field trip

On Friday, Micah had a daycare field trip to the zoo! It was his first trip to the zoo, but I was a bit hesitant about chaperoning. Elliot had a prior commitment and could not attend, and I was afraid the trip would be too much for me, especially on my own. Last minute, my father was able to re-arrange his schedule so that he could chaperone the trip, and I decided to go along, too.

My father showed up at our house bright and early at 9:00 am, and off to daycare we went. As a side note, my father showed up a bit dressed up for the trip to the zoo. He had on a beautiful blue button-down collar shirt. I took one look at him and suggested he might be too hot in the outfit. In typical fashion, my father insisted he would be fine. Knowing my father (who NEVER likes to dress down), I knew it was a losing battle, so I gave up on trying to convince him to change into a short-sleeved Under Armour golf shirt.

We were scheduled to leave for the zoo at 9:30, and left about 9:45 – not bad for daycare time. We took the metro to the zoo – quite interesting taking our entire group on foot and down elevators and onto the trains. We had a few issues on the metro. First, we ended up with a wind tunnel as we were entering the Bethesda station, and one of those “caution” signs caught air and took flight, charging 50 feet down the tunnel and nearly taking us all out. It was a bit scary! Luckily, no one was hurt. We complained to the station manager, who was completely uninterested in helping out.

Then, as we were loading onto the train, the train operator failed to follow procedure, and caught a few of us (me and “Grammy”) in the train doors. We were quite scared, and it took several patrons to pull us inside to safety as the train started to move. The train operator did the same thing at every stop, so I decided to get the train number and file a complaint – that operator was quite dangerous. We reported him as we exited at Cleveland Park, and Elliot sent a follow-up note to his contacts at metro.

We arrived at the zoo around 10:15 or 10:30. We stopped to take a group photo – this was our trail of strollers that had just made the journey through the metro:

Since my father took the group photo, I took a separate picture of him with Micah after the group photo:

The weather cooperated – it was bright and sunny, but possibly a bit on the hot side. My dad looked like he was roasting (not that he would admit it). He even rolled up his sleeves – a HIGHLY uncommon event! We began our descent around the zoo, stopping and looking for animals along the way. We saw a sloth bear early on, but a number of the animals were inside, and it was difficult for the children to see all of the animals from their strollers. We did see some cheetahs, and we tried to get a good look at some seals, but it was quite crowded. Micah seemed to enjoy the birds, but he started to get a bit restless as we wandered through the park. I was getting hot and thirsty, and my contractions were picking up. I took a bit of a break, drank some water, and sat down while my dad took Micah on with the group. I caught up to them a bit later.

We started to take them out to look when we saw the red pandas and elephants. Micah LOVED the elephants. My dad did a great job carrying and chasing after Micah – it was getting to be a bit too much walking and lifting for me. He needed a few breaks, too (his back was hurting a bit). What a pair we were! His back, my belly…perhaps we both should have skipped the field trip, but we were having fun.

He also liked the panda statues:

And yes, he IS picking his nose:

We let the kids walk around a bit, and we then found a picnic area for lunch. While we were at lunch, the orangutans put on quite a show – they climbed out of their area and climbed across the ropes to the other side of the zoo. Micah was chasing them, pointing, clapping and loving them! He even said “monkey” a few times. Once again, my father spent the bulk of his time chasing Micah around the picnic area, and I was glad I had him along. Micah did not eat much for lunch at all – too much stuff to do instead.

Micah and his Grampy had some time to kiss and hug at lunch:

Here are some of Micah’s friends playing in the grass together:

Here is some video of the orangutans in action:

After lunch, we headed back home – I think we left the park around 1:00 or so. We arrived back at the daycare facility around 1:45, and then we said goodbye to Micah. I was exhausted after the trip, but it was a lovely day!

And for good measure – here is some video of Micah stomping around in his Daddy’s slippers:

On Thursday, we had another busy day. I woke up with my tush still burning and itching from the progesterone shot I had gotten on Monday. This week has been the worst – I have been so uncomfortable, itchy, and in pain from the shot all week, and I kept thinking it would just go away if I waited another day or two. Upon inspection, I realized that I was having an allergic reaction to the shot. As I thought about it, I realized that this was my first shot from the new set of vials (originally, the pharmacy sent 4 vials, and last week they sent my next 4 vials). These new vials are a different color (yellow, and the prior vials were clear). I was concerned that perhaps they used a different oil and that was causing my allergic reaction. So, I decided to call the pharmacy and ask about the shot. Apparently, there is a new manufacturer of the shot, so the formulation is different but the oil used is the same. I was directed to call my nurse and speak with her.

I then called the nursing company who administers the shots each week. They informed me they are getting reports of many reactions – almost 50% of the people who are receiving them. I was told that in most cases, the reactions are limited to the welts and itching, but can progressively get worse with continued shots (although some people only react the first time). I tend to be extremely allergy-sensitive, so I immediately decide that I’m not willing to risk escalating allergic reactions. I asked if they could obtain the P17 from the prior manufacturer and was told they could not. My only choices are: 1) to continue with the shots and deal with the allergic reaction ; or 2) stop the shots.

I tried to call my maternal fetal medicine specialist, but the gatekeepers at his office made it impossible for me to speak to anyone. I called the midwife, and she agreed that it was reasonable (but unfortunate) to stop the shots now. We also discussed my contractions and my concern about them increasing (or continuing to go on untreated). I now have a prescription for terbutaline, and directions about how she suggests I take the medication. I guess we will see where things are on Thursday.

