Our Vacation

Dan and I recently returned from a week away on vacation! It was very nice. We were at the shore. We had a view of the ocean, even though we were half a block off the beach, and there was a house that was partially obstructing our view. It was awesome to hear the ocean from our balcony. The only thing about having this great view was the fact that we were on the third floor of the condo, and there was no elevator. That was hard on my body! The place was nice, though, and it was surprisingly quiet, even though we were one block away from a bar that usually has live music all summer. I had physical limitations, though, which I am not used to. That got on my nerves. I wanted to walk on the boardwalk longer than I could, and I wasn't always into going out, since wherever we went, sitting was uncomfortable. They had some cool, free activities right down the street from our condo, which was nice. We heard a couple of bands play, and there was an Irish night, which featured young girls doing their Irish dancing. It was really cool, and there were lots of families there, which only got me excited about next year, when we'll have a little one with us, enjoying these things along with us.

The beach was nice, but it seemed like all of the smokers wanted to sit near us, and the wind would blow in the right direction for me to get a whiff every time. After a couple of days with the same people around us, we got to know who not to sit near, which kids were not going to run by our blanket too close, kicking up the sand. Well, the day we tried another part of the beach, we were witness to a very angry woman who reminded us of Janice from The Sopranos. She kept yelling at her three young boys, when they didn't seem to be doing anything wrong. The one boy, about ten years old, started towards the water, and she started screaming at him, actually telling him she'd kick his butt if he didn't come back- it was ridiculous! Once every few minutes there was an outburst from her, and I just felt bad for the kids. Some people shouldn't be parents.

One night, we met up with my Mom and Step-dad in Atlantic City, where they treated us to some dinner and gambling. They are much better at the slots than we are! Dan had never been, so that was nice. He enjoyed it. I put up a picture of us from one of the casinos. I have a dumb look on my face, b/c my camera was acting like the piece of junk that it is, but it's really the only picture we have of the both of us with actual clothes on! And by clothes, I mean not bathing suits or lounging-around-the-condo clothes. Get your mind out of the gutter! LOL!

I took lots of video of us hanging out with my new camcorder, so that's nice to have. We had a lot of fun, and I am lucky that Dan is a pretty laid back kind of guy, b/c he didn't mind that we didn't go crazy with lots of activities. He was more worried that I would get frustrated with myself for not being able to do a lot. Which I did. But there's only so much you can do when you're 32 weeks pregnant, and always hurting somewhere. Next year will be awesome! We were saying that we don't know how we'll fit all of our luggage, plus a baby, plus the baby's things, all in our Jeep Cherokee. I reckon we'll have to get one of those Big Mac- looking things for the roof! That will be a riot!

I'm Hurt!

I can't believe my luck. I got a cold on Memorial Day, or so I thought. It turned into bronchitis, and I had a really bad cough. Well, one night, at a birthing class, I had a coughing spell, and coughed with such force that I threw a rib out of place. The pain was bad, and I went to the chiropractor and the doctor. Dr. said it didn't look broken, gave me an inhaler to help me to stop coughing so much, and the chiropractor fixed my back, near the place where the rib was messed up.

Then, I had another bad cough, and the rib went out again, but this time felt more painful, and was accompanied by a 'POP'! It hurt way worse than the first time, and so I called the doctor and she called in a prescription for these pads that have lidocaine in them, and would numb the area a bit. She told me this was the only safe thing I could take. Tylenol didn't help at all. The pads didn't seem to be doing much, and when I woke up the next day, every move I made was excruciating. Dan offered to take the day off, and I took him up on it, since the pain was so bad, I knew I wouldn't be able to drive. I was moving very slowly, and couldn't stand up straight or breathe normally. I couldn't believe how bad it had gotten overnight.

So, we went to the ER, got right in, and they took my blood through an IV. Yuck! I was dreading the day I might have to have an IV. I couldn't look at it. My blood pressure was kinda high, since my body was all stressed out. The baby's heart rate was higher than normal, too. 160. Last week, at the OB, it was 147. The Doctor said I could take vicodin as long as I didn't overdo it, and I could stick with the lidoderm patches to help with the pain. They sent me for an x-ray of my chest. It turns out my rib is broken! I couldn't believe it! The blood work also came back saying I MAY have a blood clot, but since I have no leg or arm pain, they aren't going to do anything about it. That freaked me out more than the broken rib.

They told me that I should feel better in a couple of weeks. What sucks about that is, we go on vacation in a week. To the shore. I hope I am not feeling miserable on vacation. Now it's two days later, and everyday seems to be better than the one before, so that's good. I am just mostly freaked out that this is going to affect the baby, or my rib won't heal properly in time for me to deliver, and maybe they'll say, 'Well, you hurt your back, so why don't we do a C-section so you don't have to do all that pushing?' I have so much to do yet, too. We still have to choose a color for the paint in the nursery, and we have to clean up the room and get it organized so he can paint. I want to get the carpet in there shampooed, too. I am used to doing the physical stuff. I guess I won't be much help for a while.