Beating the Heat

Seattle was socked by a heat wave this week... perfect time to not be working, eh?

Here's my tips & tricks for avoiding heat stroke while pregnant:

1. Cook outside - On night 1 of the heat wave, I invited some friends over for BBQ.  Unfortunately, the BBQ started at 5... approximately the time the sun shined directly into the backyard.  We moved the table and chairs to the shady spy and had a great time.  Good lesson to learn.  The next night, baby wanted steak, so I invited folks over for another BBQ - this one to start at 7pm.  The back yard was perfect!  

2. When the fan is on, put it on a pedestal & put it on you.  Forget oscillation!  - We have one of those tower fans that does a fairly decent job... plus it doesn't take up a ton of space.  For the first few nights, I had the fan on the floor... it stands about about 3' off the floor - which is not exactly the best place to cool yourself.  Took me a few days to figure out the stand thing.  now in the living room, the fan is situated so it blows over the coffee table & directly onto the sofas (Brilliant!).  In the bedroom, I put the fan on the ironing board so it blows directly on me (Brilliant!).  Oscillation is good if there is more than 1 person in the room with you.  Otherwise, forget it.  'nuff said.

3. Spend time in places with air conditioning - I figured I'd go to the Ballard Library which is only a few blocks away.  Unfortunately, they don't open at 1... but fortunately, I arrived at 12:45pm.  Once inside, I surfed the web, read magazines, generally loitered to beat the heat.  I wasn't alone either.  The next day the place was packed!  I watched a movie on my laptop, read magazines, considered taking a nap but went for a bite to eat instead.  I also spent 2 evenings at the movies. 

4. Do NOT turn on the 42" LCD TV... it makes it hotter! - when your condo is 87 degrees, you can actually feel it getting hotter when you do anything that generates heat.  "Anything" in this instance includes: turning on the TV, turning on lights, turning on the stove, microwaving, using the hair dryer, moving around.  Don't do it.

5. Use ice packs - due to an array of sports related injuries, I have a lot of ice packs.  The first night, I was laying on the sofa with 1 ice pack on my head, the other between my legs.  The 2nd night, 1 was on my head, the other in my lap.  Then I remembered the back-sized ice pack that I received from my chiropractor.  I started out laying on the ice pack, but this only stiffened my lower back and made moving difficult.  I threw the back sized ice pack on my bed, under the sheets to kick off a good night's sleep, but it melted a little & got my sheets wet (don't get me wrong, this was a welcome change as well).  Next, I put the ice pack on my foot pillow.  It's more comfortable for me to lay down with my feet in the air pretty much at all times.  Somehow, this position, with the ice pack under my ankles did the trick! 

6. Put light colored sheets on your bed: at the beginning of the heat wave, I had my 400 thread count sheets on the bed.  They are a dark red color and match my curtains.  Ordinarily, they stay cool, like silk.  Ordinarily.  This heat wave was different.  I woke up two mornings in a row, feeling like I was sleeping on top of a stove.  I slid my hand under my back and the space between my back and the bed was super hot!  Two mornings it took me to tie the dark colored sheets to the super heated sleeping arrangement.   Two mornings to build my light colored sheet theory.  I began the light colored sheet test on the hottest night of the week (103 degrees in Seattle!).  Unfortunately, changing out the sheets literally meant I was doing work in my super heated room (likely 78 degrees plus in there).  We have 1 fan (due to limited storage space) and I carried that fan into the bedroom, turned it on oscillate while I worked to swap out the dark.  The next morning, I did not wake up on a burner!  Theory -- Test -- Fact.

7. Cold showers - when pregnant, your core body temperature is abnormally hight anyway.  Add in unbearable heat - minus any in-home air conditioning - and finding a way to stay cool gets really difficult.  It took me a few days to think of the cold shower idea, but after I did, I nearly lived in my shower.  It's amazing - feeling the cool water hit your skin & warmer water roll back off was weird, but it did the trick.  I didn't even sweat after getting out of the shower & it felt like the 85 degrees in the condo was bearable (for a little while).