Wednesday, June 29, 2011

why drinking water is super duper important

Feeling faint or dizzy?..........Check.

Nausea?..........Check.

Rapid heartbeat?..........Check.

Cool, moist, pale skin?..........Check.

Weakness?..........Check.

Fatigue?..........Check.

Heat exhaustion?..........Check?

Unfortunately, I had the opportunity to experience these symptoms while buying groceries for dinner after work today. Joe had to stay a little late at work to make up time from this morning because the Civic wouldn't start for me and he had to leave work for about 3o minutes to come to my rescue.

Awwwwwwwww! :-)

Anyway, since he was planning on making up his time at work, I suggested that I'd grab a few groceries on the way home so that I could make dinner when I got home. All was fine and dandy and the grocery store was very comfortable.

Until I got to the meat section.

I had just picked up some beef for Lucy (yes, we freakin' spoil the crap out of our dog) and was about to get some chicken for our dinner when I started to feel really faint, dizzy, nauseated, weak, and REALLY sweaty and clammy. I leaned over on the shopping cart for a minute and started to feel a little better, so I grabbed the chicken, grabbed some broccoli and headed for the checkout lines.

Everything was good again, but when I was standing in the line after unloading the groceries, I started to feel really faint, dizzy, nauseated, weak, sweaty, and clammy all over again. So I grabbed a bar of chocolate and a small bottle of OJ from the cooler near the checkout line thinking maybe I just needed a little sugar in my blood or something.

After I got through checkout and unloaded the groceries, I got in the car and blasted the AC and started to feel really short of breath and had a semi-rapid heartbeat. So I took deep, calm breaths, drank my OJ, had a few pieces of the chocolate bar I bought and just sat in the cool AC for a couple minutes.

Luckily we only live like 1 mile from the grocery store, so I got home just fine and Joe grabbed the groceries and from then on I’ve just relaxed and felt extremely fatigued, weak, and exhausted.

I decided to look up my symptoms and…while maybe you could call me a hypochondriac…my symptoms fit the list for heat exhaustion almost 100% to a “T”.

Scary stuff.

Here’s the kicker, though…

I drink at least 80 ounces of water a day in addition to any other fluids I take in. And that’s a LOT!! Probably more than most people, actually. But apparently today it was not enough. It’s very likely that being pregnant leaves me more susceptible to different things. And because a pregnant lady’s body temperature is usually higher anyway, perhaps heat exhaustion is easier to come by.

But the moral of the story is that drinking water…especially in the summer…especially in an Arizonan summer…is super DUPER important. I seriously hydrate myself all day every day. But today it was no match for the heat.

So be warned, my friends.

DRINK WATER.

It may not be the most tasty of beverages…but it’s a life saver.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

dear holy Lord, whose legs are these?

After camping this past weekend, I was BEAT!

As in seriously, utterly, completely, and indubitably exhausted.

It was crazy.

And not only was I the most tired I've been in awhile, I was also the most dirty I've been in awhile. Which means that as soon as we were done unpacking from the trip, I was in the shower and cleaning up.

There's nothing like a good long shower after a weekend of camping!

But what totally surprised me was when I started shaving my legs and realized that the legs in front of me were not mine. They...in no way...resembled anything CLOSE to what my legs look like. I mean, it was like I was staring at tree trunks really. And there is NO WAY that those were my legs. I mean...really? Tree trunks? Seriously?

I know that looks are superficial and that pregnancy swelling is temporary, but I've felt about as glamorous as a piece of trash for the past 8 months so far and my feet and ankles seriously swell more and more by the day.

I mean, the shower was really nice and it felt great to clean up and relax.

And there's no way in h-e-double hockey stick that I'm going to go without showering or shaving.

But I'm thinking next time I'll just keep my eyes closed and hope for the best.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

adventure parents

Joe and I (and Princess Lucy Pants, of course) went camping this past weekend with my family.

