-->

January 12, 2011

A little bit of drama in my life

For the past couple of weeks, and especially for the past few days, I have been raving about how wonderful, and just plain "normal" this stage in the pregnancy has been.  I'm not light headed or nauseous, my hormones are nice and balanced, I'm not bloated or full feeling even though my stomach is getting bigger, and my boobs are no longer tender (even though they are also getting bigger!).  Unless I look down to be reminded that I no longer have a waist line, or unless I feel the baby kick (which is heaven, by the way), I don't even feel pregnant.  This really helps time to fly right on by.

So, this morning on the way to work, I had myself a little drama.  It was pretty cold out this morning, a tad below freezing, and there was residual ice on the roads from a little winter storm the day before.  I generally start off freezing.  The air in the car is cold, the steering wheel is cold, I'm bundled up, shivering.  Eventually the air on full blast is too much and I get a little hot and need to make an adjustment.  Usually that just means turning the heat down and maybe taking my gloves off.  This morning, about 5 miles from work, I got really stuffy and needed to remedy that immediately.  I turned the heat down and took my gloves off.  I turned left onto Old Oxford Rd., about 4 miles from work.  I continued to feel particularly restricted in my coat (happens in general when you've got baby belly and a scarf crammed in there) and I got increasingly hot.  I started to unbutton my jacket and was in a frenzy to get my thick scarf off of the back of my neck.  My vision was starting to get a little blurry, and at first I thought it was my imagination.  I would blink real hard and try to refocus my vision on the two lane country road.  I was reaching for my phone to call Matt while I continued to unbutton my jacket.  In hindsight this was not the smartest move on my part, but while I didn't want to overreact, I did want to be on the phone with someone in case something happened.  Matt didn't answer, thank goodness.  By the time I ended that call I realized I was definitely losing my vision, and fast.  My whole face and neck got clammy and I was running out of time to find a place to pull over.  I could tell that there weren't shoulders without ditches or trees, nor were there driveways or roads to my right.  Not even sure if I was 100% in the correct lane at this point, I found a left turn and took it.  I felt like I had very little time left to get my car off of the road and call 911.  Right after taking my left turn I saw that the left shoulder was flat (whereas the right shoulder once again welcomed a ditch followed by trees).  I crossed the lane of oncoming traffic, pulled onto the shoulder, stopped, and managed to dial 911 (and get my scarf off!) in time.  I put on my hazards, and wasn't positive my whole car was off of the road, but I knew most of it was, and people were driving pretty carefully in general because of potential ice patches.

While I was on the phone with the 911 operator my vision came back and I started to feel better.  He waited on the phone with me until a fire truck showed up followed by paramedics.  They took some of my vitals and determined that my blood glucose level was lower than it should be, considering I had eaten breakfast not too long ago.  My blood glucose level read 70, and they said they would expect to see it around 110 or 120.  They took my pulse, and my blood pressure, and sat with me for about 20 minutes.  I definitely felt better and felt like I could get in to work.  They escorted me right to my parking spot.  Once I got into the office it took a couple of hours of feeling lightheaded and switching between feeling clammy and having chills, but everything eventually balanced out.

I'm grateful that I made it through this safely.  I'm thankful that I have had this warning sign and can hopefully recognize it quicker if there is a next time.   Oh what a day :)

January 3, 2011

Five Things to be Happy About: 12/28 - 1/3

1.  The first nursery project is complete!  We found the perfect nursery rocker on craigslist and I recovered it with fabric I've had on hand for a while now, just waiting for a good reason to use it.  I'm just tickled with the finished product.  I feel much less intimidated to sew the crib bedding now that this is complete.



2.  Got a few other much needed house projects complete.  Getting this place in a state where it's ready to put on the market should we decide to sell.  Matt finished the peel-and-stick tile in the guest bathroom and painted a few places where walls had been patched and were never repainted.  Next stop - tiling the kitchen backsplash and rehanging the storage door.  

3.  Finished packing up our gift boxes for friends and family.  Spent half a day making 32 cups of spicy peanut brittle and also made our own spice mix and boxed them up with pretty holiday scented candles.  What a fun Christmas project.  



4.  Reached the halfway point of the pregnancy and feeling really good.  

5.  Selling a beautiful wedding dress for $200 that I bought for $100 and never wore... that's enough to buy a crib!

January 2, 2011

Seafood salad stuffed tomatoes

Yum!!  My mom used to make this.  We'd eat it on the screened porch with our towels wrapped around us, still wet from being in the pool.  Mama would slice a tomato into wedges, fan it out in the shape of a bowl, and stuff it with seafood salad.  Squeeze a little lemon on top and put a few triscuits on the side, and we had a wonderful refreshing summer snack that I still crave whenever it's hot out, especially if I've been pool-side.

During this stage of my pregnancy, while I haven't had any specific cravings, and certainly no weird combinations, I have craved refreshing things.  Juice, clementines, grapefruits, anything refreshing.  Today I decided I would really love a seafood stuffed tomato.  My first in the winter, I'm sure.  I decided to make my own seafood salad this time just to spoil myself a little extra.  This was so easy, I highly recommend trying to make this yourself if seafood salad is something you enjoy.

Seafood Salad


1/2 c mayo (preferably dukes)
1 tsp skim milk
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/3 green pepper, finely chopped
8oz imitation crabmeat, flaked

In a bowl, mix together the first seven ingredients.  Add the celery, green pepper, crabmeat and combine.  Slice a tomato into thin wedges and serve with the seafood salad, a little extra lemon juice squeezed over your plate.  I like to alternate using the tomato as a "cracker" and putting the crabmeat on a triscuit.  This really hit the spot today.  :)