ER Visit

The last 24 hours have been pretty crazy. Let's just say I am glad we had the foresight to take a drive-by tour of our local Kaiser facilities earlier this week. I had a vague idea of where Kaiser ER was, and luckily my memory and sense of direction didn't fail me when I needed it the most last night.

It started Sunday morning with Adam not feeling great. His stomach felt unsettled and kind of achy for most of the day. By 4pm he was in a lot of pain. We both wondered if he had another kidney stone (He had one once around 6 years ago). He went upstairs to lay down, and not 5 minutes later texted me that we needed to go to the ER. His pain had gone from about a 2 to a 10 and he felt horrible. I loaded the boys in the car and was called my nephew to meet us at the ER and take the boys to his house.

They ran a bunch of tests and took x-rays. The x-ray showed nothing but there was blood in his urine, which most likely indicated kidney stones. Adam was feeling better from all the pain medication being pumped through his veins, so he was discharged around 9:30pm with a prescription for Vicodin. We picked up our sleepy boys from my sister's house and headed home. Adam took his medicine and we were asleep by 11.

One hour later Adam woke me up and pretty much told me he was dying. Sweating, throwing up, shaking uncontrollably.....his pain was really bad. I could tell he needed to go back to the hospital, but I had no idea how best to get him there. Call an ambulance? Wake up our sleeping boys and drag them to the ER? I called the advice nurse and she said Adam could double up on his dosage of Vicodin just this once. So he took the pills and waited, suffering through the pain and nausea. After 30 minutes had passed and the pain had only intensified, we packed up the boys and headed back to the ER at 1am. It felt like we were rushing to the hospital to have a baby, only our roles were reversed!

I dropped Adam off in front of the emergency room and parked with the boys. I was so conflicted. I wanted to be there with Adam to find out what was going on, but Ryan was asleep and Lucas was clearly unhappy about being woken up. Ryan woke up a few minutes later so I carried them in and waited in the ER waiting room.  Adam was able to text me for a while to keep me informed, but then his texts stopped. I was getting really uncomfortable and the boys couldn't sleep sitting up on my (non-existent) lap. So I went in search for Adam's room.

They were just wheeling Adam back from a CT scan. He was so full of drugs that he could barely stay awake. I tried to find a nurse to inquire about him, but got brushed off with "we're busy, hold on". Adam's room was too small for me to sit down with the boys, so I went in search for more seating. I have to say, the staff was pretty unhelpful. I couldn't find anybody to answer my questions. I was carrying a half-asleep boy on each hip, dropping things out of my purse. And it was like I was invisible. Strike 1 for Kaiser Roseville ER. This was the only point during the ordeal when I felt like I couldn't handle it. I just felt really helpless and frustrated. And of course tired. But then I found a small enclosed waiting room that was quiet, so I settled in there with the boys.

Adam's doctor found me and told me the scan had found a 2mm kidney stone heading towards his bladder. He said the worst pain was most likely over for Adam, so I was really relieved. After more waiting and more prescriptions, we finally got to go home just after 4am, 10 minutes after the boys finally fell asleep in my arms!

The boys were up this morning after about 3 or 4 hours of sleep, so I was too. It actually worked out well because I had to take the boys back to Kaiser for Lucas' asthma check (great!) and flu shots for the 3 of us (ouch!). Adam is still sleeping but has gotten up to take more pain medication. I'm so glad he's okay and that the worst is over. Hopefully no more trips to the hospital for the next two months!

Honeymoon Phase

It has been a great week here in our new house! We've been unpacking boxes, decorating walls and shelves, moving furniture, and organizing every drawer or cupboard in the house. We've also run a few errands and slowly but surely we are getting to know our way around our new town. Of course there is still a ton to do here in terms of unpacking and feeling settled. But right now it feels like we are in the honeymoon phase with our house and new area. Everything is still relatively clean at our house. Everything is new and organized. The town seems exciting and unexplored. New potential friends to meet, new parks to explore, new stores to shop at. Everything has that honeymoon sparkle.

