A Christmas Miracle

Tonight was my church's Christmas party. I admit, I've never been fond of the church Christmas party. There is always an attempt at making it a spiritual occasion with the primary kids acting out the Christmas story, but mostly it's just chaotic. Then all hell really breaks loose when right after everyone sings Silent Night the conductor turns to the crowd and announces, "Hey everyone, I heard we have a special visitor. Let's see if we can welcome him by singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer!!" Any Christmas spirit that was in the room has now blown right out the door as Santa Claus comes jingling in. The kids go wild. I go crazy.

That is why I don't go to the church Christmas party. I'd rather be home watching Tactical Armor on the Military channel with G.

This year I was asked to sing a duet for the program and also play the piano for a small ensemble. Basically, I guilted myself into participating because I wanted to be helpful. 'Tis the season, right? But the best part of the whole night--get ready--NO SANTA CLAUS! Nope. The program ended with a lovely musical number, our bishop said a few words and it was over. The end. Lights on, go home. Now THAT'S a church party worth attending. A Christmas miracle.

Have you ever wondered...

...what the view from the top of a 36 week pregnant lady looks like?

Meet JW.

Being pregnant for the first time has taught me a lot about growing a human and the physical demands on my body. Things that are really unexplainable until you go through it yourself. For example:

• nausea
• sleepiness
• fat ankles
• taffy-pulled ligaments
• loss of brains
• loss of breath
• waddling
• hearing a heartbeat
• seeing a baby
• kick
• punch
• roll
• hiccup...hiccup...hiccup

And a new one for me today - checking the cervix. Holy s-h-i-t {sorry moms}. I thought this would just be a few finger poke around. No. It's a whole hand scrub down. Thank you very much. Now, would someone like to give me the REAL story on labor and delivery? Because I don't want any surprises.

The good news is, I'm 1 1/2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. That's ahead of schedule! JW just might make it into this world in December. I hear jingle bells!

Gourmet Twist

I love a good soft preztel. When I worked at the BL in Trolley Square I used to go to Pretzel Maker almost every shift - the parmesean covered pretzel with a side of marinara dipping sauce was my favorite.

When I moved on to a bigger career, my job took me to NYC a couple times a year for industry conferences. I would ditch the conference lunches and networking events and wander the avenues. I remember passing a pretzel stand near Central Park thinking yes! a BIG New York pretzel for lunch. I don't know why, but something about the pretzel street vendor screamed classic New York snack. It had to be good. So one lunch hour I picked up a giant pretzel with a side of cheese sauce. I took a bite. Blech!! It was like chewing a warm piece of cardboard covered in cold orange goo. I wanted to love it. I tried to eat it, but I'd rather starve than choke it down. NYC pretzel vendor, you so disappointed me. I should have gone to the conference lunch.

Today I went to McDonald's for lunch. I almost never go there so little did I know they are now serving up soft pretzels. It sure looked good in the display box, but it's McDonald's - pretzels aren't really their specialty. Anyone dumb enough to buy that was taking a big fat $2.15 cardboardy risk. The risk taker I am, I indulged. I mean, what the heck, nothing could be worse than that NYC hockey puck. I went for the cinnamon twist and to my delightful suprise, it was hot, soft, cinnamony goodness. Next time I'm in NYC and want a big pretzel, forget the street vendor, I'm going to McDonald's!

A Word from the Womb

"A Utah man am I!"
Go UTES!
35 Weeks

Pregnancy Survival Skill

This came across my 33 week informative -what's happening to your body and baby- email and made me laugh. Do you really have to be pregnant for this to apply? You decide...

Pregnancy survival skill: How to get out of a soft chair:
Put your feet flat on the floor and bend from the hips. Push on the armrests with your hands! Use your stomach muscles. If upward motion is still elusive, pick up your magazine and yell for more mint-chip ice cream. (Standing up is totally overrated anyway.)

Happy Halloween

JW was a jack-o-lantern for Halloween.

