Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The eyes were not meant for foreign objects. Period. Not dirt, debris, sand, and especially not contacts. My eyes feel like they are full of sand all the time! And I am still only up to 3 hours :( I can't believe I'm about to say this but come on eye callouses!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Day 3 with my contacts. I wore them while driving and I've gotta say, I was quite overwhelmed by all this vision. For goodness sakes has the sun always been this bright?? Perhaps my diminishing vision was an evolutionary development to help me survive in this visually overwhelming world. Wow! The colors! I mean, it's nice to be able to read a street sign before the second I go whizzing by it but someone get me some super dark sunshades for crying out loud!

The extra good news is that I really am blinking less now, and can somewhat look around without turning my entire head like a muppet.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

My contacts arrived and today I went in for my "contact lens fitting." First of all, my eyes are very, very sensitive (you're surprised, right?). It's hard for me even to put eyeliner on. Whenever anything comes toward my eye, safe or not, it goes into spasms (helpful as a natural reflex, not so helpful in the world of contacts. Let's not even talk about how hard it is for the opthamologist to do the glaucoma test that blows that puff of air into your eye). Anyway, my eye sensitivity is compounded by anxiety about how hard lenses cannot be easily moved around your eye. Because they are hard, you risk scratching your cornea if you slide them across your eye. If you've ever had contacts, you know it's not that hard to put them in wrong or rub your eye without thinking, which dislodges the contact and allows it to float up into your brain (ok, that is theoretically impossible but that doesn't make me feel any less nervous about it).


What was I talking about again? I got distracted by the thought of having a collection of contacts in my brain.


Well, after I actually got the contacts in (minus the time when I blinked too soon and the contact when into the abyss of my eye corner and I screamed, "Help! Help!" and the secretary yelled, "Somebody get the doctor!" causing all kinds of mayhem and staring, and by the time the doctor arrived I had wedged it out of my eye and I said, "I'm ok now."), the doctor took a look and said my vision was 20/20 and the contacts were sitting well. I had to admit, I could see!....so long as I only looked downward at the floor...without blinking.

"I can only see straight in front of me--everything to the sides is blurry--is that normal?" I asked.

"Yes." she replied.

Really? Couldn't they come up with something better? Like, isn't peripheral vision important?

"And how long until I get used to them?" I continued, through my red, puffy, traumatized eyes, and mascara running down my face.

"About a week. You're already blinking less than when you first put them in." (And by this I assumed she meant at a rate less than 400 times per minute.)

SO a week here I go....

Friday, August 13, 2010

I'm giving contact lenses a try for the, oh, fiftieth time in my life. I have had glasses since I was five years old but I only wear my glasses at home to read and use the computer (even though I should probably wear them all the time). I have tried contacts many, many times and have been unsuccessful every time. I have astigmatism which makes contact-wearing difficult in the first place. One must use weighted toric lenses that only focus when the weighted side sits at the bottom of your eye. For me, the contacts never quite settled properly and therefore my vision was always blurry. I tried every brand of toric lenses before finally moving on to hard lenses.

Hard lenses are, well, hard. They take a while to get used to because you can feel them in your eye. Supposedly, after wearing them for awhile your eye develops a callous (gross!) which desensitizes your eye and you don't feel the hard lenses any more. The last time I tried hard lenses I was never able to get used to them. To further complicate things, I also have very dry eyes. As a result, I was putting eye drops into my eyes as frequently as less than every 30 minutes. That makes for a very long, uncomfortable day. With all these factors together, I decided to give up on contact lenses and just go through life being partially blind.

Then I got pregnant.

I found out that pregnancy can make your eyes even dryer and make your vision worse. What I wasn't told, was that after pregnancy your eyesight never goes back to the way it was pre-pregnancy. Um, does this mean that with each child I just keep getting blinder??? Well anyway, last week I decided it was time to visit the eye doctor to renew my 10+ year old glasses prescription. While I was there, I decided to give contacts another go. After all, it would be nice to be able to see at work.

The doctor had me try on all the toric lenses they had in stock, even newer ones that are especially for dry eyes. I couldn't see. Not even a little bit. The doctor determined that I have flat corneas which prevent the weighted lenses from ever settling properly. I was grateful to finally find out the reason behind my life of contact drama! The solution? Hard lenses or glasses. I ordered a pair of hard lenses (not covered by insurance, thank you very much) and my total bill was $400+ without even ordering the glasses. *Gulp* No wonder I haven't been to the eye doctor in so long! I will go back to buy a pair of glasses when my FCPS insurance kicks in (did you know that frames and lenses are sold separately???).

"The Wonder Hanger"

BEFORE

AFTER

When I saw the infomercial for The Wonder Hanger I was all, "well that's not that impressive..." and then by the end of the commercial I was like "ooooh" and ready to buy 10 for the price of 1 with four free Bendy Hangers, three Closet Lights, and a partidge in a pear tree (plus shipping and handling). Well, I held off.....BUT THEN I saw some at the dollar store! I guess that makes them As Seen As Seen on T.V.?

