Making Ends Meet - Part Two

If you read my first entry about "Making Ends Meet" you know my family fell on hard times last year. The good news is that we are back on track with our finances. My husband has been working steadily for almost a year. We haven't gone without utilities or household products once this year. Our bills are caught up and since we've cut back on our spending we have been able to have extra cash again. We have taken some extra cash to buy a nice Christmas this year, and our Christmas shopping is done for this season. So we're back on track, though there were times I thought we'd never get through.

One thing we learned from the situation is how to save. I discovered there were LOTS of things we were buying that we could do without purchasing. Not just groceries, but other things also. We don't go out and spend money on things that we really don't need like we used to. Before our motto was "why not, we have some extra money" but now it's "that's not something we really need" ... need being the key word. We don't "need" a new DVD player because the one in the front room broke. Everyone has one in their room, and nobody really uses the front room to watch movies much. If we decide to watch a movie in there we can borrow a DVD player from one of the bedrooms.

We don't look at sales ads anymore at all. As soon as they come into the house they go right into the recycling bag. The only part of the ads I keep from the paper are the coupons. But even then I only clip what we use. If it's not something we use, no matter how much of a savings it is, I don't clip it. It's too much of a temptation to spend once you get into the store for the "deals." So we have saved a lot just by avoiding the stores and their sales. When we need something we research the prices at various stores and go get it, but we don't pay attention to what's on sale. So stay away from the sales ads! They are evil lol.

I was already a bit thrifty before. In addition to our four kids, we took in two kids after their mom died. To keep everyone in clothes and shoes, I knew already how to shop for discounts. I always bought name brand when it came to their clothes, but I would shop at the thrift stores or big discount stores for them, like Value City. But after my oldest son and the two we took in moved out, money wasn't as tight. After we started homeschooling and stopped paying for a private education we had lots more left over to spend. It wasn't that hard to keep the kids in clothes and shoes. So I started going to the regular stores more often. That was my first biggest mistake! Don't pay retail for what you can get at a cheaper price!! There is nothing wrong with shopping at thrift stores. Often times the clothes still have tags on them. When I think of all the money we wasted shopping at the mall instead of the thrift stores it still makes me sick. There's no use crying over spilled milk, but when you have no gas or electric you can't help but regret not doing things differently.

Another thing we changed was where we buy our household items. We started shopping for things at Family Dollar or Dollar General instead of Target or Walmart. Much cheaper and the products are surprisingly very good. You can get some name brand products in these discount stores as well. They are not all generic or store brand products. I believe for some things you just can't do store brand, namely soaps, shampoos, and toilet paper. Luckily we can still get the name brand products we like but don't spend as much for them. And if you have a coupon then you save even more!

Gasoline was another thing we were spending a lot on. We were spending so much to drive here and there when we really didn't need to. Instead of spending that money on gasoline we would have a bit extra for something else AND we could help the environment. This is something we still don't spend a lot of money on today. Everyone has bikes and we only drive if we absolutely have to. Even shopping doesn't require us to use the car. My husband and the boys have a little cart they hook up to one of bikes and the shopping is done that way. When we need to get a lot of groceries or supplies, or if the weather is bad, we drive. If you can get away with not driving as much you really should. It's great exercise, it helps the environment, and it helps bring down the cost of gas.

One thing we were doing is ordering takeout at least once a week. Now we might order take out once a month if that. Our favorite thing to order out is pizza. Ordering enough to feed everyone would cost anywhere from $30 to $50 depending on where we had deliver. Now we make our own pizzas out of tortillas or pita shells. Both make for a great tasting pizza and everyone can make their own pizza. A few minutes in the oven, salad on the side, and you have a nice meal in about 15 minutes. And it costs alot less than delivery even if you do have a coupon and they have this "great deal" going on.

We don't spend a lot on soda like we used to. Save the money and buy yourself a box of 100 tagless teabags for a buck. Make a fresh pitcher of tea every day and it will only cost you about 12 cents for each 2 quart pitcher. Compare that to a bottle of soda, then multiply how many bottles of soda you go through in a day. Huge savings if your family is like mine was. We could go through 4-6 bottles of soda a day depending on how many people were here. At the least that was costing us $30 a week, sometimes as high as $40. I make one gallon of tea a day, every day. That's less than $2 a week! We were drinking nothing but soda, now we drink water more because we get tired of the tea. So it's not only cheaper, it's healthier too. We do still buy soda, but we never buy more than 3 bottles a week anymore.

