A lot of things have been going on; there's a lull today so I thought I'd put out an update.
As soon as Mike's family left from their 3 week visit our hard drive died. Happily Mike had backed everything up only 2 weeks or so before that happened which was neat because we've never backed up anything. So everything was saved but we're (I'm) not sure how to get what we want when we want it.
Our camera died before the computer. I don't think it specifically is dead it's a Kodak Easyshare 330. I'm pretty sure it's the 3 tiny cogs in the lens w/ their teeth all ground off, something I can't fix. W/ the computer dead I quickly found the source of my unorganization. The computer itself. I was very organized & worked w/out stopping & got some bigger projects out of the way. I did feel dull though. We get no magazines or newspapers, or tv. NPR is the only news to come over the radio & they report on enough whacky thigs so I was diverted for a bit. Our station has some neat short clips in the morning, "30 Second Naturalist", "Our Ocean World", "Stardate", & Garrison Keilers "Writers Almanac".
We got almost 5" of rain last week. Not good laundry weather. KitKat has killed 3 rats this week. I helped her finish one off by crushing it w/ a rock because I felt sorry for it. Mike killed a copperhead in the chicken coop. The children got to pet it to see what a snake really feels like & identify the local venemous critters.
Victor is sick today, hence the typing. I suspect it's from Story Hour at the library though the girls are fine. His top front teeth are working themselves out & goin in different directions. They've been loose for months & he doesn't like to wiggle them so they've gone into Billy-Bob mode. We finished reading Tom Sawyer last week. He wants to start on Huckleberry Finn but I'm not sure how to explain some things in that one. We ran across the N word a few times in Tom Sawyer & I had edited it to negro as being more respectful & in keeping w/ the time period the book was set in. But if I remember correctly Huck Finn is loaded w/ it. I gave him the abridged version, I'll see if he's content w/ that.
We've done a lot chickening, people don't want their roosters & we are happy to deal w/ them for them. I put up nearly 3 gallons of chicken soup & stock. They're being opened today. That's all of the news for awhile.
Showing posts with label Sick Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sick Day. Show all posts
25 September, 2012
11 August, 2011
Bra Conversion Tutorial
Well, it's that time again, Miranda is 17 months now & our nursing relationship is waning. Soooo, to put it mildly, my giganto nursing bras are overkill for my current endowments. I have 2 drawers of bras in sizes from AAA-DD, & most I've not worn in nearly 3 years. I know, it's clutter & I hate to ask for money for smaller bras when I've so many but none of them are for nursing & I do plan on nursing until she's 2. So, you can find these elsewhere, I found one in Cyrillic & the pictures were easy enough to follow, but here it is in English.
Fist select the right size bra to convert. I thought I'd practice on a cheapy one befor trying this on a prettier one. Slice off one strap.
Remove the nursing clasp from your rattiest most worn-out nursing bra that does nothing for proper support and/or the wire that mercilessly pokes you no matter how many times you sew it back in. Loop it through a piece of satin ribbon & sew to the top of the cup. You can certainly machine sew this, but I'm hand sewing in order to not scratch poison ivy/ prednisone during a movie.
Measure (keeping some extra) & sew the ribbon satin side out down below on the elastic taking care to align it w/ your clasp above.
Do make sure you've gone over & bound or zig-zagged the raw edge you created by cutting the strap.
Hmmm, I didn't take the picture showing the clasp being secured to the strap. Do that, secure it to the first clasp you sewed to the bra cup then pull the ribbon through & sew it together.
The nursing flap down:
Nursing flap up. Congratulations, you've saved yourself $15-$30.00, cleared ratty clutter away & repurposed something you've not seen it years!
09 August, 2011
2 Weeks on Steroids
The doctor said that the prednisone would clear up the edema in 2 days & she was spot on. I was put on 60 mil. or 3 pills for 4 days, 2 pills for 4 days 1 pill for 4 days & 1/2 a pill for 4 more days. "It's to really load you up" said friendly neighborhood pharmacist John. He's so nice, used to be in the navy. Apparently your adrenals stop making cortisol when you're on this & you can get really mesed up stopping it cold turkey. I follow the entire script faithfully.
