Thirty-Three Weeks

Who would have ever thought we'd we 33 weeks pregnant and on the side of the road with a broken down car and very-very limited cell service... in a town where the only business is a gas station that closes at 7:45 pm? Imagine this place at night...

Well that will surely mark 33 weeks for us.

This week I worked quite a bit on finishing the dresser for the baby room. I put the last coat of paint on the dresser this week and hoped to move it back into the house soon. Then I realized it needs a coat of polyurethane to make the paint job really last, so we'll see when the weather warms up for me to get a coat of poly on it.

And this weekend we headed down for a 'quick trip' to Lake Charles. It had been a while since we'd seen my family and some of our Lake Charles friends and family were throwing me a baby shower!

Friday night at about 7:30pm we found ourselves in Bronson Texas with an engine that was very overheated. The car wouldn't drive more than 20 yards without overheating and so we pulled in to the local gas station. We bought a gallon of water for the radiator and then realized that the lady was closing down the shop for the night. Luckily she left the outdoor lights on for us.

It was then that we realized our limited cell service. As we tried to look up ways to fix the car or call friends or family we saw how impossible it would be to get a call out. We tried a few things, they didn't work, we texted a few friends and family, and eventually my parents and brother (who were 3 hours away) decided to come to our rescue.

So we waited... for 3 hours.

A car pulled up to the gas station somewhere in the 3 hour span and a girl hopped out with crazy socks on. Then her mom got out. Both of them were soon on the ground looking underneath the car. The other two sisters got out and we heard "that was the biggest raccoon I've ever seen!" So Kyle got out to help the ladies. They had hit a raccoon and done some damage to their car. Kyle ended up using a stereo cord to Magiver their bumper back together so they could get to the next town. It was quite entertaining and helped us pass the time. They said maybe God had us on the side of the road so we could help them. They apologized for not being able to help us in return, and headed off.

We laughed. Then we waited.

At some point when we were adding water to the reservoir Kyle mentioned he could maybe take off the radiator cap and add water directly to the radiator. To which I replied 'NOOOOO! Don't take the radiator cap off!!!" like it was going to end the world. All I knew about radiator caps is that if you take them off while the car is hot they spew out liquid fire and burn the living daylights out of everything...

Apparently this was an over exaggeration on my part. But Kyle obliged and so we sat and waited. Only for my dad to arrive a few hours later and say "Did you try taking off the radiator cap and adding water directly to the radiator?"

I felt like an idiot. I explained, for Kyle's sake that he had wanted to do that earlier. Apparently once you let the engine cool, you can use a large towel for safety just in case, and remove the radiator cap without much issue. I had no idea. We did that and the car ran just fine. Ooops...

Then 30 miles later with mom, dad, and Jared following behind us, it overheated again. We added more water and started back. 30 miles after that we stopped again for the men to take a closer look at the car, buy a few gallons of water, and for me (at midnight) to finally get dinner as the lights and computer were shutting off at the local McDonald's.

It was a long trip home but we got the car to Lake Charles. We got to my parents' house about 2:30 in the morning and headed straight to bed. This pregnant lady was tired...

Turns out that we cracked a head gasket in the engine, and while they can't say exactly why... I'm pretty sure it's because I hadn't checked the coolant level and the car overheated and cracked the gasket. In our old Saturn I checked all the fluid levels every time I filled the car with gas because it was so necessary... I guess I'd gotten used to the new fanciness of the Camry and not having to add a quart of oil every time I filled up and I forgot to keep checking the coolant too... Luckily, Kyle doesn't blame me...

Saturday, a mere few hours later, we headed to the shower and had a great story to tell.

The shower was wonderful. The best food, the best people, friends and family and one girl who flew down from NYC just to surprise me. That Caralie...

It really was a wonderful time, so many people were at the shower who have been a part of our family and friends for a long time. We took tons of pictures, but I only have a few on my camera. For some reason (maybe obvious) I look quite large and in charge in almost all of the pictures so we're going to limit the amount I post... but notice that the baby bump looks like I just attached a ball to my front side... right?

See that crazy, looks like that baby is trying to pop out of that belly...

The weekend turned out great, great time with the fam, although we had quite an experience with the car breakdown and then trying to rent a car and then Kyle heading back to Lake Charles to finally retrieve our car after it was prepared. 33 Weeks was quite exciting!

It just keeps getting closer. Here's our durian fruit-sized baby, although I'm a dietitian and haven't ever seen a durian fruit in person. But at least I'm all dressed up in my fancy clothes... pregnant lady's gotta look professional sometimes, at least to make up for wearing pajama yoga pants about 99% of the time I'm not at work...

33 Weeks, we're almost there...