We were robbed yesterday morning. I came home from work and was home about 10 minutes before I glanced in the living room and saw a gaping hole where the TV used to be. The receiver was on the floor and the DVD player was gone. It was at that point that it registered what had happened and I grabbed the phone and backed out of the house into the driveway. My first thought was "are they still in the house??" I called Steve and he was just a couple minutes away from home. We started our tour of the house to take stock of what was different and what was gone. We quickly discovered that they had entered through an open bedroom window. Just popped off the screen and jumped on in.
What did they get away with? Well, basically anything electronic: TV, DVD, a few ipods and docking stations, a kitchen radio, my cheap old clock radio, 2 cameras and all chargers...and this is where it gets good...they left the good wine in the wine fridge (or at least Steve tells me it's good wine), but they took a bunch of booze from the liquor cabinet. They took bottles of vodka and gin from the freezer. They took all of Steve's cigars, but left the humidor. They didn't do any damage, just shuffling things around looking for stuff. They went into my scrapbooking room, but were probably overwhelmed and not sure how to use the Cricut, so they just left, leaving the door open.
And the clincher...they took my new 1154 Lill Diaper bag that I designed online and was still coveting as it sat, anxiously awaiting use on the shelf in the closet of the nursery. There were 3 perfectly good old duffle bags in my closet that were much bigger, if they were needing something to carry out all the small stuff. Argggg!
All of that stuff is replaceable, what kills me is that I hadn't yet uploaded our photos from the past weekend away, our "babymoon" to San Francisco and Half Moon Bay. It's like they stole our memories. Part of me blames myself, I thought to do it numerous times in the last few days, but always put it off. Part of me is just pissed.
As the evening progressed and 3 police cars showed up at our house, the neighbors started to come forward. One, our buddy around the corner Tony, said he actually saw a red pick up with a camper shell backed-up to our house. He saw the guy carrying things out of the house and just assumed it was a worker, as there were gardeners and lots of activity going on all around the neighborhood. I think the police officer was more annoyed than we were that Tony didn't call the police. But, I can't say that I wouldn't have ignored them as well. I probably would have thought "who the heck would be robbing this house in broad daylight with dozens of people passing by?"
Lesson learned. ADT will be getting some new business today.
Keep an eye out on craigslist for my diaper bag!
After our lovely Mother's Day dinner at Evvia (see below), I started to feel a little funny. I thought at first that perhaps I'd eaten too much. I had that nauseous feeling that was all too familiar from the first few months. I had one bite of dessert (should have known then that something was wrong) before I told Steve "we have to go, now." We said quick goodbyes and scooted home. My biggest event of the year at work, the golf tournament, was the next day and I still had some things to finish up. When we got home, I napped for about an hour, got up, finished up for golf and then proceeded to puke like I hadn't puked since college.
Afterward, I felt much better and hoped that was the end of it. It wasn't. After much up and down from bed during the next couple of hours, I started having what I thought were contractions (later turned out to be intestinal cramping, but what did I know?). This worried me, so I called the doctor's office after hours number and a doctor called me back in 5 minutes. He said to go to the hospital...chances are I was dehydrated and they should get me started on an IV. Mario Andretti-Giachetti got me to the Good Sam ER in about 9 minutes flat (with just one stop on Curtner to hurl). They promptly plopped me into a wheelchair and a very chipper, young orderly scooted me up to Labor & Delivery. He was far too chatty for 1:30 in the morning, but it did keep my mind off of the nausea for a few minutes. They checked me in and luckily had a room open (sidenote: I just found out that our new friend Dominic Vaccaro was born in that very same room just days earlier!). After another quick trip to the bathroom, the nurses got me settled and started to prep me for the IV and the fetal monitoring. There was a brief scare while the nurses couldn't seem to find the heartbeat. I wasn't too concerned because I had just felt her move a few moments before, but the nurses were pretty rattled and stuck the oxygen mask over my face. They quickly found her heart rate and all was fine. The next many hours were a constant up and down to the bathroom that included lots of maneuvering of the cords that connected me to the fetal monitor and the rolling IV drip. The bed was THE most uncomfortable thing ever (L&D bed = not meant for sleeping) and every time I flipped over because my hip had fallen asleep, the baby would move and the nurse had to come in and adjust the monitor. I missed my body pillow.
