I found a white faced heron hunting in the back corner of my paddock the other day – we have a swampy area that the ducks haven’t yet discovered. It’s filled with wrigglers, bugs and all kinds of delicious things for a heron. Obviously.
Author: Veronica
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A Migraine and a 14mth old do not mix.
This first guest post is brought to you by the lovely Megan, who writes at College and a Novel. Make sure you give her some comment love, mmmmkay?
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I am a nanny for a great 14 month old. She is smart and happy and plays a lot, she loves to organize and reorganizes her parent’s pantry and of course she likes to make noise lots and lots of noise. I watch her three to four days a week depending on the week. Last week I only watched her for three but I have to say it was the hardest week ever and only because of Tuesday.
The day started normal and fine. Breakfast she ate, watched her TV, she only watches during breakfast and her DVD that we watch twice a day to teach her to read and help her to speak more, and was playing no problem. Lunch again not a problem except that I could see she was exhausted you know rubbing her eye getting food all over her face and making a general mess, but I knew there was no way she was going to make it through her bath before a nap, yes she takes her bath after lunch and no I don’t know why. So a bath was out until after her nap so I got as much food off of her, took her upstairs and to put her down. Okay so she normally takes a 3 hour nap or at least 2 hour 30 min nap and I depending on the day either do some stuff around the house check things on FB or watch TV and every once in a while when watching TV I will fall asleep.
Today was one of those days except I fell asleep towards the end of her nap and did I mention she teething, add in the construction noise from the house being built next door and my what would have been an hour nap turned into a ten minute nap. Now I get migraines and they are tied to the weather, it happens to be the middle of summer here in Texas and well pollen is out in force. So after a ten minute nap I wake to a screaming baby and I feel dizzy.
At first I just sit there and give her a minute or so to see if she will go back to sleep because I know she had only been asleep for 2 hours and has another hour in her. Well of course she does not and I have to get up. I go get her, change her, and let her play. Knowing that she still needs her bath I go start it by now my head is pounding, it felt like a hammer was hitting my left temple every second and it would intensify every time she screamed which was a lot, and I still felt dizzy and was beginning to get sick to my stomach all signs of a migraine. I gave her a bath in a good five minutes because the water and kneeling did not make anything better it felt like I just put her in and took her even though I went through her whole very intense bath routine, she has dry skin. Out the bath and it was only 4:30 I had been there since 8am and was there until 8pm. We moved downstairs.
She did not get quieter and my head got worse, by dinner time at 6 with two hours to go I was ready to give up and go to sleep, but it’s not my child I can’t lock her in her crib while I sleep, besides all she would do if I did that was scream, I remembered that I had Advil with me and got mad for not remembering earlier, I had looked to see what they had but when it was an uncoated pain killer I knew I couldn’t take that because yes I’m weird and can only take my BC was pill and Advil which is coated I hate taking medicine and then suck at it anyway. Well I took the Advil while she was eating and a half hour later it was better but still not really livable. I spent the rest of my time there walking around to keep myself from passing out in exhaustion and pain.
Finally her mom got home; I went home and went straight to bed. I hate getting migraines and although this was not the worst I’ve had pain wise it was the worst because of where I was. I now try my best to stay awake and keep my Advil close because this was not fun and I DO NOT want to have to do it again.
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It’s like being hit by a load of bricks and then run over by a car.
Yesterday, we had a Paeds appointment for Isaac. Nothing major, just a touch base kind of thing.
However.
The kids woke up at 9.30am, 40 minutes before we needed to walk out of our door.
Okay, we can do this I thought, as I bustled around getting ready for a quick shower – only, when I turned on the water, nothing happened.
Our pipes – were frozen solid.
A fortnight or so ago, to prevent the pipes from freezing again, I’d asked Nathan to wrap insulation around the pipes to protect them. He grumbled, but he did it. Unfortunately, it had gotten so cold that everything had frozen despite it.
I wavered between going to the appointment, or cancelling at the last minute and decided that even without showers, we really needed to touch base. So a quick baby wipe bath later (ugh!) and a frantic dash to get the kids ready, we were on our way.
Only to run into every. single. set. of roadworks between here and the city.
