The Wilhelmsen Botanical Blog

  Well, yesterday afternoon Brandon, Aiden (who was asleep in the car) and I had an adventure.  I will write about it, but I must preface it with some other information first.  When I bought my car in 2003 I had hand picked it for it’s make, model, and awesome gas mileage.  What I didn’t know then is just how amazing this small little car is.  You see, despite it’s small size it has been capable of things that one might say were the job of a truck.  In preparing for our wedding we fit 4 eight foot 2 by 4’s in my car, we have crammed it full of boxes and Brandon’s drum set when moving things back and forth, when we were preparing Aiden’s nursery we attached a diaper changing table to the bike rack, but I think our most amazing feat was our adventure yesterday when we drove home with a love seat attached to the trunk of the car via the help of our bike rack (see attached photos).  We safely drove the 20 blocks home with the couch still intact and now have the love seat in Aiden’s room, where it will be put to good use after we get some foam upholstery cleaner and clean the surface.  (Couch was found for free thanks to this web link http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/zip/)

Last night, Erin and I went to see a production at Pioneer Theater. On our way there, we grabbed some food at the local grocery store.

We were walking out of the store and trying to cross to our car in the parking lot when a man in a car drove into the same lane as we were in. He stopped the car as we were walking, and for a second it was like a silly game of Red Light/Green Light. We couldn’t tell what his intention was because he had failed to use his turn signal. I was frustrated by this and opened and closed my fingers, as if to signal a light while yelling, “Use your turn signal!”

As we walked past, he rolled down his window on his way into a parking stall and shouted angrily, “You want to talk?! I’ll talk!!!” We found our car and I got Erin inside. I emptied my hands of groceries as he stomped toward me, yelling. I had a nice adrenaline dump as he did so because he looked ready to fight.

I can’t remember what he hollered at me, but it was something to the effect of me being a jerk (in quite a few more words). I told him that we had no idea where he was trying to park, because he didn’t signal. He screamed a few more obscenities at me, and deciding that a fight would be a bad idea, went to go shopping.

I am amazed that some people are wound so tight that they’d fight so quickly. He was clearly not interested in “talking.” I was glad I was not pressed to defend myself as we were trying to hurry to the show. Hopefully he was just having a bad day and it was not his normal temperament. Anyway, it turned out to be a good evening with my wife.

So, I was just thinking of the few things that I had learned, wish I knew, or been taught during my pregnancy and labor and delivery. So here they are…

1. Vitamin B6 not only helps with fertility, it also eases nausea (a.k.a. morning sickness).

2. Ginger-ale and ginger snaps also ease nausea.

3. If you are retaining water and have swollen feet and legs then vitamin C, cranberry juice, and yogurt will help reduce it (you can also try soaking your feet in cold water but this doesn’t always work.

4. If you need an excercise routine go the route of water aerobics, it allows your belly to float, thus eliminating the strain you would get with impact aerobics (just make sure you tell the instructor that you are pregnant.)

5. The epidural tends to cause constipation so do your best to stay hydrated during labor (eat lots of ice chips and send for the nurse when the I.V. drip runs out.)

6. Episiotomy stitches hurt, but witch hazel pads and your pain medications from the doctor help BIG TIME, if you don’t have a boppy or an inflatable donut to sit on, you ought to consider investing in one.

7. If you do not like your nurse at any time during your hospital stay (you will have a labor and delivery nurse, a post partum nurse, a CNA who takes your vitals, and a nursery nurse for your baby) then demand they leave and request a new one! It is your right and the nurses make or break how well your stay goes. Be brave!

8. While at the hospital, let your little one sleep in the nursery. In my mind I thought, well I won’t have a “nursery” to stick the baby in when I get home, I will just tough it out. I should have realized how important it was to get sleep while I could because I needed all the energy I could get once I brought the baby home.

9. You will get little to NO sleep after the baby is born, enjoy sleeping while you can. (There will be nights when you will only get 2 hours of sleep, a good night is 6 hours, try to catch as much sleep as you can in a 24 hour period as you can. Don’t think of sleep as only a night thing.)

10. Don’t feel bad about the things that you need to do to cope the first couple of weeks. If you feel it would be easier to feed your baby formula then do it, if you want to give them a binky do it, it is important to stay sane and in a positive mood because the baby will sense if you are frustrated or overwhelmed and will become agitated.

11. You can not prepare yourself for the IMMENSE amount of love you will have for that little bundle of joy that is yours to keep forever.

Well there you go. I hope that these tips are useful for any of you who are pregnant for the first time. Adios!

     For those of you who enjoyed 10 Things I Hate About You, A Knight’s Tale, or The Brother’s Grimm and look forward to the upcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight, it is sad to note that Health Ledger was found dead in his New York home earlier today.  Reports say that he was found on his bed with an open bottle of sleeping pills nearby.  I have always felt that Heath Ledger was a talented actor and am slightly saddened by his passing.  Though Brandon is greatly saddened at the early loss of such a talented actor, he is grateful that “The Dark Knight” is in post production. 😉

My life is one bit of irony fading into the next. A prime example of that occurred this afternoon. It was disgustingly obvious that it was time to empty the dirt canister of our vacuum cleaner. As the man of the house, that chore falls to my charge.

I walked to the dumpster and threw open the lid.  As I was shaking and banging the canister of filth, the wind blew and very silently closed the lid, directly onto my hand. After yelling angrily at the wind, I realized that with the fateful impact, my hand had opened and the canister was lost to the force of gravity.  I peered into the dumpster and to my relief the canister was only halfway down inside, sitting on trash that I prayed would be the dry variety.

I knew I was too short to reach the canister and walked back to the apartment, grabbing a chair to offset that genetic misfortune. I set the chair very near the dumpster and, after looking around for witnesses, half-climbed in.  I easily reached the canister this time and removed myself from the smelly, gaping jaws of the municipal waste bin. Brushing dirt (dry dirt, thank heaven) from my shirt, I realized that I had been dumpster-diving while advertising, “TRUST ME. I DO THIS ALL THE TIME.” on my chest.

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