On top of the discomfort, I kept waking myself up seeing if it was time yet to call Meghan (my assistant) and let her know that she'd be on her own for the golf tournament. She took the call like a pro and I knew the tournament was in good hands. By the afternoon, I was feeling MUCH better but I had developed a fever and although the baby's heart rate was within range, it was sporadic. They wanted to make sure that this was due to my dehydration, not to the contractions I was having (but not feeling). So, just as we thought we'd get to go home, they dropped the bomb that they decided to keep me another 24 hours to keep an eye on the baby's heart rate. Once my fever broke, the goal on Tuesday morning was to make me have 3 contractions in 10 minutes. Easier said then done. After an hour of trying the old fashioned way (if you aren't sure what that means, email me), they started me on some pitocin and after another hour, finally I had 3 in a row, the baby was perfectly fine and I was free to go.
While I certainly don't recommend getting the stomach flu while 33 weeks pregnant, it actually was a great trial run at the hospital. Things I learned:
- We don't need the tour anymore and we know that the nurses there are amazing.
- I actually feel much more comfortable about the upcoming hospital experience now that we've been through this.
- The wheelchair didn't have foot rests. Is that so you concentrate on keeping your feet off the floor, not tossing your cookies in the elevator?
- They still have VCRs in the L&D rooms. And a very poor selection of VHS tapes.
- It's hard to shower hooked to an IV cart.
- Where were these great hospital toilet pee trays when I was trying to get pregnant?
- Oxygen kinda stinks.
- I now know that I hate hospital gowns and that I may just go against recent advice and buy a nice, comfy $65 gown that I will likely throw away after delivery.
- Most importantly, I learned that my wonderful husband will stay calm and composed (at least on the surface). He was a rock!
Last weekend brought some great weather and a gathering of good friends and family. My mother-in-law's friends have a wonderful tradition of throwing bridal and baby showers for each other's daughters and daughters-in-law. I was the lucky recipient of a lovely baby shower on Saturday, May 9th. Sue hosted at her house and the other 4 ladies cooked, baked, bartended, decorated and hosted like no others. As Steve would say, this wasn't their first rodeo. 
The amazing hosts: Charese, Eileen, Patty, me, Sue and Debbie
The captivated audience
My mother-in-law, Marcia, me (large and in charge-yikes!) and my mom in her cute new Shasta do.
Friday marked the start of my 8th month, week 32. And from this photo, I look like I've been awake for all 32 weeks. 
Exciting things to happen over the past few weeks:
-Braxton Hicks contractions have made it very difficult to exercise. Walking around the block, I have to stop at least twice because of the tightness in my belly. This has led to less exercise and therefore less energy and this strange feeling that my legs are turning to jell-o every time I stand up from sitting for a long time. -We started birthing class at Los Olivos. Once a week for 6 weeks we meet with one perky teacher and 6 other couples to learn about what is happening to us and what is to come. There's some breathing, some graphic birthing videos and lots and lots of information I know we'll forget come delivery day.
Friday was the start of my 30th week and here's the proof. Since I never seem to remember to have Steve take these pictures at home, thankfully my wonderful assistant, Meghan, likes to remind me. She will be "preggo photog" from here on out. Plus, I like the background of the bushes outside our office. This is more casual than we really ever dress at work...but it was Friday of Spring Break and I decided we would clean out one of our cluttered storage closets at work. And by "we", I mean Meghan and our student helper. I pretty much directed and made labels. And no, peanut gallery, I do not keep my label maker in a labeled box anymore. At least not my label maker at work. 
Keep an eye out on craigslist for my diaper bag!
