The Daily Hailey

Yesterday, we talked wins. And I have a couple more from today that I’d like to share. Continuing from yesterday…

Win number four. I had one commitment out of the house today. I had to go to Saskatoon in the afternoon. After the spontaneous snow we got, the roads were PACKED and ICY. Most people online who usually say “Guys, its just winter conditions” were more on the “STAY HOME” side of things. And before I even had to think about it in depth, the person I needed to go see got in touch and suggested we reschedule, even though I was the one driving and she was not. What a weight lifted off my shoulders!!!

Win number five. Brady took another good solid sick day at home. While feeling somewhat better today, he is still physically exhausted, which makes total sense to me, being that I’m still recovering from all of that. But we did have coffee together today 💜 which we haven’t done in a very long time, and it was really nice for my heart.

Win number six. Our lovely accessibility expert/contractor/friend came today and made the finishing touches on our en suite 😍 I had every intention of todays post having pictures but now that the baby is napping in our room, I realize I didn’t take all the ones I wanted to share. So maybe tomorrow. But its done!! Or, as LD would say, DUNNNNNNNNNNNNN.

I think thats all for today. I was so happy to stay home. So happy to have a coffee with Brady. So happy to have my bathroom done. We sure have a lot to be thankful for, don’t we? 💜 Man. Praise God for making some things just SO easy.

Win number one. Our neighbour let me know this morning that she had supper already on the stove for us. Which was amazing. Something I didn’t have to even sort of think about for the day. Food is super tricky when people are sick. And even trickier when only part of the group is sick. Because this half wants some thick alfredo pasta dish, and this half over here wants butter toast. So today, receiving a text that promised a pot of homemade vegetable soup and bread, all dairy free, was a life saver.

Win number two. Munchie Mix is peeing!!! I know that sounds dumb, but it is a HUGE victory! In fact, baby produced THREE pee diapers IN A ROW without diarrhea!!! Guts and healing, and hydration remains strong. Praise God! One big step in the right direction, away from the hospital!

Win number three. Rowan banished me to the bathtub this evening. I could’ve cried. It has been a LONG, unclean stretch, where someone is always sick on me, or around me, or I’m the sick one, or something has happened, and I think “when this part is over, I’m going to clean up really good.” And that time just keeps not coming. Frankly, it still hasn’t, but today, Rowan cared about that. As he helped me keep babies entertained during their baths, he suddenly announced “After they’re down, and you get Munchie Mix down, you’re going to trust us kids to be solo so YOU can have a bath in here!” And true to that, as I fed M&M, Ro went and put a little lamp in the bathroom, a step stool for my laptop to hold my show, and he grabbed me a towel. We made a bunch of joked about shaving my very neglected armpits. In I went. And the kids all did totally well. Babies stayed quiet. Big kids had no issues. Everything was peaceful, and I could shave my pits and scrub the suspicious layer off of my skin.

As an update on the family, we are mostly doing well. I do not feel sick anymore, thank the Lord!! My body is still completely wiped, though, which is crazy. Standing for even a few minutes has me bending over and trying to prop up on something. But I definitely have more energy than I’ve had in a good while, and I feel capable of doing a bit more. Big kids are all fine and in school. LD and Spoons are well. Munchie is healing nicely. And then Brady. We believe he is taking his turn. Which really sucks. But also is seeming somewhat manageable. He stayed home from work today and slept until 11:25 😳 Considering we get up together at 6am almost every day, that was a LONG sleep in. He got up for some oatmeal lunch and lasted maybe an hour before he went back down for a couple more hours. He has been up for a few now and we will watch a little tv now here before crashing out again. Neither of us will last. He is not hungry, but still eating and drinking. He is sharing the same hostile symptoms as I experienced, however, thanks to his paraplegia, he is NOT in pain! Which is a HUGE relief!!! This illness has been incredibly painful, and if he can manage some of the yucky stuff and the fatigue without the relentless physical pain, we will count him so lucky!!!

We are well. We are getting better. Slowly but surely. I do believe this is our fourth round of all of this. If you are the praying type, please PRAY this to be the LAST one for a long, long time.

Sincerely,

The VERY tired, VERY blessed Borns.

Welp. I am not as poetic as Cher, but you are indeed stuck with me. I am back.

Hello again, friends. Let’s talk about these last few days.

They have been incredibly rough. The ONLY time I can recollect ever being laid up in bed with sickness is when I got covid the first time. It was nuts, and left me in bed for two days. I definitely needed a third, but then Brady got smoked with his first day and there was no other way, so I got up and got to it.

