kapachino

Author: Kathleen

  • my maternity musts

    I am by no means a pregnancy expert, and I know everyone and every pregnancy is different, but since I have now experienced over nine months of it I figured I’d share a few things that have gotten me through.

    maternity musts

    Supportive shoes

    For work I wear the same Crocs that I always did and they work fine, although they’re getting a little tight now. The above Teva sandals are what I wear for practically everything else. They are cushiony and supportive, and are good for everything from wearing around the house to walking the streets of Charleston. I don’t have much swelling in my feet, but if I did I’d probably need some sandals with less straps than these.

    A really good bra & bra extenders

    As I’ve mentioned several times before, I’ve had terrible rib pain with this pregnancy. My old bras were killing me, so I bought a nice, stretchy nursing bra (so I can use it later). But even getting it perfectly sized, the pressure on my ribs was still too much. I didn’t even know they made bra extenders, but they have been a lifesaver. I bought some from Target to make the band of the bra bigger without increasing the cup size. It still kind of hurts to wear a bra, but without these I would be miserable.

    Pillows

    I’m a back sleeper, and that’s the one position that isn’t allowed during pregnancy. In order to stay propped up on my side I’ve been using a pillow like the one pictured to wrap around my whole body. It also helps a lot for comfort. I think that just having a whole bunch of pillows would work too, but my sister-in-law gave me the body pillow and I’ve been happy with it.

    Clothes

    I tried to spend as little money on maternity clothes as possible, so I wore a lot of items that weren’t maternity but worked. What carried me through were yoga pants and tons of long t-shirts & tank tops from Old Navy. Sundresses were great for a long time as well. One good pair of maternity jeans were essential, and the last two months I’ve been wearing a few maternity dresses, shorts, and tops.

    BellaBand

    I didn’t use this every day, but it’s a really good thing to have. I wore it with my regular pants when I was just starting to outgrow them, and now I’m wearing it again. My long t-shirts aren’t quite long enough to cover my massive belly, and my scrubs aren’t very comfortable when they’re tied up, so I wear the BellaBand to hold my pants up and cover my belly. It just looks like another shirt underneath.

    Also recommended…

    >I usually consider massages and pedicures an indulgence, but they became more of an essential when I stopped being able to reach my toes and my back was killing me.

    >I’m not a bath person, but for so many of my aches and pains my doctor recommended Epsom salt baths, so I do that. I dump about two cups of salt into the tub and soak for 10-15 minutes. I can’t say that it takes away the pain, but it does relieve it for a time.

    >For carpal tunnel syndrome, a pair of wrist braces are absolutely necessary. If I don’t wear these at night I will wake up in tears feeling like my hands are on fire.

    >A really awesome husband and family nearby to bring me food and ice cream and help me with chores is a wonderful thing. :)

  • thirty-six weeks


    Picture actually taken around 34 weeks by my friend Cio Alvarado. More maternity pictures here!

    Symptoms: I step outside and I feel like I swell to twice my size. In reality, I think my hands are slightly swollen all the time, my feet and legs swell when it’s hot, and same with my face. The carpal tunnel syndrome persists, and I have constant pain and numbness in both hands but especially the right one. Working with needles probably isn’t the best thing for me to be doing right now, considering I stabbed myself in the finger with one at work yesterday. (It was clean!) My ribs still cause me pain almost all the time, and now I have previously-unknown pieces of cartilage sticking out. Yay!

    Medical Stuff: So far I’ve gained 33 pounds, which is fine, but I was sure hoping I’d be one of those girls who only gained like 20-25 pounds. Oh, well. I just can’t get rid of this anemia, which adds to my utter exhaustion. The plan is to check my blood counts after delivery and possibly see a hematologist at that time. I see my doctor every week now, and at this point my cervix is still closed, which is good. I had a quick ultrasound which determined that Meredith is head down (very happy about that since I have an arcuate uterus that gives me a higher chance of breech birth), however she’s facing up and we want her to face down. So everyone pray that she turns, okay?

    Movement: Sometimes I look at my stomach when she moves and I just laugh. It’s such a strange thing. I love that I can actually determine body parts now, like when she kicks her little foot out I know what it is. So ready to hold her!

    Clothes: Well I only have two pairs of scrub pants that still fit me, so I’ve been doing a lot of laundry. Haven’t bought any more maternity clothes and I don’t think I will. Only a few more weeks to go, I can make do! However, it’s not unusual for my pants to sag and my shirt to ride up, leaving the bottom of my belly exposed. At this point I really couldn’t care less.

    Preparation: I have one more baby shower this weekend, and then after a couple more purchases with our gift cards, we should be all set on gear. Starting today (I have the day off so my mom is coming to help out) the plan is to get the nursery organized. This weekend I also want to pack a hospital bag, install the car seat, and finalize our plan for when I go into labor, like who will do what. Still to do: make post-baby budget, watch The Business of Being Born with David, have the house cleaned (I have a LivingSocial coupon for this), and start on my maternity leave paperwork.

    Also: I’ve barely had any baby dreams this whole pregnancy, but they are becoming pretty frequent now. The most interesting one so far was where Meredith just sort of emerged and separated from my belly, like a cell undergoing mitosis. It was kind of creepy/cool. Lately people like to comment on how high I’m carrying her, which is somewhat disheartening. I’m ready for her to drop! Not only will that mean we’re getting closer, but hopefully it’ll also take some pressure off my ribs. My doctor told me she ideally wants me to deliver around 39 weeks, so once that point hits I’m going to try every natural thing possible to get labor going. That’s less than three weeks away!

