Cure a Sinus Infection Without Antibiotics

Friday afternoon I started noticing tale tell signs of a sinus infection. I had never had one before, but the symptoms are unmistakable. It started with jaw pain, then my left sinus nasal cavity started feeling sore to the touch, then my left eye started aching. Add in a bit of yellow viscous mucus and whammo, you've got yourself a sinus infection.

I don't do antibiotics, so I started researching Saturday morning what I could do to knock it out. By this time I was in a good amount of pain, the whole left side of my face was throbbing.

I already knew that clove oil is a great herbal antibiotic that is also safe for pregnant and nursing mothers. I mixed three drops in a tablespoon of olive oil and massaged it into the left side of my face.

In researching, I found a remedy on the internet that a lot of people had left reviews for. Apple Cider Vinegar. I already knew that organic apple cider vinegar that contains "the mother" is a great healer. I've used it for things like soar throats and warts with great success, but had never heard of the sinus infection use.

You mix 2 tablespoons of ACV with 8 oz. of water and drink it down. The taste is less than pleasant, but it works! Within 1 hour of chugging the ACV water the color of the mucous had gone to white (still not ideal but better). I drank the mixture four more times throughout the day. By midday my mucous was clear (perfect). By bedtime the pain in my sinuses had greatly diminished, and was just a bit tender to the touch.

Finding a natural remedy that works so quickly is always a treasure. I went from having a full blown sinus infection to about 90% better in less than twelve hours. I am still taking the ACV mixture until I am completely better, two glasses a day.

Ryan was shaking his head at me while I was researching what to do with the infection. He commented, "Basically you'd have to have gangrene in your sinuses to even consider taking antibiotics, right?" Yep, that about sums it up, and even then, I doubt I'd do the antibiotics, I'd still probably try and find another way!

Delicious Sore Throat Soother

We have the flu! The real deal flu. Everyone but my husband and Clara is super sick, ick! This is my first week without Ryan being home to help out or without my mother in law being here. Isn't it funny how God works? If I can make it through this week, life with four children ages 5 and under will be a piece of cake.

Last night was especially troublesome because the older two boys both woke up at the same time (1:30 am) with a hacking barking cough that would not quiet down. We took them into the bathroom for a steam treatment which did the trick, but as soon as they came out of the bathroom it would start again.

Being the natural herbal minded family that we are, I did not have any over the counter cough suppressant in the house, and none of my herbal remedies were helping. Ryan bravely volunteered to drive the thirty minutes to Wal-mart to pick up some Delsym. Have I mentioned how much I love that man?

I stayed up with the boys and had them sip some herbal tea and then put them to bed with their sippy cups until Daddy got home. He got in around 3 am.

By this time, Little Miss Clara was ready for her middle of the night banquet. So, I shut my tired eyes at around 4am.

I woke up with a screaming soar throat, it hurt to talk, my glands were so swollen! I heated up a bit of water and squeezed 1 lemon into it and added a whole bunch of honey. I heated it as hot as I could comfortably drink. After downing this yummy concoction I was a bit more comfortable and could talk to my children without wincing. The lemon juice helps to kill off the germies in your throat that are making it soar in the first place and the honey coats your throat.

For more helpful tips visit Rocks in my dryer for Works for me Wednesday.

Clara-The child who taught me to give birth

First, a bit of history.....Clara's birth was my fourth birth, third homebirth. My first birth was in a hospital, and while it was a good birth by hospital standards, it was not what I wanted it to be. My next two births were homebirths, and they were excellent births, but still not what I wanted. Clara's birth was everything I wanted.

I have always pictured myself birthing quietly and without fear. However, that had not happened until Saturday. I always ended up "losing it" at the very end. When the adrenaline kicked in it always really scared me and I would react with the typical yelling and screaming, ranting, and raving that you see during TV births. After my first three births I felt ashamed that I had acted that way. So I was determined that my fourth birth would be different, and it was.

I woke up on Saturday morning with a painful contraction, I never gave it a second thought, but just rolled over. I was, after all, two weeks away from my due date. A few minutes later, another came. I ignored it. A few minutes later, Ryan rubbed my belly. I asked him to stop. (When I am having contractions I can't stand to be rubbed) I still hadn't caught the hint that I was in labor. Ryan and I laid in bed and talked about all of the preparations we wanted to get done that day so that we would be "ready" for the baby to come. We also had a big party to go to at 3:00 that afternoon, and I had been looking forward to it all week.

I got out of bed and went into the bathroom, then I said, "Oh CRAP!"(I never ever ever say that, it's not ladylike!). Ryan said, "What's wrong, is the toilet stopped up?" I said, "NO, my water broke!"

I was really upset! I was NOT ready to have this baby! The house was a wreck, there was furniture all over the place because Ryan had started painting the nursery the night before, I still had a bazillion things to do on my list, and worst of all, I was going to miss the pig roast!!!

