankfully, no one was injured. But, wow, that was amazing!
And then today. Oh. My. Goodness. Now, there have been plenty of aircraft that get our attention first by their loud approach, BUT THIS thing beat all!!! Again, I was out milking goats. I could hear a plane coming, and coming FAST and LOUD. I have NEVER heard anything like this. I RAN out from under the milking shelter, but I was still under trees. Now, granted, with my heart issue still in the midst of getting control of ( if I don't stay on top of the magnesium I will get a racing heart, though nothing as bad as in the past) it doesn't take a lot to push it over the edge into fast beating. But I swear my heart stopped with fear as this plane approached. At first I was worried that it was going to literally crash into my house. That is how loud it was! But as it passed over our house, there was a loud screeching. And then just a lot of loud noise after it passed. I couldn't actually see the plane, BUT I was thinking, "That thing had to be skimming the tops of our trees!" I was shaking for a few minutes afterwards (though, again, easy to do with my heart issue).
As soon as I got in the house that was the first thing all the kids were raving about...Mom, oh my goodness, did you hear that plane? Jonah said, "Mommy, that plane was right over our trees." I didn't really believe he could see it, though he said it was white, green and blue (I think). Seriously, as fast as that plane was going, I don't see how you could see any colors at all!! But then Saoirse came out of her room to tell me her experience. She heard the plane coming and was freaked out (all the kids were freaked out, like I said it was LOUD), she ran to her window and told me, "I only saw a small part of the plane, I think it was the wing, but mom it flew right over the tops of our trees!" So, I guess I wasn't so wrong with my thoughts, that this thing was brushing the tops of our trees. Though, I find it hard to believe any plane is allowed to fly so low!!!! When I was outside I had waited to hear an explosion after the plane passed, but nothing happened.
I am assuming it was military in nature? I have no idea, as I didn't get a glimpse of the plane, but I am guessing they are the only ones with planes that go THAT fast. Note to the military: Please fly somewhere else :-) Or at least fly higher than our trees!
We live close by to a county airport. This means we are used to seeing lots of small planes come and go. On the weekend, if we are heading toward the airport we can sometimes catch sight of people parachuting! Very cool. And, not sure if they take off at the airport or not, but we see lots of hot air balloons as well.
Jeremiah and I have had plenty of conversations about the military type aircrafts that have passed by this way. A few months ago we saw some carrier jets. They are HUGE, and they fly so slowly. Everytime I see one I am watching and waiting for it to fall from the sky as it doesn't seem possible for something so big to be able to fly through the sky! We've seen our share of helicopters as well. The kids all go running outside when you hear a whole slew of them coming. Always impressive, if not a wee bit scary.
So aircraft passing our house is nothing new. But I had two separate experiences the past couple of days that were a wee bit out of the norm.
The first one was a few days ago, I was out milking the goats. I brought the boys out with me so they could get some play time in. I could hear a small plane approaching. I was filling a watering bucket, so I was out from under the tree cover. As the plane was getting closer I thought, "Wow, that must be one low flying plane." So I called to the boys to come and see. And as it came over the tree line (our house is surrounded by trees on all sides, with only so many feet cleared around our actual house. I knew right away that this plane was flying much lower than any other plane I've seen since we've lived here, 6 years. I could clearly see this plane had a blue stripe, and from the sound of it there was something not right with it's right engine. It was making a noise I didn't think a plane should be making! I immediately thought..."Um, if I didn't know any better I would say this plane was going to crash." I wasn't worried it was going to crash next door or anything like that, but for a while I kept my ears opened.
Fast forward to that same evening, I went online to check the weather (storms were rolling in). Off to the side, where they have small thumbnails and a tag line of recent stories, imagine my surprise when I saw a tiny picture of a downed plane, with a tag of "Small plane crashes in a field". Yup, you got it, it was the SAME plane that had flown over head that morning. It crashed in the next county over, about 10 to 15 minutes after I had last seen it. Thankfully, no one was injured. But, wow, that was amazing!