The 2 days are looong. I don't pick up Miranda at all. I don't let Victor & Charlotte sit in my lap to pretend to drive down the driveway. I certainly don't want to go into town to shop, I don't think I ought to be around food at all, but Mike wraps me up good in gauze. Poor Mike! I'm doing the bare minimum for the house & I know it drives him crazy but I only see pity when he looks at me.
The worst part is I don't allow hugs because it sloughs off my skin & creates oozier wells. Miranda cries & holds up her arms for me & when I squat down next to her she points to my arm & says"Ow." I can only agree. My poor babies, they live off of hugs. My shirts sleeves are turning yellow & my left arm is starting to feel really weird, from atrophy, I think. It's been tied up straight w/ diapers for 6 nights in a row & there is a HUGE patch of poison right in my inner elbow that cracks & sends out copious amounts of oil so I straighten it as little as possible.
After 2 days of that, Sat. I wake up & can see my bones & veins again, that's good. The oozing is nearly gone & I can see patches of new skin growing. One of the good side effects of prednisone are energy bursts. I take full advantage of this, catch up & do several bigger projects. Weird & bad side effects that never happened were shifts in body fat, "chipmunk" or puffy face, joint pain, increased appetite, & other things you can research for yourself. My left knee did swell out of no where but returned to normal in a day or so as I decreased the dosage to the next level.
I made a batch of very bland beans that no one liked but I won't have leftovers so I ate them. The children did eat them when I pureed them & mixed them w/ venison for burritos & spaghetti. I probably had 4 meals of beans one week & w/ my extra projects (2 days in the root cellar, double digging up garden squares for fall, goat hooves, 3 outside meals, some others) & energy bursts I actually lost some weight. I didn't need it but I won't say no. And cooking outside IS a workout, that dutch oven is easily 30 lb. when full. You're squatting, holding it away from you on a stick because it's been on a fire for a couple of hours & I don't know how to factor that in, but it's heavy.
Well down to the 1/2 pill days I've still got a light itch but the poison is dried up & gone. Prednisone wasn't so bad. I'm off the pill for a whole day & my upper legs are itchy, but I know there's no poison there. My neck & throat are irritable & scratching feels pretty good. Big patches of itch & scale are on the backs of my arm.
4 days off of predisone & I have a full blown w/drawl rash from my chin -my toes. Little blisters are in all of the wrinkles of my finger joints & cuticle edges. It is no longer a pleasure to scratch it but fairly painful. Where hot water felt good on the poison rash, now only cold will do. Sweat is maddening. But hey, the swelling is gone & that was my main concern. I started w/ a rash & ended w/ a rash. Here I am w/ new skin.
I'm getting used to my arm looking this way, it reminds me of the disease where you lose your melanin. I look like I got into a fight w/ Hamburger Helper. It's pretty sun sensitive & won't hold a tan. In part that's why I've picked up blogging again this last day or so. I can't scratch if I'm typing. The van has been emptied, cleaned & vacuumed for the first time in a year. More projects ahead.
The 2 days are looong. I don't pick up Miranda at all. I don't let Victor & Charlotte sit in my lap to pretend to drive down the driveway. I certainly don't want to go into town to shop, I don't think I ought to be around food at all, but Mike wraps me up good in gauze. Poor Mike! I'm doing the bare minimum for the house & I know it drives him crazy but I only see pity when he looks at me.
The worst part is I don't allow hugs because it sloughs off my skin & creates oozier wells. Miranda cries & holds up her arms for me & when I squat down next to her she points to my arm & says"Ow." I can only agree. My poor babies, they live off of hugs. My shirts sleeves are turning yellow & my left arm is starting to feel really weird, from atrophy, I think. It's been tied up straight w/ diapers for 6 nights in a row & there is a HUGE patch of poison right in my inner elbow that cracks & sends out copious amounts of oil so I straighten it as little as possible.
After 2 days of that, Sat. I wake up & can see my bones & veins again, that's good. The oozing is nearly gone & I can see patches of new skin growing. One of the good side effects of prednisone are energy bursts. I take full advantage of this, catch up & do several bigger projects. Weird & bad side effects that never happened were shifts in body fat, "chipmunk" or puffy face, joint pain, increased appetite, & other things you can research for yourself. My left knee did swell out of no where but returned to normal in a day or so as I decreased the dosage to the next level.