I remember when covid, my head was all over the place, and I lay in my bed unmoving, staring at my laptop watching Netflix for hours. At one point, my show ended and the just picked another one for me, willy nilly. I remember thinking “huh” and just accepting it because I was too out of it to change it.

But THIS whole thing right here 🙌 is NUTS.

Thursday, I texted Brady at work and he came home to help me. And by “help me” I mean I went to bed.

Friday, I spent just about the entire day in my room. Brady stayed home and found ways to get the babies where he needed them. I, of course, helped when and where needed, but I keep it close to the vest.

Friday night was its own special battle against my own body.

….. but I didn’t…..

Saturday was a VERY painful day. My body was screaming in pain from all the cramping and tightness and violence it was going through. Meanwhile also being on my period, it was impossible to even know what pain came from where at that point.

Today – Sunday – carried some lift, but unfortunately, the day was difficult in different ways. We have some trauma over here, as you may know. Medical trauma for sure. And if I had to guess, I’d say I’m getting in trouble for being sick. The kids are mad, and that is hard. I don’t have extra strength to fight with them, or extra mental energy to be sooooo patient. It is just a hard road.

Tomorrow is school. The kids are ok. They definitely seem past the sick part of the sickness, lol! I will be home, thank goodness. LD and Spoons seem ok. Munchie Mix is still working on it, but I believe we are still in the clear in terms of hospital visits 🤞 Aaaaand we’ll see if Brady makes it to work.

God knows. I have absolutely nothing left to give or to hold or to throw at this illness. God is with us. With Him, we are stronger than ever! 💪 Glory strength, baby! With some petty tears on the side.

There once was a baby, just six months old,
Who gave their poor mama a story retold.
Their tummy went merpy, their diaper stayed dry,
And mama said, “Oh dear, this just cannot fly”

To the hospital zoomed the poor little sprout,
For their tummy had tossed all the liquids right out.
They hooked them to tubes with a drip-drip-drip drip,
And Pedialyte slurps with a sippy-sip sip.

“No milk!” said the doctors. “Nothing for the tot!
Their tummy must rest, it is quite in a knot!”
So baby just screamed with a suspicious glare,
Like, “Excuse me there doc, do you think this is fair?”

But drip by drip and sip by sip,
The fluids returned with a sloshy-splash tip.
And everyone waited, the nurses, the crew,
For the magical moment of PEE NUMBER TWO!

“Oh please!” cried mama, exhausted and pale,
“I have seven more children, and soon need to bail!
Just pee little honey, just sprinkle or squirt!
A drizzle! A trickle! A tiny wet spurt!”

At last came the moment, the diaper went SQUISH!
Thank you to God who granted our wish!
“HOORAY!” nurses shouted, “The bladder has won!
Pack up the baby , the hospital’s done!”

Home went the baby, all plumped up and bright,
With formula bottles both day and all night.
It slurped and it burped and looked healthy with glee,
And mama thought, “Finally! Peace! We are free!”

But wait! Oh dear reader…. the story twists here.
A rumble of sickness began to appear.
One kid got the bug with a groan and a sigh,
Then another, and another…. and another! Oh MY!

Each child took turns with the tummy-flip flu,
A barfy parade and the sickly poo-poo!
Mama looked around, and didn’t know what to do…
The bug made its rounds with an epic debut.

Now mama is sick and exhausted to bits,
Surrounded by gassy blanket burrito fits.
Although baby drinks milk pretty easily,
Mama still whispers, “Please also… pee.”

For baby seems lively and silly and spry,
While mama keeps checking each diaper nearby.
They gulp all their bottles and only leave poo…
Which signals the start of hospital trip number two.

So mama just sighs with a sniffle and plea:
“You’ve already had your turn, so please just go pee.”

-Cher 

The Gloomy-Boomy Tummy of Tootville Town
(a very Dr. Seuss–ish springtime recovery tale)

In the town of Tootville, on Blustery Lane,
Lived a girl with a tummy behaving quite strange.
One minute it rumbled, one minute it squeaked,
One minute it whispered, “You’re safe for a week!”

But just like the weather in wibbly-womp spring,
It changed every hour, it’s such a rude thing!
The sky would be sunny, the birds would all sing,
Then BOOM! came a blizzard… from deep in the “thing”.

