Antibiotics???

Ok, I am a real freak about giving my child antibiotics. I hate to do it. I love good bacteria and I DO NOT like to kill it. I am constantly finding ways to innoculate our family with the friendly little guys from raw milk to kiefer (a yogurt-like substance) to kombucha tea. Needless to say, I was thrilled when the doc in the ER in Missouri looked at the cut on Ellie's head and declared it to be "clean" and that she "wouldn't need any antibiotics". It made me proud (in a weird way) and happy that we were swimming in a chlorinated pool.

The doc ALSO said that if it turned red, drained or opened, to take her back in to get it looked at. Well, after a few days, the wounded area started swelling up and she had quite a lump under the tape strips. I figured it was just normal swelling and the damaged tissues were just repairing themselves. After a week, it started leaking and she had a small stream running over her eyebrow. To me, it looked like it just needed to drain. As it drained, the swelling from the past few days was going down. She didn't have a fever, nor was it draining any funky stuff, but I took her to a Quick Care anyhow because I was told to (and they actually ARE quick). The doctor swabbed her to have it tested and gave me a prescription for, you guessed it... antibiotics. Yep, the arch enemy of everything I work to build up in her system. So, for fear of DCFS (and the infection was close to a pretty important organ), I went to fill the prescription for FREE! That's right, Meijer has a Free Antibiotics program (which just goes to show how overused they are). I've realized, too, that they make children's antibiotics waaaaay to tasty. Ellie got so excited when it was time to get her medicine, that all of the other kids were begging me to let them jump off rocks and cut their heads open too. Being the paranoid mom that I am, we would rotate the antibiotic doses (morning and night) with probiotic doses (midday and midnight... just kidding on the midnight thing). After day three of juggling meds and dealing with the mental anguish of destroying my daughters internal ecosystem, the doc called with the results of her swabbing and casually says, "there's no infection, just normal flora".... Ugh.

Our first trip to the ER!!

Not even 2 hours into visiting with family at the reunion, we had to leave for the nearest hospital. The kids had just eaten lunch and were out swimming with everyone in the resort pool. The kiddie pool is lined with square-cut rocks around the edges with a rock island in the middle (what brainiac thought of that one???). I missed out on the action, but the way I heard it was that the kids were jumping off the island in the middle of the pool and as Ellie jumped, she smacked her head on one of the rocks. Next thing I know, Paul comes rushing into the room with Ellie in his arms for me to look at...

...And off we go to the ER for stitches. It was a deep cut, but thankfully it was clean and straight, so they could just use "superglue" to paste her back together. What I've alway heard about the ER is true... they are incredibly sloooow. Being that it was our first trip as a family and a first for myself too, I found their methods quite interesting. For instance, the nurse took us in right away to evaluate the wound, but what I didn't know was that they were really evaluating whether or not she'd be able to sit in their carpeted office without bleeding all over the floor while they took our insurance information. As I'm sitting in the office with Ellie on my lap (wet from swimming and holding napkins on her head to stop the bleeding) I thought, "Wow, what if you came in with your guts hanging out? Would they get your insurance info before or after they worked on you?" Perplexed, I asked the lady at the desk and she assured me they wouldn't let you die in the office. They would work on you first (if they had to). Finally they took us into the real Emergency Room and glued her back together. Topped with a few strips of tape, she looked almost as good as new. The lucky girl got her fill of treats after the whole ordeal. The first thing Ellie did when she got back was to tell Grace about her ice cream, sucker and gum. Gracie came to me and said, "next time when I cut my head and have to go, then I can get ice cream and stuff too, right?" "Yep, that's right Grace."

Family Reunion 09

The Lehmkuhl family is Connie's (Paul's mom's) side of the family. We have a reunion every 3 years (or every other year... I can't remember). This year it was in Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. We were able to stay at Paul's parent's lakehouse which was just around the bend (by boat) from the resort where most everyone was staying.

We were busy riding the waverunners, going out in Grandpa's boat and visiting the family, but did manage to squeeze in a trip to the ER the first day we were there...

(To be continued)

Farm update

Well, our place is just about back to normal after the flash flood. The laying hens are laying again, the fences are looking good and the well pump is back up to "normal" pressure. The computer is still a bit temperamental, but what's new with those finicky things anyhow??

We are starting to get fruits and veggies from our garden!! Yeah!!
Gracie has a basketful of strawberries, lettuce and asparagus...

Though we didn't grow it, we had our first good tasting watermelon of the season!! We LOVE watermelon season and it seems that even though the store are stocked with them all winter, the good tasting ones can only be found in the prime of summer... Yum!

Nathan, my 9-month-old is crawling all over the place. He used to stay put in one room for fear of what is lurking beyond, but now, he ventures into whatever room he pleases. He has not attempted the stairs yet... thankfully, but I'm sure it's soon to come. All of my kids have had a "grass phobia" when they were first introduced to it, but Nathan seems to use it as a lush playground. He also like to eat dirt. I'm not sure if he is actually eating the dirt from my garden, or trying to pick up things to put in his mouth and getting a handful of it as a bonus. Aside from the dirt, he's getting most of his nutrition from real food. He eats just about any food that he sees us eating. And if he doesn't get a taste of it, he will be sure to let you know. He has become quite the connoisseur. He has even taken a liking to guacamole, but the crushed, raw garlic gives the poor guy a nasty diaper rash, so we've been sticking to plain advocados.

And, although "tad" and "pole" had to take a ride down the porceline grave (which was very dissapointing because "pole" was just starting to sprout his back legs), they've been replaced by Buzzer the pet fly. Yes, thanks to Aunt Dawn, Seth has a housefly on a dental floss leash. Auntie told the boys that if you put a bug in the freezer, they will sort of "go to sleep" and you can tie a string around their neck and they will wake up and be your pet. Well, Seth left Buzzer in the freezer overnight (which I think may be a bit too long) and we are still waiting for him to wake up. Seth made sure that he wouldn't get away though by removing one of his wings. "That way, he'll just fly in a circle". I have a feeling Buzzer will never buzz again. Ahhh, well, another bug, another day...

Boundary Waters Pictures... finally

Finally!! Some of those Boundary Waters Pictures that I promised!!

The boys are posing with the fish that they each caught

Uncle Mark with the boys

And... the last night...