Hi all,
Sorry I've been out of touch for a few days. Sunday night I had to be taken to the emergency room and was admitted to the hospital Monday morning. At the time I thought I was having a heart attack. Not fun!! They ran a ton of tests (stress tests, EKGs, heart ultrasound, blood work) and determined there is nothing wrong with my heart. Praise God for that! They think it was just a reaction to all the stress. Hmmm, could be! I've certainly had my share of stress lately! They sent me home and gave me a prescription for blood pressure medication, even tho' my blood pressure wasn't high. I'm going to discuss that with my regular doctor before taking anything. Since we use the base medical facilities, but they don't have a hospital, I can't see my regular doctor in the hospital. Anyway, I'm feeling much better now. My mom came over to help with the kids and is staying until my husband gets home from Texas on the 16th, so I'll have someone here to help me all the time now. We're praying the house will sell before the 16th or soon afterwards so we can all go back to Texas together. My husband flies in on the 16th and leaves on January 2, unless the sale of the house changes his plans. No matter what, we'll be together for Christmas, which is something we're all looking forward to.

Lori! Good Grief girl!!!!!!! I'm so sorry you've had to go through that! You must have been scared senseless!!!! I'm soooo glad you're better. You're husband must be beside himself with worry, I know I'm worried for you!

Okay, I'm doubling up on my prayers for your house to SELL so you and your family can be together again.

Please, don't worry about school right now, you need an early Christmas break. And praise God for your mother. (Tell her I said so!)

Please post when you can so we can be updated on your situation.

Lori, Just noticed the latest news I'm so sorry!

I did here recently of a similar story theat the docs said was because stress particularly from the wife being away from her dh and having to carry a big load with the household ad several kids.

Please, Please take care, And PTL for your mom.

Love, Jacinda

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers and concern. Yes, it was very scary! I thought I was handling the stress pretty well, but I guess I was just holding it all in and not reacting outwardly so something had to give. I've been getting a lot of rest since I came home, and I'm going to start my evening walks with my daughter again. She's been wanting to do that anyway but I just haven't taken the time. I think that will be a good stress reliever, both the exercise and the mother/daughter time.

My niece came over from Orlando to visit last night. She was going to spend the night but decided to head back last night instead. She was here all afternoon, though, and we all enjoyed visiting with her. She's the same age as my son (they were born 3 weeks apart) and they have always been very good friends, and now that they're all getting older my girls really enjoy spending time with her, too. She came over to watch the shuttle launch and took my girls with her, but it was scrubbed so they didn't get to see it. But they still had a great time together, and my mom & I really enjoyed visiting with her, too.

Sorry I ended that kind of abruptly. Someone pulled up in front of my house and I thought it was a realtor. It was just the public works department, though, delivering new trash cans.

Anyway, I'm really working on relaxing more and not letting the stress get to me. With my mom here it's a lot easier to do that. I can take a break when I need to without feeling like everything is going to fall apart. Other than the girls' co-op classes we are on break from school until after the holidays. I was planning to go thru next week, but we'll make up the time later on. For now I'm not going to worry about it.

I'll keep you all posted on how things progress. We're really praying for a sale within the next week. We have a showing Sunday afternoon, and I have high hopes for that one! I'll let you know how things go.

I haven't felt well this evening. Not as bad as the other night, but still not great. When I was in the hospital, after they checked out my heart and decided it was okay, one of the doctors told me the symptoms I had could also be caused by a stomach problem. At the time my stomach felt fine, but this evening it hasn't. I've had some of the same pressure and burning in my chest, too. I took some antacid tablets and that helped some, but I think I'm going to have to pursue this with my doctor. I don't want to keep having these episodes every few days!

Tomorrow we have another showing. Hopefully I'll feel better then so I can get the house ready. My mom is still here to help, so that's really good.

Lori, take care of yourself!

