Child Training and Homeschooling When You're Out For the Count

I wrote this post when I had just gotten out of the hospital last week. Things as far as my health goes have gotten much worse. One of which being my ability to communicate. Another is my ability to walk.

We no longer believe I had a migraine, but we now believe something is wrong with my brain. Time will tell what is actually going on, but this post was what we did last week. 

Enjoy!

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As you might have read last week, I had a very rare migraine called a hemiplegic migraine or a complex migraine last week that took me OUT! Literally lost feeling on the left side of my body and left me disorientated and unable to get out of bed for several days.

My husband came up with an awesome plan to keep the kids occupied and to challenge them in their character's and wisdom. 

He decided for each day, the older kids would rotate being in charge. They would come up with a plan for the whole day that included educational feats, managing the chores and meals in the house, and some fun activities to keep everyone occupied and entertained until dad got home in the afternoon.

Alex, of course, set them up for success by making sure the house was clean before the kids went to bed as well as making and packing a lunch for all of us in the fridge so we could just pull it out and eat it. 

Alecia stepped up to the plate the first day. Long before I woke up she put her plan in motion with toasted bagels for breakfast, phonics for my 4-year-old, and a short math lesson for my 5-year-old followed by a group reading time of library books. She then delegated chores to each child while putting on an educational film for the 1-year-old. With the house clean, and some great learning activities accomplished, the kids retreated to their room for an hour of educational films until their dad came home. 

Ahavah took on the second day... let's just say we see what areas she needs more training in...

What an amazing learning and growing experience!

I got to see my children work through so many things including:

(1) Creating and executing a plan
(2) Working through issues patiently 
(3) Team work, even when the youngest one's didn't want to cooperate
(4) Taking responsibility for others in the household other then themselves
(5) Communicating expectations and frustrations in an effective and adult-like manner
(6) Taking personal responsibility for what did or didn't get accomplished
(7) Learning how to report progress to their "supervisor" aka their dad at the end of the day
(8) Inspecting and discussing the responsibilities that were delegated to the other children
(9) Preparing them for future babysitting jobs or any jobs really

I don't know what the days and weeks ahead hold, but I'm excited to share what life can look like when you're temporarily disabled. 

Stroke at 27?!?

Had a bit of a scare this week. 

My Plans and God's Plans

Had all my homeschool planned out for the week and ready to go. All our math worksheets, science experiments, history book pages, and cursive writing sheets all set and ready. 

Had a midwife appointment scheduled, worship practice set, even a double date night lined up! 

Then Tuesday, we were finishing up the brunt of our school work and eating lunch when my whole left arm went numb.

*That's weird. Must be laying on it strange...*

So I started moving my arm around. Then my face, chest and upper back went numb. 

*Hmmm... not sure what's going on?*

I started pacing the house trying to regain circulation. Also started texting my husband and little sister.

Then my whole left leg went numb.

I wrote 911, our address and directions to call Alex on the whiteboard quickly in case I lost consciousness so the kids knew what they needed to do. 

I called my husband and said, 

"I think something's wrong."

All of the sudden I started seeing spots and rainbow zig zags in my left eye. My husband said to call 911 and he'll be on his way to sit with the kids. 

The paramedics came and stayed with me and the kids until my husband arrived. I noticed at this point I had lost sight in a large part of my field of vision in my leg eye. When I looked at one paramedic, I couldn't see the other ones at all. 

I could still walk slowly (Praise God) so I limped into the ambulance and off we went. 

Long story short, the vision impairment lasted a few hours and the numbness 3 days. I stayed overnight and protested against the neurologist's recommendations on staying a second night. They were highly concerned about a stroke. The other option was something extremely rare called a "complex migraine" or a "hemiplegic migraine" (which was my final diagnosis),  but how mine was presenting was very atypical. 

About 12 hours after this all commenced, I started to get a headache. My second day in the hospital I lost much more feeling in my left side as well as severe disorientation where I couldn't walk on my own any more. CT scan normal, MRI normal, and some drug cocktail that usually works for migraines made absolutely no dent in how I was feeling. 

However, doing all they could to rule out a stroke, I went home to sleep for the next 48 hours (which I am still doing). 

My kids are now home, and I am finally able to feel my left side of my body. However, I am very weak and exhausted and cannot walk on my own. I get bouts of vertigo and severe dizziness. My headache seems to be lifting.

My little sister with my son and her son :)

Moral Delema:
In the hospital, one neurologist sat my husband and I down and explained that he thought I was having a mini stroke. He explained if this were the case I would most likely have a normal stroke in the next couple days, and if so, they would put me on a medication to prevent the stroke, but this medicine would probably cause an abortion to my baby (whom I am 10 weeks pregnant with). 

After he left the room I looked at my husband and said, 

"Well, I'll make his decision easier... No! I'm not taking someone else's innocent life to save my own."

"Well then you'll both die." My husband said.

"If someone pointed a gun to your head and told you to bury someone alive or they would kill you, would you? If you didn't they would shoot you and ask the next person until someone complied. It's the same scenario. I will not take someone's innocent life to save my own. The Lord can prevent a stroke. But I know He wouldn't want me to kill my baby to save my own life."

We were never shaken by any of this and knew the Lord had everything in His hands. I had complete peace I would be going home just fine, and here I am. :)

When Training Pays Off:
I got all 5 of my kids back last night and told my oldest they were in charge since I had no idea what this morning would hold as far as my mobility. To my great pleasure I woke up, made my way down stairs and heard the girls doing "school" with Elias and Hayven.

Aryeh was sitting in his chair with a bottle of milk and some cherrios. The house smelled like toasted bagels and the sound of laughter and sounding out letters filled the air. 

I know I'm not the perfect parent, and I know I fail in a lot of areas every day, but this morning made me proud that Alex and I stuck though the hard times and stayed consistent in training our children the way we did. I could trust them. Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord for AMAZING friends and family that took my kids at the drop of a hat for a couple days! 

A Witness Wherever You Go:
Of course, as a believer, I know that God leads and guides my every step. There were many, many nurses that I got to share the Lord with. Mostly because Alex and I were pregnant with baby #6. People were coming into our room just to meet us because they thought that was amazing. Other's said I looked like I was 12-years-old and there's no WAY I could have that many kids. Most of the Somalian women I got to talk to shrared with me that this was common in their country, but they've never met a family like us in America. 

We got to share that we loved Jesus and believed in the Bible and simply raise our kids according to that. Same with our marriage. People couldn't believe we'd been married 8 years, were as happy as we were, and had as many kids as we did. 

Praise the Lord! It's all because of Him.