31 Weeks

A Lesson in Forgiveness

My sister called me the other day in a panic. There was a helicopter that had been circling around her house for an extended period of time. Her mind automatically goes into worse-case-scenario mode and immediately assumes there is a boogieman on the loose in the neighborhood and the chopper is hunting him down, and he's probably hiding in her backyard. She's a bit paranoid {it runs in the family}.

Later she tells me there had actually been a serious accident on the road just behind her home. A woman under the influence of drugs and alcohol was driving around 80 mph down the residential street, lost control and ran over a grandma pushing her 3-yr old granddaughter in a stroller on their way to the park. The chopper on the hunt for the boogieman was actually the life flight looking for a place to land to rescue the victims.

My sister forwarded an email to me that was sent by the mother of the 3-yr old. Her mother and daughter had miraculously survived the accident, though grandma, who shielded the child from being seriously injured, was is critical condition and the 3-yr old kept recalling how scared she was of the traumatic event she had just endured. The mother was asking for prayers for her loved ones for peace and healing, but the real clincher was when she also asked her neighbors and friends to also pray for the woman who caused the accident, and her family, as they were probably also suffering with a loved one held captive by addiction and the pain this person had caused others.

The email made me cry. I think my natural response would have been anger and revenge, but this woman sought forgiveness after an event that had just turned her innocent mother and daughter's world upside down in an instant. What a testimony of humility and compassion.

Friend or Faux?

I was flipping through the JCrew catalogue, which I love {never mind that I think the models are too skinny and that I actually emailed JCrew once and told them so}. I came across this fun fall outfit. Isn't this jacket yummy? I love the color. Or maybe it's the green cashmere hoodie she's layered underneath. Alas, Big Mamas House (me, 27 weeks prego) can not fit into such cuteness at the moment. You know what I really love, though? THE BAG!! I could buy that today, prego mama and all, and I wouldn't have to worry about the fit. That bag fits, no matter what. Wowza, did you notice that price tag?! I don't think I've ever spent that much on an entire outfit, let alone a single accessory. I went to Target this weekend, looking for nothing in particular when lo and behold I found a similar bag for about $275 less than the especially cute one above. So what if I settled for cheap faux leather, I feel darn fun and it fits too!

Good Fortune

I was feeling a little disgruntled when I got home from work today. G knows if I'm in such a mood that he's on his own for dinner, so he opted to take me on a mid-week date night. We went to Pei Wei and waited FOREVER to get our order, but in the end it was worth it to read this fortune from my cookie:
Three months from "this date" will be December 30th. Hmm...that's awfully close to JW's expected arrival. Could it be so? If so, I'll be thanking my lucky stars.

24 Weeks Will Do This to You

A girl who is 24 weeks pregnant... gets home from work to put her feet up. They are puffy from a long day...

of walking around in these:

UPDATE from previous post: I called Dr. L's office after a very long 24 hours of hysteria (which resulted in puffy eyes and a cold sore) and asked a series of questions related to my abnormal ultrasound results. It didn't help that Nurse Sid, right off the bat, says to me, "It's just a velementous cord insertion" as if there was nothing dangerous or delicate about the situation since this happens every day (all 1% of pregnancies, thank you). She assured me I have NOTHING to worry about. Dr. L (who is a well respected, high-risk pregnancy OB/GYN) has dealt with VCI many, many times. I am in good hands. My baby is healthy and I don't have any of the other potential coexisting conditions that can make the VCI that much more critical and dangerous to JW. I asked her if I could elect to have a C-section. The answer, "Not unless it's necessary." Lame. While Nurse Sid put my mind at ease, I am going to take my list of questions to my next appointment and get the same answers from Dr. L. For now, I will need to stop worrying about it and deal with this nasty cold sore.

Thank you all of you who sent your thoughts and prayers our way, either directly or in your heart. This news was tremendously difficult for me and it was comforting to feel supported. G and I are ok and JW is ok and can't wait to meet the little bugger.