Are you staying hydrated?

Dehydration can cause contractions. Its important to stay hydrated especially while pregnant. When I was pregnant I became dehydrated and ended up in the emergency room. I found it hard to drink water all day so I ate a ton of watermelon and cantaloupe as snack foods. I also ate cereal for breakfast and soups for lunch.

A big help to me was to have a container of whatever I wanted to drink (usually a gallon jug- although be careful to set it where you don't have to lift it to drink from it if you do this- use a straw) and mark it in 3rds. Then I set my cell phone's alarm to go off every so often and made it a goal to have 1/3 gone in say for example 3 hrs. If you keep track of your progress its much easier to stay ahead of the dehydration.

Anyone else have useful tips to keep dehydration at bay?

My friend the DVR

Why is it there is never anything good on TV when all you can do is watch TV, surf the internet or read a book. Daytime TV is awful, I mean AWFUL. There was nothing that I wanted to watch besides Rachel Ray's talk show in the morning. For a few days I became obsessed with CNN (partly because I couldn't figure out how Don Lemon was in his 40's, he looks like he's 22 years old) but that quickly wore off.

One of my smarter moves on bedrest was recording anything and everything that I would find interesting. I under normal circumstances didn't record a lot, only shows I really loved and I never recorded reruns. Once on bedrest that quickly changed. If something was on at 3 o'clock in the morning and I was sleeping usually I would assume it would play again. Now I would record anything so I'd have it when I could no longer take staring at my computer screen or I had finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the 4th time. Now in the morning when all that was on TV was QVC highlighting the latest fashions from the Quaker Factory and I was about to lose it *light bulb* THE DVR! Seriously, I loved that thing. I DVR'ed every Harry Potter movie that played on TV, Psych, Burn Notice, NCIS, and the Soup.

Strict Bedrest

Strict bedrest is awful. I was jealous of those allowed to go down stairs. I would have loved to do laundry- something I would have never ever said before bedrest. I was initally given the green light to do light shopping once a week when I first was in preterm labor. After I ended up in the hospital for several days though everything about my Dr's orders became much more strict. After I had little man this resulted in a two hour Target trip. I filled 2 shopping carts full of stuff I had been so eager to buy but didn't trust to my husband (Ex. nursing bras). My point is your sanity is even more likely to go out the door the more strict you have it.

Here are some things to consider:

Shop online for baby items you still need.
Check to see if your grocery store has a delivery service (Giant uses Peapod in my area)
Check out sites like DoortoDoorOrganics.com for delivery of fresh veggies and fruit
If you have the cash, hire a cleaning service to do a small cleaning of your house
Sign up for deal sites to see if a cleaning service in your area comes up
Try a new hobby- I picked up knitting using Youtube!
Learn a language- seriously the internet is vast and awesome
Have a career that requires continuing education?- try earning your CEU's online
Try watching some new shows
Have netflix? Search for movies, there are a lot that don't just pop up in the categories
Order take out- its nice to have warm food you didn't have to cook/when you can't cook
Have someone rent you some movies
Do your hair/make up/nails
Invite friends over
Have a 'virtual' baby shower if you need to- use skype!
Or bring your baby shower to you if you can
Sign up on all the baby formula and diaper websites- Hello coupons!
Have someone bring you trashy celeb magazines
Read a book before you can't because there is a screaming baby


Feel free to add suggestions in the comments.

Bedrest on a holiday.

 I know what a bummer it is to be stuck on bedrest during a holiday. The second time I was in PTL it was the 4th of July. It sucked. I sympathize I really do. I wanted to be outside at a picnic or at the very least just to be outside! I am sure you want to be anywhere but your bed.


My best advice is to keep your head held high and remember that you are doing this to keep your little one safe. Always take bed rest day by day, don't turn down visitors, ask for help when you need it, and remember the "I am keeping my baby safe" mantra!

Getting money back while shopping.

I'm going to keep it short and simple today. I shop at Target. Why? Because I earn gift cards for my purchases. I have a stash of gift cards in my wallet totaling $25 dollars from the last 6 weeks.

Shopping at Target is one of the easiest ways for me to save money. They have deals all the time where if you buy two products you can earn a $5 or $10 dollar gift card. Just look in this weeks flyer. The deals are usually on diapers and formula so it works out very well when you start to need that sort of stuff! You can also get rebates on various products (breast pumps are a big one for getting rebates) so watch for those.