Crazy Pregnancy Happenings

This is going to make me sound a little crazy or careless at best but is interesting if a little scary... I have fallen twice in the past week and a half. Not little 'stumble and catch myself' kind of falls but huge, total 'wipe-out flat on the ground' kind of falls. The first time was at family reunion on the 28th. We go to Blanco, TX the last weekend of June every year to get together with family from all over. The boys camped out at the state park and Sydney and I shared a room with my Mom. Saturday morning, she and I jumped in the shower. She was standing behind me in the water and she slipped. She grabbed onto me and I lost my balance. I had my eyes closed but started falling forward, fell out of the tub, pushed off the wall on the way down and flipped myself onto my back so that I basically fell against the toilet and slid down it with my back and landed on the floor outside the tub. I was so surprised to find myself suddenly on the floor of a motel bathroom that I started laughing HARD. My back hurt a little, but I had protected the baby. Sydney had fallen in the tub but she was ok. I told the kids my balance is a little off and I can't support them right now - especially when it's not expected.

Tonight we went to a backyard Bible club for the kids at a friend's house. When we got there, Jake got self-conscious about wearing his swimsuit. He hadn't changed from camp and I had told him he could wear it - it was raining outside anyway and I thought it was no big deal. But, when he got there and saw how many kids from school were there he wanted to go home and change. Sometimes when he feels really urgent about going somewhere, he'll grab my arm and pull me and he started to do that. So he's in front of me pulling me out the door with my arm over his shoulder and both his hands on my arm pulling. The problem came when we ran into something of a traffic jam with people coming in the door. He stopped short on the porch, but kept pulling on my arm - hard. It had been raining and the porch was wet. I was losing my balance and the last thing I am really sure of is me saying 'Jake stop pulling on me' and I was trying not to fall forward onto him and then honestly the next thing I knew I was flat on my back on the sidewalk. There were about five moms around me and they were all freaking out - some knew me pretty well - some didn't. But here is a very pregnant woman who has just, for all intents and purposes, been flipped kung fu style over her son's head. I think I initially was still fussing at Jake a little but then I looked at him and he looked dazed and a little hurt and was starting to cry and look really embarrassed or ashamed and I quickly shut up. I also had the moms descending on me with great concern asking if I was ok. I was actually pretty shaken up once we got in the car. I started crying a little bit from minor scrapes but mostly I think just from being disoriented and scared. Jake felt awful - he said multiple times that he didn't mean to hurt me, he wished I'd just fallen on him; mostly he wanted to make sure I was ok, but he had fallen also and hit his head hard on the concrete. Later, he told me he made a fool of himself and didn't want to go back. We skipped tonight (left Sydney there and she had fun with her friends), but I'm hoping he'll go back at least one night this week. He's worried that his friends will make fun of him. I told him it was an accident, that we all have them and yes, sometimes we come out looking a little foolish, but that accidents happen to everyone. He's had a couple of things lately where he's been pretty hard on himself and it bothers me. Last week, he walked out without his lunch for camp one day and I realized it before we were too far down the road, but he said on the way back home to get it, 'I'm so dumb...' I don't want him to have those voices in his head telling him anything remotely like that. It's a fine balance with kids (or at least it is with ours) - teaching them responsibility and accountability - without them beating up on themselves.

Anyway, I am amazingly fine - AGAIN. I can't believe I landed flat on my back on a concrete sidewalk without hitting my head or getting hurt really at all. The baby is moving just as much as ever, and the internet research I did on falls during pregnancy was reassuring. I'm so glad I didn't take out anyone's kid but mine - and he's just fine except for a little lump on his thankfully extremely hard head. I am truly amazed at the extent of the instinct to protect the baby. I did not have any time at all to think either time but managed to flip my entire, rather large body both times so that I landed on my back. I gently reminded the kids again that my center of gravity is off right now so my balance is not what it would be normally. I am hoping that we'll have no more of that kind of excitement - surely I must be pushing my luck at this point :) And, I've missed two really good opportunities to make easy money on America's Funniest Videos!!

We're way behind in posting pictures - it's been a busy summer... Here are a couple from Mother's Day. After church, we met at Pappadeaux's (our Mother's and Father's Day tradition since before my Dad died) for lunch. Then, we went to my Mom's house and had dessert and gifts and goofed in the yard. My Mom got out and played modified soccer (by Sydney's ever-changing rules :) - she'll be 78 this year and she's amazing!