The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

So much good and bad has happened over the last week or so, its been like a roller coaster of events. First, I received back the test results from my last doctor's visit and thankfully no gestational diabetes for me, which is great news. Although my blood work did come back showing I'm anemic. Nothing a little iron pills can't fix. Hopefully the iron will give me back some of the depleted energy I've felt. Friday evening I had my first distinctive episode of Braxton Hicks. Brad was so sweet and wanted to rush me to the hospital to make sure it was not the real thing, but I assured him this was normal and it was definitely not time for this baby to make his entrance into the world. So I laid on the couch in pain and exhausted from the work week and fell asleep while Brad went to play in his hockey game with instructions to call if I needed him. Once Brad got home from his game at around 1am, I woke up and this time around came very very close to having Brad take me to the hospital. I first felt a huge wave of nausea, followed by my whole stomach cramping up and my stomach got hard as a rock. I was feeling so awful and in so much discomfort I couldn't even talk to Brad. Again, he wanted to take me to the hospital, which I probably should have done to be on the safe side, but the stubborn side of me would not budge. Luckily it eventually subsided enough for me to fall back asleep. So, two almost trips the the hospital in one evening...I could go without that for awhile. Saturday morning was some more of the bad when the worst hail storm I have ever lived through in my almost 22 years of living in Texas hit of course no where else in the Metroplex except McKinney. We had golfball size hail that sounded like the windows were going to come crashing in. Luckily no broken windows, however, we do have a badly damaged vehicle that we were wanting to sell and I am sure a very badly damaged roof.
Thankfully, the rest of the weekend only got better as we celebrated Valentines. First, I had my spa day compliments of my parents and thoroughly enjoyed my massage, manicure and pedicure. It was heaven. In the evening Brad and I enjoyed a nice date night with dinner and a movie. It was great to have "Brad and Brooke time" as we like to call it, especially since we'll have much less of that before we know it. Sunday we continued our Valentine's celebration with my present to Brad...tickets to the Stars/Red Wings game. For those of you who don't know Brad as well, the Detroit Red Wings are by far his all time favorite sports team, so I lucked out that they happened to be playing in Dallas Valentine's weekend, and even more lucked out that my good friend works for the Stars still so was able to help out with getting us tickets to the sold out game. We had a great time and really enjoyed getting to watch the game live.
As far as this week, the bad has continued to prevail. First, my pinched nerve acted back up in my lower back, making walking a very painful event. That was followed by the onset of a nasty cold and I have been out of work the last two days laying in bed surrounded by Kleenex.
I do have a lot of things in the coming weeks to look forward to however. I have my next doctor appointment on Tuesday, which I always love so I can hear baby's heartbeat again. Then starting in about a week and a half Brad and I will begin our childbirth classes. I'm really looking forward to them and will cover everything from labor and even going through a mock labor experience, getting a tour of the hospital, caring for a new baby, infant cpr and breastfeeding. It will be great to spend a few hours every week with Brad focusing on all that is baby! And last but certainly not least in just 3 weeks from Saturday I will be having a baby shower!! I have so many of my close family and friends coming in town for it and it will be truly special. I am so excited!
I am ready for all the good to make its way back into the mix and to start feeling like my old self again!