Mommy’s Tips for Hurricane Preparedness

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Prepare in Advance for Severe Weather

This weekend, the East Coast is expecting to be pummeled by Hurricane Irene, which forecasters anticipate will be more severe than 2003’s Hurricane Isabel. Take time now to get ready for the storm to hit! Here are Mommy’s top tips:

  • Keep cell phones and laptop computers fully charged. Same goes for wireless hotspots. Sometimes when phones are down, data plans still work.
  • Arrange back-up communication, such as a neighbor’s land line, in case cell service is interrupted.
  • Fill your gas tank and check your vehicle fluids now so you will be “ready to roll” if you need to travel during power outages.
  • Know your evacuation route and plan, and gather all important papers and emergency supplies (3-5 days’ worth of medications, food, clothing, pet food and leashes, formula, diapers, car seats, etc) and put it by the door in case you have to leave quickly.
  • JUST IN CASE: Identify “safe zones” in your house where you can shelter away from windows or external walls. This may be a closet, bathroom, hallway, etc. If you don’t have this kind of space, cover windows as best you can and prepare to shelter against a piece of large furniture (preferably between two!) to protect you from falling debris. Continue reading →

Surprise, it’s a Baby! On Finding Out the Sex of Your Unborn Child

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I’m getting annoyed with people who look down their nose at Daddy in Training and me because we fully intend to find out the sexes of our babies as soon as humanly possible. “But don’t you want it to be a surprise?” they ask disdainfully.

As if we won’t be surprised whenever it is that we find out? It’s not like finding out on August 30 (our scheduled anatomy scan) won’t be surprising. “Oh, well, that’s boring.” No, of course not. We’re choosing to be surprised now instead of being surprised at birth. There’s nothing wrong with that. Continue reading →

Sleeping While Pregnant — Easier Said than Done

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People keep telling me to take advantage of this time to catch up on my sleep before the babies come. Fat chance. I’m starting to think this is the great inherent contradiction of pregnancy: You’re tired all the time, but you can’t get comfortable enough to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time several hours apart.

By the time I finally find a position that works, I’m so wide awake that I just lie there, staring at the back of my sleeping husband’s head. And then when I finally start to feel like I might drift off, I have to pee. Again. And then it starts all over again. Oh, and did I mention the part where my too-enormous-for-18-weeks belly gets tangled up in the covers. It’s okay to laugh — I’m sure it looks pretty funny.

Mercifully, I’ve found some relief with the Preggle Comfort Air-Flow Body Pillow. I was trying to decide between the Preggle and the Snoogle Total Body Pillow, also made by Leachco, when I found a Preggle used through a friend. Decision made! I’m a sucker for cheap and free. Which is guess is a good approach since I’ll have two babies to outfit and feed for the next 18+ years, right?

I’m hoping that as I get more used to the Preggle and more accustomed to my bizarre body proportions that this will get easier. Any tips from the slightly less amateur moms out there? I’ll take any help I can get!

 

17 Week, 3 Day Baby Bump

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Everyone loves a baby bump! Or so claims my tee shirt.

Starting to feel like my stomach might split! STILL no weight gain, and my arms are definitely shrinking. Babies = parasites. Very, very efficient parasites. Where were they a year ago when I was hitting the gym every day?