TeleHealth Ontario

by Sasha When I showed up at the hospital at 4:30 this morning, the staff were friendly. And when someone asked the nurse how he was enjoying his first night on triage, I joked that this was not what a nervous mom wants to hear.

I do have one complaint about the exchange, though: some derogatory comments made about TeleHealth. The gist was that without TeleHealth, I would not have shown up.

I can tell you that without TeleHealth, I would have been at emergency not just tonight, but several times in the past few years.

My first call was for a miscarriage. In the middle of the night (isn't it always the middle of the night?), the pain and bleeding suddenly got much worse. The last place I wanted to be right then was a hospital waiting room. Telehealth saved both me and the system the burden of that trip.

Another call. This time, a 1 year old with high fever and vomiting. But perhaps the most disturbing was the extreme lethargy. I hardly recognized my usually vivacious daughter. Telehealth told me to administer water, a tablespoon at a time, every 5 minutes. It worked. And once again, saved everyone a visit to emerg.

These are not the only times. This is just what I can remember as I peck away on my phone in a woken-at-4-am hospital-waiting-room stupor.

I want to reiterate: the staff were kind, even if they did make me feel silly for being there. And I recognize that the job they do is tough, and that they deal with a lot of unpleasantness. But I think it is important to understand that when I call TeleHealth, it's to try and avoid a hospital trip. Without it, I would have shown up anyway.

And they don't get to - or have to - talk to me when I don't.

The number for TeleHealth Ontario is 1-866-797-0000 . You can talk to a Registered Nurse 24-7. And if there's a wait you have the choice to hold the line or get a call-back.

Sasha is an Ottawa area mom, blogger, and fan of the Oxford comma. This post first appeared on her blog as Talking TeleHealth.

Voting and your kids

by Amy

I grew up in a house where we talked about current events and politics. My uncle worked for a political party – the same one I currently work for – and I always knew that my mom voted, my grandparents voted. My father has donated money to any candidate that asked him, whether he supported them or not, because he believes in their right to run.

I firmly believe that people should be engaged in politics, should talk about the issues they feel passionately about, and everyone – everyone – should vote.

This engagement and passion starts with education. Since my daughter was born 15 months ago, I have taken her while I voted in a provincial by-election, a municipal election and to the advance polls for the federal election. As she grows up and understands more, I will explain the process to her – presenting your voter card, taking your ballot behind the ballot station, marking an ‘x’ next to your choice.

I firmly believe it’s incredibly important that Canadian citizens understand the way Canada’s parliament works. When you take your son or daughter to vote, explain that you’re voting for your Member of Parliament. Currently 308 Members of Parliament make up the House of Commons, and the party with the most seats in the House of Commons is invited to form the government. The leader of that party becomes our Prime Minister, and the leader of the second party becomes the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition – because we are a Commonwealth country and the Queen is still our head of state.

Explain why you chose who you did, what they say that you believe in, what they will do for your neighbourhood – the constituency. Kids always want to understand what’s important to their parents. They are naturally curious and whatever you can do to help them understand how important voting can be will make them better citizens in the future.

As kids get older, you can take them to all-candidates debates or to campaign events. Since you are lucky enough to live in the capital, you can take them to visit Parliament and even take in some of the debate in the House. One of my favourite things to do as a kid was to visit the Hill and have my grandfather tell us who all the statues were.

Another great things that parents and teachers can do, something that we did at my elementary school that I still remember, is put together a mock election. Tell your kids about the candidates, maybe even get the candidates in to talk to the class, and let the kids vote.

Anything you do to help your kids understand what their voice can mean in our democracy will make this country a better place.

Amy is mom to  one year old Maggie and a 4 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind.

Another successful walking adventure

by Ezmy I have been itching to take Budsie to the park for as long as I’ve known him.

Even when he was in utero, I would get all giddy after seeing people with their tots in the park and then I’d talk to my stomach excitedly: “Mummy is SO going to take you to the park and we’ll have picnics and swing times and it’s going to be awesome.” People definitely gave me strange looks on the bus.

So when the snow finally melted, I figured it was time for a little park outing. But where would I find a park with swings (swings being essential to park awesomeness, in my humble opinion)? It occurred to me that because I was on bed rest, then wedding planning, then in hibernation for the winter, I really had no idea where a park for Budsie might be. I mean, I knew I had seen parks somewhere…but where?

Clearly it was time for a walking adventure. So A. and I packed up the carrier and set off to find a park with swings.