That's the biggest area that we were spending just way too much on was the groceries. Mainly prepackaged foods that you can really save money just making it yourself. For instance bread. I bake my own instead of paying $1.50 a loaf. While that may seem cheap, with a family my size we were buying three loafs a week at least. That's $20 a month for bread. We were also buying so many other things you can make yourself for much cheaper. Lipton noodles for side dishes, Hamburger Helper, boxed mashed potatoes, Encor and Stouffers meals, pancake mix, boxed cereals, muffins, granola bars, biscuits, rice a roni, macaroni and cheese ... just to name a few. I buy NONE of this stuff now.

And this entry is getting to be long. So I may have to make another entry to finish this up. I'll post the rest tomorrow.

Have a good night!
Jenna

Making Ends Meet - Part One

I've been meaning to do this entry for quite a while, before the AOL eviction, but have just never gotten around to it. This is going to be a two part entry because I think it's important to first share a bit about my family and how we made ends meet before this year, and how we manage now. I never shared this part of my life in my journal before, though I meant to write about it many times. I don't know why I kept putting it off, maybe I didn't want to talk about it. Most likely a small part of me was ashamed or embarrassed. But I think it's important to share this now for several reasons. I know there are many families across our nation that are going through tough times. If I can reach just one of those families, and give them comfort and hope, then these two entries will serve a purpose other than filling space on my blog.

I know first hand how challenging it is to feed a family in today's economy. My family is a large one, and it can get larger depending on who shows up for a meal. Usually I have 6 that I need to plan meals for, but the boys, both teenagers, eat enough for two extra mouths each. So when I cook, I've always cooked for at least 12 people. This way there is enough in case my older son and his roommates stop over, or if not we'd have the leftovers for lunch the next day. I've always tried to not waste much because I know that not everyone is as fortunate as we've been. I've always believed in not skipping meals because if we did the boys would be eating all day long. I've also been a firm believer in keeping meals on a schedule. There is less snacking and less time spent raiding the fridge, and my supplies, when the boys are fed on a schedule. So we've always had 3 balanced meals a day as well as an evening snack, and dessert 3-4 days a week. I used to spend $300 a week easily on groceries. And now, I only spend $150.00 a week on groceries.

Yep, you read that right. Our grocery bill is $150 a week for a family of 6. It took a while to get the grocery bill cut in half. Unfortunately the motive behind reigning in the grocery spending was events that happened during 2007 that made it mandatory to do so. Up until that time we lived comfortably, and didn't have a problem making ends meet for the most part. We probably took many things for granted, but always tried to help out others in the community who were not so fortunate. I helped others out with groceries once a month. I would get together three to four bags of groceries a month to donate to either our local church, local food pantries, or give it right to one of two families I knew needed extra help. I went through our closets three to four times a year and gave the clothing we no longer needed to those who did. I was part of a Giving Tree group that provided a Christmas to underprivileged kids across the United States for several years.

Then in June of 2007 my husband lost his job and was out of work for months. Despite putting in dozens of applications a week, spending hours on the phone checking on applications and calling other companies, and doing work through temporary agencies, he could not find a permanent job. As the months dragged on, our bank account dwindled. Eventually it was closed due to overdraft fees that we just could not pay. We were officially broke. My family found out what it was like to be on the other end of the food pantry line. We had to ask our local church for help with our utility bills. Our electricity was shut off not once, but twice from June 2007 to January 2008. We had no heat during December of 2007 for two weeks because our gas was turned off. Our Christmas in 2007 was terrible. I was no longer giving a Christmas to other kids, I was trying to make a Christmas for my own. If not for getting help from local agencies, and scraping together around $100 for a few gifts, we would have had no Christmas at all.

So we went from eating three meals a day, desserts, snacks, and plenty of fruits and vegetables, to eating Ramen noodles sometimes two times a day. We ate so much rice and tuna none of us really care much for either anymore. Fresh fruits and vegetables were rare. Desserts or snacks were even rarer. If they existed at all it was something given to us from the food pantries because we certainly couldn't afford it. At this point I had less than $300 a week to spend on groceries, household products, and the bills. Since my husband was only doing temporary work when it was available, which was a few days a week if that, we applied to the food stamp program for assistance. At first, we did not qualify due to his unemployment benefits. Once that ran out we applied again and were relieved to find out we qualified. If not for that small amount of food stamps, I don't know how we would have managed to buy groceries. Because at this point we were barely buying any compared to what we were used to buying.

