Well, we made it to Chicago and back in one piece. ManCram had fun spending time with his family and we got to try some pretty awesome Chicago food. (A pregnant woman's dream.) We got in VERY early on Friday and spent the day with ManCram's family in downtown Naperville (a suburb of Chicago). We had lunch at a small pub/bar and walked around window shopping. ManCram's dad's fiancé bought a bag of popcorn from a gourmet popcorn place and she called it "Chicago Mix". It was cheddar cheese and carmel popcorn mixed together. Everyone liked it except me. I would have been happy with just the caramel popcorn. LOL! That night we stayed up late and played games as a family. ManCram's dad made burgers on the grill (it was 20 degrees outside but he did it anyway) at 8:30 Chicago time which is 9:30 our time. I have never eaten dinner so late in my life.
Saturday was a very busy day. We took the Metra (Chicago's equivalent of the Metro North) into Chicago at 9AM and we were in the city by 10AM. ManCram's dad wanted to show us "The Bean". A statue he has been talking about for 3 years since me moved to Chicago. After we saw "The Bean" we walked to Navy Pier which was a lot like South Street Seaport but nicer. I was excited to try some more Chicago based food but ManCram's dad LOVES Jimmy Buffet so we "had" to go to Margaritaville. ManCram's family are really big drinkers so they hung out at Margaritaville listening to music and drinking for 3 hours. After I ate I was over Margaritaville so I decided to go shopping around the pier. They had a lot of cool stores but I didn't find any "Chicago-y" thing I wanted to take home. (This is the curse of living in touristy places your whole life. Every t-shirt, keychain and hat looks exactly the same.)
Once "lunch" (binge drinking) time was over ManCram's dad and fiancé were ready to leave the city. I was sad because we really didn't see much but ManCram promised that when we go back for our next visit we will stay in the city so we can explore. We took the train home and I started to have some pain in my uterus. Usually when that happens I can relax and it will go away. During the train ride the pain subsided and when it was finally time for our stop the whole family got up and walked to the door of the train. I was unaware that the driver would SLAM on the breaks at our stop throwing me about 6 inches forward. When this happened, I tightened my abs (what I would have done before pregnancy) to keep my core hard to stay standing up. I immediately had a shooting pain run through my uterus and it didn't go away. I was worried but I decided to wait until after dinner to do anything about it since I knew we would be "resting" at dinner.
Dinner was awesome (even though I was in pain). We finally got to try Chicago style pizza! It was so good! However, after an hour of being in pain with no relief ManCram made me call the on call doctor at my OB's practice and was told to go to the local Labor and Delivery. I was so scared because I didn't want to go to a random hospital in Naperville, IL but I we needed to get everything checked out. When we walked into Emergency the receptionist immediately called someone to take me up to Labor and Delivery. We were given a room and I was told to put on a gown, pee and get into bed. The nurse hooked me up to two monitors (one to hear the baby's heartbeat and one to monitor contractions). I told them that I was still in pain but that it wasn't as bad as when I was at dinner. They checked my pee to make sure I wasn't in labor (I wasn't) and watched the contraction monitor for about 30 minutes during which time I did not contract. Then they sent me home saying that I probably just pulled a muscle when the train short stopped. It was embarrassed but I was happy we got everything checked out. Before I left the nurse checked me internally to make sure I wasn't dilated at all as well (I wasn't). That night back at ManCram's dad's house we had another night of family talking and games.
Sunday (our last day in Chi-Cram-go) we woke up and said goodbye to ManCram's sister and her girlfriend because they were taking a day trip to Indiana and they wouldn't be back before we left at 6PM. After they left I figured ManCram's dad would take us out somewhere and then we would have lunch and go to the airport. Instead, I learned that Sundays are a day when ManCram's dad and fiancé read the paper for 2-3 hours and then veg until lunch time. It was an uneventful morning but at least we got to watch some cable (which was fun because we don't have it at home). At around 1:00 we left the house to go to lunch at a restaurant called The Foundry. They had off track betting (YAY!) which I had never done before. Turns out, I am awesome at that too. We made a few bucks during lunch and then we went to the airport to fly home.
