No Vacation is Relaxing

Well as if this trip (vacation my ass, when you have THIS many animals, it'd be more of a vacation to stay home... sheesh) wasn't complicated enough, April went into heat last night.  Now I have to figure out exactly what I'd like Paul to do with her.  She should be ok outside.  We have electric horse fence going along our dog yard so the only way a male is going to get in is if he gets zapped.  As of right now, I'm just going to ask him to crate her when he leaves the house.  I haven't been panicked much since we decided to go, until last night.  Now I'm making lists like crazy and trying to figure out what we need, what could possibly happen that could make us need something else.  It doesn't help that we're taking August and Mia with us.  Not only do I have to remember human stuff but dog stuff too.  I swear, the dog's list of must haves is longer than mine!!  Tomorrow is our last full day at home before we leave Thursday night.  Poor Paul has a book to read about the animals.  I'm just so paranoid that something will happen and he won't know what to do so I've written down EVERYTHING he could possibly need and if it's not written down he knows to call the cell phone.  I'm sure I'll call here at least once this weekend to check on everything.  He's bringing his dog with him while he house sits and that adds to my stress.  He owns a teacup chihuahua that my dogs could easily swallow whole.  I'm leaving him a cat carrier to use as her dog crate while he feeds my dogs.  I'd better get to printing all this stuff out for him. 

Nothing to tell

Nothing new going on.  It's a wait and see with Cody.  Can't do anything new to the nursery till we get back from vacation.  Takoda is still the same but is eating canned dog food heartily and I've started her on antibiotics. 

We've decided to have Paul house sit for us while we're gone.  After a recent phone call, I decided I'd feel more comfortable leaving if I knew there'd be someone here all weekend.  I won't even bother to go into that, it's not worth my time.  I've come to realize that I'm much more laid back than I was pre-pregnancy.  Normally, I would've thrown a fit if I'd gotten a shitty phone call from someone (especially when there's no reason behind the phone call) but I could've cared less.  It's funny, I'm supposed to become more high strung during pregnancy, not less.  At any rate, we're going to pick Paul up on Thursday and leave him the keys to our truck since his truck guzzles gas.  This way if he needs/wants to go somewhere, he doesn't have to use half a tank getting to town.  Plus, I like knowing the animals have someone here in case anything else happens.  Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well and I come home to the same amount of animals that were here when I left.

Ugh, the weekend

This was not one of our better weekends to say the least.  It's been pretty stressful.  On Friday afternoon, me and Shawn had noticed a fairly large cut on Cody's (my mom's morgan horse) leg.  When my mom went out to feed them, I could hear her calling for me from outside.  I got out there and she was telling me about the cut.  Obviously, I already knew about it and told her that.  We had been to the store and I had since forgotten about it.  From where I had been standing earlier in the day, the cut didn't look too bad.  However, upon closer inspection, it was obvious that we needed a vet asap.  The edges of the cut had started to turn a very pale pink, an indication of either lack of blood flow or infection.  Either way, a very bad sign in a horse.  They were at the house within a half hour.  He sedated Cody and had me get a bucket of warm water.  He cleaned the cut REALLY well, so much so that he was sticking his finger inside of the horse trying to get any bacteria that remained out.  He told us the cut was older, approximately 5-7 days.  I KNOW this cut had to be either scabbed over or had mudd on it, as I was out with the horses everyday for at least those 5-7 days, as were my mom and Shawn.  There's no way we would've missed it.  There's always the possibility as well that it had started as a very small cut, closed too soon and got infected, only to break open that day.  There was a large amount of fluid on his leg that had leaked out and appeared to be mudd.  The vet told us that if the infection doesn't go away we're looking at some major decisions.  One of which would be exploratory surgery to see WHERE the rest of the infection is located or if it's spread to bone tissue.  ($700-800) And then if it had spread to his bone, they would have to do surgery to remove ALL of the infection by scraping the bone and then closing him back up.  We didn't get an estimate on that one.  I think we were both too scared at what amount would come out of his mouth.  The only other option is that he would go lame and we would have to euthanize him.  I don't think that's really an option.  Prior to being sedated, Cody was acting completely normal, no limping, no lethargy.  He was eating and drinking.  Once he came out of the sedative, he started showing obvious signs of feeling ill.  He had a temp of 102.  (normal 99-100) But he continues to eat and drink normal.  We're giving him 12 antibiotic pills twice daily through a syringe.  He is to be kept stalled for a week.  Anyone who doesn't know THIS horse has no idea how difficult that is proving to be.  In the first day alone, he got out twice, WITHOUT unlocking his stall.  We set up half the round pen and put him in there, where so far he hasn't been able to pick the lock.  We're supposed to get storms Tuesday so he will have to be put back into the stall.  I just hope we can make him stay there.  The vet is to come back Wednesday or Monday.  (we'll be out of town Thursday through Sunday as long as Cody appears to be doing ok) We'll know in two weeks whether or not he's going to need the surgery.