That's when I started looking for ways to cut our expenses even more, mainly the grocery expense. I sure wasn't going to be getting over $1000 a month for groceries from the food stamp program. And what cash we had coming in we had to keep up the bills and buy what little else we could afford like soap, garbage bags, toilet paper, etc. I managed to get the grocery spending down to around $200 a week. That meant with the $500 that we were getting in food stamps, we would eat for about 2 1/2 weeks each month. With help from the local food pantry and our church we could almost get through a month. But often it meant the kids were going to bed still hungry. So I started looking at ways to cut the budget more, yet provide the kids better nourishment.

And that ends this entry. You'll have to read part two to find out how I did it. Gosh, that sounds like one of those internet ads doesn't it? Where you have to "click here" to find out more only to discover you have to pay a one time fee of $39.95 for the secret? Well I promise you my secret is free and I will post part two tomorrow.

Have a great evening!
Jenna

New Pet Food Recall

This is the first time I am seeing this. I'm posting for others who also have not seen it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FRANKLIN, Tenn. — October 27, 2008 — Mars Petcare US today announced a voluntary recall of a limited number of bags of SPECIAL KITTY® Gourmet Blend dry cat food sold at Wal-Mart locations in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and West Virginia. The pet food is being voluntarily recalled following a positive test result indicating a potential contamination with Salmonella.

This product should not be sold or fed to pets. Pet owners should dispose of product in a safe manner (example, a securely covered trash receptacle) and return the empty bag to the store where purchased for a full refund.

Salmonella can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and, if there is cross contamination caused by handling of the pet food, in people as well, especially children, the aged, and people with compromised immune systems. Healthy people potentially infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. On rare occasions, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.

Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Animals can be carriers with no visible symptoms and potentially infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

More Information

Friday Freebies... on Saturday

Well I intended to do this entry yesterday but never got around to it. I belong to a few freebie sites for freebies and samples so I'd like to share them here once a week. Just click on the links (anything in the gold font) to go to the site and submit your info.

Just a few words of advice first.... Some offers will require you to confirm your request through your email. I have an extra email address that I use just for freebies. Because sometimes they will send you unsolicited mail. Of course you can opt not to receive email from them regarding future offers, but often they will sell your email addy which results in Spam.

I also don't use my real number on offers that may ask for a valid phone number. If you have an AIM Phoneline number use that. Or get a free number that is anonymous and disposable from www.numbr.com. Click on "Free Privacy Numbers" on the top right and follow the instructions.

I know several folks that don't bother with disposable emails and/or phone numbers. So it's a matter of personal preference. That said, here are a bunch of freebies and samples you can currently sign up for as well as some shopping discounts. Freebie offers sometimes go fast as they only offer so many. Have fun!


FREEBIES

Free Tylenol Sleep Better Kit
While supplies last: sleep mask, ear plugs, glow in the dark stickers, tylenol pm coupon , tylenol bookmark, good night sleep guide

Free Sunflower Seeds from The Great Sunflower Project
You have to create an account and join the Sunflower Project

Free calendar from Oriental Trading
Limit one per household

Free "I Voted for Obama" Bumper Sticker
Sorry, offer is only for an Obama sticker. I have looked and have not found a McCain sticker anywhere. If you know of a site that offers one let me know and I'll post it :)

Free commemorative Obama sticker
Offered from MoveOn.org.

Free TV Guide Subscription
You have to refer a friend. This is where an extra disposable email addy comes in handy. Use that to join and then refer your real email addy. When you get the email just unsubscribe.

Free 8x10 at Walgreens
For store pickup. No other purchase required. You do have to make a photo account if you don't already have one. Code : FREEPIC

Free To Print~Personalized Disney Storybook
Select a character and then enter a few details about your child to personalize it, then print and share it. Would make a cute stocking stuffer!

Free Glad Food Bags Sample from Walmart
Check out the other free samples while you are there. In case you didn't know Walmart offers lots of free samples every week. Walmart Samples

Free Pedigree Good Bites
Doggie Snacks!

Free Ecomug
For businesses. You have to have a business name, employee info, and a phone number. Not sure if they call and check or not.

Free Snap Stick
Easy applicant lubricant stick for zippers, hinges, etc.

Free Music Poster
Be sure to fill in your address although it's not required. How else will you get the poster?

