Just When You Think You've Seen It All...

I know you like me have heard that Wal-Mart will absolutely take anything back...I mean A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Possibly even items from other stores if you are lucky. After my baby showers, I had a few duplicate items to return to good ole Wally World. As my husband and I were standing in line, we noticed a peculiar return from the guy in front of us. What was he returning you ask...well it was a huge package of ground beef! We're talking about the family value kind to feed a family of like 8 people! On top of that it was missing a quarter of it! It was like he just decided he didn't need the other 5 pounds of it and just thought he would take it back. He was also returning one jar of Ragu which made me think he had to originally purchase more jars and after eating a quarter of the ground beef decided to also bring the one jar he didn't use back. The customer service girl looked disgusted but took it back. She even had on disposable gloves for this return! We joked with her that we had a whole chicken to return.

Well I figured this would mean I would have no trouble returning some other items on another trip to Wal-Mart's customer service. Survey says...WRONG! My husband and I came back a few weeks later with our son to return boxes and boxes of diapers. I had been working for the same company for about 6 years, and then about mid-year I started working for a different financial institution. My direct boss worked in a different location than my office, and I covered 3 different branches so I hadn't really gotten to know my co-workers that well due to traveling to the different offices. I was hoping to avoid the workplace shower, but I ended up with two of them. No big deal...except the one that including my boss was exclusively a "Diaper Shower." You are saying well that's great because everyone needs diapers. Yeah except when you are using CLOTH DIAPERS! I didn't have the heart to tell them that at the time, so I just smiled and said oh thank you so much. I traveled home with about 600 diapers that I knew I had no use for...and just hoped that just maybe I could return them and use the money for some other baby items I needed. Fast forward to a few months later and here I am at Wal-Mart with a customer service lady telling me they won't take my diapers back. So they'll take back used ground beef but not perfectly resellable diapers that haven't been open? Ridiculousness I say! Luckily, another customer service lady kept arguing with the one helping me and said it was just on certain formulas not diapers. In the end, I was able to return the diapers for store credit...and all was right in the world...with Wal-Mart taking all returns!

Wordless Wednesday-Bahamas Cruise 2005!

Shout Out to My Gals--11 Years and Counting!

This weekend my college ZTA sisters and I are getting together for our quarterly Girls' Weekend. We've been doing these weekends since 2006, and we usually switch the city/town we are going to visit. It's hard to believe we've been friends since 2000! Here we are in Memphis at Sarah's in November 2007:

Knox Vegas in March of 2008:

Hotlanta in July of 2008:

Memphis in September 2008:

Spring Hill in November 2008:

Martin in March 2009:

Atlanta in July 2009:

Spring Hill in October 2009:

Knoxville in January 2010:

Spring Hill in June of 2010:

Knoxville in January 2011:

So much has changed since our college days! We're all married...Abigail moved to Africa for 2 years (we miss you!) I had little Nolan last year and now Beth will be introducing little Brody in July! I'm so glad we still make time for each other no matter how our lives change as we get older or what city/state/country we live in. Here are to the best ZTA sisters--Kristy, Sarah, Beth, and Abigail--a girl could ask for! ZLAM! :)

The Longest 26 Hours of My Life--But Also the Best!

After after such a great day with my cuddly boy, I thought it would be a great day to share Nolan's birth story. I had a pretty smooth pregnancy besides the fact that I literally walked with a limp the whole last month of my pregnancy due to lower back/butt pain. Supposedly, your muscles relax for the whole birthing experience, so your muscles around your joints can loosen in preparation for the big day. Let's just say I looked really ridiculous trying to get around. Not only was I gimping everywhere, but I looked like I could topple over at any moment because this little boy was all belly and forcing my balance to go frontwards. D-day was expected to be on October 21st, 2010. I figured that he would be after this date since most first time moms go past their predicted due dates. I had a 2:30 appointment with my doctor on Tuesday, October 19th. My husband decided to go with me since it was just two days before my due date. I was really hoping for some progress at this checkup because I was scared of not progressing and having to get a c-section. I was also going into the whole process with the intention of doing it completely natural with no drugs. I know you are saying...WHAT?!! You are CRAZY! Basically, my birth plan was to go in with an open mind and see what happened. I had never had any type of surgeries or any type of severe pain besides breaking my arm, so I really didn't know what to expect or how much pain I could withstand. I figured women have been popping out babies for ages that I had to at least give it a shot.

Anyhow, I had to wait FOREVER to see my doctor. Here I was a few days from being 40 weeks pregnant having to sit on the patient chair for about an hour half-naked waiting for my doctor. I sat there on the thin tissue paper thinking I really have to pee, but it is such an ordeal to get off this seat and put my work pants/shoes back on. However, it kept getting later and later so I decided to take the plunge and get dressed to waddle my way to the bathroom. As I was washing my hands after I finished, I thought I was feeling a twinge of a menstrual like pain. I walk back to my room and as I open the door to wear my husband was waiting I felt a gush of liquid. I thought crap...I really thought I was done going to the bathroom! Right about then my doctor walks in to do my check, and I tell her about this "gush" and not sure what that was all about. After about a second, she said, "I am pretty sure your water just broke." I'm like are you serious? She said yep pretty sure it did. Next thing I know they tell me my chariot has arrived aka a wheel chair to take me to my hospital room. I asked if we could go home first to get our stuff and my car...you know the actual one with the car seat installed. My husband had met me at my work, and I had ridden with him to the hospital. So here we are without any of these items, and of course my doctor says I have to stay. I'm like this was not part of the plan! I don't want to be at the hospital this early in labor! My husband then runs home to get everything and to call his parents, and I call mine as well. The nurse asks me if I am feeling any contractions, and I say no...and then she informs me I am having them about 1-3 minutes apart. I knew to keep this labor party going that I needed to walk around. I knew from all my research that if you wanted natural child birth you needed to walk around to get gravity on your side. I quickly learned that hospitals are not all about you walking around or really about natural child birth for that matter. They want to tie you to that bed pumped with drugs until that baby pops out. They strap the heart and contraction monitor to my already very uncomfortable belly which by the way is proven not to be needed in labor. You can actually ask for them to just spot check instead of having to wear stupid contraption the whole time. However, when it is your first child you just don't know this type of stuff and the nurses act like the hand of God has told them that this is how it is done no matter what.