I know that once Adam is back at work and the house gets messy and things start to break and get unorganized.....things won't seem quite so new and exciting. Life will return to normal and then get turned upside down again once the baby arrives. But right now I'm feeling really happy with our move. It's feeling like it was the right thing to do and I am excited to settle in and make this house really feel like home.

One other thing I'm really happy about is Ryan's eating habits since we moved. It seems like his caloric intake has literally doubled this past week. (I hope this doesn't wear off after the honeymoon phase is over!) I have no idea why his appetite has increased, but I am so happy to see my little guy eating lots of healthy foods!

Settling In

We made it! We moved to Rocklin on Saturday and spent the last couple days getting settled in. On Saturday we made the two hour drive with an extremely full 26-foot truck, my full car, and Adam's full truck, towing his mustang. Adam got the entire truck unpacked with the help of my Dad and brother-in-law. We got the essentials set up, like the beds and other basic furniture. The house was (and still is) an absolute mess!

The boys did surprisingly well our first night in the house. Ryan only got out of bed once in the middle of the night and Lucas stayed in his bed all night. Unfortunately I was up almost the entire night. It was a combination of too much on my mind and the loud thunderstorm going on outside!

On Sunday Adam and my Dad drove the UHaul truck back to Newark for another load. Apparently we have a lot of stuff! They were gone almost all day. So my Mom and I got to work unpacking and organizing the kitchen. Later in the morning we went grocery shopping with the boys to stock my pantry.

After lunch while Lucas napped I organized the boys' play room. I think they're going to have a lot of fun with this room!

The rest of Sunday was spent going for a bike ride around the neighborhood, dinner, and playing in the backyard. The boys met a 7-year old boy who lives behind us. They were talking through the fence and the boy asked Ryan and Lucas what kind of games they have. He asked if they have a Nintendo. Lucas said "Noooo!". He asked if we have a Wii. Lucas said "Noooo!". He asked about a few more video games before finally saying "Well what games DO you have??". Ryan replied and said "I have the board kind of games! Chutes and Ladders and Candyland!". I thought Ryan's answer was so cute! I love that he is still so young and innocent.

This morning my Dad and Adam finished up moving a few more heavy pieces of furniture, while my Mom distracted the boys so I could unpack their clothes. After my parents left to go home we returned the truck to UHaul and came home to meet our cable guy. We now have internet and cable! Adam mounted our TV on the wall and we were reminded of how much we had missed having a TV for a few days.

Lucas and I made a trip to Trader Joe's this afternoon while Adam hooked up the washer and dryer. My dirty laundry mountain is our of control! After dinner we rode bikes over to our local park.

It's been a very tiring few days but we are really happy to be settling in to our new house. We have a million boxes left to unpack and I'm pretty sure my hair brush is in the garage and my box of china is in the guest bathroom......but that's okay. I am happy to have 10 weeks to get used to this house before baby girl is born. With Ryan I only had 10 days to unpack before he was born. Crazy!

Roadblocks

We've had a couple roadblocks this week that set us back slightly. We are still moving this Saturday, although these disturbances have caused a little bit of extra stress with the move. Never a dull moment!

On Monday I was noticing that Lucas' wheezing was getting worse. I know from many years of experience with asthma myself, that it usually presents itself by a wheeze on the exhale. Every time Lucas exhaled I was hearing a strong wheeze. So I scheduled an appointment for that afternoon to get him checked by the doctor. I figured it would be a quick visit with a possible prescription for an inhaler, since Lucas has never had asthma before. The Doctor looked at his chest and noticed he was having retractions. He listened to his breathing and then told me Lucas was having an asthma attack. I was really surprised because an asthma attack seems much more serious than what Lucas seemed to have. He had been running around at home acting normal. The Dr. reminded me that asthma can go from mild to extremely serious in a very short amount of time. He then told me that Lucas would need to stay at the doctor's office or hospital unless his breathing improved quickly after treatment. I was worried, but thankful I had known to bring him in to get checked.