Free Wildlife Bumper Sticker
From the Humane Society of the United States

Free Teasta Tea Sample
Add a flavor to your cart and use Coupon Code: TRYME

Free Betty Crocker Sample
Warm Delights Minis

Free Betty Crocker Sample
Turtle Chex Mix Bar

Free Kirkland Diaper Sample
From Costco. You do NOT need to be a Costco member to receive this. I get freebies from Costco all the time and I'm not a member :)

Free Playtex Nurser Bottle
BPA free and comes with 3 drop-ins liners and a coupon.

Free Vaseline Intensive Rescue Sample
Also from Costco and you do NOT need to be a Costco member.

Juicy Juice Sippy Cup
Get a free sippy cup when you sign up.

Free Planet Heroes DVD
Absolutely FREE you don't even pay S&H. From Mattel.

Free GeoTrax DVD
Absolutely FREE you don't even pay S&H. From Mattel.



SHOPPING

Shoes.com One Day Sale plus free shipping & extra 20% off
20% off Code ENTSHOES09

Kohls 30% off from Nov 5-12 with kohls charge
30% off code (Kohls charge) HOLIDAY30 - Nov. 5-12

70% off clearance at Carol Wright Gifts
Shipping is free on all orders. Handling is $3.95 per order. Also there is a coupon code for 15% off $45. Not sure if you can use in conjunction with the 70% off or not but it's worth a try! Coupon: CWTHKS exp 12/3

Sephora Friends and Family 20% off
November 6 -10 ONLY 20% off online orders! Discount Code: FF2008
Free shipping on over $50, 3 free samples with every order and clearance is up to 75% off right now. Clearance
**ALSO - more codes here (no idea when they expire)**
Use Code: TRAINCASE for a mini train case packed with mystery samples on orders $25/up
Use Code: EYESAMPLES for 7 free eye samples with any $25 purchase.
Use Code: GIVENCHYLIP for a free lipstick sample with any order.

Free Jewelery
This site offers free sterling silver gemstone jewelry you just pay 6.99 S&H. Selection changes a few times hourly (I think every 15 minutes). I never ordered from here but know lots of folks who have. It is apparently absolutely free, no strings, no catch, and no future obligation to buy.

Zales 30% off clearance sale
No code needed; shows up in cart.

Land's End Free Shipping Code
Code: NOVEMBER
Pin: 881922679
Can be used twice; good till 11/31

JCPenney 20% off entire order
Code: MERRY Expires 11/19/08

Time To Get Back On Track

My family watched the election night coverage until the wee hours of the morning last night. Watching the speeches of both President Elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain last night moved me to tears. I am neither Democrat or Republican. I do not vote for a "party" when I vote. I vote for the candidate I feel is the right choice. And this election was a difficult one because it was hard to decide who the right choice was. I hope that everyone was able to get out and exercise their right to vote.

This election was so very important for our nation, and anyone who thinks Obama's win is a Democratic victory or an African American victory is missing the point entirely. America has 30 states in recession and 17 more states at risk of falling into a recession. Unemployment has risen, with 21 states seeing a 7% or more unemployment rate, mine being one of them, and Michigan and Rhode Island seeing over 8%. Foreclosure rates are up 71% from this same period last year. 71%!!

No, yesterday's win was not a Democratic victory or a Republican loss. It is not solely about electing the first black man as President of the United States. It's about hope, and a belief that as Americans if we work together we can dig our nation out of this rut and start to fix the problems we are facing. Let the history behind this election be that for the first time Americans put aside their political, social, and racial differences to work together to make things happen in this country, resolve the issues we are facing, get our economy back on track, and create a better country to leave our grandchildren when we are gone.

"This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were."
Barack Obama

"Find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences, and help restore our prosperity, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited."
John McCain

Blogger, Google, and AOL

Today was a very productive day for me. I managed to get caught up on about 13 of the blogs I follow. I checked out that Google Reader. If you aren't using this... try it! What a great way to keep up with entries! I'm not kidding. I have that Windows Live on my main computer so I can subscribe to blogs, and keep them in my toolbar and/or get an alert in my desktop sidebar reader thingy. And this Google Reader is much simpler, easier, and better organized in my opinion.