***WARNING...PITY PARTY ALERT***

(Sigh) So.... Husband is in San Antonio at the Sigma/Texas Scales Christmas Party and I'm here with my children
eating beans and cornbread
and trying to clean this house,
stepping over toys
and breaking up squabbles,
changing diapers,
soothing sore teething gums,
listening to one getting frustraited at the piano over missed notes on the Christmas hymn,
listening to another stumbling through Luke 2 memorization,
somewhat nervously waiting for 18yo to arrive home from a three hour car trip....

Anyway Husband just called to tell me what he had for dinner. It sure wasn't beans and cornbread. AND he is going to some riverwalk downtown with the rest of the company. He says he misses me. I wish he could get an early flight home.

I'm still in my pajamas from last night. My dirty t-shirt is still wet from the bath I gave the 3yo....

I'll have to finish later. Baby needs me

Sorry, You both are really going through a hard time.
Lori, I hope your symptoms lead you / and the docs to a solution, as until you are moved to be with your dh the stress is just gonna be there
Quiver, Seems we all have those days you describe but I just wonder if they have a larger purpose in our lives? other than to make us wonder if we'll break and give up / go a bit nutty or who knows? If you can get out of bed the next morning and start over it probably is a short lived valley right, so look forward to the higher ground it's coming sooner than you think. Just hope I can remember this sage advise when my time comes.

I will be having my wisdom teeth out soon it looks like 21 of Dec. I don't mind it being so near christmas as we don't have a lot planned but to just spend time together It actually might work out that dh will be more well rested and intune with us over christmas as he could take FMLA time off right into his paid holiday break just loosing $$$$ Oh, well.

I'm more concerned about the baby as she has to learn to like a bottle and cereal in less than two weeks as the dentist really encouraged me to take more than a local, his words " These teeth aren't gonna come real easy! " So that looks promising
I also don't have sitting promised to me yet. My babysitter and I have hardly spoke since Thanksgiving Don't understand why she hasn't called me much. I think she's been going on some of her dh's trucking trips and she's not been home regularly. I'm trying to get a hold of her early in the week to see if the timing will be good for her.
Also we will be traveling about a half hour away after leaving the kids at around 6:30 am! They never have to be out of the house at that hour! much less awake! Lina and Sophia will be the easy ones cause we can just scoop them up and go but the boys will probably be a challenge! So it will be an early, early day for us! things like this just can't be expected to be convenient.

Great news though with our HS. I am learning a little HS coping technique. I have been sitting down every few days and typing what we have done and making tenitive plans to what direction we will go with each area and just building onto the HS portfolio anything and everything I can. Been very surprised at ALL we do accomplish. Then dear sons have been surprising me with stuff they know but I hadn't really seen show of them understanding until we slowed things down a bit this weekend and they just wanted to talk. Boy have they talked and shared all sorts of neat stuff that's going on in their minds

BTW Something kinda scary and weird happened this weekend that got my dh to take some spiritual matters more seriously! I'm so glad it looks as he is gonna take more leadership/ make better choices ..... not that things are terrible here but they have been "stale" for sometime. I think blocked by some disobedience to the Lord and some issues that dh and I disagree about. So I'm looking forward to the changes that should come.

Dh had an interview that went well but he has to be called back for a second one before we can get too excited. It seems to be a good company willing to do some training the starting pay isn't as low as most places and it is only 15 minutes away! So we are really hoping.

I guess that's about all that is news worthy around here.

Take care ladies!

Jacinda

Jacinda,
Good luck with the wisdom teeth! I agree with your doc, you really do need to be able to take pain meds afterwards. I had mine done several years ago, and then my older two kids have had theirs done since then. The oral surgeon has come to recognize me when I walk thru the door It wasn't a really big deal, and in fact I had put it off for years thinking it would be horrible. It wasn't, and I'm glad I did it, but I did need the pain meds for a day or two. Plan to sleep a LOT, especially the day you have it done. I basically do not remember that day at all, other than a very few moments. It's very strange to get up on a Saturday morning and not be able to remember anything more recent than Thursday night!