So I sat with Lucas while he did a 20-minute asthma breathing treatment. He pretty much thought it was torture, although I was able to distract him with stories and cars. After checking his oxygen levels and breathing a few more times, they decided he was breathing well enough to be released that day. But first he had to get an injection to bring down the inflammation in his airway. Then we had to go to the pharmacy to get 2 inhalers (which he will be on for twice a day for 3 weeks) and a liquid medicine to help with the inflammation. Hours later we were home! Lucas seems to be improving each day, although his wheezing starts up again if he is rough-housing too much with his brother. Plus, his inhaler acts as a steroid so it basically makes him even more hyper than usual. I am so glad my hyper Lucas is okay!

Then this morning I got a very frustrating call from UHaul. I reserved our moving truck with them a couple weeks ago. They called to inform me there were no trucks available in the size we need for this weekend. I was pretty upset. What was the point of making a reservation in advance? I told the girl we absolutely needed a truck, and that it was their responsibility to find us one. The nearest 26-foot truck was in Concord, a solid hour from our house. I requested they bring it to a closer location for us, but instead they offered to give us a discount if we picked it up. Plus we were able to get it today and have it for an extra day for free.

 

So I grudgingly told her we would do that. We had no other choice, since a few quick phone calls to other companies resulted in no other trucks available for this weekend. So we loaded up the boys and drove an hour to pick up the truck this morning. Of course when we got there they had no record of our discount on file, so I had to explain everything again. The guy tried to complain to me that the other UHaul location owed us a discount, and not them. By this point Lucas was having a full out tantrum in the UHaul lobby. So I told the man that none of this was our problem, and that I just wanted our truck and our discount. We got our discount, plus a 4th day for free. We headed back home with Adam driving the moving truck, and me driving Adam's truck with the boys in the backseat and a car trailer behind me. (We're trailing Adam's mustang to our new house).



It seems to be a blessing in disguise to have the moving truck early. There is a lot to load in to it! Plus we saved a little bit of money on the whole deal. And the boys are having a ton of fun playing inside the truck. Their little black feet are proof of that.

Life Update

I thought I'd do a little update on our life. It's kind of a crazy time right now for us!

Moving: Our plan is to move this Saturday. As in, just 5 short days away! I would estimate that I have at least half our house packed up. Even though I've been packing for over a month, there are so many things I haven't been able to pack because we're still using them. (Clothes, dishes, food). But this is the week to get serious and make it my full-time job to pack boxes. We spent the weekend finalizing our paint colors for the new house. (I hope I still love them once they are on the wall!) Our new house is kind of a mess of boxes everywhere, and our current house is also a mess. I hate it! Adam also spent the night up there painting the garage while I stayed here with the boys. I am excited to move but definitely sad about leaving the house we are in. Adam and I were talking about all the things we have done to this house to make it our home, and I finally just had to stop talking about it because it was making me too sad. I am sure we will make our new house our "home" in due time, though.

Pregnancy:

I will be 3/4 of the way through my pregnancy this week! I had my 29-week appointment last week but it was pretty uneventful. In summary, the baby is doing well and I am huge. This week I managed to both rip my underwear while trying to get them on, and trip and fall over a hotwheels car. I crashed down really hard on our hardwood floor, but landed on my side and knee instead of my tummy. Baby was moving around as usual so everything is fine. Up until now in my pregnancy I have felt tired every single day from about 1 to 3pm. I usually try to sit down for a few minutes and just relax, but immediately feel guilty and pop back up to get stuff done. But these past two weeks my urge to lay down seems to have turned into a need. One day I was sitting and playing a game with Ryan. Not physically exerting at all. But I was feeling so tired it was making me feel sick. So I turned on a video for Ryan, and promptly fell asleep. I put my head on my pillow and no less then two minutes later I was out. I can't remember that ever happening to me! So I'm trying to be really productive in the mornings when I have energy and then intentionally relaxing more in the afternoon when my body seems to shut down.

Family: Everyone keeps asks me how the boys are feeling about all these changes. My answer is usually that Lucas is too young to have a clue about what is happening. And Ryan knows what is about to happen, but doesn't fully understand it. He keeps saying that his friends will be moving with us, which is so cute but sad to hear! I think once he gets to spend more time with his cousins at our new house he will adjust pretty quickly.

