For a normal pregnant woman, the main concerns tend to be food, water, and restrooms.
I still have all those concerns, but add to that the mandatory walk-break every hour as well as how to manage injections in a timely fashion and I was left wondering . . .
But I think I have it figured out. The kicker is that those around me are just going to have to understand that when my injection alarm goes off, it means I have to stop whatever I'm doing, find a seat if possible, and do my shot.
My great-grandfather, John Albert Smuin (Grandpapa!) used to give his insulin injections right through his pants. As a child, I thought that was great fun!! As an adult, I realize that he did it for convenience--his went in his thigh--and because it tended to shock people, which I swear he enjoyed. I might have inherited just a teeny bit of that from him!
My injections can't be done through my clothes. Well, they could, but I'd risk infection and that's not a risk I can take. Grandpapa was already getting on in years and facing multiple health problems, so I'm pretty sure that infections were pretty low on his list of concerns.
Bathrooms don't usually have chairs in them and I'm supposed to do my injections laying down, although I have been doing them reclining since Dash's heart-stopping moment a couple of months ago so those around me will just need to look away if they are at all squeemish about watching a woman pinch her love handles or tummy, rub it down with an alcohol wipe, then inject.
And while I hope that nobody in our travel party or in areas surrounding us is offended, my biggest concern is for my baby, so I will do what needs to be done, wherever I am. I just hope that if I'm in the van that the roads are smooth because going over a bump with a needle in your side wouldn't be fun!!
Now, how to pack my supplies? After some thought, I decided to use my hiking wetbag. This is a small, zippered bag that I sewed a couple of years ago. The bag is leak proof, washable, and already had two helpful items in it: toilet paper and my pStyle. I simply added a couple of my injections, all of my alcohol wipes, and a supply of bandages for the inevitable small bleed.
Viola! My wetbag is now more of a hazardous waste bag, since it will contain my shots as I finish them as well as the pStyle, although I hope I don't need to use that! I will replenish my injections each morning and I always keep a spare loosey-goosey in my purse.
The last thing I needed to figure out was my seemingly endless supply of oral medications and supplements. I found one of my pill organizers and since I ran out of my omega fatty acid supplement a few days ago, everything else barely fit. Two of my supplements are liquids with droppers, so I'll just have to take those as-is. The bottles are small, so they won't take up much room. I just need to be careful since they're both glass and I don't trust the droppers to be leak-proof if the bottles get tipped.
I grew up in a family of light packers, so it drives me just a bit batty to have a bag, however little, of supplies like this. Even my make-up bag is smaller. Do you want to know what it contains? Mascara, two small eye shadows, and a brush for application. That's it!
My toiletries bag? Oh, I don't have one of those. My hair only gets washed once every 7-8 days so I don't need any cleansers. This leaves my toothbrush, hairbrush, probiotic deodorant, and toothpaste to rest nicely but loosey-goosey in my luggage.
So yes, I'm a light packer in general so this whole "bring an entire box of injections" thing is annoying because it takes up So Much Room. =)