Quiver, I hope things improve for you soon!! Those kinds of emotions can be SO hard to handle! Don't pull my trick and stress yourself into a hospital bed. Believe me, that is not a fun way to go!! Come here and vent any time you need to. And remember we are keeping you in our prayers.

As for me, I had a very rough night last night. I got everyone to bed around 10 PM, but I could not rest. I guess it was heartburn and indigestion. Sometimes the nausea got pretty bad, then would go away. But if I tried to lay down to sleep it came back really fast. I ended up taking more antacids around midnight, then moved to the couch around 1 AM. If I propped up on pillows I was able to rest a little. I think I finally dozed off around 5 AM and slept until my alarm went off at 6:45. Needless to say, I'm pretty tired today. I'm hoping my mom will be up in time to take the girls to Sunday School for me. Otherwise I'll take them and drop them off, but then plan to come back home and rest as much as I can. Whatever this is, it seems to get worse at night, so I think I need to rest during the day until I can get my night sleep more settled. I remembered last night that while I was in the hospital, they were giving me something for my stomach. I haven't had that now since Wednesday, and last night was the worst night yet. So hopefully I can get in with my doctor this week and maybe get back on whatever that was. I'm not going to take the other meds (for hypertension) until I talk to my doc, since I'm not sure if that and the stomach meds can be taken together, and I'm really not sure I want to take that many different drugs if I really don't have to. I'll call the doc tomorrow and should be able to get an appointment this week.

A web site that I really thought could be a de cent choice for materials to teach Safety issues.https://www.thesafeside.com/

I'm hoping my library will consider investing in the DVD set.

Has anyone had good success influencing your library to purchase suggested materials?

Everyone's been so quiet!! I guess you're all busy getting ready for Christmas. My big news is my hubby will be home in two more days! His plane gets in on Saturday afternoon around 2 PM, then he's getting a rental car, so he should be at our house around 4 PM. We are all very excited! We haven't seen him for 7 (very long) weeks, and now we'll have two weeks to spend together.

My mom has been here visiting since the 4th. She came over to help with things when I went into the hospital and decided to stay until hubby gets home. She's leaving early Sunday morning.

I hope everyone is enjoying holiday preparations. This year is kind of "off" for us with the house on the market and all, but we did finally get a Christmas tree put up and the girls are going to decorate it tonight.

Hi LOri Thanks for sharing it is good to hear your happiness.

I'm coming out of a little down time.
Spent so much time trying to work out details of my surgery. Financially still doesn't look so good. I also had a few opportunities to be helpful to others and I guess I've worn myself down.
I'm on the up side though and expect tomorrow to be better.

Lina has been running me ragged! She learnt to open the fridge and to add that to the already long list of her daily "things to do" Ahhh, she keeps me busy :^) She discovered how butter can help yu skate on the kitchen floor. What fun a two year old is allowed to have. I need to have better humor about it all.

Hoping my dh can be home again this weekend to finish getting ready for the time I will be getting better from the surgery set for Dec. 21 early morning 7:30 am. I can hardly think of anything else. So much to prepare for so little time.

Take Care Ladies ENjoy Your Families

My hubby is home!!! I wasn't expecting him until 4:00 but when I came home from the store at 2:45 he was already here! We're really looking forward to having a couple of weeks to spend together.

Yay Lori!! What a treat to have him early!
My Husband is home until Wednesday, when he goes for a day trip to Dallas, THEN home until after Christmas!!

I have a prayer request.
The Duggars are undergoing some difficult circumstances right now and could use prayer. Everyone is healthy and the forming baby is fine but being as visible as they are, they are easy targets for various forms of persecution. Sorry I have to be so vague...

Jacinda, I think I've missed something or forgotten... What surgery? How can we pray for you?