I called the midwife and let her know my water had broken then I got in the shower. When I got out I called the midwife back and asked her to go ahead and come. We made arrangements to have the children picked up by friends and started frantically cleaning.

The midwife got to the house about an hour later and we got the living room prepped for birth. We were thinking that the piddly contractions would give way any minute to the hard and fast labors I was accustomed to. I was 8 cm dilated, but the contractions barely hurt, and were a good 8-10 minutes apart.

I walked around for a while and went up and down the steps trying to get things going better, but it didn't really help. So then the midwife asked if she could "have a conversation with my cervix." I said sure and she set to work applying pressure to two points on my cervix to try to get things going.

Sure enough that did it! We went back into the living room and Ryan asked if I would like to sit on the birthing stool. I immediately said YES! I had never planned on giving birth there, it looked so uncomfortable, but it was actually perfect. I sat there through two or three contractions. The midwife asked if I would like to move until I was pushing since the stool wasn't very comfortable for long periods of time. I told her I would be pushing soon and I was not moving.

Nancy put a hand mirror on the floor so that I could see exactly what was happening and Ryan supported me from behind. The baby was moving into place to descend and things were getting very tough. This is the point in all of my other labors where I have panicked. I paid very close attention to my breathing, and instead of screaming or yelling I hummed. No one told me to do it, but it felt right so I went with it. I kept praying silently asking God to bring my baby down.

I stayed so focused on bringing my baby down that I didn't notice any pain just very strong sensations. Finally I felt her start to move down. I watched the mirror intently and went from not seeing her at all to seeing her head, to crowning, and then her head was born all in one contraction. Nancy told me to reach down and touch my baby, and for the first time, I listened to her! There was a short pause, about 1 minute before her shoulders were born. I reached underneath her arms and pulled her out. What a feeling to deliver your own child!

Immediately I was overcome by emotion. I had done it! I had just had the birth I always dreamed of having! I started crying and I told Nancy, "This is the birth I have wanted for five and a half years! She took this picture then.



Clara's birth changed me. Instead of just letting birth happen to me, I participated this time, fully. I didn't run away from it in fear, I embraced it. I keep reflecting on the wonder of it all.

One day I will tell my first daughter the story of how she taught her mother how to give birth. I will always be so grateful to her for this lesson.

New life

Clara Virginia Belle Buffa was born at home this afternoon after six hours of labor. She weighed in at 7 pounds 4 ounces and is 20 inches long. She came 11 days early! She is our smallest and earliest baby so far. Birthing was the last thing I expected to be doing today, and I am still a bit shocked that it happened. But here she is, and we couldn't be happier.

Late Night Emergency Room Visit

We were in the ER last night until 3am. Our oldest son broke his first bone. The official diagnosis was Fracture-supracondylar level 2, elbow, left, closed. The fracture was in his humorous (bone above the elbow). It was not a typical fracture, a piece broke off. When we went in we were thinking, simple break, cast, 6-8 weeks, sad, but not devastating. After the doctor ordered the X-rays, then examined them, he called in an orthopedic surgeon. As soon as I heard that, my heart dropped.

The surgeon decided to put Ryan in a catatonic state so that he could manipulate the bone and then splint it up really well, then they would do more extensive x-rays while he was still out of it. It was so very hard watching my baby go through having the line put in his vein, then be drugged like that, then come out of his drugged stupor. It was heart-wrenching. It took all the strength I had not to just break down, but I wanted to be strong for my little boy. I knew if he saw me crying it would scare him.

The surgeon informed us that he was going to view the x-rays the next day and we were to go home and rest, and not let Ryan have anything to eat or drink because he would be having surgery the next morning. I asked if there was any hope that he wouldn't need surgery. The surgeon said there was a slight chance, he would know once he viewed the second x-rays.

We went home with heavy hearts. We were praying for a miracle, but preparing ourselves for the emotional roller coaster the next day. We slept fretfully for about four hours before the surgeon called us at 8am.

PRAISE THE LORD! He guided the surgeons hands last night and the bone was placed perfectly back together without the need for surgery or screws! The Lord had His hand on our son last night! After my husband got off of the phone and told me the news we held each other and cried for just a minute. Ryan wanted to know what was wrong and we got to tell him that nothing was wrong, EVERYTHING WAS RIGHT. What a wonderful feeling to explain to a child that the Lord had healed him, that he was the subject of a miracle!

We were so very blessed last night.

We called our neighbor right after it happened to see if her husband who is a paramedic could come up. He was not home, but she came right up to lend moral support. What a blessing!

We called our family doctor, who also attends our church, he came right over to check Ryan. He confirmed what we already knew, yes, it was broken. He wrapped and splinted the arm so that Ryan could travel more comfortably in the car. Then he took our younger children with him back home where his wife and daughters gave our sons excellent care. What a blessing!

