Back to California

I flew home from Minnesota late Wednesday night.  The flight went just fine, but I was a little bit of a mess personally.  This was basically my last trip home to see family that I'll get to do for a long time, and that was weighing heavily on my heart.  Who can fly with young triplets?  And I certainly don't want to leave them at home with Jason for that long of a period of time until they are much older.  I think I've taken it for granted how portable I could be over the last few years- basically flying to Minnesota every 3-5 months.  So I cried in the airport... a lot.  A stewardess took one look at me as I was boarding the plane and told me that I was to try to not go into labor while we were in the air.  That makes her sound insensitive, but she actually made me laugh a little and gave me a bunch of bottled waters (just what a pregnant lady needs- fluids to fill her bladder on a 4 hour flight).

After my educational class for work on Thursday, Jason picked me up and we drove straight to San Francisco for a little baby-moon!  We've actually had this trip planned for a while, and it was definitely needed after being away from each other for a week.  We checked into the hotel and then ended up walking over to Chinatown for dinner.  May I just say that hilly cities are not exactly a walking paradise for pregnant women!

We got up early Friday morning and spent the day at the U.S. OPEN golf tournament!!!  As you may be aware, Jason kind of likes golf a little bit.  It was the first professional golf tourney that either of us have ever been to, so we really enjoyed ourselves watching all of the best players in the world (Tiger Woods is tall, Bubba Watson is good-looking, Rory McIlroy is short) competing 20 feet from us.

Leading up to the tourney, Jason had been worried about all the walking we might be doing and how available seating would be for me.  I kept telling him that I'd be fine, but he insisted on bringing a little collapsible camping stool for me to sit on if the need arose.  Believe me- the need arose!  The golf course was insanely hilly terrain, and while we did pace ourselves, it was tough hiking at times.  But rest assured- I took a nap at the side of the 4th hole while we were waiting for Tiger Woods to arrive.  And Jason was very patient with my slower pace up the hills- at one point I made him run ahead so that he could see some guys tee'ing off.  "Don't worry honey.  I'll make it up there in my sweet little ol' time!"  After all, I have to confess that I didn't care as much about the players' scores as much as I did in critiquing their outfits.  Seriously- who thinks pink plaid pants are appropriate? :)

The U.S. Open will also go down in history as the location of my first weird food craving.  I was eating an apple, and all of a sudden all I wanted was to throw some ketchup on it.  People have been asking me throughout the pregnancy about my food cravings, and my answer has usually been whatever food is around.  I just want to eat everything in sight!  But for the most part, I've craved avocados, hard-boiled eggs, fresh melon, and the occasional hot dog.  Nothing too dramatic there.  But the ketchup desire that day was something else.  I'm telling you- if I hadn't been so tired and so far from the concessions at that point, I would have marched right over and dolloped the ketchup on.

The 1st picture of the three musketeers together

(hard to tell what body parts we're looking at though!)

I also used our pregnancy as an excuse that day trying to walk through a crowd.  It was a little bit of a tight fit, so I just lightly called out "pregnant lady coming through" and while the guys around me giggled a little, they also moved to let me through.  Gotta remember that trick!

On Saturday, we did some shopping in San Francisco before picking up a picnic lunch and heading to Golden Gate Park.  It was beautiful weather, so we had a wonderfully relaxing time there.  Once again, I took a little cat nap on the blanket in front of the Flower Conservatory before we walked around the park.  And when I woke up, I'm pretty sure I felt movement on the left side of my belly which might have been a munchkin moving!!!  In my research, I've learned that moms of multiples usually feel fetal movement much earlier than moms of singletons.  BUT I have anterior placentas (meaning they're located on the front of my belly) and this is my first pregnancy, which might make it harder to distinguish fetal movement.  It didn't feel like anything I've ever felt before, so I'm chalking it up to baby movement.  I told Jason right away and he got so excited!!  He put his hand on my belly like he expected to be able to feel it.  I felt bad that I mentioned it and got his hopes up, but Jason was still excited that I was feeling something.  Big beaming smile on his face that I captured in my mind as a personal snapshot... my husband is adorable.

All of the walking over the past few days gave Jason and I lots of time to talk about the babies.  I think we're officially past the shock phase and firmly entrenched in the "this is definitely our new reality so let's get to planning" phase.  We're also back to our normal way of operating by cracking a lot of jokes about it.  Laughter is good for growing babies, right?

My pregnancy is definitely showing now.  As Jason points out, I've moved out of the "she might be pregnant or she might just be a little tubby" and am definitely in the "oh yeah, she's pregnant" phase.  Some random guy came up to me in the park out of nowhere and asked, "Do you know what they are?"  We laughed and told him not yet.  I'm noticing now that strangers will look at my belly and usually get a little smile on their faces.  I like to think that Huey, Duey, and Louie are already bringing a little bit of joy in other peoples' lives...