I made a batch of very bland beans that no one liked but I won't have leftovers so I ate them. The children did eat them when I pureed them & mixed them w/ venison for burritos & spaghetti. I probably had 4 meals of beans one week & w/ my extra projects (2 days in the root cellar, double digging up garden squares for fall, goat hooves, 3 outside meals, some others) & energy bursts I actually lost some weight. I didn't need it but I won't say no. And cooking outside IS a workout, that dutch oven is easily 30 lb. when full. You're squatting, holding it away from you on a stick because it's been on a fire for a couple of hours & I don't know how to factor that in, but it's heavy.
Well down to the 1/2 pill days I've still got a light itch but the poison is dried up & gone. Prednisone wasn't so bad. I'm off the pill for a whole day & my upper legs are itchy, but I know there's no poison there. My neck & throat are irritable & scratching feels pretty good. Big patches of itch & scale are on the backs of my arm.
4 days off of predisone & I have a full blown w/drawl rash from my chin -my toes. Little blisters are in all of the wrinkles of my finger joints & cuticle edges. It is no longer a pleasure to scratch it but fairly painful. Where hot water felt good on the poison rash, now only cold will do. Sweat is maddening. But hey, the swelling is gone & that was my main concern. I started w/ a rash & ended w/ a rash. Here I am w/ new skin.
I'm getting used to my arm looking this way, it reminds me of the disease where you lose your melanin. I look like I got into a fight w/ Hamburger Helper. It's pretty sun sensitive & won't hold a tan. In part that's why I've picked up blogging again this last day or so. I can't scratch if I'm typing. The van has been emptied, cleaned & vacuumed for the first time in a year. More projects ahead.03 March, 2010
It's a girl!
I've not been on for awhile, but you know how it is w/ a new baby. Ha, yes! We welcomed Miranda Pearl to our family last Wednesday. Our homebirth fell through w/ the midwife cancelling on us very late so we did go the hospital route. I met the nurse midwife who attended only 2 days before & out of the 3 at this particular practice, she was my favorite. Maybe because 2 of her 3 children were homebirths? Anyways, she gave us a lot more freedom at the hospital than anyone else would have done since we had done so well w/ Charlotte. It was not as good as a homebirth, but 10x better than our first hospital birth.
Miranda is beautiful & the softest baby I've ever had. She sleeps all through the night & eats all day which sounds great but isn't. My backside goes numb from all the sitting & admiring her I do while nursing. I don't mind waking up to feed her but she won't cooperate so the house isn't quite where I would have it. HOWEVER. We're being blessed by my wonderful mother in law who is here for 14 days so the house is splendid compared to where it would be w/out her. Also, the church ladies from the church we've been visiting have been bringing us some meals so we've been very blessed.
God has shown Himself & our supreme dependence on Him throughout this entire pregnancy & birth. Almost w/out exception, every time we thought we had something planned to a science, every plan we made fell through & had to be rerouted. Very humbling, especially when we had to rely on someone else. And it always turned out for the best; we're very grateful.
Anyway, I've no pictures yet, but she was 7 lb. 15 oz., 21" & born 15:44. No hair, like the other 2. I think she looks like Victor did, only slightly less monkey like. She is surely the prettiest newborn of the 3. Charlotte was the ugliest, so red & splotchy, but she's a little beauty queen now that she has hair.
Anyways, we thank everyone who has been thinking & praying for us, I hope to have some pictures soon.
Miranda is beautiful & the softest baby I've ever had. She sleeps all through the night & eats all day which sounds great but isn't. My backside goes numb from all the sitting & admiring her I do while nursing. I don't mind waking up to feed her but she won't cooperate so the house isn't quite where I would have it. HOWEVER. We're being blessed by my wonderful mother in law who is here for 14 days so the house is splendid compared to where it would be w/out her. Also, the church ladies from the church we've been visiting have been bringing us some meals so we've been very blessed.
God has shown Himself & our supreme dependence on Him throughout this entire pregnancy & birth. Almost w/out exception, every time we thought we had something planned to a science, every plan we made fell through & had to be rerouted. Very humbling, especially when we had to rely on someone else. And it always turned out for the best; we're very grateful.
