I never want to do THAT again...

DRINK YOUR WATER!

It's become my motto of late. And I can't tell people to do it enough. Why, do you ask? What is the purpose of my proclaiming that you need to drink more water?

Simple.

It's the number one, quick and easy, painless, and cheap way to help prevent kidney stones.

After being in the ER twice with severe back pain, I have been diagnosed as having a VERY large kidney stone in my right kidney. I was in agony, L tried to get me there ASAP while still obeying speed limits, and we discovered that V has this uncanny ability to wake from a sound sleep as soon as we enter the ER doors. (I got pain meds that made me loopy, L got no sleep, and V got to watch all kinds of new people and new things. At least someone got some enjoyment out of those nights...) It's not an experience I want to repeat. Trust me on this. I would rather go through childbirth again (and I did it without pain meds) than go through kidney stone pain a third time. Not to mention this last week of being half asleep and sick due to the medications necessary to manage my pain. It's only been the last two days that have been relatively pain-free.

Now, I have to go to a hospital two hours south of my hometown in order to have it removed. In order to do this, I had to find a babysitter for V, and L and I both have to take more time away from farming duties to make the trip.

I had very little risk for developing a kidney stone, but I did. It could be one of any number of things (though the chiropractor thinks it is most likely a pH imbalance that he recently discovered), but drinking more water certainly wouldn't have hurt me. So, I am going to go all Mother Hen on you people out there reading my blog and remind you once again to DRINK YOUR WATER!!!