Lucky We Live Hawaii

WOW! WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND TO BE ALIVE AND LIVING IN HAWAII!!! The weather was absolutely BE-A-U-TIFUL! And it looks like it is going to continue for the rest of the week.

So what did we do? Hmm. Saturday morning we slept in till about 815 am (taking advantage while we can). Once we were up we decided that we would go to the beach and hang out for awhile. We packed up the stand up board, some beach chairs, an umbrella, and struck off on our way. We got to the beach relatively early at 930 or so and it was already pretty crowded at Lanikai. Once there we set up a mini camp and I decided to go for a paddle around the Mokulua Islands (check the map below).

While I was paddling Kelley was playing in the water with Tyla. I think she is most comfortable in the water. It has been really hot and she has been experiencing a lot of contractions. Once she is in the water she seems to be happy.

We sat at the beach for a couple hours and decided it was time to get out of the sun and went to a movie. We saw "You Don't Mess With The Johan". It was pretty darn funny if you like slap stick humor.

We went home after the movie and sat around for a while watching the olympic trials and trying to stay cool in our air conditioning. In the evening we took Tyla down to the beach for another walk (as we do almost every day).

Today (Sunday) we got up really early at 745 am (again we are enjoying while we can). We got up and went down to the beach with Tyla (something new in our lives). This morning was a little different in that Kelley was wanting to get some sort of workout. It has been 2 days since she has been able to do anything active. She has been yearning to get a good workout in because it seems that anything she does makes her have a contraction. Both Kelley and I have been on the take it easy and try not to have a baby at 28 weeks program. This program requires a lot of sitting around, something that we both need to work on.

The walk went okay. We ended up walking at a respectible pace for a little over 30 minutes (kind of funny how workouts change huh). Kelley only had 1 or 2 small contractions, which is no more than she would have had staying at home on the couch.

After our walk I decided it was time to go back to church. We went home, got dressed, and made it just in time (10:00)...for the mass to finish. I guess mass actually starts at 900am. Oh well, its the thought that counts. Besides the best parts about church is when it is over (I think I will need to confess just for saying that...)

Next I decided to go for a paddle out to "bird shit island" about 1 1/2 miles off Kailua Bay. It took me about 1:30 to complete and man was it fun. I saw a couple of fish and a great big honu on the way (check the map below. I did the shorter route on Saturday and the longer route today.) .

After a long paddle a nap was definetly needed. I napped for about 1 hour and then we were off to view a couple of open houses and get a cold stone creamery. I mean what is a Sunday without going to an open house and getting some ice cream.

Later in the evening Kelley and I decided to get Champa Thai take out and sit on the beach with Tyla, ate our dinner and watched the sun set over the Ko' Olau mountains. It was at this point that we both got a chance to reflect about how great Hawaii is and how lucky we are to be able to live here.

50/50 Chance

Okay...for those of you that don't get Ryan's humor...his last blog led most of you to believe that we're having a girl. In fact, we have a 50/50 chance of having a girl (or a boy). So in other words we still don't know. Sorry :-)

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

I know, I know, I know. We weren't going to find out until the baby was born, BUT... Kelley had to go in to the doctor today because she was getting several contractions throughout the day yesterday, last night, and again this morning. Once we got there they hooked her up to this thing that straps around your belly so that you can hear the baby's heartbeat and little movements. It was REALLY cool.

That was where we got our first clue. The heart rate was in the 150-160 range, so we were already thinking, GIRL. We could hear the baby move around quite a bit, it was awesome. Than the doc came in. She said that Kelley was fine. She told her to stop exercising as much and to keep an eye on the amount of contractions she had in an hour. I guess 4-6 for 4+ hours is no good at this point in the game. Right as the doc was going to pull off the straps we heard this loud noise...The doc informed us that it was the little baby hiccuping.

We then went into the other room to take a look at the baby (on sonogram) and the doc wanted to check Kelley's cervix. The doc took one look at the baby and, forgetting that we did not want to know the sex of our baby, told us that she was sure it was a girl. We both looked at her with a blank stare and she replied, "yup I am 50% sure it's a girl". So there you have it! It's 50% chance that it's a girl.

I know, not quite what you were expecting uh! Not us either. Turns out Kelley's cervix is still nice and hard and placed towards the back (like I know what the heck I am talking about). I guess this is good. The doctor did say however that the little baby is carrying extremely low but that was of no concern, just an observation. She did give her permission to have me massage her feet and back several times daily and feed her food in bed. THANKS DOC!

Uh oh I gotta go, Kelley is calling me right now to get her some water...LOL!-Ryan

Law of Motion

I remember when I was in school and training for Ironman I got the feeling from certain people that training was easier for me. I heard it several times, "it's easy for you because you don't have work" (I guess working on an MBA doesn't really count as work...Ask Greg about that). Now I work like the rest of the world and I agree being sedentary all day makes motivating yourself in the evening A LOT harder. I think Sir Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion are applicable:

Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws which provide relationships between the forces acting on a body and the motion of the body.

1)A physical body will remain at rest, or continue to move at a constant velocity along a straight path, unless an external net force acts upon it.

• For me this is completely true. I sit all day in front of a computer (a body at rest). This law states that a body at rest will remain at rest unless an external force acts upon it. Everyone must find their external force. It's hard to say what my external force is. I think it changes day by day and I would have to say more often than not my external force is more internal than anything. But the point remains that each person must find that which gets your body from rest to full velocity.

2)Rate of change of momentum is proportional to the resultant force producing it and takes place in the direction of that force.

• Though I would agree that a body in motion is better than a body at rest, I believe that this physical law demonstrates that an effective external/internal force will affect a greater rate of change of momentum. As I said before it is important for each of us to find that force which can affect the greatest rate of change.