By the time we were reaching the outskirts of Hobart, I was getting very ill and preparing to vomit into a book depository envelope. I opened the windows wide, let in the freezing air, took 2 pramin and hoped I wouldn’t have to throw up.
We parked, just as my nausea abated and I got the shakes. I know once I start to rattle (normally hard enough to make my bedding fall off me if I’m at home) that I’m not going to vomit. Power walking to the hospital, 20 minutes late, I’m not sure what Isaac thought was happening as I held him tightly and shook around everything.
Unfortunately, once I’ve gone through the nausea/feel better/shakes thing, the next step on the agenda is bone crippling exhaustion.
I was a mess.
We made it through the appointment, however, the drive home was less than fun as I huddled in a small ball in my seat, shaking with exhaustion and wishing I could just teleport home, instead of having to put up with 50 minutes worth of driving + stops for petrol and stuff.
Ugh.
There are huge gaps in my memory of the drive and that’s probably the best thing.
Once home, I collapsed into bed with my feet propped up on pillows (the nausea was likely a huge blood pressure dip) and fell asleep, despite Isaac tucked under my chin and trying to poke my eyes out. I was just that exhausted. It hit me like a ton of bricks.
2 hours later, I woke up, still exhausted and dragged myself out of bed. Nathan had cleaned the house and was in the middle of making dinner. Yay Nathan!
Today, I feel much better – it’s sunny outside which helps and I slept for 8 hours straight.
However, I know the exhaustion is lurking still. The Cymbalta, while working amazingly for anxiety, made me rather manic. Which means I used up all my energy for the next month, rushing around like a mad person, getting things done.
I’ve stopped the cymbalta now (god, I feel like a see saw, I write a post saying ‘It works! It’s brilliant!’ and then another going ‘Ugh, side effects, sort of giving me the shits’ and then another saying ‘I’ve stopped the drug, the side effects were making me sicker than the original thing we were treating’. My body – not fantastic at dealing with meds) and I think yesterday was part of the backlash of stopping.
At the very least, I’ve stopped being so nauseous all the time – instead it just comes in big waves like normal, my skin is clearing up – it just needs to heal a little faster, and my anxiety, well, I can deal with that on my own, better than I can cope without orgasms and food.
So yeah, the Cymbalta trial ended sort of badly. Heh.
Also, seeing as how my exhaustion is just sort of sitting under the surface ready to come back, I’m going to be doing some reposts of my older stuff that you might not have seen. I promise it will be funny stuff at least. Also, if anyone wants to put their hand up and guest post, I’ll accept guest posts too.
It’s like a Sleepless Nights holiday, only not really.
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Online shopping, Ozsale and win one of two $50 vouchers!
We all know that because of my EDS, I find in-store shopping absolutely exhausting. Therefore, I try and do as much shopping online as possible, as exhibited by the fact I’ve not needed to walk into a book shop for months.
So when Ozsale emailed me and asked me if I’d like to try out their online shop, and included $50 credit to get me started, I agreed readily. You see, Ozsale do designer wear at cheap (amazingly so) prices – cheap enough to make me spend money in any case!
Plus, with the 2 kids at home, I barely get into the cheap department stores to pick up clothes for the kids, so being able to shop from home makes things amazingly simple.
I had a look around the site and found it really easy to navigate (huge plus in my book) with the current sales running. Also, once I signed up as a member – which I had to do to get access to the shops – I was getting emails letting me know about new sales.
I had a ball, buying some pretty notebooks for me – we all know I have a major book and stationery fetish, some pretty pyjamas for the kids and a tracksuit set and some t-shirts also for the kids. Minus the shipping, I spent barely over $50 and got lots.
Of course, I’ve spent a lot of time lusting over the gorgeous designer boots, but sadly, I can’t afford them, even if they are reduced drastically. My budget can’t quite stretch to $200 for $1000 boots – even if they are lucious.
On top of giving me $50 credit and letting me run wild on their website, Ozsale has offered me TWO $50 vouchers to give away to my Australian readers.
So, to win a $50 voucher tell me:
What do you find hardest/easiest about shopping for kids?
One comment per person, comment to enter.