You can "star" entries that you'd like to refer back to for whatever reason (recipes, tips, etc) and you can mark entries as unread and go back to it later. I'm telling you folks, it's the way to go for keeping up. It lists all your subscriptions and then all entries for that blog that you haven't read. Did I say already that it's simple, easy, and organized? LOL

Ok, enough about Google Reader. Have you checked out that Picasa? This is also a Google feature and it's for photos. I transferred some of my AOL pictures over to it today instead of photobucket. I've used photobucket forever and have never really checked out anything else. So I decided to check this one out. I like it! I haven't figured out yet how to upload more than 5 pictures at a time yet though. Oh, and I found out if you delete a picture it's deleted as well from your blog. OOPS! Oh well, no biggie. The ones I deleted were from my archived journal anyway. But just to try it out I uploaded 13 just for now to see how much space you get. You get 1024MB and those 13 pics used up 1MB. So you can upload roughly 13,000 pictures. Not bad, but I don't know if that takes away from the storage you get on Blogger or not?

Which brings me to the third thing I got accomplished - fixing up my new home here. I decided to delete my old posts off this blog and make a new one. So now I have a fresh start and all of my AOL entries are now here My Random Thoughts - Jland Archive. I also putzed around in Photoshop and created a background and header for my new little blog. While I like how they turned out, I'm not sure I like the idea of sprucing up my blog now. Why? Because I'm limited to one color of font! And formatting it to be that color is not something I have really figured out yet how to do easily so it's a bit of a pain. And getting that background to cover the whole page took me nearly 20 tries. Good grief! Now I can't figure out how to format the font face on various parts of the blog and I don't like how that looks. So I have to either figure it out or give up the decorated blog I guess.

I also put my email link on my profile. Which brings me to another thing I did today. I uninstalled AOL from my computers. The hell with AOL. I am having issues with my email and the whole AOL thing has just finally got me so frustrated I am leaving AOL altogether. As soon as I can get everything saved out of the mailboxes I am deleting my screen names, both the AOL and AIM screen names. I now have a gmail address and it actually works with my Windows Live Mail whereas AOL/AIM never did. It took me all of about 40 seconds to configure the IMAP and POP settings for the gmail. I have tried to get the AOL/AIM screen names to work in there for nearly a year with no luck. So Goodbye AOL, kiss my disgruntled butt, and HELLO Google! My gmail address is Jenna6897@gmail.com.

As soon as I get caught up on blogs and get things figured out here I am planning on some neat things I'd like to do in my blog on a regular basis. I plan on doing something maybe three to four days a week that will be a regular feature in my entries. I belong to several freebie sites so one thing I will be doing is posting links to freebies. Maybe on Fridays? "Friday Freebies" has a nice ring to it I think. I also may share some recipes and money saving tips which helps out a lot with our economy in the toilet like it is. Maybe household hints and tips or something like that. I want to do something different since this journal is a fresh start here on Blogger and have some fun with it.

My daughter is doing great today. Thank you all for your comments! She hasn't thrown up once since yesterday morning. She hasn't indicated to me that she has any pain today nor have I seen her holding her abdomen at all or grimacing. So hopefully the worst is over.

In regards to comments:

Missy - I have been reading up on this and you are correct. This is not uncommon at all in girls this young, or younger. I have just always associated this with women and menstruation. However in researching it I found little girls as young as 2 years old have had ovarian cyst ruptures! You learn something new every day!

Becky - first of all thanks for stopping by! I thought the same thing about giving her the fluids in an IV. She even had an IV in! When they gave her the bag of fluids and the nausea medication they left the IV port in. I guess the nurses and doctor weren't that smart. Or they just thought she was enjoying vomiting non stop for hours on end.

And with that I'm off to get ready for Monday Night Football. My Redskins are playing the Steelers tonight and I wouldn't miss this game for anything. My dad is a big Steelers fan being a Pittsburgh area native. While I have to admit the Steelers are doing pretty good this year, there is NO way they will beat the Redskins. I wish the Cowboys would have beaten the tar out of the Giants this weekend. No, I do not like the Cowboys. But I do like the Redskins and the Eagles!! And had Dallas played better this weekend and beaten the cocky Giants, that would have made it easier for the Redskins and Eagles to move up in the standings, where they belong, come the end of next weekend. But that's okay. The Eagles are going to knock them down a peg next week since Dallas couldn't get the job done!

Have a great night,
Jenna

Long Weekend - I'm Drained

This has been a really long weekend and I'm exhausted, mentally and physically. I should be catching up on journals, which is what I had planned for the weekend. I managed to get caught up on three in the last couple of hours. Guess I will have to find time during the week next week to catch up.