Anyway, I've no pictures yet, but she was 7 lb. 15 oz., 21" & born 15:44. No hair, like the other 2. I think she looks like Victor did, only slightly less monkey like. She is surely the prettiest newborn of the 3. Charlotte was the ugliest, so red & splotchy, but she's a little beauty queen now that she has hair.
Anyways, we thank everyone who has been thinking & praying for us, I hope to have some pictures soon.
26 August, 2009
RVing Experiment Days 2 & 3
Mon. was a vacation from hell sort of day by most standards, but a wonderful opportunity to have our faith & family tried & tested for which I'm thankful. The adventures began at 5 in the morning. The day before, the water hadn't been draining, so we had pulled the RV out again & ramped it up on one side to make it tilt towards the drains; the whole camper is tilted to the port side. Victor is a thrashy sort of sleeper, & him being on the top bunk he fell right out, shaking everything. That isn't saying much, a walking cat shakes the camper. But this was a very big shake. He was hysterical & not making sense, though I didn't try, I just put him to bed again next to daddy & climbed up myself to finish sleep in his bunk.
He slept late, which was good. Charlotte woke up at 5:30 so I nursed her & went to shower. After that around 7 as I was beginning breakfast & I noticed it felt like I was peeing, though not. It ended up being blood & not having any feminine products I used a one of Charlottes diapers. I soaked it in 5 min. I hollered to Cid that I was miscarrying & by the time he had waken up & gone to the store (in record time!) I had gone through 2 diapers. When everyone was dressed & fed I had gone through 2 heavy flow overnight maxi's. Victor did not want to wake up & cried alot when getting dressed; fairly atypical for him. I had decided his shoulder was broken, but he could move his arm in all directions fairly easily; we decided that he could stay back & go fishing w/ everyone else while I went to the hospital in Ashville.
We got there around 10:00 & it was a long 6 hour procedure, mostly w/ waiting. Every one was so nice, I have never had a more pleasant hospital staff experience in my life. They gave me an ultrasound, honored my wishes to have a female OB & were just so nice & compassionate. During the ultrasound I saw the baby still moving around very vigorously heart rate at 140 bpm, I was so happy. But, though the baby is healthy, it looks as if there is a blood clot on or under the placenta & my cervix is dilated a bit; so it could be the beginning of a miscarriage. We have a follow-up on Thurs. for another exam & ultrasound. I'm typing this on Wed. & still bleeding, though not nearly as heavy. I'm nervous of what we'll see, but thankful to God for the 2 bessings I do have & the 2 days more I've gotten to carry this little life. The doctor said that while it isn't usual she sees it enough to not call it unusual. She does work at a big research hospital though. She wanted to keep me there overnight in case I did miscarry & bleed out; it's a 30 min. drive from where we're at. That would have driven me crazy; nothing to do but think & stare at the wall or curtain. I'd rather swat flies out at the RV, so that's what I opted for.
When we got home Victor was asleep & my niece said he'd been quiet all day & not talking much except to refuse ice & tell everyone I had given him Tylenol. When I walked in he was awake on the couch laying down. He lifted his arms & said in his sweet little boy voice "Oh mommy I'm so glad you are here, I was waiting for you!" I melted.
His shoulder really was bugging him, so the next day as Charlotte & I did laundry & caught up, he went to the emegency room to meet a Dr. Vladimir who declared his collarbone completely snapped & separated the width of Cid's pinkie. He said had he been an adult they would have had to perform surgery. They were mostly worried about his lung being punctured, something which, I confess had never entered my mind.
Again, I was impressed at the staff at this (another) hospital. 10 x-rays had been ordered, but the xray tech took a look at Victor & said he wasn't comfortable giving such a little guy so much radiation. Maybe he saved my grandchildren. He took 1 picture at a time & carried it to the doctor who approved & ended up being satisfied w/ 4. I felt terrible, my brave little guy. Cid had gotten him doughnuts, his usual reward for staying dry all night (2 nights in a row!) & he had gotten a race car from the x-ray tech, so he was perfectly happy.
He has to wear a weird harness thing to keep his arms back, it looks like he's standing at attention. But, praise God, he's doing much better, just changing colors like a chameleon.