Paul came over to help put up the wall for the baby's room.  (he was an apprentice for a construction company for two years)  Sounds easy enough right?  Well, after a full day of getting NOTHING accomplished, they finally figured out why nothing was matching up.  No one makes 2x4's anymore.  Our house was made with 2x4's but when we went to put the boards up, they came up about 1/2 an inch short of the ceiling.  On Sunday they went and got some plywood and added the extra wood and now we have half the wall up.  It would be finished by now if we would've known in the beginning that the boards were too short.  (we thought the house had been built like crap and was slanted)  Since we won't be here to do it this weekend, we'll have to finish it the next.  Let's hope there's less problems then than there were this past weekend. 

For the past several months, our Husky, Takoda has been getting sicker and sicker, we just didn't realize it at the time.  She's always had bowel "issues" so we didn't think anything of it when it started up again.  At least not until she stopped eating.  Last night when I went to feed her, she didn't eat ANYTHING.  She's always been finicky but she usually eats at least a few bites.  She's also lost a huge amount of weight that went unnoticed due to the amount of hair she has.  You just couldn't tell she was getting thin until it was really bad.  Aftereveryone went to bed, I put all the dogs outside except for Takoda and gave her a full can of dog food, which she ate very quickly.  I looked her over really good and saw that the problem may be a tooth that had broken years ago.  It seems to be decaying and may also have infected part of her gum, causing eating any kind of hard food to be painfully impossible.  For a while I'm going to feed her normal with the other dogs and then put them outside and give her canned food.  If she puts on weight then I know it's just the tooth, if not then it could very well be something more serious.  I hate that all this animal stuff is happening so close to our vacation.  If it weren't for the fact that we'd already bought tickets, paid the hotel, etc.  I would strongly consider skipping it.  Already if Cody isn't doing considerably better, we won't be leaving.  Well, I am so exhausted.  It's time for me to go to bed.  I've got a doctor's appointment in the afternoon and I'd like to get some sleep before hand.

Sleepy

I'm so tired today.  I hate that I have to get up early.  We're taking the car in to get the alignment.  (we weren't able to do it the other day because of some other problems with the car) I have to drive the car up the there so that Shawn has a way home.  Then when my mom gets home, we'll be going to the store.  This afternoon I want to go up and look at doors for the nursery.  I'd like to have the wall up this weekend or at least close to being up.  Paul will be over most of the weekend so maybe we can get something accomplished.  Saturday we have to go out to eat with my dad.  *Groan* I'll get over it.  I only have to do these little get togethers every few months to appease him.  The last time I saw him I think I was five months pregnant, maybe only four. 

Today was not a very good day for me.  The last couple of days haven't been actually.  My hormones are all over the place just like the first trimester.  I've spent a good deal of time this week crying, at times for almost no reason.  I can't say I much care for this part of pregnancy.  Actually, now that I'm getting further into it, I don't care for MOST of pregnancy.  Being comfortable and pregnant are not two things that go together.  He's constantly got his little feet shoved into my ribs and it's only going to get worse.  I'm seven and a half months and I'm already thinking that I can't wait till he drops.  lol  Well, I'm going to bed.  I don't think I'll need the radio to help me fall asleep for once.

Stormy Night

I've found several of my frogs that I've collected over the years that I think would go really well in the baby's nursery.  I'd have to put them up where he's sure not to reach them though.  They're all glass and collectables.  I've got an all white bookshelf that I'd like to paint some kind of stencile on.  I'm thinking lily pads or frogs, something of that nature to go with the room.  Right now I feel more excited about doing the room than the baby itself.  That won't really feel real to me until I'm in labor I think.  It's hard to imagine something that you've never had any experience with whatsoever. 