*30 seconds later*

There is a park with swings BEHIND OUR HOUSE! Nifty! Unfortunately, Budsie did not share in my excitement about this discovery. Probably because his mother is crazy and it was still a bit too cold for good park times:

But still! A successful, albeit short walking adventure, proving once again that while it is a bit more challenging to find activities that babies can get into, walking adventures are always an option. So if you are a parent with a young baby and you are lamenting the lack of baby good times, strap the kid to the front of you and get out for a walk. Who knows what you’ll find – even in your own backyard!

Ezmy is a new mum to son Ewan (aka Budsie). When she isn’t working on her master’s thesis, or playing games with her boy, she’s blogging furiouslyabout life as a stay-at-home mum in our nation’s capital. Follow Ezmy on Twitter (@ezmytweets) where she posts daily resolutions and updates on life with an active and very vocal baby.

The revival of date night!

 by Joanne Before we had kids, my husband and I actually saw movies in a movie theatre, we went to Montréal for the weekend and enjoyed gourmet meals in the Market weekly!

Boy things have changed – now when we watch the Oscars we might have seen one or two of the nominated flicks. Weekends away have been replaced by weekend taxi duty and I now cook those “gourmet” meals. When we plan to go out for supper we no longer head to the Market but to St. Huberts or Pizza Hut.

With our kids are getting older, we are more comfortable leaving them with a babysitter.  But once you pay the babysitter there is not much left for dinner and a movie!  We were easily paying over $100 a date night when you add up babysitting, dinner and the movie.  A few years ago, my sister and I came up with solution to revive date night and not break the bank at the same time.   We started a babysitting co-op!   My sister has 3 boys very close in age to my 2 kids.  They love spending time together and they often ask if they can have a sleep overs… actually they normally ask if they can switch families and move in with my sister or have her kids move in with us!  Our co-op gives the kids more time to play together on a regular basis and us parents get a much needed date night.   What we do is, once a month the kids have a sleep over party!  Sometimes it is at our house and sometimes at my sisters – we alternate months.  The kids get to play and have their sleep over. We get to see movie, go to a party with friends or even tackle a home renovation.   Our co-op is “unofficial” we don’t have a contract signed and we are the only two participating families.   There are many resources out there if you wanted to set up your own co-op with family or friends in your area. We do a sleep over every month because my sister lives at the complete opposite area of the city than I do. But you can organize it any way you would like.  Today’s Parent did an article on babysitting co-ops a while back.   It works wonderfully for us!  Not only do the kids get excited to stay with their cousins but we get to enjoy a night to ourselves.  But we also look forward to having the whole gang at our house too… my baby is 5 so I am looking forward to the snuggles I will get from my 15 month old nephew!   Joanne the proud mom of Amélie (8 years old) and Mathieu (5 years).  She is new at blogging and you can find her at Our Money Pit.

Mother's Day gift ideas : Mom jewellery

by Lara I don't tend to think of myself as overly sentimental in general but I will admit, there is no jewellery I like better than the jewellery that commemorates my kids.

With mother's day around the corner, I thought I would share some of my well loved mom jewellery in case you are looking for ideas for your spouse (either as a gift or a request :))

Rings

I had a ring made when Kiernan was about a year old with his name and date of birth and loved it so much I had ones made when Juliette and Quinn were born.  I wear them more than my wedding rings (gasp!) although my wedding ring is smaller and pinches my "will never be the same after having three children, short and stubby" fingers, so it's hardly my fault ;)

But that is neither here nor there.  Back to the rings. I ordered them online from a store on Etsy called Accessory a la Mode and they are just lovely. I wear them on my thumb so I can stack all three on at once.

Necklaces

The last two Christmases my husband has bought me necklaces that commemorate my kids.

Last year I got a gorgeous necklace with a mama and three baby birds on a branch (in retrospect, we didn't realize there was one with a daddy bird too which would have been nice).

This year, I saw Mel's connection necklace and fell in love. I'd seen the pictures of them before but in person they are even more stunning.  I asked for one for Christmas and love love love it.

I asked around and got sent a couple of images of other lovely mom jewellery other moms have.

Like this ring with one mom's son's birthstone:

And Maranda had this lovely necklace made for her daughter:

Mom jewellery is fun, not terribly expensive, and a great gift for Mother's Day!

Do you have any mom jewellery? Do you want any?

Lara is mom to 4.5 year old Kiernan and almost 2 year old twins Quinn and Juliette. You can read her blog at Gliding Through Motherhood.