Weekend Update

Zoya: She arrived safely on Weds night! 6 pounds, 12 ounces, 20 inches long. I don't have more updates, hopefully we will speak with the new parents today. But all went well and I hope their first few days at home have gone well.

July 4th: We left our house at 9:15 a.m. to drive down to Poquoson, VA to see my good friend Sarah, who is down there for a few weeks visiting her parents (she lives with her family in northern California). July 4th is her daughter's birthday, so, we were going to visit and to celebrate Zaynah's 1st birthday (Sarah also has an older daughter, Tyrah, who is 3 but looks like sh'es 5...she's SO tall). We got down there at 1 p.m. Longer than expected, but we stopped for gas/food in Woodbridge at the slowest Burger King EVER. Then we got into traffic on 64. Otherwise, though, we had a great afternoon visiting and celebrating the 4th and Zaynah's birthday. I took some photos but have packed the camera for the hospital already, so maybe I'll download them in a month. :) Mollie and Steve and the Allen family (Jen, Mike, Will and Wes) were also at the party.

Unfortunately, James did not nap and so when we tried to get him down in the pack & play, his screaming and crying just was too much. I cuddled him to sleep in our bed and he went to bed easily. We joined him a few hours later but at some point (2 a.m.?) he was up for probably 2 hours. That's what it felt like at least. I was pretty uncomfortable (I mean, I AM 38 weeks pregnant) and frustrated, but finally I got James back to sleep. We all woke up and it was almost 9 a.m. We enjoyed a nice breakfast and took off around 12 noon.

We decided to stop in Williamsburg for lunch at the Cheese Shoppe, my favorite lunch place in college. Parking was easy but the town was PACKED with tourists. The Cheese Shoppe was insanely crowded and the humidity in and out was AWFUL. I am being dramatic but I really mean it - I thought I was going to pass out waiting for our food. So I took James outside to wait and then Greg brought food and water. I felt a little better after eating/drinking but not too much. Mollie and Steve ended up walking up to us - they were on their way to her mom's but plans were changed, so they joined us with their sweet dog Chef. We hung out and then we just had to leave - I was feeling some pain and tightness so we quickly hit the Bookstore and I got the boys matching t-shirts. Walking back to our car was torture - I honestly thought the baby was going to fall out of me. Luckily we blasted the A/C and I chugged more water and put my passenger seat in the full recline position - I didn't feel "right" again for at least an hour. I thought I was going to have the baby on 95 but luckily I didn't! James finally took a nap so I did too. Poor Greg drove in silence but hey, those are the sacrifices you make for your kids (and I really am referring to the child in utero, who needed some water and rest from his mama).

We got home and my parents and Aunt Nancy and her granddaughter swung by on their way back to my parents house. It was a short visit. I really should have been lying down but no, instead I made my guys dinner and ran Roomba (okay, that's not work but still). In the short time Jasmine was here James's room was destroyed, as was the downstairs. Sigh.

We got James to bed at a reasonable time considering his wake up and nap time frame. We are going to start tomorrow with a new schedule for James in the hopes he takes regular naps again: 7 a.m. wake up
1:30 p.m. nap
8:00 p.m. bed
Wish me luck.

Anyway, the semi-scary/exciting news is that I woke up at 1:15 a.m. feeling crampy and uncomfortable. I cannot tell what a contraction is because I never had them "naturally" with James (I was given Pitocin, a drug to make you contract with him), so, after 40 minutes of off and on tightness and weird localized pain, I called my mom (why call the doctor, right?). She said to time the feelings and give it some more time. Well, it was weird: the feelings came and went regularly but nothing intense....around 3 a.m. I decided to take a shower, which felt great. After that, the feelings sort of dissapated and I lay down again. I told myself that if the feelings got stronger then I'd call the doctor and figure this was "it".

However, I felt tired and fell asleep - snoring very loudly, according to Greg. :) When I finally got up at 8:30, which was awesome, the feelings were gone. So, who knows?! I never called the doctor but besides some heartburn I feel good/normal today (for being this far along). I called my mom back and reassured her all was well. I think I can blame the car trip, bad sleeping the night before, and dehydration for whatever I had - either Braxton Hicks or real contractions, I'm not sure. In any case, baby Z2 is NOT here today (yet!) but I did go ahead and finish packing the hospital bags just in case he decides to make his grand entrance sooner rather than later. So all is well at the Z household. I'm actually really happy because the "mean" doctor was on call this whole weekend so now we've avoided him and his matter of factness. Phew. The thing is, I was uncomfortable but getting excited overnight to meet the new baby - now we just have to wait. Tough stuff but this is our plan - it's up to him now!!