Our middle son Robert, who is 3 showed such loving concern toward his older brother. It was such a tender time watching him scramble to do everything he could think of to comfort his brother. He stroked his hair, got him water, blankets, books, toys, stuffed animals, he even brought his own beloved quilt and covered his brother with it. He murmured comforting words, he went and got anything I asked for. It was beautiful. What a blessing!

I didn't go into labor at the hospital! What a blessing!
(I would have had to leave!)

Although last night was tough it was filled with blessings we would have otherwise missed out on. I am so thankful to have had this experience with my husband and son. Witnessing God's goodness, provision, and miracles is an excellent way to spend one's time.

Please continue to pray for my son's healing.

Today

I'm at a loss for something really helpful or witty to post today, so I thought I would just post about my day. We had major storms last night and have been without power until just a few minutes ago. Don't start feeling sorry for me, we have a generator, but I did have to wait to get started on laundry, so now I get to tackle that.

I am feeling smart at the moment because I was flipping breaker switches around and turning the generator on and off, and calling out things like,"Did the light turn on?!?" to my five year old, and "What about now?!?" and "Let me try this switch!!!" This is all technical jargon that rarely if ever comes out of my Little House on the Prairie mouth, and I couldn't help but giggle while shouting.

Today is my husband's birthday. He's 26 now. Yeah, we're real old, and mature too. We even have a few gray hairs! He requested a Mock Chocolate Eclair for his birthday cake and my fabulous pizza. Easy enough. The Eclair is finished, and I will start the bread machine in an hour or two.

I've been working away at my list of things to get done before the baby is born, and I can't really say I've gotten very far. You know how the rules for lists go. You are supposed to tackle the ones that will take you the least amount of time first, so that you see progress. Well, for some reason, I decided to be a rule breaker, and I started on the things that take the longest to do, like the quilt. I'm happy to say though that I believe I will be able to cross the birth box off the list in a few hours. I just have to get a few more things washed. I might even decide to get those pesky doors washed today, but maybe not, I'm having blood sugar issues, so I may just work on the quilt some more.

I've got almost all of the cutting done on the quilt. I despise the cutting out part. I am a non-conformist and anti-perfectionist, so the very idea of making all 84 rectangles the same exact measurement with absolutely no deviation for the prairie points goes against everything that I hold sacred. It just seems silly. It goes against my very nature, the very nature that God gave me. But, I have to admit the cute little piles of squares and rectangles all the exact same size all stacked up neatly does give me a warm fuzzy feeling. It will be worth it when the quilt is done. I keep wondering if I will ever truly love quilting, or just the results. I love the results. I don't think anything gives me a greater feeling of satisfaction when finished, well maybe the birth of a child, but that is a close call. Just kidding (kind of).

I got our extra changing table cleaned off and scrubbed down today. We are donating it to our church because they don't have a decent place to change the babies. We had been using it as a place to pile stuff. It was a great place, but hadn't you heard, I'm anti-clutter, so it was getting on my nerves. Now it's sparkly clean. I wish I had put that on my baby list, then I'd at least have gotten credit for doing it, bad move on my part.

It got all of the linens changed today too. This makes me feel like I've gotten something done, especially at this stage in pregnancy. Changing the bottom bunk linens is no easy task. I worked up a nice stinky sweat on that one!

So, that's what I have gotten done today, and my plans for the rest of the day. Not a whole lot, I know, but it will just have to do until I'm not walking around here feeling like behemoth. Does anyone have the Ken Ham Answers in Genesis Dinosaur dvd? They sing a song on that, "Behemoth is a dinosaur, a dinosaur is he....." It's stuck in my head, every time I start walking I sing it......

Make Ahead Burritos

As some of you know, I have a goal of having fourteen meals in the freezer before the birth of my baby in a few weeks. Two of those meals will be BURRITOS! We love burritos around here and eat them like they are going out of style. Here is what goes into our yummy wraps.

2 cups beans
1 cup chicken or beef
1 cup rice
1 can drained rotel tomatoes

Yesterday I cooked up 2 pounds of dried beans, half pinto, half small red beans. I threw in a few bay leaves while they cooked. Yesterday I also cooked up 6 chicken leg quarters in the crockpot with bay leaves, cumin, garlic, and oregano. I took the meat off of all the bones, and added a bit more seasoning. We had burritos last night, and today, I am mixing up the rest of the beans and chicken to freeze in big ziploc bags. I am not freezing the rotel with the rest, I'll just make sure I have a few extra cans in the pantry, along with a few extra bags of tortillas.

So with very little time involved I got three meals made, two of them for the freezer.

For more kitchen tips visit Tammy's Recipes for Kitchen Tip Tuesday.