September 08, 2010

Okay.  I'm starting this blog post by saying that I have zero idea why I'm documenting this publicly except that I think you might find it funny (I do) and because I think people need to understand that pregnancy is not always glamorous.

First, let me explain to you what I thought pregnancy was going to be like.  I used to go through maternity store websites eyeing up all of the super cute maternity clothes and thinking to myself, "When I'm pregnant, I'm going to buy these cute clothes and still wear my heels and be all cute and pregnant and junk."  *sigh*  If only I had verbalized that aloud to at least one person who was pregnant or had been pregnant.  I probably would have been told that I was dreaming.

In any case, there have been many times throughout this pregnancy where I thought to myself, "Why the hell did someone not warn me about this?!" and then I would write it on a post-it note and stick it to my monitor for future reference.

I guess this blog post is my future reference.

So.  Let me start with the whole conversation about bladders.  Ugh, I hate even sharing this but you know what, I'm sure you've been there (or, you will be there if you're not yet pregnant and to be honest, I'd rather be the one who told you) so here goes.  When you get pregnant (and as you get bigger) your bladder experiences this newfound weight that it didn't experience before.  It also seemingly loses its ability to be competent.

First case in point: I was helping my husband setup a shelf for our nursery and we had it all laid out on the livingroom floor.  I was busy putting screws where they needed to go and because of my belly, I was sort of squatted over all uncomfortably.  Well, just as I was getting ready to place the last screw in the last spot, the baby rolled low in my pelvic region, right onto my bladder and... if you can believe this... I sneezed.  Well... you can imagine what happened when all of that lined up in the universe.  Needless to say, I instantly gasped and bolted out of the room leaving my husband wondering what the hell was up with my superman-like disappearance.

Second case in point: I went to eat this lovely dinner with my family at an Italian restaurant and then to see a movie.  I was feeling great all night but when I got back home that night around 10pm, my stomach started to feel really off and I knew that something wasn't quite right.  I passed out on the couch next to my husband until about 10:30pm when I bolted up to the washroom to vomit.  Yep, I had contracted food poisoning from that lovely Italian meal I had earlier in the night.  The vomiting stayed pretty intense through the night but during one of my vomit-fests, the baby decided that would be the most opportune time to roll low into my pelvic region and squish my bladder... Yep, you guessed it.  I had zero control of what was happening with my body in that moment.

The other thing that no one warned me about was losing sight of, erm, your entire downtown region as your belly grows.  Now, you might be wondering why it would matter that you lose sight of your downtown region... well, becoming pregnant doesn't mean that you lose all need to keep certain areas of your body groomed, right?

So, here I am... I'm getting giant pregnant and feeling a bit like an unruly cavewoman (I hadn't shaved my legs in forever let alone kept up the maintenance anywhere else) so I decided that I had enough... I needed to feel like a woman again.  So, I get in the shower and do my best to maneuver through the act of grooming my bikini line area.  Except that I get halfway through and then I cut myself.  Yes.  Seriously.  Down there.

Now, this may not be an entirely bad thing except I'm on BLOOD THINNERS.  Here I am, standing in the shower, bleeding from my downtown region but not being able to see a thing and I'm only halfway through the process.  I panic, not knowing whether to jump out or finish but my thinned out blood is not stopping so I'm forced to get out of the shower and tend to the bleeding.

It took me forever to get the bleeding to stop and by that time, I was angry with the whole situation so I left myself half groomed.  I didn't even care that I had a doctor's appointment the next day...  I figured she probably had seen worse so I gave up.

So, yeah.  Pregnancy isn't always glamorous.  I wish it were.  At the same time, these stories are what I will take away from my pregnancy and tell my daughter when she is pregnant herself.  I will warn her that it's not always pretty and it's not always what you imagine it to be but it's the most magical experience she'll ever go through.

Labels/Tags: Erin Blaskie, New Freakin' Mummy, Yummy Mummy Club, pregnant, pregnancy, preggo, embarrassing moments while pregnant, bladder, blood thinners, glamorous

Posted by ErinB at 22:46:37 View Comments | Click Here to Comment

August 27, 2010

As many of you know, I've been living life online for quite some time.  I share everything - details about my business, details about my personal life and lately, more details than most people want to know about my pregnancy.  Due to this, I put a lot of importance into the technology behind how I document everything.  For example, without a really awesome external hard drive, I wouldn't be able to shoot as much HD video as I do. Without fast Internet, uploading videos to YouTube would be a real pain.  Without iMovie, editing would be a horrific task.