I also want to learn a bit more about how to do things here on blogger. Like change my background to a custom one like you can on myspace or get alerts for entries. On one blog I saw a place where you can subscribe to posts. Now I can't seem to find that option? Maybe I'll just have to get caught up and then check out that google reader. I think AOL did us a favor by throwing us out in the cold. I like this place better. It's a pain learning a new system, but from what I can tell we may have lots more options here.

I have had a rough weekend and I’m glad it’s almost over. My daughter was still not feeling well Friday night and actually started vomiting non-stop around midnight. Then she got the runs so it was constant back and forth trips to the bathroom with the vomit bucket. She had a fever too, not too bad, just low grade, but was also doubled over crying from stomach pain. I tried three times to get Tylenol into her for the fever and pain, and each time up it came! Finally at noon yesterday I figured she just had to be dehydrated so decided to take her to ER. I was pretty sure it was just a virus but I thought maybe they can get her fever down, manage the pain, and just confirm that it was a virus. I figured we’d be home in a couple hours tops and she’d be fine.

Well she was definitely dehydrated, but not fine. After 10 hours and test after test we finally got home around 1am after getting her prescriptions filled. They started an IV immediately with fluids and an injection of something to stop the vomiting. At first the doctor said he’d like to get some blood work and if that came back okay then we’d just wait for the fluids to finish and go home. Not more than 10 minutes later the nurse comes in and says the doc is ordering a cat scan to check her appendix. What?? I said she’s not complaining of pain on just one side it’s her abdomen in general. She said that doesn’t matter and many patients with appendicitis do not complain of pain on just one side. So now our stay is extended a couple hours.

By the time the fluids finished they gave her a cup of contrast to drink hoping it wouldn’t come back up. It didn't. Then we had to wait an hour for that to work it’s way through her system and off we went to CT. Come back from CT and we have to wait at least an hour for results. By now we’ve been there about 4 hours. Around 6pm the nurse comes back and says do we think she can drink water and keep it down. I said I’m sure she’d like to try she’s had nothing to eat or drink in more than 24 hours except for the sips of Gatorade that kept coming back up. She says good because the doctor would like her to have an ultrasound.

Another hour and 40 ounces of water later she vomited all over the bed, her gown, the floor. They get her cleaned up and decided to try the ultrasound anyway but the technician couldn't see anything they needed her bladder fuller. Finally the nurse tells me they HAVE to do an ultrasound because the cat scan showed fluid in her abdomen. They don’t know if from an burst appendix or something else but they NEED to find out. I said well obviously the water isn’t going to stay down so can you see what the options are.

The options are A) insert a catheter and pump fluid into her bladder – NO thanks what’s B? B) Wait for her bladder to fill on it’s own which could take anywhere from 30-90 minutes depending on how much of the water she didn’t throw up and how full her bladder already was. Well before she had the water the other nurse had let her go pee! That was stupid! So we decided to wait it out as we had no other choice. By 9pm we had the ultrasound out of the way and was heading back to ER to wait for results. By now we’ve been in ER about 8 hours.

Finally around 10pm the doctor comes in and tells us the fluid they found was from one of two ruptured cysts on her ovaries. What?? She’s 10! I thought this was an adult issue? So I am still in shock over this. Not only that but I have to take her in a week to an OBGYN. I am not looking forward to it. And I have news for the OBGYN, there will be no pelvic exams on my 10 year old. I sincerely hope there are other options to find out what they need to find out. Of course my husband is just really freaked out over this whole thing. His little girl having a big girl issue and all.

But the good news is she is home and did not need surgery. Which we were terrified was where we were headed last night. The doc says this is something that will just clear up on it’s own, the fluid that is. But we will need to follow up to be sure that fluid did clear up. For now she is in pain but will not take the Vicodin they gave her. She also has a pill to help her not vomit and that seems to be working great. She has to rest, no activity, and she can only have clear liquids until the pain is gone. Talk about a crabby kid! She has chewed both me and my husband out today over nothing each time. Well in hubby’s case it wasn't nothing and he asked for it. He sat down to watch the game with a plate of pizza! He didn’t think of how hungry she is.

Well she’s awake again so I better get off the computer. I’ll be back later to get around to some more journals. If I haven’t been to you yet give me some time. She’ll be off school all next week so I’m hoping to get caught up then. I'm also hoping to get my blog decorated and talk about some new things I want to do in my blog each week!

Have a great Sunday!

Jenna