**edit**
Oh, Wisdom teeth! Gee, your dentist is encouraging...
I had my top two wisdom teeth out last year right before I conceived baby #8-- Hey, maybe that was a side effect??!! (Ha, Ha!)
Really, my recovery was fairly simple; I just slept the rest of the day and took it easy for a few days! I didn't need pain meds either. It really wasn't bad but mine weren't very involved, even for being 41 years old (or is that an Old Wives' Tale?) and I just had it done in the dentist's office. Now I still need my lower teeth out but that will take an oral surgeon...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: quiverofeight,

I have my doctor appointment today to follow up on my hospital visit. After last Sunday (when I had the stomach problems) I started taking a daily medication that my mom recommended. It helped my stomach, but made me really sleepy! At first she had me take it twice a day, but after two days of that I cut back to once a day and only at night. I slept like a rock, but even during the day I've been really groggy and feel kind of out of it. I don't like that feeling! Since I have to drive myself to my appointment today I didn't take the meds last night, but I'm still feeling kind of woozy this morning. If it isn't better by lunch time I may get my son to drive me down there this afternoon. It's actually okay once I'm up, but if I get up too fast, the room spins! So I'll be discussing that with the doc, too. I got copies of my hospital records to take with me, just in case the insurance hasn't gotten them to him yet, so he'll know what I took there and what the test results were (and maybe he can help me interpret some of them). Hopefully we'll get this worked out where I can feel better without having to feel sleepy all the time.

Today is also the day we choose the options for our new house! Obviously I'm not in Texas to do that, but my sister is. She's going to have me on the phone while she's at that appointment and we'll just talk thru everything. She and I have very similar tastes in decorating so I think it will work out well. I just may have some surprises when I see my new house for the first time. But that's okay, surprises are fun! I'm trying to focus on that and not get discouraged about this house not selling yet, but it's hard to do sometimes.

Are you all taking a holiday break? Or are you still doing school for a while longer? I think our public schools here go thru Wednesday. My girls finished co-op last Thursday so we've put the books away until January 8, after my hubby goes back to Texas.

Hi Lori
Sorry you have had little positive feedback from all the people that have been through your house!
There must be some good purpose for it ;^)

Quiver,
I guess I've been more concerned for Mike and the kids the baby the most of course. My sitter kinda seems non committal about wanting to take the kids even for the morning of the surgery ???? I don't understand. But if just Lina and Tim can be over there for the three hours we need to get the surgery done that would help Mike so much! Beyond that I'm sure we'll just muttle through. I was trying to will myself to do a whole bunch of prep for the down days but you know I can't seem to get the energy for it.

Got some feedback about bfing baby and sounds okay to bf her after I pump out some milk/ and throw away so she won't get anything in her system. She has been gobbling up the portion of cereal I give her each night and I'm gonna move on to cooked yam my babies all time favorite for beginning foods.
I'm trying to be wise and slowly limit certain food items sugar and wht flour so I don't totally have a "carb break down" from the semi fast I'll have to be on for surgery. I'm enjoying extra veggies and juices. Also I hope to not need the antibiotics and just take extra garlic and other natural antibiotics.

So we are just gonna cocoon here for the holidays and hope we come out refreshed and better than ever by the time dad goes back to work.

Still hoping for a second interview for him after the first.

Have a great holiday.

Jacinda,
still thinking of you! Sounds like you're doing all the right things to prepare.
Lori, Hope you're enjoying having your husband with you. I am sooooo ready for your house to sell!!
My Husband is in Dallas this morning but will drive back tonight.

Our Christmas preparations are coming well. The girls have all memorized their scripture; I'm still waiting on the boys!

The house is decorated and I'm working on baking today. I'm trying a new recipe; Molten Chocolate Cakes. Has anyone tried this? It doesn't look too hard and sound sooooo yummy!

Christmas Dinner is Friday but the cake is our Jesus Birthday Cake.

Sorry about the rambling....I'm a bit distracted but just wanted to check in!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

I took the children to our old church and with a digital camera got a few pictures.

Here's another...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: quiverofeight,

Jacinda,
How are you? Did everything go okay? Let us know about you!