And then today. Oh. My. Goodness. Now, there have been plenty of aircraft that get our attention first by their loud approach, BUT THIS thing beat all!!! Again, I was out milking goats. I could hear a plane coming, and coming FAST and LOUD. I have NEVER heard anything like this. I RAN out from under the milking shelter, but I was still under trees. Now, granted, with my heart issue still in the midst of getting control of ( if I don't stay on top of the magnesium I will get a racing heart, though nothing as bad as in the past) it doesn't take a lot to push it over the edge into fast beating. But I swear my heart stopped with fear as this plane approached. At first I was worried that it was going to literally crash into my house. That is how loud it was! But as it passed over our house, there was a loud screeching. And then just a lot of loud noise after it passed. I couldn't actually see the plane, BUT I was thinking, "That thing had to be skimming the tops of our trees!" I was shaking for a few minutes afterwards (though, again, easy to do with my heart issue).
As soon as I got in the house that was the first thing all the kids were raving about...Mom, oh my goodness, did you hear that plane? Jonah said, "Mommy, that plane was right over our trees." I didn't really believe he could see it, though he said it was white, green and blue (I think). Seriously, as fast as that plane was going, I don't see how you could see any colors at all!! But then Saoirse came out of her room to tell me her experience. She heard the plane coming and was freaked out (all the kids were freaked out, like I said it was LOUD), she ran to her window and told me, "I only saw a small part of the plane, I think it was the wing, but mom it flew right over the tops of our trees!" So, I guess I wasn't so wrong with my thoughts, that this thing was brushing the tops of our trees. Though, I find it hard to believe any plane is allowed to fly so low!!!! When I was outside I had waited to hear an explosion after the plane passed, but nothing happened.
I am assuming it was military in nature? I have no idea, as I didn't get a glimpse of the plane, but I am guessing they are the only ones with planes that go THAT fast. Note to the military: Please fly somewhere else :-) Or at least fly higher than our trees!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The dangers of centipedes and avocado seeds
I'm not sure if it is a good thing to feel like you've had a full day, and it is only 10 AM. Hmmm. After a horrible day yesterday (I was sick), I wanted to get on the ball and get things done. It appears that no one else moves unless I give directive....must work on that. As such we have a wee bit of catching up to do. The good news is that I was still able to accomplish school yesterday, we just need to get on top of chores.
Knowing that today is supposed to be a scorcher, I got the boys outside fist thing this morning. We are also expecting strong storms later this afternoon/evening, so I must get those wiggles out :-) Jonah enjoys riding his bike, and Jed and Aubrey enjoy searching for bugs. Aubrey's other delight is intorturing holding the kittens. All the boys took a break from their playing to help me paint our fruit trees. We are supposed to paint their trunks to protect them from sun scald. They did a great job helping.
As we headed back inside, Jed brought up his box of bugs. He put them down on top of another box to save to play with later. However, his little brother came over and dumped over the box. Jed reached out to 'save' his bugs, all the while I screamed, "NO!" Too late. Earlier, right before going out I spotted a centipede on a couch cushion. Jed had added that to his bug box. Normally the boys catch the wee small centipedes by hand (the ones that are only about 1/2- 3/4 inches big), but this was one of big ones, with the obvious pinchers. Well, Jed got bit. Thankfully it isn't serious. I put some baking soda paste on it to help with the pain. Hopefully he learns to be more careful.
After we were inside I sat down for a break. Although I feel a TON better than yesterday, I'm still recovering. The boys were soooo sweet. They each brought in some dandelions to put in a vase for me. Then they each brought me a snack. Bananas with chocolate. While they were coming and going Aubrey came in and exclaimed, "A ball!" This ball was an avocado seed. He threw it in the air (just about touching the ceiling). I told him not to do that, but too late....up in the air and smack in my eye! I wasn't looking up all the way, so I didn't see it coming. Ouch. So beware of those avocado seeds, dangerous little things :-).