When Belkin asked me if I wanted to try out their new Play Max Wireless Router, I thought that this was a perfect opportunity to see if I could change the current speed of my Internet and make sharing my pregnancy with the world a little easier.  Little did I know that the Belkin Play Max Wireless Router would actually make an impact that I would see immediately.

What Is the Belkin Play Max Wireless Router?

Belkin has designed a router that can stream HD videos, assist you with playing games online and help the speed at which you download large media files.  The router also comes pre-built with some really awesome applications.  They have an application called Bit Boost which allows you to prioritize your traffic (for example, if I am uploading a video and my husband is just surfing Twitter, I can make my Internet the priority -- which you know I'll be doing often); an application called Print Genie which makes printing from any computer wirelessly super easy; and an application called Video Max HD which optimizes multiple media files such as streaming HD video or playing online video games.

How Easy Is It to Setup?

I started the setup process already having a lot of technical knowledge about routers, modems and Internet setup.  The process of setting these up is not a foreign one which helped but in all honesty, I would not have needed 75% of that technical knowledge.  The setup process is pretty simple and Belkin makes the process super easy by providing you with an installation CD that you can follow along.  The CD also installs software that communicates directly to the router making the connection of your computer and the router a breeze.

The first thing I did was unbox the wireless router.  I took out the router, the cables and the power supply and I brought it to where my current modem was.  Now, I ended up running into a few snags in the process.  The current setup I have for my home Internet is a Rogers cable connection but that connection was going to a wireless router and modem combination.  This means I already have a box that sends my connection wirelessly throughout the house and attaching another router to this setup was not going to work.

So, I called Rogers and asked them what my options were.  I knew I wanted to swap out my current router and modem combo for a modem only so Rogers let me know exactly how to do that and the next day, I picked up my cable modem box.

Once I had the new cable modem box, I was then able to connect that to the Belkin Play Max Wireless Router and get connected to the Internet.

Does It Really Make a Difference with Internet Speed?

Before I installed the Belkin, I did a speed test on my old router and modem combo and after I installed the Belkin, I re-did the same Internet speed test.  The results I received were actually pretty astounding.

Here was the Rogers modem and router combo speed test results:

Here was the Belkin Play Max Wireless Router speed test results:

You can see, even if you aren't a technically inclined person, that the Belkin increased my download speed by 8mb/s (that's megabytes per second).  Now, a lot of Internet companies throttle your download and upload speeds which means that even if you have a router that could push your Internet through faster, you won't get a faster connection due to the Internet service provider.  Rogers caps me at 10mb/s but if they didn't, I may even get better download and upload speeds.

The Pros (So Far)

So far, I am really enjoying the increased upload and download speeds.  I'm able to see a noticeable difference when uploading my pregnancy vlogs to YouTube which really helps cut down the time I spend sitting at my computer.  I also do enjoy the built-in applications that are on this router as most routers do not come with those pre-loaded.  The setup process was super simple which I appreciated and the setup CD made the entire process very, very easy.

The Belkin also has some built in features that I like which I never had on my previous router.  One example is that you can setup an automatic restart for the middle of the night so that your router has time to reset itself and refresh.  A lot of routers do not have that ability and I find that they get slower over time.  Restarting and refreshing means I won't experience that lag.

The Cons (So Far)

The router does need to be connected to a modem only and not a modem and router combination so I wish I had known that before starting the setup process.  It did mean that I had to purchase a new modem and had I not known what the issue was, I would have been very disappointed to see little change on my Internet speed.  

I do find that regular surfing tends to be hit or miss in terms of speed.  New pages take awhile to load and I think it might have something to do with transmission distance.  For example, if I am downstairs, I feel like the connection I am getting is less powerful than if I am upstairs near the router.

To Wrap Up

I think this is a really good router for people who want something intuitive and for people who work with large media files or stream HD video a lot.  I am not 100% convinced yet that the speeds I am getting on normal browsing are much quicker but as I've mentioned, I am noticing a slight difference in the video upload speed to YouTube.  I would recommend this as a router option for people setting up Internet in their homes, especially if you have children who play online video games like World of Warcraft.

All in all, Belkin did a really great job at creating a product that allows people to easily get online and have a faster Internet experience.

Labels/Tags: Erin Blaskie, New Freakin' Mummy, Yummy Mummy Club, pregnant, pregnancy, preggo, Belkin Play Max Wireless Router, wireless router, documenting pregnancy, Internet setup, router setup, Belkin

Posted by ErinB at 06:45:12 View Comments | Click Here to Comment

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