Week of Adventures

It's been a while since I updated. The last week has been interesting.

Wednesday I didn't do much because I was in extreme pain. It may have been the worst pain I've experienced since I got pregnant, it brought me to tears. Someone suggested on mamasource that the pain might be Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD) and I got really scared of that after reading the wiki info about it.

I called the Dr's office on Thursday morning because I really didn't want to wait until my next check up to talk about it. The office assistant asked if I'd experienced any discharge (sorry to anyone who's reading this that doesn't want to read this kind of stuff, it comes with pregnancy). I told her that my bladder has been leaking but I didn't know if anything else was. A little while later, after discussing my symptoms with a Dr she called back and told me to make my way to the hospital. I brought Malachi to a friends house and drove my way there.



After some tests and discussion with the Dr on call he told me it's not SPD but rather Round Ligament pain, yay! Also, I do just have a leaky bladder (supper leaky compared to the last pregnancy). The Dr released me and the nurse gave me a great list of symptoms that should make me call the Dr's office. Now if I'm experiencing anything that's not on that list, I can just wait until my next appointment. I was home by lunch time, but I was exhausted. Even though I spent most of the time there laying down it was an emotionally exhausting experience and it drained me. I don't think I did much more that day.

Friday morning I dropped Malachi off again at the same house as the previous day and made my way to the prenatal echo cardiogram that I had scheduled. I went in with no fear and then was told by the Dr that when a mother has a heart defect (I have a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)) it increases the risk of the baby having one. I didn't know that! All of a sudden my fear level rose. The Dr assured me that any major complications could be seen on a sonogram at this far in the pregnancy. However, he saw that everything was developing perfectly! Everything was the size it should be and the vessels going into and out of the heart are the perfect size and working like they should be. Anything major looks to be ruled out! Praise God! Anything minor can still develop but the pediatrician should be able to catch it when he's born. This time I was done and home before 10am but it was still an emotional couple of days and I was exhausted again.

I did make an awesome dinner that night (Chicken St. Pierre, broccoli salad, crusty salad and garlic mashed potatoes) and had a good friend over for it. In fact Sam made the potatoes and they were awesome!! After Malachi went to bed I watched the season premiere of Ugly Betty and I watched Rachel Getting Married for the first time. That was a hard movie to watch. I'm glad I did, but I don't know if I'll ever watch it again.

Saturday and Sunday were rainy and kind of blah. We did make it to our Pastor's house on Saturday morning/afternoon for Apple Baking. I made Apple Dumplings with a friend and the other things made were: Apple Cider, Apple Sauce, Apple Cake, Apple Pancakes, Apple Pie, and pizza. It was a very delicious day!

Sunday was a normal day. Today I had mom's group. I really started wilting toward the end, but I'm really glad I went. I haven't been sleeping very well the last few days. I've been waking up a lot through out the night. Tomorrow I'll be 23 weeks pregnant. Which leaves 17 weeks of pregnancy which is so crazy! In those 17 weeks we have a ton going on:

Trip to Dallas on Nov. 5th
Anniversary on Nov. 10th
Malachi's b-day on Nov. 23rd (his party is going to be on the 22nd I think)
Family in for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
John leaves for two weeks on the 30th for a Spanish Immersion trip in either Ecuador or Guatemala
Christmas
New Years
John's birthday
and then the birth!

I have a feeling that it'll be a very, very quick 17 weeks.

To Bounce or Not to Bounce

Yesterday after Malachi's nap we headed out west to Sport Bounce. It's a big warehouse full of different bounce houses. John found this place online and thought Malachi would like it.

We got there and Malachi was really excited. We payed his admission ($10 for the open bounce time - we were there for an hour of it) took off his and dad's shoes (parents bounce for free) and headed to the bounce houses. The only problem: Malachi didn't want to bounce.

He ran to the baby room, and when we told him it was a baby room, he then went to the lounge and tried to play Foosball but couldn't find a ball and I wasn't going to the front desk to get one.

Finally daddy got Malachi to play hide and seek with him on the bounce houses. They went through a couple this way and Malachi was a little unsure. Then after Malachi got into one and daddy found him he was encouraged to follow some kids. He followed them right through it and down the slide - which he enjoyed.

Bingo! The key to Malachi's enjoyment was found. He just needed to find some kids to play with. After a while he and a boy found each other and they played together for over half an hour. Malachi ended up doing every single one more than once and when we left and John asked which was his favorite he said the one with the water. There isn't any actual water, it's just decorated like a water slide. We were surprised by this answer because it was one of the biggest and he spent most of his time on another one. It was the last one he did though, so maybe that affected his answer.

Unfortunately we forgot the camera so we have no pictures of this fun time.

After that we made our way over to a mall that was nearby to get a little shopping done before dinner. I bought a book we're going through for Mom's Group, got a pair of pants and some shirts. John got a couple of shirts, and so did Malachi. My son bought Star Wars shirts. Yes people, he chose them. After that we headed to Red Robin to have some very delicious burgers and then headed home.

All in all it was about four hours, but after we were done I was completely exhausted and very sore. It's definitely too much for me to do. Before this pregnancy I could've done that and more. Man! I really didn't expect to be like this, this early.

Old Town Alexandria

Tonight we headed to Alexandria so I could scratch a pregnancy itch. I really, really, really wanted some Jimmy John's. Alexandria just happened to be the closest one (about 20 minutes away). When we got down there though it was closed. It was closed all day today! We were shocked and I was extremely dissapointed. We decided to walk across the street to Potbelly to see if we could get a sandwich there instead. But on Saturday and Sunday they close at 5pm. Who closes at 5pm on the weekends?!?!

We had planned on going somewhere in Old Town after dinner, so we decided to just head down there for dinner too. We went down there, found a parking ramp and tried to figure out dinner. We ended up walking to the water front area on the river.



On the right of the picture you'll see the restaurant we chose to eat at. It's called The Chart House. It's mostly a fish and seafood restaurant but I had a really good dish called Almand Crested Chicken Breast served with herbed risoto and brie. We really enjoyed the dinner and I know we'll be there again.

After the wonderful visit at the restaurant we walked back to the pier and visited the parrots that were hanging out. We donated some money to the foundation that's saving abandoned and abused birds and I got to hold one of them. Malachi didn't want to hold it, but he did pet it. After that we walked over to Candie's Candy shop. I really felt like a kid in a candy store (pun intended). We ended up buying over a pound of candy! I might have a bit of a tummy ache right now and I don't think I can stop.

We then came home. I had such a great night with my boys. John then went out with some friends to see Section 9. Now I'm chillin watching TV and Malachi's sleeping soundly.

Ahhh....(happy sigh)

Geo Cache

We had so much fun tonight! After we went out for dinner and dessert, we went on a treasure hunt! Check out Geo Cache for a very, very fun activity for the family! It's all over the world, so no matter where you're reading this you should at least check it out.

This is the beginning of a beautiful tradition for our family! Go TeamRoy!!! Woo!