Below are some pictures of the boys playing in the rain, when the tropical storm passed through, and then the damage it did to our creek. I had never, NEVER seen our creek so high. At the height it was at it was more of a raging river! Everyone wanted to take a look at the high water. (Before we headed out I had no idea it was so bad) We could see from our window that our neighbors dock was totally submerged. As we went out the girls wanted to see the creek. I told them they could, but to not go in the water. Up till this point the highest the water has been was almost to the bottom of our small bridge. I took the boys to the end of the driveway to see the water covering the neighbors pond. I had no intention of going down to the creek (this was on Friday when I started to go into my magnesium deficient tailspin). As I got closer to our neighbors property I see that the water isn't just covering the dock, but is RUSHING over his dock, and road! His road was in danger of being totally washed out! I looked off to the side, where the water was coming from. Normally, if you look close (due to trees and such) you can see our neighbors bridge from where I was standing. Although you may get a glimpse of his bridge the creek is too shallow to see from where I was standing. Well, to say that I TOTALLY FREAKED OUT would be an understatement. Instead of our neighbors bridge, I see this RIVER of RAGING water!!! It was incredible....in a scary way. I knew that if any one of my girls stepped foot (on purpose, or by accident) in that water they would instantly be carried away and be drowned. NO JOKE. I couldn't leave the boys there, nor did I feel I had the time to get them inside. The noise of the rushing water was too loud for the girls to hear me. So I told the boys to follow me, and I started going as fast as the boys could go to get to the creek to make sure the girls were NO WHERE NEAR the creek. My heart was pounding so hard. On the way down one of the girls was running up. So I yelled out to her, "STAY AWAY FROM THE WATER!!" She told me that they were no where near the edge (she was running up to get her camera). I got down there, and they were all being safe, staying far from the creek. Phew!
Our bridge would have been washed away had it not been tied to trees! It was totally submerged, and six feet further down the creek. I am guessing the water was a good three feet deep (normally it is only ankle to mid calf deep!). I measured it the next day, and the water had come 17 feet from it's banks, just on the one side!
Jonah trying to catch the rain. We had a lot of laundry do to that day (all the kids love playing in a downpour).
I took this photo for two reasons. One, because I was trying to get shots of all the boys playing in the rain. But two, I had noticed that Jed seemed to be thinning out. And this photo definitely shows that. Looking back over the years you can see Jed filling out (in very small ways) and then thinning down. I can only hope that this is because he grew taller. I am not allowing myself to measure him until he's been on the higher dose of growth hormones for about 3 months. I don't want to get discouraged seeing him thin out, and it's not because he's grown taller. Sigh. Now a few weeks ago he was chowing down all his meals and getting seconds. I thought I started to notice him filling out, but just as quickly he seemed to loose it all, and now he isn't eating as much. For any of my other kids I *know* this is normal. I just wish Jed would fill out a bit more, so that when he does thin out it isn't so bad. He just looks painfully thin to me in the above picture. His appetite has been improving a bit, so hopefully he will start to fill back out. (Excuse his messed up pants, I fixed them right after the photo...he was in a rush to get dressed to play in the downpour. Never mind he was in no danger of missing out...it downpoured for hours!)
Aubrey having fun in the rain.
I was going to edit these to put arrows to point out where the water rose to, but...that would take too long ;-) If you look on the trunk of the tree with the swing, you can see a bunch of leaves...that would be deposits left from the raging river. The branch where the swing is tied to was under water.
Jeremiah surveying the damage. Notice the sand he is standing on. That sand belongs *in* the creek. I took this picture so that the bottom edge of the photo is where the water had come to, which is 17 feet!
The now messed up bridge.
You can see one of the ropes that is being stretched to the max. The ropes held the bridge from landing in our neighbor's pond. Although, the dock was displaced by about 6 feet.
Sorry for the blur, must figure out my new camera! It's driving me crazy trying to get the focus points on my subject. Anyways, the rock Saoirse is standing next to, which sits half in the creek and half out, was totally submerged in the raging river.
