PSA ~ Dehydration!

Wow. Both my husband and I ended up with dehydration and heat exhaustion this week. His was earlier in the week, mine was Wednesday and yesterday.

It's hot in Oklahoma ... Even unusually hot for June.

I took the kids to our local water park on Wednesday. I knew I felt thirsty around lunch time, but wasn't too worried about it. I drank 32 ounces of water between lunch and when we left the park.

I got home and got the kids bathed and in the pjs and got them settled upstairs so Rick and I could have our Wine Wednesday date. We took our dinner out to our back patio and enjoyed it with a glass of wine. And then I felt myself plummeting. I was exhausted! I could hardly keep my eyes open! Rick told me that I should just go onto bed. And you know what, I did!  7:17 p.m. is what the clock said when I flipped off the light.

Then yesterday I felt horrible all day! I was achy. I was so fatigued that any activity made me need to lay down. I worked on lesson plans for next year laying in bed. I made a grocery list laying on the couch. The only thing I really managed to do all day was unload the dishwasher and water my garden.

At first I just thought I was exhausted from a busy day at the water park. It always does wear me out. But then I just decided I must have gotten dehydrated. Between noon yesterday and bedtime I sucked down 64 ounces of water. I went to bed on time and didn't get up to run this morning. I slept in instead.

And today I feel much better. I still feel a tad fatigued. But, I'm not achy and I don't feel like I want to burst into tears.

We had planned to go to the zoo today for FarmFest. We've been preparing for it all week, reading books and doing a lapbook. Last night I told the kids that we were going to have to wait until Saturday to go. They were fine with that. (Have I mentioned that my kids are HOMEBODIES like their mama? Seriously, if I didn't make plans for us to leave the house, we never would!)

I just knew that I would kill myself with what I had planned to do today .... go to the zoo in the morning and then our two-week grocery trip in the afternoon. I might have been born at night, but not last night.

It's time that I realize that I just can't do all I want to do when I want to do it. Compromises must be made. I'm no spring chicken anymore.

And, I'm not a big drinker. Over the past couple of months I have started intentionally drinking 32 ounces of water every day. But I am not one who is naturally thirsty. The rest of this summer I will definitely plan to force myself to drink 64 ounces of water a day, and make the kids drink lots too!

Dehydration is nothing to scoff at. Take care of yourselves and your kids (and your husbands and pets.) Just because your body is cool, especially when you are in a pool or other water source, does not mean the inside of your body isn't begging for hydration!