After my crazy morning, I took Micah to a “Mommy and Me” event at Congressional (where his Kidville class is scheduled). We got a balloon, signed up for some free things, ate a quick lunch – it was a fun morning. We then went to our class at 12:30, and Grampy surprised Micah with a visit in class. Micah was SOOO excited to see him – he started to scream and yell and ran over to him.

We did have one meltdown in class. Micah was nestled securely in his teacher Paige’s lap (he LOVES her) and I saw another child in the class try to go running by. I grabbed that child and plopped him on my lap during the music circle time, and then Micah spotted me sitting there with another child in my lap. He went ballistic! He started to yell and came running over ready to push/hit/smack/move the other child out of the way and off my lap. All I can say is “uh-oh” – Micah is in for a rude awakening if he thinks he can keep me all to himself all the time. I’ve never seen him be so possessive of me, but it is definitely starting to show.

Thursday night was our weekly “date night.” Once again, Elliot used the time for practical purposes, and ran to the baby stores. We returned a few items, bought a few items, and looked at baby furniture for Twoey. We think we might have picked out her bedroom set! There is a new line of furniture coming out through this store later this month. It is American-made, green (as in environmentally friendly), and very reasonably priced. We are just waiting for the floor samples to come in to make sure we like the way it looks in person, and we are all set! If not, then we may just buy the same exact set we got for Micah in a different color.

On Friday morning, I took Nugget to her follow-up appointment at the animal hospital. I had a long discussion with the doctor before we signed out last week, and she said this was just an xray and a blood draw, so I did not need to schedule an appointment. She placed a tech service order to allow me to drop by any time. Needless to say…I got there and they insisted I needed an appointment. The doctor I dealt with was nowhere to be seen. I had to deal with a condescending “case manager” who was solely interested in telling me they were right and the confusion was clearly my fault (can we say customer service was not their strong point?). I was so angry at the whole situation. Ultimately, the emergency doctor saw us and ordered the xray and bloodwork. The good news…Nugget looked good on examination, her lungs were clear, and her kidneys seem to be doing okay (her creatinine level was normal, but her BUN was *slightly* elevated). We do not need to go back again for another 3-4 months for a follow-up with the cardiologist.

On Friday late afternoon, we went to a Spring Fling Luau event at Kidville, which included a musical performance, open gym time, some art projects, and pizza. Micah was climbing on the slides, and he loved the musical performance, and he even spent some time putting stickers on the art project. He ate a few pieces of pizza and then we headed home for the night.

Saturday, Daddy and Micah went to services in the morning. The weather was beautiful, so in the afternoon, we set up the gym set that my parents’ bought him for his birthday outside. Micah spent a while playing basketball, climbing on the slide and running around outside. We then had Jen and Dave come over to meet us for dinner. We just ran out for Chinese food, and then spent a few hours relaxing and catching up. Unfortunately, we could not find a babysitter for the evening, but it was still a wonderful night.

Sunday, we decided to meet some friends at Butler’s Orchard for a bunny festival! Micah had SOOO much fun – he got to pet sheep, a bunny, baby chicks (well, he nearly smashed those), and play with some toys in hay. Then he sat on a wooden choo-choo train, rode John Deere tractor tricycles, played in a wooden house, watched some children on pony rides, took a hayride, went on the moonbounce…it was a day full of activity!! We got some amazing photos of Micah:

After all the activities, Micah was exhausted, so we took him home for his nap. We fed Micah dinner, and I decorated some cupcakes. After dinner, I headed out to an Indian restaurants with the cupcakes to help celebrate a friend’s birthday. It was a nice evening.

Yesterday was back to the grind – I had a meeting downtown today, so it was a busy day. The traffic was also awful because of the Nuclear Summit. Today, Micah’s daycare had a trip to a the Natural History Museum, so I decided to take Micah and join them instead of going to his Kidville class in the morning. He had a lot of fun – there were all kinds of animals to see and a butterfly exhibit! Unfortunately, the trip started late and Micah started to get grumpy partway through the trip. I had to leave a bit early to get back in time for my OB appointment, so they agreed to keep Micah to finish up the activities (and Elliot met them back at the daycare when they returned). I took a few pictures, but I’ll have to upload them another day.

My OB appointment was this afternoon – 30 weeks!! I can’t believe how fast this pregnancy is flying. We discussed my contractions, and the midwife was concerned about the number of contractions I”m having. She recommends that I start taking the terbutaline on a regular basis now, and she did a fetal fibronectin test (it can predict pre-term labor) just to be safe. Other than that, I’m measuring 29 weeks now, baby’s heartrate sounded great, and my sugars have all been normal. I picked up the booklet on the diet – I have to say, I could never eat that much food! They recommend something like 2400 calories a day, 12 ozs of protein, 10-15 veggies a day, 3 fruits….perhaps it would be easier if I wasn’t vegetarian, but the only way I can consume that many calories a day is if it includes a nice big vat of chocolate ice cream…and brownies…and I don’t think that is what they have in mind.

One last note…Micah (and his Daddy and I) wanted to wish his Poppy Ira a VERY happy birthday today!! We’re thinking of you, and can’t wait to see you.

Trip to the Zoo

Just a Summary