  • Lately…

    >I’ve been struggling a lot with energy and various discomforts, especially at work. I’ll update more thoroughly when I do my 36-week pregnancy post, but suffice it to say that I am wondering how I’ll make it four more weeks of working as a nurse full time.

    >I’ve had three baby showers (a major one for family & friends, one at work, and a small one at my craft club) and have two more scheduled (at my husband’s work and at church). We have so much baby stuff now! There are only a couple major things left that would be nice to have. The nursery is completely disorganized and I really want to whip it into shape, but I rarely have the energy to do more than walk in there, take a look around, and walk out again.

    >I’m still recapping The Bachelorette, and I’ve been trying to catch up with old TV shows that I’m sadly behind on. Right now it’s Glee, and next I’m thinking I’ll go back to 30 Rock. We’ve been under-utilizing Netflix and I want to remedy that. At least I’m not discontinuing it until after maternity leave is over! Also, I’m watching So You Think You Can Dance for the first time. So far I like it!

    >I got about a hundred pages behind on the Infinite Jest read-along that Ashley is hosting. I blame it on the wacky page numbering of the ebook version. So I’ve been attempting to get caught up. By the way, I really like the book.

    >My life consists of surviving each work day, spending the evenings collapsed in a lump on the couch reading or watching TV (the only activities that aren’t hard on my hands or body; blogging is difficult because of the carpal tunnel), eating whatever we have on hand no matter how unhealthy, trying to be more comfortable, thinking about preparing for Meredith’s arrival, and various other social engagements including church, family, and friend stuff when I can manage it.

    >I’m just really ready to have this baby.

  • Ten On Tuesday: Randomness

    As usual, thanks to Chelsea for hosting! Is it just me, or are the weeks getting longer and longer? I can’t believe it’s only Tuesday.

    1. How do you pronounce the word aunt? Does your pronunciation rhyme with ‘haunt’ or ‘can’t’?
    Rhymes with ‘can’t,’ because I’m from Texas.

    2. Do most of the people in your life know you blog? Or are you partially or totally anonymous?
    Yes, mostly. I don’t hide my blog from anyone but I don’t announce it either, so the people I work with probably don’t know about it. I’m completely unanonymous, and just try to use discretion regarding what I post.

    3. When you grocery shop, do you prefer to bag your own groceries or do you like it when the store bags them for you? Paper, plastic, or reusable bags?
    I let them do it because I’m lazy. Thankfully  my husband does most of the grocery shopping because I hate that chore. We used reusable bags for a long time until recently when we left them at the used bookstore on accident. So I need to get some more of those.

    4. Do you have a green thumb?
    I doubt it. I’ve never really tried to garden or grow anything. It’s something I’d love to learn more about when I have the time.

    5. If you watch the Food Network, which chef/show host is your favorite?
    I don’t watch it. I’m not a foodie and I don’t really enjoy cooking, although maybe if I watched the Food Network it would inspire me.

    6. Do you like to take baths? Do you take them very often?
    I am not a bath person at all. Especially not for cleansing. I just don’t see how a person can get truly clean from a bath. Since becoming pregnant, however, I have come to see the benefits of baths for relaxation purposes. Nowadays I will take a 10-15 minute Epsom salt soak at night every once in awhile, and it’s nice. I can’t handle much longer than that though.

    7. What color are the walls in your kitchen?
    What little walls there are (the kitchen is mostly dominated by white cabinets and a pink/tan backsplash) are a light green color.

    8. Do you prefer to dine outdoors or indoors?
    In good weather I enjoy dining outdoors, but that kind of weather doesn’t happen too often around here.

    9. Describe your ideal weather.
    It would be sunny but not too hot, maybe in the 70’s, with a slight breeze.

    10. If you could learn any foreign language, which would you choose to learn?
    I know a little bit of Spanish and I wish I was fluent in it. I could get so much use out of that, especially at work.

  • Cube Dog App Review

    The Clever Girls Collective offered me the chance to review this new iPhone app that just came out called Cube Dog. The reasons I wanted to do it are: 1) Since I just upgraded to the iPhone 4 I’ve been rediscovering my love for apps, 2) my favorite games are the simulation-type, and 3) I’m a dog lover, of course!

    Cube Dog just became available this week, and I spent some time playing around with it. The first thing you do when you open it up is design your very own 3D cube dog and name it. If you hit a creative block, just give your phone a shake and a random design will come up! I designed this first one and named him Kiwi:

    And this is the random one I got, and named Sally:

    Once you have your cube dog it’s time to play! There are lots of cute 3D animations you can go through with your dog like playing with a ball, making a phone call, sleeping, and even ninjapup! It’s pretty adorable, but after you go through them once that’s really all there is. You do have the ability to purchase additional animations (and parts for the design of your dog) in the store, though.

    Another cool thing you can do is enter camera mode, which puts your pup in the room with you. Here’s Kiwi in my hand:

    As far as I can tell that’s about all you can do. I was really hoping for more of a point to it, like actually taking care of your pet and maybe seeing it grow. But it is extremely adorable. I think it’d be great to keep kids entertained.

    Here’s a little more about the app:

    Check it out on Facebook also, and watch for a fun contest running June 13-17!

    Disclosure: While Cube Dog provided me with the app to review, the opinions I’ve expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Cube Dog, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.