The Lang Family: Big J Comes to Town

On Wednesday night, my mom (aka Big J, although I have no idea why I call her that - she's not remotely big!) flew in from California for a long-awaited visit. As always, we couldn't wait to see each other, and she was even more excited this time around. She was just dying to put her head on my still relatively little, but slightly rounding, belly! While definitely too short, it's been an eventful visit. Here is Part I of the highlights:

Thursday morning I had my 13-week OBGYN appt and both Mom and I were so excited to hear the baby's heartbeat. But before we could make it to the doctor's office, I had an accident in the shower that had my mom, Jeff, and me all more than a little freaked out. After my morning workout, I went to take my shower and, while leaning my head back to wash my hair, felt the vertebrae in my upper neck crunch together and then horrible pain in my upper spine and neck. Worse than that, I got very dizzy and nauseous and ended up falling in the shower. I wasn't sure whether or not I passed out, but the whole experience was terrifying. Of course, my first concern was for the baby, but the second was that I had little to no movement in my upper back and neck. Fortunately, we had the doctor's appointment that morning, and we DID receive a great deal of reassurance. We heard the baby's heartbeat - a strong 160 beats per minute - and the doctor and nurses all assured us that everything was fine. I was also able to get an appt. next door at my primary care doctor, and they told me (after a bunch of neurological tests) that there appeared to be no spinal or nerve damage. They said it was a pulled muscle, possibly a small tear, and to try and rest it for 10 days. Three days later, I'm feeling a lot better, and just so relieved that both T-Pup and Mommy are okay, and glad that my mom was here to help out in what was definitely the most scary day of the pregnancy thus far!

We did get some other good news on Thursday that helped ease the pain of my back and neck. The results from our Down's Syndrome risk assessment came in and, based on its measurements and my bloodwork, our baby has less than a 1 in 10,000 chance risk of having Down's Syndrome or Trisomy 18. We feel so relieved and glad that that one particular hurdle is behind us.

On Friday, we met friends Terry Hunt and Peter Heinsheimer (who were in town for Terry's father's service at Arlington National Cemetery) for brunch, and then went to the Columbia Mall (a little bit of a hike!) to do my first round of maternity shopping. While I don't really need anything yet, I'm nervous that one day soon I'm just going to pop out and have nothing to wear. While we didn't have much luck in the dress pants department, I did get several cute tops, a great pair of jeans, and a dress. I think I might be in love with maternity clothes. That stretchy band at the top of the pants is just heavenly. Who cares what they look like off the hanger! I don't think I've ever worn anything more comfy.

A belated birthday dinner with our friends at Beni Hana capped off Friday. We were joined by the Steiners, Turners, Simons, Speigels, soon-to-be Willchers (Ben Willcher and Erin Sudow), and Kate Calvin. After entirely too much hibachi food, tempura, and a very embarrassing birthday dance, we rolled ourselves home. Jeff and I feel so lucky to have such amazing friends here in MD/DC. We don't have family nearby, and these people truly have become our extended family.

More to come about Saturday and Sunday with Big J - but this post is getting too long! Stay tuned and, in the meantime, here are some fun pictures from Beni Hana.