Ooo... lightheaded

So today I went into work like any other day. I don't know what it was, but I started feeling really lightheaded. Of course, right after I started feeling like this, a crowd of people came in. I was on the front counter taking orders. Anyway, I was a few people away from completely taking everyone's order when everything started going black. You know when you get those dots in front of everything? Yeah, that was happening. And my stomach was feeling real bad, but I didn't want to throw up infront, or faint, of customers. I only had one order left when everything went black even more, I thought I could make it through, but they were two old men and I couldn't hear/understand them (at least not quick enough to take care of myself after them). I yelled for a manager and ran out of there to the restroom as quickly as I could.
Anyway, I'm at home now, still feeling ew-yuckie. My head is full of cotton, with thorns bumping it ever so often for a headache. They say it's common, especially in the second trimester. But frankly, this is worse than morning sickness. I can't do anything. Anyway, feet up, eating and drinking fluids... trying to get rid of these feelings.
Here's a little info (from www.whattoexpect.com) to help ease your mind. It's a perfectly normal thing, just not a nice thing:

Pregnancy Symptoms & Solutions

Faintness, Dizziness, Light-headedness

If you’ve always wanted to perfect your swoon, pregnancy may be your best chance. But if you’d rather keep your feet on the ground, here’s what you’ll need to know.

What it is: A disorienting feeling of unsteadiness (vertigo) can make expectant moms feel as if they’re about to fall or faint (and sometimes they do!).

What causes it: Early in pregnancy, light-headedness is likely due to the fact that your body isn’t yet producing enough blood to fill a rapidly expanding circulatory system. (The good news: Your body is gearing up to meet the needs of two bodies instead of one.)

In the second trimester, your growing (and growing!) uterus may put pressure on your blood vessels, which reduces blood flow to your brain, sometimes making your head spin. (By the way, that reduced blood flow is probably the reason you often forget your own name these days.) You might also feel dizzy if your blood sugar drops or you become dehydrated.

Another possible source of light-headedness is spending too much time in a hot or stuffy room, especially if you’re wearing clothes that are too tight or too warm. Remember, your body is a baby-making oven, generating plenty of its own heat right now.

What you need to know about it: Dizziness and light-headedness are common during pregnancy, but if they persist, or if you actually faint, put in a call to your practitioner just to make sure everything’s okay.

And keep in mind that no matter how "normal" it is to feel dizzy when you’re pregnant, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the feeling. If you’re feeling light-headed, use common sense: no driving, working out, or handling anything dangerous. If you start to feel especially woozy, sit down immediately so you don’t wind up falling and hurting yourself or your baby.

What to do about it: You can stop a dizzy spell in its tracks by lying down as soon as you start to feel light-headed. Elevate your feet to increase blood flow to your brain. Second best: Sit down and bend as far forward as you can, putting your head between your knees, if possible. If there’s no place to lie down or sit, kneel on one knee and bend forward as if you were tying your shoe until the spell passes. And if you need help, don’t be shy about asking.

To keep a spell from starting in the first place:

• Don’t get up too quickly from a sitting or prone position.
• Eat protein at every meal to maintain stable blood-sugar levels.
• Eat several small meals throughout the day.
• Carry healthy snacks with you for a quick blood-sugar boost. Good options: a box of raisins, a piece of fruit, or a couple of whole-wheat crackers.
• Drink at least eight glasses of water a day; more if it’s hot or you’re working out.
• Dress in easy-to-shed layers in case you start feeling overheated.
• Don’t wear tight-fitting clothes, scarves, or hats.

If dizziness or light-headedness persists, tell your practitioner how you’re feeling at your next visit. But if you actually pass out, call ASAP (once you come to, of course).

What's in a bark? Baby Knows

Babies Can Comprehend 'Canine' Language

By Randy Dotinga, HealthDay Reporter - Fri Jul 24, 8:48 PM PDT

- FRIDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- What's in a bark? A new study suggests that 6-month-old babies know the answer.

Researchers found that most infants who were tested could figure out that an aggressive bark goes with an angry-looking dog. They also seemed to know that friendly-looking pooches voice their feelings in a different way.

The babies managed to do this even though they weren't very familiar with dogs.

It's not clear whether the babies actually know that a dog baring its teeth is a sign of trouble, but they're showing a level of sophistication regarding how dogs reveal their emotions, said study author Ross Flom, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

"We think babies have a broad-based set of abilities and skills when they enter the world," he said. "And those become broadened and honed based on the individual experiences in their lives."

Flom spends his time studying how babies perceive emotions, and previously found that they can tell the difference between upbeat and gloomy music.

In the new study, Flom and his colleagues recruited 128 infants and toddlers, almost all of whom were white. All of the participants had little or no exposure to dogs during their brief lives.

The researchers showed the babies video stills of aggressive and non-aggressive dogs, and watched what they did when they heard sounds of barking.

The study results appear in the July issue of Developmental Psychology.

The researchers believe that they can glean whether a baby is making a connection between two things by monitoring how long they look at a picture. In this case, 6-month-old babies were more likely to look longer at the picture of a canine expression that matched the bark.

Only about 15 percent of the babies spent more time looking at the wrong dog picture or looked equally at both, Flom said.

Older babies -- at 12, 18 and 24 months -- were likely to look at the correct dog, but for just a flicker of time, Flom said, and then look around the room or equally between the video stills.

While some have interpreted this to mean they can't distinguish the correct picture, Flom said it's actually a sign that "the task is almost too easy for them."

The study didn't examine what the babies actually perceived about the barks and the canine expressions. No one knows if they're aware that a normal-looking dog is a better prospect for playtime than one that looks -- and sounds -- like it wants to take a bite out of the nearest leg.

