Baby Cute's First Tigers Game and My First Flip-Out.

Happy Birthday, Daddy Cute!

Dave and I went to see the Tigers play Cleveland on Tuesday night. My Tiger is Zoom-Zoom Zumaya and he made his first appearance post-injury, only adding to the excitement. We ate hot dogs and drank expensive beer (Dave) and water (me). Baby Cute got a souvenir--"My First Tigers Tee." We picked the 3/6 month size so he could wear it while he watches sports with his Daddy.

We had aisle seats and sat in amongst friendly folks, also wonderful. We got home late, but it was a blast.

My trip to Traverse City was good. It was breezy, rainy and slightly cool, making for a pleasurable day to be outside. I met a lot of new people and connected a lot of faces with names. Perhaps my favorite part was sitting across from the state climatologist at dinner and talking about childcare and stay-at-home parenting. This will make future interviews with him that much more personal. Sometimes, it's nice to talk with academics like they are people because, you know, they are.

I slept well at Dave and Carolyn's and hit the road early enough today to stop in Gaylord and see Grandma Scott. We had a nice visit. I hadn't seen her since before her fall and she looks great. I'm glad I stopped.

Right about Grayling I started to get some incredible pain in my back. It was wrapping all the way around to my front, making me think perhaps I was having my first Braxton-Hicks contractions. I was mega-nauseous and on the brink of tears. I made it to Clare and called David at the rest area. I drove way too fast the rest of the way home and got right into bed. I woke up after an hour's nap still in a lot of pain, so I called the OB's office. Our appointment on Thursday went well, but the Nurse was pretty clear that following my instincts and being wrong was a strong preference over having a baby in NICU. I described my symptoms and they had an opening this afternoon, so they just had us come in. They did an NST-test--short for Non-Stress Test--to monitor fetal movement and to see if I was having actual contractions.

In short, nope. I'm fine. With some food and tylenol, I realized more and more that it was definitely muscular-skeletal. Sitting in a car for 4 hours, being on my feet for several hours and sleeping away from home is going to affect me in new and not-so-good ways. The Nurse on Thursday was also pretty clear--no travel more than an hour away after 36 weeks, so that won't be a real issue for much longer.

We had some tornado activity in the area tonight and Dave and I enjoyed our finished basement complete with television and chest freezer holding ice cream sandwiches. There are worse ways to wait out a storm.

Tomorrow, David's Dad and stepmom are coming to visit and Dave has to work a party at night. I am going to dig into my thank you notes, finish laundry and otherwise take it easy. My body is still quite angry with me.