Our flight home was atrocious. Absolutely, without a doubt, the worst flight I've ever been on in my life. We flew United because that is where ManCram's dad had miles and it was a free flight. No biggie. The flight there was fine and really empty so we got our own row and slept for most of the trip. The way home was a completely different story. The plane was overbooked so it was full (fine it happens) but after a while they stopped letting people take their carry on luggage on the plane and started checking everything because the overhead bins were completely full. The flight was delayed about 30 minutes because it took so long for everyone to sit down and then once we "got moving" we sat on the Tarmac for an hour because all flights to NY were grounded due to weather. We took off an hour and a half late and we thought we would get in around an hour late because the pilot kept saying her could get us there fast. About an hour into the flight the pilot came on and said that we needed to land in Syracuse because once we got to LGA we would have to circle for an undetermined amount of time and we didn't have enough fuel to do that. So we landed in Syracuse and sat there for about an hour. This all would have been annoying enough (you can't help the weather and I know that) without the HORRENDOUS flight attendants. Every time the "head flight attendant" came on the intercom she said things that were completely incorrect about our flight and then the pilot would come on directly after and correct her. Then when we were in Syracuse someone said they wanted water in the front of the coach cabin but everyone was standing up in the aisles because we were bored. The flight attendant made a HUGE deal about having to bring the person water and basically said that they were terrible people for not waiting until we landed in LGA (2 hours later) to drink something. People were also getting very hungry because they thought they would only be on the plane for two hours (not six) so when people started asking for food (which you have to pay for on a United flight) the flight attendants told them they couldn't sell them anything and that food service ended during the first hour. It was so ridiculous. People were like crying because they were hungry and the flight attendants were like, "Sucks to be you. You should have bought food when we served it before." Anyway, flight attendants aside, we finally landed at LGA at 12AM and we had to be pulled to the gate by a tow truck. We walked in the door of our apartment at 2AM.
It was a long and crazy weekend. I am so happy it's over.
How far along?: 26 weeks and 2 days
Total weight gained/lost?: 19.2 pounds as of today. I am back to 1 pound a week which is good.
Maternity Clothes?: Yep.
Stretch Marks?: Same purple squiggles plus some new ones.
Sleep?: Sleeping officially sucks. My hips are killing me and I wake up about every hour or two hours.
Best Moment of Last Week?: Going to Chicago for the first time. We got to see a few really cool things in the city and I finally tried real Chicago style pizza.
Saturday was a very busy day. We took the Metra (Chicago's equivalent of the Metro North) into Chicago at 9AM and we were in the city by 10AM. ManCram's dad wanted to show us "The Bean". A statue he has been talking about for 3 years since me moved to Chicago. After we saw "The Bean" we walked to Navy Pier which was a lot like South Street Seaport but nicer. I was excited to try some more Chicago based food but ManCram's dad LOVES Jimmy Buffet so we "had" to go to Margaritaville. ManCram's family are really big drinkers so they hung out at Margaritaville listening to music and drinking for 3 hours. After I ate I was over Margaritaville so I decided to go shopping around the pier. They had a lot of cool stores but I didn't find any "Chicago-y" thing I wanted to take home. (This is the curse of living in touristy places your whole life. Every t-shirt, keychain and hat looks exactly the same.) Once "lunch" (binge drinking) time was over ManCram's dad and fiancé were ready to leave the city. I was sad because we really didn't see much but ManCram promised that when we go back for our next visit we will stay in the city so we can explore. We took the train home and I started to have some pain in my uterus. Usually when that happens I can relax and it will go away. During the train ride the pain subsided and when it was finally time for our stop the whole family got up and walked to the door of the train. I was unaware that the driver would SLAM on the breaks at our stop throwing me about 6 inches forward. When this happened, I tightened my abs (what I would have done before pregnancy) to keep my core hard to stay standing up. I immediately had a shooting pain run through my uterus and it didn't go away. I was worried but I decided to wait until after dinner to do anything about it since I knew we would be "resting" at dinner.
Dinner was awesome (even though I was in pain). We finally got to try Chicago style pizza! It was so good! However, after an hour of being in pain with no relief ManCram made me call the on call doctor at my OB's practice and was told to go to the local Labor and Delivery. I was so scared because I didn't want to go to a random hospital in Naperville, IL but I we needed to get everything checked out. When we walked into Emergency the receptionist immediately called someone to take me up to Labor and Delivery. We were given a room and I was told to put on a gown, pee and get into bed. The nurse hooked me up to two monitors (one to hear the baby's heartbeat and one to monitor contractions). I told them that I was still in pain but that it wasn't as bad as when I was at dinner. They checked my pee to make sure I wasn't in labor (I wasn't) and watched the contraction monitor for about 30 minutes during which time I did not contract. Then they sent me home saying that I probably just pulled a muscle when the train short stopped. It was embarrassed but I was happy we got everything checked out. Before I left the nurse checked me internally to make sure I wasn't dilated at all as well (I wasn't). That night back at ManCram's dad's house we had another night of family talking and games.