Lucas is unfortunately sick right now, which is what I was dreading would happen right before our move. Both boys were congested last week. Ryan's turned into a short-lived cough. Now Lucas has the cough along with some wheezing. He is still running around acting like his usual crazy self, so he can't be feeling too sick. But the cough makes me worried at night so I am up a lot checking on him.

 

 

I think that's it for now! If I don't post much over the next week or so it's because we're busy packing and moving!

 

3rd Labor's a Charm

As my due date inches closer I have begun to realize that in order to have this baby, I have to first give birth! Ugggg. Obviously I've known this all along, but I don't go around thinking about labor much. It's just not something I like to relive in my head.

The first time around, I was scared out of my mind to experience childbirth. Mostly because I simply had no idea what to expect.  From start to finish (from first contraction to holding Ryan in my arms) my labor was 11 hours, and I opted to get an epidural. Recovery was horrible. You can read my birth story here.

The second time around was faster and much more intense. Going in to the labor I knew I wanted to try and prove to myself that I could do it drug-free. I am proud to say that I did. However I know I would have accepted an epidural if labor had lasted much longer! Total labor time was 5 hours. Birth story is here. The delivery was a bit rough but recovery was SO much better this time!

I have an idea of what I'd like my 3rd experience of childbirth to be like. Of course, there are so many unknowns when it comes to labor and delivery. But in a perfect world, this is what I'd like to see happen. First off, I want labor to be really short! If Ryan's lasted 11 and Lucas' lasted 5, I figure this one should last no more than 2-3 hours max, right? I would love to have a natural drug-free labor again. Not because I have anything to prove this time around, but because I think it helped with my recovery a lot last time. And finally, I want this baby to come out facing down! None of that sunny-side-up nonsense that happened last time. That was pure torture.

Obviously a healthy baby is all that matters, but a Mom can dream for the perfect delivery, right? If you had a 3rd child, what was the childbirth like? Was it faster than the first two? Share your story!

100 Days of Real Food Cookbook

My new cookbook finally came! I pre-ordered the 100 Days of Real Food book last month for my birthday and I was so excited when it arrived on my doorstep last week.

I know I have mentioned it before on this blog, but I love the website written by the author, 100 Days of Real Food. Her food philosophy just makes so much sense to me, especially because it closely resembles the kind of food I was raised on. Real, whole foods. What are they, exactly? Nothing highly processed. Nothing artificial. Whole wheat grains. Baked goods made with natural sources of sugar such as maple syrup or honey. Nothing lowfat (including dairy!). Organic when possible. Lots of fruits and vegetables. Organic meat and chicken. No packaged foods that contain ingredients you don't keep in your own pantry. In short, I believe real food is food the way God intended it to be.

The blog began when Lisa Leake decided to cut out all processed foods for her family. She chronicled their "real food" journey on her blog and went on to provide yummy recipes as well as lots of useful information for those of us trying to eat more real foods.

So I was incredibly excited to receive my very own real foods cookbook! It arrived right before we took two trips up to Rocklin, which meant 8 hours of sitting in the car. I took the opportunity to read through the entire book. The first half reads like an actual book, explaining what exactly "real food" is, and why it is best for our bodies. It also contains meal plans, tips for eating real foods on a budget, and how to introduce real foods to picky eaters. I found it all fascinating and very encouraging. The second half contains 100 wholesome recipes, including breakfasts, lunches, snacks, dinners, desserts, and made from scratch staples, such as whole wheat bread and tortillas. (homemade tortillas are SO good!)

The very first recipe in the book is for Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes. I had made this recipe a while ago when I first read it on the blog, but then forgot about it! So Ryan and I made them again this week. He actually ended up eating an entire pancake for breakfast (so much for him!) and Lucas ate two.

I honestly can't think of a recipe I have tried from her blog that I haven't loved. One thing I love about the new cookbook is how it makes the transition to real foods seem so manageable. Lisa really stresses that a few steps in the right direction is much better than doing nothing. So buying organic versions of your family's favorite produce is a great step. (For example, we can't afford organic everything, but the things my boys do eat, such as apples, ground beef and whole milk, I always buy organic). Or baking with half whole-wheat, half white flour is a great way to ease into fully whole wheat baked goods. You don't have to completely overhaul your family's way of eating overnight. But a few baby steps can really add up.