When the doctor had checked me at 4pm I was only 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. She wanted me to be rechecked at 10pm to see if I had made progress, and if not they would start me on pitocin. This scared the crap out of me because I had heard horror stories of pitocin making the contractions too fast and too severe to be able to continue with a natural child birth. My nurse that I had throughout the night was not the most positive or supportive. You could tell she was not real happy about the whole natural child birth or about me walking around. She actually had to get permission from the head nurse to see if I could walk around because once they start the pitocin they want to monitor you like a hawk. When I wasn't walking around, I also sat on the medicine ball to relieve the pressure. I finally decided to try to lay down at about midnight however I didn't sleep a wink. Not because of contractions but because the stupid nurse came in like every second to check on me! She rechecked me at about 4am, and she sadly informed me that I might be 3cm and 60% effaced. At this point, I was really discouraged about my progress. I knew that once your water breaks they put you on a time clock of when the baby is supposed to be out, therefore bringing back my fears of a c-section. My doctor came in to check me at around 8am with a new nurse as well. What a breath of fresh air this nurse was! I had actually progressed to 100% effaced and still at 3cm dilated. This nurse was very encouraging and said once you get to 4cm it goes very fast. At about noon, my contractions really picked up. At this check, I was at 5cm dilated. This is when the pain really kicked in. I had a breaking down point at around 1:30pm, and I told my husband I didn't know if I could do it. The contractions were coming very fast and strong. I basically just wanted to stop the whole process...I didn't want an epidural but I also didn't want to continue. I think I would have been happy to just going back to being pregnant without labor.

My husband was very supportive and kept telling me I had another check at 2:30pm and that I would be further along. He was a real sport (keep in mind he had just had knee surgery 6 weeks before) because he was helping me breathe through the contractions no matter if I was on the medicine ball or if I was standing and leaning against him. I had him grabbing and massaging my back every time a contraction was starting. We basically stood the whole time because sitting slowed my labor and also was unbearable. At 2:30pm, I had dilated to 7cm. That's when things started to go fast. At 4pm, I felt the need to push so they rechecked me, and I was dilated to 9cm! Luckily my friend, Beth is a labor & delivery nurse at this hospital so she came to help that afternoon. At 4:15pm, I said I can't take it anymore I need to push! She said alright let's check you again. I was now at 9.5 cm and very thin so they said that I could go ahead and start pushing. I couldn't believe it! The moment had arrived! I had made it with no drugs and almost to the finish line. Pushing was the best part of labor because you are actually giving into the contractions and not fighting them. After my first push, the doctor said she could already see his head and it was full of hair! Now one thing I learned is that the doctor and nurses will tell you when you start pushing that you are really close but in reality they know it is going to be a while. For example, my doctor was joking at one point that she almost put her second glove on. Now when you start seeing more nurses around and that the room is getting all prepped you know it is go time. Finally after 2 hours of pushing at 6:42pm on October 20th, 2010, my little biscuit entered the world at 7lbs, 11oz, and 21.25 inches long! When they were pulling him out after his head had crowned, I kept thinking how much is in there?!!! Yes ladies it did hurt when he came out...and that they do call it the ring of fire for a reason. However the actual pushing didn't hurt at all but very exhausting after 2 hours. I was so thrilled that he had finally arrived and that I was able to do it naturally. He was perfect in every way and so worth it! I am so glad I had him natural because I felt like having no drugs in my system allowed me to heal very quickly. I bounced back after a few days and also lost all my baby weight in no time. I also contribute the weight loss to breast feeding and the lack of time to eat! I'm so thankful for a safe delivery and a beautiful baby boy!

Hana Highway...or Try Not to Die Highway

Hana Highway in Maui is a beautiful journey through a lush rain forest. However, traveling on this road is a little scary. Why would a road that takes you through the rain forest be scary you ask...well let me put it to you this way: it's a 52 mile road that consists of 620 curves and 46 one-lane bridges. These are the bridges where you have to stop and wait to make sure no one else is coming from the other way...yet you can't see because it's on a curve! You wait a few seconds and then bolt across praying that a local (keep in mind a local that could care less if you fall off the cliff into the ocean) is not going to run you over. Not to mention you also have to avoid hitting the tourists that stop for every drop of water that might just resemble a waterfall. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes a dozen times. Once you get over the fact that you might die here you can enjoy some spectacular nature views. Here are just a few glimpses of what Hana Highway has to offer.

While traveling through Hana Highway you can stop at several different trails/roads to see different waterfalls or just nature in general. One road we decided to take which was probably not a good idea for our rental car was Naniku Road. We probably could have used a 4-wheel drive but our little rental car powered through! I really thought I was in the middle of the jungle, but then at the end we reached our destination: a great view of the coastline!

Hana Highway also takes you through the Wai'anapanapa State Park which has blow holes and truly awesome black sand beaches. It is so weird to see a beach with black sand. The sand is black because it consists of tiny fragments of lava from a nearby volcano.

They also have a red sand beach too! It is red because it has too much iron in the sand, and it literally rusts! How crazy is that?!

I highly recommend making the trip down Hana Highway even if you have to risk your life...and possibly the life of your rental car. It is well worth it!