Every year (for the past decade and a half at least), a group of people from my parent's work have been getting together every summer for a Summer Solstice Campout at Reynold's Creek, which is in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness east of Lake Roosevelt. Joe and I went in 2008 and 2009, and we missed it last year but decided to go again this year. And it was really awesome!

My folks recently picked up a cute little vintage canned ham trailer for themselves and this was their first camping trip with it.

It's so cute!!


And since Joe recently installed our hitch/tow assembly on the Montero (our birthday gift to each other), we ended up pulling their pop-up trailer and stayed in that for the weekend. It was really nice. I seriously LOVE camping!!! The stars, the fresh air, the cooking, the people, the lack of traffic and noise, the happy beagle...all of it! And it's always a little sad having to come back to the city, but it's nice knowing that it won't be long before we head out to the great outdoors again.

And, yes...we are planning on camping with our little one. Oh yes...and he will like it! He will be conforming to our life and what we like to do, so camping is just a given! And of course we're not expecting it to be perfect by any means of the word, but some things like this are important to us, so little Baby McG will be forced along for the ride.

After all, the Adventure Parents said it best when they said, "Just Because Kids Will Ruin Your Carpet Doesn't Mean They'll Ruin Your Outdoor Adventures."

Right? :-)

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Monday, June 6, 2011

growing your baby

Joe and I went for our first prenatal education course this past weekend. It was a course called "Growing Your Baby" and was given at the hospital where we will be delivering little Baby McG. My impression, from the course title, was that it was going to be information about fetal development and the stages of growth from conception to delivery. Joe thought it was going to be about how the baby grows once he/she is already born and already a "baby."

Neither of us were right.

It was primarily about what to do during pregnancy, what not to do during pregnancy, and how to recognize and avoid preterm labor. Most of the course involved getting a million handouts that we had to read on our own and everything discussed we pretty much already knew. But the instructor was fun and we did learn a little about how to recognize and avoid preterm delivery...something we really hadn't even thought about.

One more thing, though...

Why is the act of having a baby called "delivery"?

I mean, it's not like anything is being delivered. It should be more aptly called Uterine Marathon or Fetal Extraction or something else that implies strenuous action and intense effort. You know what I mean?

Because calling it "delivery" just seems so passive...like all of a sudden the little baby will just appear and be "delivered."

Yeah...only in my best of dreams, I'm sure!

Friday, June 3, 2011

anger

Called in a prescription for an inhaler this afternoon.

Went to the pharmacy to pick it up.

It wasn't ready yet because the pharmacist said I had no refills left.

I told her that my doctor probably won't respond until Monday because it's now Friday.

Her suggestion: "Go to Urgent Care to get a prescription."

Called my doctor's office to talk with an on-call nurse. Asked if I could get a refill for my asthma medication. Before I could even finish my sentence, the snotty unhelpful obviously-not-customer-service-inclined on-call nurse butted in and said "there are absolutely no prescription refills given after hours or on the weekends."

My response: "Well, what am I supposed to do about my asthma medication that I need?"

Her response: "There are absolutely no prescription refills given after hours or on the weekends."

Wow. Really? You couldn't flipping say something ELSE?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MISS LIPPY!!!!

And seriously. I have asthma, okay? I have had asthma for almost 30 years now. And, I'm going out on a limb here by saying this, but...my guess is that I probably will STILL have asthma for years to come, if not indefinitely. So why in the HOLY LORD ALMIGHTY'S NAME can I NOT get a prescription unless I pay $100 dollars by going to Urgent Care?

SERIOUSLY?

So it's the weekend! Whoop-dee-freakin'-DOO! Doesn't mean my asthma mysteriously disappears from Friday through Sunday! And I mean it's not like I am trying to get more percocets or vicodin or something. It's freakin' ASTHMA!! It's a freakin' INHALER!!

So I guess my option is to go to Urgent Care, spend $100 on that visit PLUS the cost of the prescription. Or not go and have an asthma attack.

Awesome.

Love health care.

LOVE IT!!!!
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