Fall Getaway to the East Coast

We're on another adventure. Ray has been in the D.C. area for work the last 2 weeks, so we decided to extend some of the meetings into a full visit. I arrived to join him Saturday and we spent 4 days with the Wilson clan.

It all started Friday morning...
I walked downstairs and bent over to grab my shoes. I did not bend my knees and while this is normally not an issue, it was this particular morning. I heard an incredibly scary pop sound and then stood back up. I have been in intense and excruciating pain ever since. The girls turns 29 and all of a sudden she's totally out of shape and unable to perform regular tasks. I suppose part of that could be attributed to my lack of flexibility because I haven't exercised since I saw those two lines on that pregnancy test. Well, a few random hikes and walks here and there, but nothing in the way of heavy cardio or weights. I'm just so intensely afraid that I'll move wrong and hurt this critter. It's totally irrational, but I can't help but feel this way. I'm over halfway at this point, so I guess there will be time to worry about all the lbs later.

I digress. I somehow managed to get on a plane Saturday morning to fly to Reagan and met up with my husband and my in-laws. We then headed over to dinner with Ray's lovely grandparents and his Aunt Helen and Uncle Mike. They gave us some beautiful Andrew gifts... but I'll have to display those in a different post as I'd like to take a few photos that haven't yet been taken since the gifts are packed away in my luggage. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have my son remembered and loved by family. It truly means everything to me. Unfortunately, pain continued. I was laying on my back before and after dessert-- which was carrot cake and my favorite peanut butter swirl ice cream!

Sunday meant church and a lovely brunch and performance of Chicago at a local dinner theatre in the Baltimore area. I'd been there once before about 5 years ago when I made my first trip to MD to meet the family! Now I'm definitely part of the family... so a much different trip. Saw my beautiful SIL, but otherwise winced in pain the entire show as Ray would apply pressure to my back every few minutes.

Monday was a day of relaxation and two chiropractor appointments. I would normally never visit a doctor in another state, but I simply could not take the pain any longer. It was to the point that I'd go to bed for 12 hours and spend most of the days laying on my back. He was really nice and gave me a neck adjustment (ouch) along with using some strange vi.brating torture tools. I also sat on a moving massage bed for 20 minutes. I left feeling 100% unchanged. Five hours later, I was back. This time, I pinpointed exactly where in my upper back felt the most shooting pain and he gave me yet another neck adjustment along with more torture tools. I was so terrified during this process as I'm pregnant with a critter who was probably being shaken, too. Luckily, the pain was occurring in my upper back and not my lower back. But when you've lost one child, you pretty much assume only the worst can happen since there is intervention involved. I left feeling about 20% better. Throughout the rest of that night and the next day, it progressed to 50% pain. That night we went to visit a friend who coaches soccer for Ray's old high school. We didn't actually get to hang out with him, but we watched the JV and Varsity games of his Alma Mater.

Tuesday, the four of us headed to Mt. Vernon in Alexandria, VA. It was a lovely day and perfect for our visit. I'd never seen Washington's home, so it was really great to visit. I always find it so wild that Ray grew up less than an hour from the White House, Pentagon, and the heart of D.C. So much history, including battlefields, were literally his backyard. We took a walk in Downtown Alexandria and enjoyed dinner at the Columbia Firehouse off King Street.

Currently, I'm sitting in our hotel room that Ray's parents dropped us off at last night after our dinner. I spent some of the morning walking around town and had lunch at this pita joint... totally underwhelming. Yelp definitely let me down on that one.

 My walking lunch of mediocre ingredients.

We'll be having dinner with some of Ray's colleagues this evening and will be heading out tomorrow around dinnertime. I love getaways with my husband! Thankfully, too, this litter critter has been moving quite a bit since my little chiropractic experience. We had one scare where we both nearly lost it when I hadn't felt its movements in awhile. Of course no one will be able to talk me out of thinking that it's now brain-damaged, but that's the psychosis of a pregnancy after loss. I respect all you women who have crossed this road before me. There are no rules and no way anyone can guarantee things will work out. I guess that's the reality of life. None of us have any guarantees about anything and life is just a precious and fragile thing.

Guess who's flying first class tomorrow? Don't get used to it, child. Mom and Dad are definitely too cheap to be spending the G's on upgrades like this! Just worked out this go-around.