Here are a few things I have noticed since adding more "real foods" into our diet.

-Organic food is more expensive. There is no way around that. But one way to offset the increased cost is to buy less packaged foods. Spending a few more dollars on organic milk and meat may make me cringe at first, but if I forgo the boxed cereal and chips and instead make them at home, the cost evens out.

-Real food tastes better and is more satisfying! Have you ever eaten homemade whole wheat tortillas or bread? They are so so good. Even if you don't have the time or desire to make them at home, you can find some decent options in stores or farmer's markets. For example, I recently bought a loaf of bread at the farmer's market that contains the following 5 ingredients: 100% freshly stone ground whole wheat berries, water, honey, yeast, sea salt. I can promise you this bread is more filling and 100% more delicious than any store-bought bread with 20+ ingredients. (Especially with some real butter on top!)

-Planning ahead and utilizing the freezer for leftovers is key. Making more foods from scratch takes time. So if I'm making a batch of something, I always freeze the extras. Making those whole wheat waffles the other day took about 20-30 minutes total, but we've already eaten two more waffle breakfasts from the leftovers in our freezer.

-Some effort is better than none. Our kitchen will likely never be completely free of processed food. It's just not realistic for our life. But I feel good about the few small changes I have made, such as buying more organic, making more things from scratch, and feeding my boys very little sugar and white carbs.

 Here are a few new recipes from the cookbook that I am anxious to try:

Slow-Cooker Flank Steak Fajitas

Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole



 

Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce

Homemade Dried Onion Soup Mix

Cinnamon Apple Chips

 

Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Receiving this cookbook couldn't have come at a more perfect time for me. Because we are moving in two weeks, we have been eating down our freezer and pantry. Once we move and I re-stock all of our food, I want to make an effort to replace our food supply with healthier more "real" options. It's an opportunity for us to start fresh. If the processed junk isn't in our house, then the boys can't eat it. Wish me luck!

And definitely check out the 100 Days of Real Food website for lots of information about eating real, whole foods.

Sweet Gesture

Ryan picked a flower for me the other day. It was such a sweet gesture from him that I had to take a picture to capture the moment! It's not that Ryan isn't a sweet boy. But most of the time he is in his own little 4-yr-old boy world. And more and more lately he is telling me that he'd rather play with Daddy because Mommy isn't fun. What can I say? I'm the one who disciplines him all day long. I guess I'm not that fun! So I'm trying to really cherish the rare sweet moments between us. And encourage him that flowers are always a nice present for a special girl (or Mommy) in his life.

Lists and Decisions

I am a big list maker. I figure the more things I can write down on paper, the less I have to try and remember. And these days, with our move right around the corner and a baby on the way.....well I have a lot of lists! I carry a notebook around that I usually use for my meal planning and grocery list. Right now I've got pages and pages of lists going on inside of it.

A list of utilities and bills to switch once we move. A general "to do" list of things that need to be done at our house before we move. A list of things to buy for the new baby. (I was surprised at how much we need for our 3rd child! Many things we own are too "boy" or just plain broken or worn out from two boys). A list of freezer food to eat before we move. A list of things to buy for the new house. A list of birthday and Christmas shopping I'd like to get done before the baby arrives. A list of potential baby names. I'm getting tired of lists!

But what starts to overwhelm me are all the decisions that go along with those lists. Do we switch our internet provider to a potentially more affordable option? Do we choose the baby name we love that doesn't necessarily sound great with out last name? Do we paint the family room walls gray and do an accent wall? Do we rent the moving truck with the lift gate that costs more money? Do we need to buy a ceiling fan for our new play room? Do I continue my prenatal care with a midwife or switch to a doctor once we move? And on and on and on!

Thankfully all of these decisions are good ones. They are all based on some big and exciting changes going on in our lives. And none of them are that important or lift-altering. Despite the stress of our lives right now we are incredibly blessed.

But if you see me out and about and I seem distracted or spacey, it's because I have a million thoughts and lists and decisions running through my head. That's probably why I lost my keys and debit card today while out with the boys. (Both were found!)