Boys checking out the creek. And yes, I know it is silly to be taking so many pictures of our messed up creek. I realize that many people have been devastated by *real* flooding. But in our neck of the woods this is amazing stuff.
Normally, where the girls are standing is just a sand bar. Jonah was shocked by how deep the water was.
If you look closely you can see the greens all lying flat and off to the right from the water. Also, if you look towards the top of the pic, right above that leaning trunk off to the left, you can see a bunch of sand. That is sand displaced from the raging river!
Jonah showing off their picked flowers. In his right hand are the ones he picked, and in the other, the ones Jed picked.
Jed showing off in the water. That rope he is holding on to was under water. The creek was definitely as high as how tall Jed is.
Sunshine for the soul :-)
Knowing that today is supposed to be a scorcher, I got the boys outside fist thing this morning. We are also expecting strong storms later this afternoon/evening, so I must get those wiggles out :-) Jonah enjoys riding his bike, and Jed and Aubrey enjoy searching for bugs. Aubrey's other delight is in
As we headed back inside, Jed brought up his box of bugs. He put them down on top of another box to save to play with later. However, his little brother came over and dumped over the box. Jed reached out to 'save' his bugs, all the while I screamed, "NO!" Too late. Earlier, right before going out I spotted a centipede on a couch cushion. Jed had added that to his bug box. Normally the boys catch the wee small centipedes by hand (the ones that are only about 1/2- 3/4 inches big), but this was one of big ones, with the obvious pinchers. Well, Jed got bit. Thankfully it isn't serious. I put some baking soda paste on it to help with the pain. Hopefully he learns to be more careful.
After we were inside I sat down for a break. Although I feel a TON better than yesterday, I'm still recovering. The boys were soooo sweet. They each brought in some dandelions to put in a vase for me. Then they each brought me a snack. Bananas with chocolate. While they were coming and going Aubrey came in and exclaimed, "A ball!" This ball was an avocado seed. He threw it in the air (just about touching the ceiling). I told him not to do that, but too late....up in the air and smack in my eye! I wasn't looking up all the way, so I didn't see it coming. Ouch. So beware of those avocado seeds, dangerous little things :-).
Below are some pictures of the boys playing in the rain, when the tropical storm passed through, and then the damage it did to our creek. I had never, NEVER seen our creek so high. At the height it was at it was more of a raging river! Everyone wanted to take a look at the high water. (Before we headed out I had no idea it was so bad) We could see from our window that our neighbors dock was totally submerged. As we went out the girls wanted to see the creek. I told them they could, but to not go in the water. Up till this point the highest the water has been was almost to the bottom of our small bridge. I took the boys to the end of the driveway to see the water covering the neighbors pond. I had no intention of going down to the creek (this was on Friday when I started to go into my magnesium deficient tailspin). As I got closer to our neighbors property I see that the water isn't just covering the dock, but is RUSHING over his dock, and road! His road was in danger of being totally washed out! I looked off to the side, where the water was coming from. Normally, if you look close (due to trees and such) you can see our neighbors bridge from where I was standing. Although you may get a glimpse of his bridge the creek is too shallow to see from where I was standing. Well, to say that I TOTALLY FREAKED OUT would be an understatement. Instead of our neighbors bridge, I see this RIVER of RAGING water!!! It was incredible....in a scary way. I knew that if any one of my girls stepped foot (on purpose, or by accident) in that water they would instantly be carried away and be drowned. NO JOKE. I couldn't leave the boys there, nor did I feel I had the time to get them inside. The noise of the rushing water was too loud for the girls to hear me. So I told the boys to follow me, and I started going as fast as the boys could go to get to the creek to make sure the girls were NO WHERE NEAR the creek. My heart was pounding so hard. On the way down one of the girls was running up. So I yelled out to her, "STAY AWAY FROM THE WATER!!" She told me that they were no where near the edge (she was running up to get her camera). I got down there, and they were all being safe, staying far from the creek. Phew!