He slept late, which was good. Charlotte woke up at 5:30 so I nursed her & went to shower. After that around 7 as I was beginning breakfast & I noticed it felt like I was peeing, though not. It ended up being blood & not having any feminine products I used a one of Charlottes diapers. I soaked it in 5 min. I hollered to Cid that I was miscarrying & by the time he had waken up & gone to the store (in record time!) I had gone through 2 diapers. When everyone was dressed & fed I had gone through 2 heavy flow overnight maxi's. Victor did not want to wake up & cried alot when getting dressed; fairly atypical for him. I had decided his shoulder was broken, but he could move his arm in all directions fairly easily; we decided that he could stay back & go fishing w/ everyone else while I went to the hospital in Ashville.
We got there around 10:00 & it was a long 6 hour procedure, mostly w/ waiting. Every one was so nice, I have never had a more pleasant hospital staff experience in my life. They gave me an ultrasound, honored my wishes to have a female OB & were just so nice & compassionate. During the ultrasound I saw the baby still moving around very vigorously heart rate at 140 bpm, I was so happy. But, though the baby is healthy, it looks as if there is a blood clot on or under the placenta & my cervix is dilated a bit; so it could be the beginning of a miscarriage. We have a follow-up on Thurs. for another exam & ultrasound. I'm typing this on Wed. & still bleeding, though not nearly as heavy. I'm nervous of what we'll see, but thankful to God for the 2 bessings I do have & the 2 days more I've gotten to carry this little life. The doctor said that while it isn't usual she sees it enough to not call it unusual. She does work at a big research hospital though. She wanted to keep me there overnight in case I did miscarry & bleed out; it's a 30 min. drive from where we're at. That would have driven me crazy; nothing to do but think & stare at the wall or curtain. I'd rather swat flies out at the RV, so that's what I opted for.
When we got home Victor was asleep & my niece said he'd been quiet all day & not talking much except to refuse ice & tell everyone I had given him Tylenol. When I walked in he was awake on the couch laying down. He lifted his arms & said in his sweet little boy voice "Oh mommy I'm so glad you are here, I was waiting for you!" I melted.
His shoulder really was bugging him, so the next day as Charlotte & I did laundry & caught up, he went to the emegency room to meet a Dr. Vladimir who declared his collarbone completely snapped & separated the width of Cid's pinkie. He said had he been an adult they would have had to perform surgery. They were mostly worried about his lung being punctured, something which, I confess had never entered my mind.
Again, I was impressed at the staff at this (another) hospital. 10 x-rays had been ordered, but the xray tech took a look at Victor & said he wasn't comfortable giving such a little guy so much radiation. Maybe he saved my grandchildren. He took 1 picture at a time & carried it to the doctor who approved & ended up being satisfied w/ 4. I felt terrible, my brave little guy. Cid had gotten him doughnuts, his usual reward for staying dry all night (2 nights in a row!) & he had gotten a race car from the x-ray tech, so he was perfectly happy.
He has to wear a weird harness thing to keep his arms back, it looks like he's standing at attention. But, praise God, he's doing much better, just changing colors like a chameleon.
31 January, 2009
Sick Day
Today was a very slow day. Slow week actually, but a very slow day. The furnace had gone out again yesterday & though I had reset it correctly, it turns out I had kept the gas off all day. Poor Victor, 8:45, 45 min. after his bedtime was crying, so I go in there & I expected it to be about his nose. He has some dread fear of blowing is nose & so won't do it; when his nose gets sore from wiping it, he crys about that. I was expecting a melt down about that & ready to calm & soothe, be says instead, "I can't get warm Mommy." That was so sweet, (it's not very cold inside, in the 50's), I scolded him gently for not getting up & using his words so I could get him a blanket, which I happily did. Husband got the furnace working again. He bought a space heater to warm it up so it would run.
In the morning, Victor did NOT want to get up, though he was awake at 6. I told him to get up, laid out his clothes to dress himself & feed the cats while I showered. 20 min. later he was still in bed, not having moved a bit. Husband came home from PT while I was talking to him, so I left my instructions again, hauling him out of bed to ease his obedience w/ a great deal of laughing before setting off to prep breakfast. After getting Charlotte up from our room, & starting coffee, (Husband made breakfast, a delicious omelet to split from our ham yesterday, so I only had cleanup, he's so sweet.) Husband sees Victor is leaning on his bed, being silly, still not getting dressed. After a word from daddy, Victor obeys, but drags his feet to feeding the cats. After 5 min. of fiddling w/ the lid & scoop, he states that his arm muscle hurts & I assume pouting over feeding the cats. Unacceptable. We talk, the cats are fed & he eats, a bagal dipped in yogurt. (He hates eggs, & in a house where the 2 adults go through 2 dozen a week, it blows our minds a bit. It's incredible & edible right?)