We had some t-storms last night.  The first ones of the year.  I love the smell outside during and after a storm.  A lot of people say it smells like worms or dead fish but I think it smells like fresh air personally.  Everyone thinks I'm terrified of storms but it's not the storms that I have such a fear of, it's the tornadoes that can occasionally come with the storms.  My two biggest fears (disaster type fears) are tornadoes and fires.  It's more because I probably couldn't save all of my animals in the event that those two things occured.  It would be a miracle to save every one of them.  I'd have a better chance with a tornado than a fire though and I have been known to take all the cats and shove them in the basement if I thought the weather was getting too bad.  It's usually chaos.

Pregnancy Hormones = Crazy Person

Poor Shawn must think I've lost my mind.  A few months ago, we bought all our nursery bedding.  It's patchwork stars.  Well, very suddenly I've decided that I HATE the bedding and don't want it anymore.  (keep in mind I picked it out to begin with) Now I want to do it in frogs.  Kind of like a frog prince theme.  Sooo to shut me up, Shawn has agreed to return the previous bedding and buy the new stuff.  If I can't get the frogs then I want to do it in Mutt n' Jeff.  It's blue and green bedding with a dog and little bird on it.  I'm sure he's definitely wondering what he got himself into by now.  haha

We'll be picking Paul up from the bus station today.  Shawn has decided that he's taking the car in for an alignment tomorrow so there's no reason for me to pick Paul up.  I'll probably go with him anyways, otherwise I'll just be sitting here waiting for them to get back.  Later on in the day I'll have to take Shawn back up to the shop to pick up the car.  I just hope we make it there because Shawn is almost sure that the truck is on it's last legs. 

Long Weekend

I've been scolded for not using large enough font sizes so I'm working on changing my ways.  *grin* Our computer (for whatever stupid reason, I don't think the proper fonts were downloaded to the computer when it was set up last year) doesn't show much of a difference despite what font I use so I have no idea HOW small it can sometimes be so I'll use size 12 from now on and if anyone has trouble reading, please let me know.  I don't want you to all go blind just trying to read it.  lol

This weekend wasn't very much fun at all.  I was very emotional all weekend and just felt crappy.  BOTH of our vehicles decided they wanted to try and die at once on the SAME day.  The pontiac had a spring snap but it didn't hurt the strut, unfortunately, due to the holiday weekend, we weren't able to get a new spring till today AND then NO ONE has the stupid tool that you need to take the spring on and off the strut.  Eventually, Shawn called a mechanic and he's going to take the old spring off and put the new one on so that we can put it back on the car.  He's going to do it for ten bucks.  (he's a good mechanic, doesn't screw you over for stupid stuff and even helps you fix it yourself, he's loaned us tools before and everything) The truck is having some oil pressure "issues."  We haven't decided whether the engine is going to blow (and if it's going to, there's nothing we can do because it'd be piston rings) or if the gauge is just messed up.  One second we have normal pressure and the next it's past the high mark and then back down.  Everything else seems normal with it, no funny sounds or new oil leaks or anything.  Keep your fingers crossed that it's just the stupid gauge. 

Shawn is supposed to pick Paul up at the Greyhound bus station on Wednesday at noon.  Because he works nights, I've offered to do it but for whatever reason he says he'll just do it even though I KNOW I'll be awake.  He's so stubborn sometimes.  He plans on picking Paul up and then coming home and going to sleep.  I'm sure Paul has other plans though.  He likes to talk... and talk so even if Shawn says, hey I've gotta sleep for work and what not,he'll still keep talking.  It'd just be so much easier if I picked him up. 

Not much new with the baby.  I get more uncomfortable everyday.  A part of me can't wait till he's born just so I can get rid of the baby weight.  I don't expect to get back to what I was but I want to be damn close.  I've been whining quite a bit lately about stretch marks and weight gain.  I hadn't realized I'd gained any weight in my face till we took those pictures the other day and not I'm upset about it.  I know it's supposed to happen and everything but I'm not used to looking that way.  I don't have many stretch marks on my belly (they're just starting) but my chest is awful.  I went up almost three cup sizes in three months so it's to be expected that I'd have some stretching.  I don't know how to "fix" those after he's born short of surgery.  (which I wouldn't do until I was completely done having kids, if I did it at all)  Well, I'm going to get ready for bed now.  I've only been sleeping for a few hours at a time lately.  It's weird.  I'm exhausted all the time but wake up four hundred times a night for no reason other than to roll over.