“My tummy,” she groaned, “is a trickster, a cheat!
It lies like a forecast that says warm and sweet!
It says, ‘You’re improving! You’re healthy! You’re fine!’
Then suddenly WHOOSH! It’s bathroom-o’clock time!”

Outside it was gloomy, all drippy and gray,
The clouds did their grumbling the same tummy way.
The wind did a whistle, the sleet did a splat,
Her belly said, “Hold on…I’m preparing something fat”

She waited and waited for springtime to bloom,
But inside her belly was thunder and gloom.
The daffodils peeped out and said, “Hello there!”
Her stomach replied with a suspicious BLAAARE.

“Oh tummy,” she whispered, “please make up your mind.
Are we in warm springtime or blizzard-wind kind?”
The belly just wiggled, the belly just hummed,
Like clouds that were thinking of when rain should come.

Then suddenly—uh-oh—she might need the potty!
A rumble so mighty it woke up her body!
The clouds held their breath, the wind gave a pause…
The squirrels all stopped with their acorny jaws.

Then TOOT! went a trumpet!
Then POOT! went a pop!
Then BRRRRRP! went a tuba that just wouldn’t stop!

The belly winds whistled!
The tummy winds flew!
Like springtime releasing the warm breezes through!

The clouds split apart!
The sunshine peeked out!
The flowers said, “Hey, that’s what spring’s all about!”

The daffodils giggled, the tulips all swayed,
The gloomy gray weather just melted away.
The air smelled like blossoms and sunshine and grass,
(No longer like tragic and treacherous gas!)

Her belly lay quiet. Her tummy felt light.
The winds had all blown in one glorious flight.

And she laughed to the birds and the buds in the sun:
“Well THAT was a storm, but I’m glad that it’s done!”

So if springtime gets tricky with weather or food,
And your belly gets grumbly and terribly rude….

Just remember…

That storms come in bodies and storms come in skies,
They rumble and grumble and take by surprise.
But wait out the thunder, the gloom, and the rain,
The sunshine and calm always come back again.

And just like the weather that God guides above,
He carries us through with patience and love.
Through tummy-storm winds and the gray, gloomy weather,
A rainbow will arrive with a love we can’t measure.

-Cher 

This little sickie went to the hospital—

wee-oo, wee-oo, down the hall! 

This little sickie came home from school—

pale little face, backpack and all. 

This little sickie slept all day long—

Sleeping like a bear, didn’t move at all. 

This little sickie got queasy at breakfast—

stared at the muffins like, “Nope… not at all.” 

And this little sickie stayed home all morning—

because the bathroom…

became their personal stall. 

This little sickie purged more than once—

Impressive range for someone so small. 

And this little sickie threw up in the tub—

poor bathtub did not expect that waterfall. 

And all the sickies cried,

“Oh dear heavens, make it stop!”

As the tummy bug marched through the house

like a chaotic germy mob. 

Please pray for the Borns today, and all the days!

-Cher 

Today, I run with the pack.

And by “run” I mean lay beside, whilst moaning.

Both my girlies stayed home from school today, so it seemed appropriate that I, too, feel like garbage today. My gross tummy worsened towards the end of the day, and finally ended with a hail Mary and a nap. Aaaaand some of Bradys anti-nausea meds from chemo, because I can.

Spoons seems ok, though seemed a bit unsure of breakfast. “Tummy. Hurt.” Ok, fair enough, you can be done.

LD has been bad off for a few days but today seems to be a day of lift. That means more energy, which is and isn’t fun for the people in the room 😅

Munchie Mix is sick, but so far seems managed. As the family member who took a trek to the hospital just last month, I am watching SO closely, very much not hoping for a repeat. Please say a prayer!

Ok. Nap time is over. Time to go relieve Brady from the kids so he can take care of all of his evening stuff. Don’t mind me lumping out on my recliner with a room temp gatorade ✌️ Goodnight, all.

I know I’ve written about this before in a way. When I reorganize all of Brady’s med supplies, it really shines a light on where we’ve been and what we’ve experienced/overcome in the last while. I’m in a similar boat today as I dig through what we have coined as the product closet.

The product closet holds basic meds, first aid stuff, soap, toiletries, etc. And it. Is. A MESS. I did such a good job setting it up way back, but you’d better believe it is SO much easier to pull something out and shove it back into any corner they can find rather than putting it back in the container/box meant to hold it.

Aaaaanyway. I decided to tackle that today.