The Dollar Tree version is a bit flimsy (to be expected---although I've read online reviews that even the real Wonder Hanger is flimsy) and sometimes the weight of my clothes makes the hooks pop off (ok, ok I am putting two hangers into each hole). On the Dollar Tree version, the place where you put the hanger is not a slot but rather a hole. As a result, you can only fit skinny wire hangers into it (like the kind you get from the dry cleaners) and not nicer plastic or wooden hangers. The "Wonder Hanger" does save some closet space but it's almost as though it just concentrates all the clothes onto a lower level so it merely looks neater--which is not useful if you have a second, lower hanging rod for skirts and shirts (like I do). It is also difficult to get the clothes on and off it because you have to carefully pull the hanger out through the hole. However, this problem may be fixed on the real Wonder Hanger since it has slots to place the hangers in, rather than holes.

Pants Not on the Ground

Well, it's that time of year again. I go through this every year (sometimes twice a year): the saga of trying to find clothes that fit me properly. Pants are a particular problem. You see, not only am I hipless, but I have disproportionately long legs. To make things more difficult, "long" or "tall" length pants are just a bit too long, while "regular" length pants are just short enough to be borderline highwaters. And I despise, positively despise, when the action of sitting down decreases my pant length just enough to reveal my sock line at the ankle. Almost as much as I despise my wristbones showing out the ends of my long-sleeved shirts (P.S. I also have disproportionately long arms). But with too-short long sleeves (oxymoron), I can (and always do) keep them pushed up past my elbows. Both of these things make me feel incredibly self-conscious; I might as well be walking around with a booger sticking out of my nose, a hole in the back of my pants, used toilet paper stuck to my shoe, and chunks of spinich stuck in my teeth. That's how attractive I feel when my pants are too short.

So anyway, I've been on the hunt for pants that fit comfortably while both sitting and standing. With regards to jeans, my old, affordable stand-by is Khols SO brand long-length jeans. The price is right and they fit well. Glo is too curvy, Paris Blues are too short, Angels are too low. Target jeans are too short. Old Navy jeans don't fit right. Express is too expensive unless they're on clearance. (And don't even get me started on maternity jeans that don't look ridiculous...) After going through my wardrobe today (UGH which reminds me that there are piles of clothes all over the bedroom that I swore I'd come back to after abruptly leaving to go shopping but had forgotten about until this very moment) I realized that I'm good on jeans. Now I'm looking for pants to vary my style a bit....which basically means khakis. I was really excited when I found pants at NY & Co. yesterday that fit well AND they were have a Buy 1 Get 1 Free deal! I went back today to finish trying things on (since yesterday I made the mistake of leaving for the mall too close to Mishaela's bedtime and every time we entered a dressing room she started screeching) and while the jeans looked fab-u-lous, the khakis didn't fit quite right. And they only had regular length in my size. Sigh. I went back to Kohls last night and Old Navy because, seeing as how I hadn't tried any khakis on at those stores this year, I figured maybe, by some stroke of luck, they will suddenly look good on me. Not so much. In fact, not at all. Still too short, too tight, too baggy, or some odd combination of the 3 all at the same time.

So for you slim-hipped, long-legged folks out there, here are the brands to try:

Kohls SO Jeans (Long)

NY & Co. Jeans (Low-Rise, Bootcut, Tall)

To Be Continued....

Product Review: Moby vs. Ergo

Here is Mishaela in the Moby Wrap, facing outwards. I'm shocked that she tolerated this position because I sure wouldn't want my arms strapped down like that! However, she feels very stable from my point of view--almost like she is part of my body.

This way looks more cofortable for her but she is actually very unstable and slips out when I bend over (oops!).

Moby with Mishaela facing inwards. This was the way I wore her when she was smaller and curled into a constant fetal position. She would often fall asleep this way.

Front view of her facing inwards.

The Ergo with Mishaela in the front-carry position (the baby cannot face outwards in the Ergo carrier).

Side view of the front position.

Back-carry Ergo position. With her arms "in" like this, the Ergo pulls my pants down :(

With her arms "out," this position pulls my pants down less but at her height, the top of the carrier makes little red marks in her armpits :(

Both carriers have their pros and cons. The Ergo is far easier to put on and much "cooler" in warm weather. The Moby was fine to wear during the winter but with the baby wrapped up like that, in the summer it feels positively sweltering. There is a lighter version of the Moby called the Portable Baby Wrap (http://www.theportablebaby.com/wrap.html) which I have not tried but would consider buying if I ever have a newborn in the summer. In the Ergo she has more wiggle room and I can feel her swaying from side-to-side when I turn around, which makes me feel less stable than when she is wrapped up against me in the Moby. The Moby does not have a back-carry position or a side-carry position. The Ergo, however, has a back-carry position (as you can see) and also a side-carry option--which I have not yet been able to figure out.