Sunday (our last day in Chi-Cram-go) we woke up and said goodbye to ManCram's sister and her girlfriend because they were taking a day trip to Indiana and they wouldn't be back before we left at 6PM. After they left I figured ManCram's dad would take us out somewhere and then we would have lunch and go to the airport. Instead, I learned that Sundays are a day when ManCram's dad and fiancé read the paper for 2-3 hours and then veg until lunch time. It was an uneventful morning but at least we got to watch some cable (which was fun because we don't have it at home). At around 1:00 we left the house to go to lunch at a restaurant called The Foundry. They had off track betting (YAY!) which I had never done before. Turns out, I am awesome at that too. We made a few bucks during lunch and then we went to the airport to fly home.
Our flight home was atrocious. Absolutely, without a doubt, the worst flight I've ever been on in my life. We flew United because that is where ManCram's dad had miles and it was a free flight. No biggie. The flight there was fine and really empty so we got our own row and slept for most of the trip. The way home was a completely different story. The plane was overbooked so it was full (fine it happens) but after a while they stopped letting people take their carry on luggage on the plane and started checking everything because the overhead bins were completely full. The flight was delayed about 30 minutes because it took so long for everyone to sit down and then once we "got moving" we sat on the Tarmac for an hour because all flights to NY were grounded due to weather. We took off an hour and a half late and we thought we would get in around an hour late because the pilot kept saying her could get us there fast. About an hour into the flight the pilot came on and said that we needed to land in Syracuse because once we got to LGA we would have to circle for an undetermined amount of time and we didn't have enough fuel to do that. So we landed in Syracuse and sat there for about an hour. This all would have been annoying enough (you can't help the weather and I know that) without the HORRENDOUS flight attendants. Every time the "head flight attendant" came on the intercom she said things that were completely incorrect about our flight and then the pilot would come on directly after and correct her. Then when we were in Syracuse someone said they wanted water in the front of the coach cabin but everyone was standing up in the aisles because we were bored. The flight attendant made a HUGE deal about having to bring the person water and basically said that they were terrible people for not waiting until we landed in LGA (2 hours later) to drink something. People were also getting very hungry because they thought they would only be on the plane for two hours (not six) so when people started asking for food (which you have to pay for on a United flight) the flight attendants told them they couldn't sell them anything and that food service ended during the first hour. It was so ridiculous. People were like crying because they were hungry and the flight attendants were like, "Sucks to be you. You should have bought food when we served it before." Anyway, flight attendants aside, we finally landed at LGA at 12AM and we had to be pulled to the gate by a tow truck. We walked in the door of our apartment at 2AM.
It was a long and crazy weekend. I am so happy it's over.
How far along?: 26 weeks and 2 daysTotal weight gained/lost?: 19.2 pounds as of today. I am back to 1 pound a week which is good.
Maternity Clothes?: Yep.
Stretch Marks?: Same purple squiggles plus some new ones.
Sleep?: Sleeping officially sucks. My hips are killing me and I wake up about every hour or two hours.
Movement?: All the time.
Food Cravings?: Mainly brownie sundaes. I don't know why I want them all the time but I do.
Gender?: BOY!
Labor-Signs?: While we were in Chicago I was having a lot of painful Braxton-Hicks and they were going away with rest and water until Saturday night. (Story above).
Bellybutton in or out?: Still stretching. It's much less deep than it was pre-pregnancy.
What I miss?: Putting on my pants without smashing my belly. It is no longer comfortable to get dressed and I now dread it every morning. I wish it was summer so I could wear dresses all the time.
What I'm looking forward to?: Mohegan Sun on Saturday and Jess's shower next Saturday.
I'm so glad you're ok! I love all of these pictures! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristy!
DeleteI am so glad you and James are okay! One day we need to plan a trip to Chicago at the same time since I'm moving. We hope to travel a lot more and see Keith's family more once we move. I can't wait to see you tomorrow and next Saturday too! (and the next Saturday if I"m not mistaken.. you're going to be sick of me!)
ReplyDeleteSquee! Three Saturdays with Jess! Yay!
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