Still, it's "remarkable" that babies that aren't exposed to dogs can figure out how to link their barks to their faces, Flom said. That means they can connect audio and visual cues, he said.

As for the future, researchers are exploring how humans relate to dogs, which have a long history of interacting with people, and wolves, which don't.

Over time, Flom said, dogs and humans have learned how to communicate with each other.

And, of course, each gets what they want from the other, whether it be the newspaper or a long back scratch.

Top 10 "bad boy" Baby Names

Not that we know if it's a boy or girl, I just found this article interesting.



by Michael Inbar

TODAYShow.com contributor

updated 8:13 a.m. CT, Fri., July 17, 2009

New parents may balk at naming their newborn boys such tried-and-true but yawn-inducing names as Michael or David — but a new study shows that if they play it safe, they may be doing their babies a favor.

Writing in Social Science Quarterly, Shippensburg University professor David Kalist says giving newborn males oddball, girly or strange first names may just help land them in jail.

In alphabetical order, the Top 10 “bad boy” names, according to Kalist, are Alec, Ernest, Garland, Ivan, Kareem, Luke, Malcolm, Preston, Tyrell and Walter.

What’s in a name?
So if Ivan is terrible or Alec turns out to be a smart aleck, Kalist and his associate, Daniel Lee, believe they know the reason why. While noting that “unpopular names are likely not to be the cause of crime,” the social factors of being tagged with an offbeat moniker “increase the tendency toward juvenile delinquency.”

The pair based their report on a study of some 15,000 names given to baby boys between 1987 and 1991. They found that the more unlikely the name, the more likely a boy is to commit a delinquent act.

In revealing the 10 “most likely to” list on Friday, TODAY’s Erin Burnett gave her own interpretation to the study: “Basically, if you’re teased mercilessly your entire childhood for your name, you become an angry, bitter person, and you lash out in a way that could be negative.”

While Burnett and TODAY’s Matt Lauer noted that having a name making the list of possible future criminals didn’t stop the likes of Alec Baldwin and Ernest Hemingway from succeeding in life, there are plenty of prior studies that back up the Kalist report.

In writing about the Social Science Quarterly report, Time magazine pointed to a 1993 study that showed boys who have strange spellings of common first names (read Patric, Geoffrey) are less likely to be upstanding and successful; a 2001 study showing that boys are judged for their moral character and masculinity by their first names; and a University of Michigan study that stated, “having an unusual first name leads to unfavorable reactions in others, which then leads to unfavorable evaluations of the self.”

Exceptions to the rule
Still, what’s in a name? TODAY looked at the list of 10 heading-for-trouble names and found an example of each that could refute the findings. Along with Baldwin and Hemingway, there’s pop singer-songwriter Garland Jeffries, film director Ivan Reitman, basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, actors Luke Wilson and Luke Perry, black leader Malcolm X, legendary filmmaker Preston Sturges, Olympic gold medal boxer Tyrell Biggs, and a host of Walters — from Walter Cronkite to Walt Disney to Sir Walter Scott.

And within moments of the Social Science Quarterly report’s release, many Web sites were already poking fun at it. Writing on the Laughing Stork Web site, Candy Kirby commented, “People warned my parents I would end up a hooker or a stripper if they named me ‘Candy.’ And look at me. I NEVER dabbled in prostitution!”

The Kalist-Lee study also touched on baby girl names, noting that previous research showed a baby gal given the name Allison is seldom the daughter of high school dropouts — and that, on the whole, the less schooling they have, the more likely parents are to give their kids unpopular names.

While male names have traditionally gone the John-Steve-Michael-Matthew route, recent surveys have shown parents are getting a bit more creative. Baby Center reports that Aiden, Hayden, Jackson and Noah were among the Top 10 names for newborn boys last year — Michael finished only 14th, James 32nd, and John a lowly 55th.

Just don’t tell that to Ivan.

Caffeine: to drink or not to drink

Well, we're almost at 3 months, just under in fact. It's been interesting so far, and doesn't always feel like I'm pregnant... just tired, or hungry, or the furthest thing from hungry.
Everything is going well so far. Yesterday I had my first caffinnated drink since finding out. Oh, I couldn't stand it! Patty was drinking a diet Pepsi and I just wanted to smell it; feel the bubbles and have a flavor in my system other than water. The table convinced me to grab a drink, so I got myself a Dr. Pepper. Delicious! ooohhh, so good. The below is from babycenter.com and slightly explains why I've avoided it:

There's general agreement that pregnant women and those trying to conceive should avoid consuming large quantities of caffeine. But after decades of controversy and conflicting evidence, there's still no real consensus on how much caffeine is safe during pregnancy.

The March of Dimes advises women to limit their caffeine intake to less than 200 mg per day. This recommendation was prompted by the results of a study published in the March 2008 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, showing that moms-to-be who consumed 200 mg or more of caffeine a day had double the risk of miscarriage compared to those who had no caffeine.

Not all studies show a link between caffeine consumption and a higher risk of miscarriage. Still, it may be smart to err on the side of caution and stick to the March of Dimes recommendation. (See chart below to get a sense of the caffeine content of various types of coffee, tea, and other common sources of caffeine.) And, of course, if you decide to cut out caffeine altogether, you won't get any arguments from your doctor or midwife.

I only said "slightly". My biggest fear right now is the M-word. I don't drink a lot of caffeine anyway, so partaking of any amount is "a lot" nowdays. Chris and I purchased a pregnancy tea the other day that contains no actual tea. It has peppermint and anise to help with stomach stuff; raspberry leaf to strengthen the uterus; and nettle to help with energy. I have no idea what nettle is, but it's better than caffeine, I guess. but it's a hot tea, which is not something I want in the hot weather. It'll be good for when it gets colder.