On Friday morning, I woke up with my right hand much more swollen than my left. I thought it was a little weird, but attributed it to the fact that I woke up on my side, meaning my hands were in different positions, bearing different amounts of pressure.

As the day went on, my back was progressively more achy, to the point where the pain seemed to wrap around to the front / top of my belly. At this point, I started to get a little worried about preeclampsia… not that I actually thought I had it, becuase my BP has been perfectly low, but my symptoms were starting to add up. Then, around 3:30, my vision became very weird. It was almost as if I was getting a migraine, with a line of flashing lights in my left eye. This sent me into a panic.

I was working at my parents’ company that afternoon, so I went in and asked my mom if she had a portable BP machine. She said no, but told me to run over to my general practitioner who is literally 2 minutes away. She said they would take my blood pressure for me, no problem. My brother – who was in town for wedding stuff – offered to take me, and so fighting back tears, I headed to the doc. Of course, my blood pressure was fine. My doctor was nice enough to see me for a few minutes and tell me there was nothing to worry about. She did, however, advise me to tell my doctor about the swelling AND suggested I stop wearing heels. Urgh. I don’t know if I’m ready for that… although, I think my back is.

Anyway, that night, my Milly took me on a birthday date to the Milwaukee Ballet to see Mirror, Mirror, a rendition of Snow White. The show was perfect! Beautiful dancing, compelling story… just a wonderful performance! AND, our seats were great. Couldn’t have asked for a better end to such a weird day.

Saturday was my birthday celebration day with the hubs! But, before we got started, I met my mom and sis for manis. I decided to go outside my comfort zone for something a little crazy…

A HOT PINK kinda day…

When I got home, the hubs and I jumped in the car to head to the first stop on our birthday celebration… Wellspring. Wellspring is the farm where we will get our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares. The farm was hosting tours and gardening classes, so Marky and I had a visit.

Gardening Class… Let me tell you, we were out of our league. These people were talking about food forests… Mark and I were looking for simple planting bed instructions. Regardless, it was interesting and enjoyable!

Checking out the seedlings and plant grafts.

Silly rooster rolling in the dirt.

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE roosters? Such weird and beautiful little creatures.

His name is Frank. Or at least it should be…

Tomato plants and other delicious things!

Our source for produce this summer! I think that’s lettuce coming up! We get our first share in 2 weeks!

After the farm, we went back to the house for a little rest. Thankfully my hubs recognizes that although I’d like to be on the go-go-go, my body can’t really handle that these days. So, we took a nap, loved on the puppy, and got ready for the next stop… PRENATAL MASSAGE!

This was like music to my ears. My back has been excruciating. I can’t even explain the pain, but it’s sharp and it’s constant and it creates this reaction in my body that leaves me constantly feeling like I’m fighting back tears. Anyway, I went to Massage Envy for a prenatal massage and let this guy literally abuse my back. There were moments where I was practicing my labor techniques for pain because the dude was pushing so hard on my back. But, no pain, no gain, right? I figured, attack the back and I’ll feel better later. Now, it wasn’t all painful, it was pretty enjoyable and I left feeling really good. I also felt justified in my complaining because Brian the massage man said my back was horrific.

Anyway, after dinner, my guy took me to a delicious and very nice dinner. We had soft-shelled crab, which was shockingly delicious, and fish and just yum. Then, we went to Baskin Robbins for dessert… After way too many samples, I decided on Cookies & Cream… the flavor I ALWAYS get.

Then Sunday, we had brunch with my sweet friend Marci and her hubs, Jesse. It was really fun to catch up and chitter chatter with them. Once we parted ways, Marky and I ran a few errands and went back to the house to do some chores. For me, that meant excessive amounts of laundry and folding. By the end of the night, we decided that I overdid it. My back was killing me. AND, due to my very hard-pressure massage, it hurts to the touch, so I’m not really able to receive more massages until it’s less sore. Oy. Third trimester problems for sure.

All-in-all, it was a REALLY great weekend. Too bad it’s Monday.

Symptoms

All I can think about is my back. It’s killing me. I’m starting to wonder how the heck I’m going to survive the next 5.5 weeks if this continues at this rate. I’m planning to go to the gym tonight in hopes that it will help stretch out my muscles and offer a little relief. We’ll see. If not, I’ll just continue icing/heating my back.

Toby keeping me company as I heated my back. He always climbs all over the baby…