Spoiler alert. It will NOT be done before the kids come home from school 😅 Not even sort of. I had a sickie come home earlier this afternoon and that beautiful face keeps sneaking back over to where I’m working, even though they need to be on the couch. Which seems to mean that I, too, need to be in the living room. I digress. Its a cute problem to have.

What I can tell you from the hours I’ve put into it already is this. It was an emotional ride to look through everything. Lots has changed.

Brady had the strongest, grossest mouthwash and toothpaste known to man. Now, his mouth hurts so bad, we had to get really creative to find him a way to clean his mouth without the pain.

I had saved the tiny handful of medical gauze pads like they were gold. Now, I probably have hundreds of them. I chucked the handful today without even thinking.

Old hair care products that I used to use to maintain the beautiful color of my fresh hair. Now its been so long, I’m scared to use them.

The hardest hit was finding old medications and supplements for fertility. I threw away a few boxes of progesterone, and some fertility supplements we had for Brady at one point. That part felt like a gut punch. Or a uterine punch, rather.

Like I said yesterday, it always feels like a preparey time of year right around now, and there is grief with that. So I’m trying to allow myself to feel it as I do the things. As I throw away old things, unbox new things, and organize a space that works best for us now.

Where the kids can reach fresh toothpaste and bandaids without having to open or close anything behind them.

Where Brady can reach his items independently.

Where everything else is SO clearly labelled so my brain doesn’t have to work extra hard.

Its good to be busy. Idle is hard. Especially at this time of year. But rest is also important. Sickness is also part of the scene, unfortunately. So the days are full, but they’re ok, and we’re making it 💜

I have a long list of things that need doing. I can’t quite explain it, but I think there is something that happens to me in February/March that feels VERY preparey. Its been this way for a few years now, and I think it stems from some of the medical trauma we’ve gone through. February 2021 was Bradys initial surgery, so that feels like a heavy anniversary. His seizure was late January 2024 and subsequent brain surgery was in March. Early March 2025 was when we discovered the tumours had regrown in Brady’s spine. It just kind of goes on and on. Its a very triggering time of year for me. But life still continues to move forward, as will we!! But we will whilst doing some weird panicky work around the house, just to help scratch the itch of preparing for nothing in particular. Its confusing, I know.

Anyway, I made a list, and we took a few things off of it this weekend, despite all the sickness. One thing was our nightmare of a bookshelf. Its a huge piece in our living room and is a total and complete mess, absolutely always. So yesterday during naps, a couple of us emptied the whole sucker out and sorted through every. Single. Book.

This is only a small chunk of the books 🤣

The result was SO worth it. We purged like crazy and it feels SO much better!!!

To have gone through and even taken full series away that just no one reads or is interested in. Books that are too taped up. Books that are duplicates. Anytime a kid said “Ooo I like that one!” we kept it, but anytime they had any “meh” at all, it was gone. And we organized and made sense of which series went where, which age levels went where, etc. It may very well all get mixed up again soon, but the refresh felt SO good!!!

We also gutted the fridges of old leftovers yesterday, and temporarily repaired our very broken piano bench.

Thats three things off the list! More to come!!

*snort laugh* Irony.

Welp. It was not a smooth wakeup over here.

Laela woke me up to tell me that Rowan was barfing. Thankfully, he was not barfing, but he was close to it. He felt very sick, and had picked his perch right in front of the toilet, on the bathroom floor. Rowan does not like to barf solo, but as his stomach ache started to lift he relinquished me back to my bed, promising to bellow for me if the time came. Perfect.

I went from there to pour coffee for Brady and I. We try to coffee date in bed most mornings before the day truly begins. While out in the kitchen, I got the update that Solly felt sick. He stayed home sick from school on Friday, felt better Saturday, but felt worse again today.

So when it came time for morning meeting, we decided to split up a bit. Dekker, Laela, and Wavy went to church. The rest of us stayed home.

Which was RIGHT because the birthday babe themself was sick 👏 as 👏 a 👏 dog! 😩🤮 Goodness, that poor little love was SUCH a mess!!! It made for a pretty calm morning of quiet play, with some bouts of sickness and many jammie changes interspersed.

Some lunched, and others didn’t, but then it was nap time. Naps were an easy sell today. Meanwhile, a few of us put a few hours into some work around the house, which felt really good!

More barf upon waking up, c/o our dear birthday baby 💔 Poor monkey. More jammies. As I type this, we’re on our fourth pair. *sigh*

Broth, crackers, and apples for supper! PLEASE Lord, let this not be the beginning of a second round!!