Lesson from Bedrest

Today marks 9 complete weeks of being on bedrest, and baby girl is still growing and staying put!!  Matt jokes that he is working on "keeping my mind sharp" during all the dull times. Hopefully it's not decaying that quickly, but it's hard to tell from the inside...

On stir-crazy days, I make Matt take me to stores and wheel me around. Over 9 weeks, I've tested and rated various stores' manual and automatic wheel chair options.  

First: JoAnn Fabric- 9/10 (manual wheelchair with an attached cart)  

With the proper chair pusher, this has earned itself a score of 9 for the following reasons:

Pros: 

-Variable speed options. Just push slower or faster, and you go exactly the speed you want to!

-Basket for collecting and carrying items

-Small enough to fit into aisles and turn corners!

-Able to scoot your bottom forward and recline in the seat (meeting the 45 degree angle rule!)

Cons:

-Wheels don't grip the floor very well, so pushing yourself around is near impossible

-Basket is too small for fabric things, so they like to tip out all over the floor.

Second: WalMart- 6/10 (auto chair with attached cart)

Pros:

-Average "walking" speed. You aren't crawling, aren't sprinting.

-Good size cart/basket

-Incredible turning radius!

Cons:

-You have to be sitting upright to trigger the sensor that allows you to move (no reclining!)

-The dreaded "reverse beep". As if you aren't noticeable enough...

Third: Smiths- 9.9/10 (auto chair with attached cart)

Pros:

-All the Pro's of the WalMart chair, but FASTER

-You feel like you are in a go-cart. See attached picture, with blurred edges from speed.  If you're going to use a chair, at least make the other people in the store jealous of you.

Cons: 

-You're either going (and I mean GOING!), or stopped- no middle speed.  This caused only a few collisions from unsuspecting walkers from behind.

 

Fourth: Target- 1/10 (auto chair with attached cart)

Pros:

-It's a chair.

Cons:

-It's huge. You will be in the way!

-Size increases your tendency to completely knock over clothing racks and items from shelves. Okay, it's actually inevitable. 

-Speed tops out around 5 ft/min

-"Reverse beep"- It's loud, and any reversing takes at least 30 sec.

-You will end up calling your sig. other to bail you out of awkward situations.

Take home message: For a free bumper-cars experience, dress up like a pregnant woman and patron Smiths.

Making bedrest a party because, why not?
Boyce will be Boyce (and soon, will be BOYCES!)