Our Trip to Jackman, Maine

We've had a few concerns for our Brenna for about 4 months. She gets a good 10 hours of sleep everynight, but she still gets really sleepy during the day. She will fall asleep for about 3 hours. During this time she's not very hungry and she gets pretty pale and gray looking. It's not all the time, probably about 1/3 of the time this happens. But, it still is a concern for our baby girl. We tried to have her seen here in Quebec at the clinic in our neighborhood. This is the same place we took Silas when he was 5 months old and ran a lowgrade fever for 3 weeks. When we took him, the doctor wasn't really sure if she wanted to see him since he didn't have a Canada insurance card. We explained we were paying cash, and she decided to see him. She said if we need to come back it will be up to the individual doctor if they want to see us or not. It's really different because the 2 times we've been to the doctor (once with Silas and once for my ultrasound) we've had to pay the doctors directly and they will make us change out of their own pocket. It's pretty weird, but anyway...We took Brenna to the clinic and the doctor said "No". He said we could go to the Emergency Room, but the average wait for someone without a Canada card is 24 hours and we would have to pay $500 dollars to be put on a waiting list. We decided we would make an appointment in Jackman, Maine and see Doctor Doyle. We've seen Doctor Doyle a couple of times for Silas to have checkups and to keep his shots up to date. It's about a 2 1/2 hours drive to Jackman. Thursday was our appointment in Jackman. We left our house around 10am in the beautiful snow. None was falling but it was on the ground and trees and it was gorgeous! I love the snow right after it's fallen.

When you're pregnant, 2 1/2 hours is a little too long to go for a break, so Patrick stopped for me at A & W and the kids were so excited when he came out with A & W Rootbeers for them! MMMM! We love a good soda! We even put some in Silas's cup for the first time. He smiled and loved it, but he only drank a couple of sips. Then, he was done.

We passed through the border and entered the US. The mountains are so gorgeous on both sides of the border. The above picture is the mountains in Maine.

Welcome to Jackman! Jackman is a very small town...no McDonalds or Walmart. A couple of small Mom and Pop type restaurants. We ate at one the last time we came through and it was delicious. When we came camping here last July we ate at Bishop's gas station. They have a little restaurant in the back and the Philly Cheese Steaks were fabulous! This time we decided to stop at Bishops again for Burgers and Philly Cheese Steaks. Good Greasy American Food!!! We love it!

There are moose and deer all through this area and we could see their prints in the snow. We saw these two deer in Jackman. They were pretty big!

Here is Doctor Doyle's office which is also the Hospital/ ER/ Nursing Home for the area. Josh said he loves small town life and wants to live in a town like this when he is older.

My Brenna did amazing! We prepared her ahead of time that they would probably draw blood from her arm. She's never had this done before, so of course, she was nervous. When the doctor mentioned she had to have blood drawn, she took a deep breath and said "ok". She decided it would help her if she watched. I never watch! She put her arm out, squeezed my hand, and didn't even flinch or cry! I was so proud of my girl!

The lab tech went ahead and tested her for iron-deficiency (we sort of thought this was the problem), diabetes and kidney problems. Praise the Lord all of those tests came out normal! Yay! She is sending out for her blood to be tested for Thyroid problems. We'll get those results back next week. Please be praying for my Brenny and for her to have more energy. I think my sister Tay likes Red Bull, maybe we'll try those! :o) Everything else about my girl is completely healthy, except....she probably needs glasses. Oh boy! What's going on with my girls. She's just like me and Beth, her right eye is worse than her left.

Way to go, Brenna! What a brave girl you are! I'm so proud of you!