Tweet about this giveaway (and include @sleeplessnights so I can track the tweets) to gain an extra entry, but this is not necessary to win.
Winners will be chosen using random.org and the competition will close on the 24th of July at midnight AEST. Competition is sadly, only open to Australian residents.
I would LOVE to give away these vouchers, simply because I had so much fun spending mine.
AND THE WINNERS ARE!!
Congratulations Kristy and TwitchyFingers! I’ll be emailing you shortly.
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Cymbalta, Ehlers Danlos and Teething.
This morning when I woke up and discovered that my skin was still looking godawful and I looked terrible, I thought that maybe I’d just hide in a bed somewhere warm for the day. Of course, life with kids never works out quite that way and while I did manage 30 minutes in bed before lunch with a book, I had Isaac snuggled under my chin and Amy curled up in the small of my back, eating an orange and dripping juice everywhere.
I think part of my roller coaster of manic energy/total exhaustion has been due to my new tablets. The cymbalta have been fantastic for my anxiety since I got over the hurdle of the first week – in which I spent the days feeling stoned out of my mind, not sleeping and hurting all over – however, they do have some drawbacks.
My appetite has been killed dead. Now that wouldn’t be so bad, if I didn’t get sick so fast. Without eating, my body forgets all the things it’s meant to be doing, like healing and not producing giant bruises and spectacular pimples. Cups of tea, sadly, while I could keep them down, weren’t doing anything for my health, because it’s all I was ingesting. I’m making a giant effort to at least drink milk and eat lots of fruit and while I’m still taking anti-nausea pills like they’re going out of fashion, I’ve not retched today and I have managed to eat. Not a lot, but I ate.
The cymbalta also make me incredibly restless. I was hoping they’d make me a little drowsy, so I could take them before bed, but a few nights of not sleeping convinced me that that’s not how they were going to work. I’m having trouble sitting still to do anything, finding myself wandering away mid sentence in a book, or drifting towards the fire a few lines into a blog post. The children think this is great and follow me around the house, hoping that I’ll dole out chocolate instead of setting out to make a proper lunch. I’ve not done it yet, but they’re forever hopeful.
On the upside, like I mentioned above, they’ve been fantastic for my panic attacks and so so good for the neuropathic pain episodes and despite the first week of insomnia, I am sleeping well enough at night, once I can finally switch off. Surely 6 good heavy hours of sleep is better than 8 broken hours. Right?
In other news, Isaac is teething, with 3 molars making their way through at the moment. While he’s not waking at night – he’s a better sleeper than Amy, still! (who is waking at night, regularly) – he is completely miserable during the day, clinging and whining a lot. It’s draining on me, as I’m falling apart a little and he wants to to snuggle on my chest, while I stand up and rock him. Sitting down = unacceptable. He will allow me to sit on the fit ball, but my proprioception is so terrible that I am certain it’s only sheer luck we haven’t fallen off it yet. At this point, with him clingy and completely napless, I would KILL for a rocking chair. It’s on my wish list of things I’ll never have. Like a dishwasher, a maid and spare time.
He was happy today to see my mother and even happier to wander around outside with us for a while, although he had a tantrum of epic proportions when we came back inside because I couldn’t stand any longer. He can do a brilliant tantrum, with the face down screaming and kicking. I’m sure it will be amusing until the first time he does it in public.
Amy was also thrilled to be wandering around outside with her grandmother and her mother, even happier when Mum found two duck eggs, laid early this morning. (They definitely weren’t there yesterday evening when I did the rounds) At this point, we’ve got 5 ducks and a drake, 6 chooks and a rooster and we’re getting two hens eggs a day. I’m going to steal some of the ducks eggs, just long enough to get us into spring, so that I won’t be worrying about the ducks (and hens) raising babies in the bitter cold. When they start to sit, I’ll keep you updated.
I’m hanging on Spring and the warmer weather, dying to get things growing properly in my garden and to be eating something (other than eggs) that I’ve had a hand in producing. Not to mention how much better my EDS feels when I’m not frozen solid and I’m able to sit in the sunshine, without the wind stripping the flesh from my bones. Come on warmth.