3)To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

• This one seems really simple...If you keep your body at rest you will get fat, risk cardiovascular disease, diabetes, heart attack, depression, etc. If you find that external/internal force to get that body in motion you will signifcantly reduce all these risks as well as sleep better, have a better look at life, be recharged for the next work day, reduce your risk of disease, feel better and live a happier life overall.

SO I GUESS WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY IS NO EXCUSES GET THAT BODY IN MOTION!!!

(This message is to remind myself of the same...tomorrow my external force will be this post) - Ryan

Internship Complete!!!

I got the official email today that I'm finished with my dietetic internship! What this means is that I'm done with all the hours (1220 to be exact) and assignments required to sit for the national exam, which I mentioned in a previous blog. No more having to work in nursing homes or hospitals unless I decide I want a job in one later. Yippee! Now I just have to get through one more hurdle...the national exam. I officially started studying yesterday and hope to be able to take it by the end of July...depending on when the American Dietetic Association sends me my eligibility letter. Hopefully the whole pregnancy brain holds together for me :-)

Beach Time

It's funny how a couple can go from being really, really, active to really, really, lazy! We just realized this weekend that we've been enjoying doing pretty much nothing...I think we're unconsciously preparing for being parents and enjoying the down time before craziness hits.

On Sunday after getting up at 6:00am (yep, we actually got to sleep in!) to walk Tyla at the beach, we came back home, ate breakfast, and preceded to fall asleep on the couch for TWO HOURS!! It was crazy, all the sudden we both woke up and it was already 10am. We decided that we needed to get out of the house and do some of the things we won't be able to do as easily together once the baby arrives. (We actually went to a movie on Saturday afternoon too...Love Guru...slapstick funny, but a good laugh). We got our suits on and headed to Mokapu'u Beach Park so Ryan could body surf and we could both get wet.

It was fun to actually hang out on the beach, play frisbee, and frolic in the waves...I wasn't exactly frolicking...I'm realizing that I'm not as agile as usual but still fun :-)

Here's Ryan giving the "shaka" as he's body surfing...

Mokapu'u

Here's a self-made video of us...hehehe!

Bigger at Night

Kelley has been telling me how bloated she gets at night. So we decided to see if you could actually see a difference in her belly by taking a pic in the morning and one at night. Tell us what you think.

MORNING

NIGHT

I think her belly buttin kindda looks like the end of an elephant trunk:) I think it is so cute..


KELLEY

ELEPHANT


CUTE AS A BUTTON...

-Ryan

Studying v. Baby Brain...GOODLUCK

Just wanted to share this little article on baby brain. After Kelley was just explaining about having to take a huge exam in 4-6 weeks I thought this was kind of amusing. Though Kelley may have "baby brain" she hardly needs help when it comes to taking tests. She could pass this test in the middle of giving birth if she wanted, but I don't think we will try. Enjoy the reading.
-RYAN
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Why having a baby really does make women more forgetful

Published Date: 07 February 2008
By Lyndsay Moss
Health Correspondent

WOMEN have long suspected that being pregnant has an effect on their memory – now research has confirmed expecting a baby can make you more forgetful. The so-called "baby brain" effect can have an impact on women's ability to remember new information during pregnancy and for many months after birth, researchers in Australia have found. Hormonal changes and sleep deprivation have been blamed for the condition, which is believed to affect up to 80 per cent of women. Some studies have also suggested a woman's brain may change size during pregnancy.

For the latest investigation, the researchers carried out a review of pregnancy studies conducted over the past 30 years. These showed that pregnant women had "modest deficits" in memory, especially when information was new or presented in a challenging way. Dr Julie Henry, a psychology researcher at the University of New South Wales, said: "The memory deficits many women experience during and after pregnancy are pretty much like the modest deficits you'd find when comparing healthy 20-year-olds with healthy 60-year-olds."

Dr Henry and co-investigator Professor Peter Rendell, of the Australian Catholic University, compared the memory performances of more than 1,000 pregnant women, mothers and healthy non-pregnant females involved in 14 studies around the world. They found that pregnant women were significantly impaired on some, but not all, measures of memory. They experienced most difficulty with memory tasks that relied on "executive cognitive control" – those involving novelty or significant effort." Regular, well-practised memory tasks – such as remembering phone numbers of friends and family members – are unlikely to be affected," Prof Rendell said. "It's a different story, though, when you have to remember new phone numbers or people's names, or hold in mind several pieces of information, such as when multi-tasking.

"The work, published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, is one of the first to confirm the suspicion from endless subjective reports that "baby brain" is a real phenomenon. The results indicate that the impairment is still evident a year after childbirth, but no studies have yet investigated beyond this period.


What do you think Louise? Do you think there's any truth to this? Hopefully not, for Kelley's sake :-)

Almost Finished!

I'm finally on the homestretch of my dietetic internship. I swear, I feel like I've been in school FOREVER! (I guess I kind of have been...20 years of my life!) So I'm done with all of my internship hours and now I'm just trying to tie up some loose ends. This is the part that's a pain in my rear. I thought I had everything turned in but I just found out that I have two evaluation forms that need to be filled out for presentations I did in December and March. Now I have to track down the people that watched them and have them evaluate it, which I'm sure they can't remember what I said because it was so long ago...hopefully they liked me!

Needless to say, once I round those up my preceptor can submit all my paper work to the American Dietetic Association (ADA) so I can sit for the national exam. The ADA has been known to take a while to get everything approved so I could be waiting a while to get the approval. In the mean time I'll be studying for about 4-6 weeks (or however long it takes to get the approval letter) for the beast of an exam and pray that I can pass it (hopefully the baby brain won't get in the way...yikes!). I CAN'T WAIT to be done!!!