Coming Home

We left Cincinnati at around 6:30 a.m. on Sunday and got home at around 11:00 p.m. Needless to say, it was a long day. Traffic was very swift the whole trip, but we were slowed down by stopping at nearly every rest stop in Pennsylvania to go to the bathroom and walk around a little bit. Apparently, I didn't walk around enough. When we hit New York, we were switching drivers, and I noticed that my slide-on sandals were a little tight when I tried to put them back on. By the time we stopped for dinner, my shoes didn't fit at all, because my feet looked like Fred Flintstone's, and my ankles had swollen to the size of grapefruit. David, with all of his vast pregnancy knowledge, assured me that this was perfectly fine. By the time we reached home, my calves were swollen as well, and the skin on my whole lower limb burned because it was stretched so tight. I could barely climb into bed it was so uncomfortable. (This child is going to hear about it until it graduates should I develop stretch marks on my feet from swelling.)

We had a good time in the Midwest, but we are certainly glad to be at home and glad we don't have to drive anywhere for a while. We missed the kitties so much, and since getting home, they have been stuck to me like glue. We had to try our best to maneuver our suitcases into the house, because our kitchen was filled with boxes. This week while we were gone we received in the mail a changing table from my dad (which David will have a fun time putting together this week) and the stroller. I put the stroller together this morning, and the two littlest Radues couldn't wait to try it out.

Baby update: The baby is now over 17 weeks along. It is now covered with lanugo, fine all-over hair that generally falls out by birth (maybe ours won't, making it a King Kong baby instead of Godzilla). Its head is beginning to become erect. The heart is pumping about 25 quarts of blood a day. The skeleton is changing from cartilage to bone. The baby weighs as much as a turnip and is the size of a jar of pickles, bread and butter pickles to be exact (our baby will probably be born smelling like vinegar). The baby can move all of its joints and is developing sweat glands and baby fat.