Our bridge would have been washed away had it not been tied to trees! It was totally submerged, and six feet further down the creek. I am guessing the water was a good three feet deep (normally it is only ankle to mid calf deep!). I measured it the next day, and the water had come 17 feet from it's banks, just on the one side!
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
The creepy crawlies that live in the woods
I'm sure most of you are shaking your head and thinking....Um, Kerri, what did you expect? You live in the South. Ha, ha! Yes, I realize this. But sometimes I have to write about it :-) The funny thing? Just the day before I was wishing that I only had to deal with my childhood fear....the spider! I laugh about it now. Goodness, if all I had to worry about (I'm talking about creepy crawlies, and not the more important things in life!) were some spiders, I would be doing a jig!
The following day was Sunday. After our fellowship lunch I usually take the boys outside to play. This Sunday Jeremiah took them out. We meet in the back of a warehouse of sorts, so the only thing outside is a big gravel parking lot and a very small perimeter of woods. I think the woods are only 8 feet thick or so. All the kiddos at church play in these woods. This day Aubrey had fallen down. Jeremiah went to help him up. After he brushed him off and sent him on his way he noticed something move on the ground. This 'something' had only been about 12 inches from the baby. And that something was a copper head! Yikes!!! Jeremiah cleared the area, and then grabbed a stick to try to deal with the snake. However, the snake got away.
I guess there won't be any playing in the woods for a while. Thankfully I've read up on copper heads. And though, their first line of defense is to strike with an initial bite, that first bite does not give off enough venom to do serious harm. Don't get me wrong, it will hurt like the dickens, swell, and bruise and such, but generally speaking it doesn't kill. I would be more worried about a black widow bite, as from what I've read that has more of a chance to go systemic, as opposed to the copper head's more local reaction. Please note, this is based on what I've read, I've not experienced a bite from a snake, nor a black widow, and I'm sure every one's mileage varies :-)
Now, if only I had to just worry about those horrid house spiders that I would check under my bed, in my closet, behind the dresser each night as a child. Sigh.
The following day was Sunday. After our fellowship lunch I usually take the boys outside to play. This Sunday Jeremiah took them out. We meet in the back of a warehouse of sorts, so the only thing outside is a big gravel parking lot and a very small perimeter of woods. I think the woods are only 8 feet thick or so. All the kiddos at church play in these woods. This day Aubrey had fallen down. Jeremiah went to help him up. After he brushed him off and sent him on his way he noticed something move on the ground. This 'something' had only been about 12 inches from the baby. And that something was a copper head! Yikes!!! Jeremiah cleared the area, and then grabbed a stick to try to deal with the snake. However, the snake got away.
I guess there won't be any playing in the woods for a while. Thankfully I've read up on copper heads. And though, their first line of defense is to strike with an initial bite, that first bite does not give off enough venom to do serious harm. Don't get me wrong, it will hurt like the dickens, swell, and bruise and such, but generally speaking it doesn't kill. I would be more worried about a black widow bite, as from what I've read that has more of a chance to go systemic, as opposed to the copper head's more local reaction. Please note, this is based on what I've read, I've not experienced a bite from a snake, nor a black widow, and I'm sure every one's mileage varies :-)
Now, if only I had to just worry about those horrid house spiders that I would check under my bed, in my closet, behind the dresser each night as a child. Sigh.
8 is Great.....Magnesium deficiency
You may be wondering why I would have a post dedicated to magnesium deficiency in my pregnacy series. Well, maybe some of you have heard that it is believed morning sickness is due to magnesium deficiency. I first read about this issue over at Mommypotamus. Do check out her amazing post on magnesium deficiency during pregnancy.
I'm basically going to give you some of the tid bits I've read about and my experience with supplementation. Magnesium is needed for many functions in our bodies. You can do a quick google search to find the lists out there. Of course everyone is an individual, and how one person presents their defiency will be different from another. Magnesium is used for our muscular functions, including our heart. Magnesium has a very important role in our brain's going on's. I remember when we had Jedidiah tested (through alternative means) the practitioner told us he was *super* depleted in magnesium, which was (only) one cause of his failure to thrive/ apraxia issue.