He wants to play dancing games to old rock & roll like we had done last night, so we dance to about 5 songs before I go to nurse Charlotte. It gets very quiet & I go on a Victor hunt after laying her down. He is sleeping in the man cave next to the cat rear end up at 10 am. I wake him up to laugh at him & he laughs too for being silly then says his arm muscles hurt again & shivers. He's covered in goose bumps! My poor boy. I take his temp. & it's 102.5 under the arm, so I tell him to put his pajamas on & we have a Thomas marathon. After 2 of those, I offered to read him one of my Fantastic Firsts! He is always looking at the graphic novel posters at the library, so today I introduced him to the Fantatic 4. He decided he would rather be The Thing, for his super power.
I made a honey/ lemon juice/ crushed garlic/ dash of ginger for him to take whenever. He really enjoyed that, though the garlic definitly gets stronger the longer the day goes on. It is probably just the flu. We've not been anywhere that I can think of & won't go anywhere now. It was so beautiful today too. I'm pretty sure it's the flu & for his first time,he's handling it beautifully. Mom called yesterday to say that my niece has the flu fairly bad & Iwas so pleased to tell her that we've had another flu free year. Excepting Husband, he gets it every year about 2 weeks after receiving his mandatory flu shot. I've been nursing Charlotte extra all day too, though she's not too interested w/ her 2 teeth that are cutting. Guess we couldn't escape forever.
In the morning, Victor did NOT want to get up, though he was awake at 6. I told him to get up, laid out his clothes to dress himself & feed the cats while I showered. 20 min. later he was still in bed, not having moved a bit. Husband came home from PT while I was talking to him, so I left my instructions again, hauling him out of bed to ease his obedience w/ a great deal of laughing before setting off to prep breakfast. After getting Charlotte up from our room, & starting coffee, (Husband made breakfast, a delicious omelet to split from our ham yesterday, so I only had cleanup, he's so sweet.) Husband sees Victor is leaning on his bed, being silly, still not getting dressed. After a word from daddy, Victor obeys, but drags his feet to feeding the cats. After 5 min. of fiddling w/ the lid & scoop, he states that his arm muscle hurts & I assume pouting over feeding the cats. Unacceptable. We talk, the cats are fed & he eats, a bagal dipped in yogurt. (He hates eggs, & in a house where the 2 adults go through 2 dozen a week, it blows our minds a bit. It's incredible & edible right?)
He wants to play dancing games to old rock & roll like we had done last night, so we dance to about 5 songs before I go to nurse Charlotte. It gets very quiet & I go on a Victor hunt after laying her down. He is sleeping in the man cave next to the cat rear end up at 10 am. I wake him up to laugh at him & he laughs too for being silly then says his arm muscles hurt again & shivers. He's covered in goose bumps! My poor boy. I take his temp. & it's 102.5 under the arm, so I tell him to put his pajamas on & we have a Thomas marathon. After 2 of those, I offered to read him one of my Fantastic Firsts! He is always looking at the graphic novel posters at the library, so today I introduced him to the Fantatic 4. He decided he would rather be The Thing, for his super power.
I made a honey/ lemon juice/ crushed garlic/ dash of ginger for him to take whenever. He really enjoyed that, though the garlic definitly gets stronger the longer the day goes on. It is probably just the flu. We've not been anywhere that I can think of & won't go anywhere now. It was so beautiful today too. I'm pretty sure it's the flu & for his first time,he's handling it beautifully. Mom called yesterday to say that my niece has the flu fairly bad & Iwas so pleased to tell her that we've had another flu free year. Excepting Husband, he gets it every year about 2 weeks after receiving his mandatory flu shot. I've been nursing Charlotte extra all day too, though she's not too interested w/ her 2 teeth that are cutting. Guess we couldn't escape forever.
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