In reading the article about magnesium, it states that you should supplement *before* you get pregnant. But I didn't....so now what? Well, I didn't read what she had recommended, but I figured that a topical magnesium would be more beneficial since once you are pregnant your body has a harder time digesting magnesium in pill form. It made sense to me to skip the digestive tract all together and get my mag through my skin! So how is it working? Well, let me give you a bit of background first, just so you know the severity of my "issues".
With all of my pregnancies I had the all day nausea. This usually lasted until 14 weeks pregnant. But with my last pregnancy, things totally got weird! My all day sickness was at it's worst. It didn't subside until about 18 weeks. On top of that I started experiencing my heart racing over the smallest of things. Also, I had a hard time breathing (not allergy releated). It got so bad that I was couch ridden. I would get up and unload the top rack of the dishwasher and be out of breath, my heart racing and totally fatigued! If I was just sitting down and raised my arm to shoulder length it would make my heart race! It was totally overwhelming and made my life stop. I made a call to my homeopath, and through homeopathy, I was able to over come this unfortunate "illness".
Fast forward to this pregnancy. I was praying that I would not have repeat of Aubrey's pregnancy. I did have little tiny waves of my heart feeling funny. Nothing horrible, but it did worry me. In the beginning few weeks I was using a magnesium oil, once a day. There were days when I woke up and all of my muscles felt like they were moving through mud. There wasn't any cramping, but just this horrid feeling of not being able to move without much effort. My all day nausea had settled in. Most days it wasn't too bad, but there were a few that life was put on hold. I was trying a couple of things at a time, not being able to determine if anything was working or not.
And then this past weekend happened. Leading up to this I have been faithfully working out 6 days a week. (this is only important because with a magnesium deficiency any small activity makes things worse, you become fatigued much easier and much more quickly) I got busy on Friday and forgot to use my magnesium oil. When I woke up Saturday I felt HORRID!!! My heart was racing, I was so sick to my stomach, plus my muscles couldn't move....At least with my last pregnancy things built up from minor issues to eventually being couch bound. But over night I went from minor to couch bound. All morning I couldn't get off the couch. Just walking to the bathroom left me breathing hard and my heart racing. I happened to remember I needed to put on my magnesium spray. I noticed about 30 minutes later I felt a wee bit better. Hmmm, coincidence? So 2 hours later I put some more on. And again, 30 minutes or so later I was feeling even better. Better enough to go out to take a look at the damage the tropical storm did to our stream. But trekking back is all up hill. That wore me out! So I applied some more magnesium. I continued this every 2 hours or so. By the evening, I felt a ton better, my muscles were working, my nausea was gone and I only had a wee bit of racing heart going on.
So today, I started taking the mag right off the bat and kept applying every couple of hours or after any hard work. Basically from what I read today, all of my symptoms line up with a magnesium deficiency. The lack of magnesium makes it difficult for your blood cells to carry oxygen, which leads to fatigue. It can also cause your heart to race, and your muscles to cramp up. I was able to exercise without ANY problems today. I did have a wee bit of heart racing, but nothing that interfered with my ability to exercise. From what I read, once you are magnesium deficient, just the smallest activity will lead to fatigue. AND I have been nausea free all day!!! I didn't have that heavy chest feeling that made it difficult to breath. I also had NO fatigue.
Obviously two days doesn't exactly count as having the cause of my misery bagged, BUT this is the ONLY promising thing so far. Right now, a homeopathic consultation isn't going to fit on the budget. I told Jeremiah that I was going to schedule a visit with our family physician this week to determine the cause of my issues and see if there isn't anything natural I could to do solve it. Looks like that appointment will be put on hold for the time being.
Please make sure you do your own research, and talk with your own health care provider to see what is best for you and your baby. What I have written here is what I have read about and what I decide to try. Your health is in YOUR hands.
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