Ladies' Weekend

Lllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddddiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeessssssss…yup, I’m calling all my ladies. 

ATTN: It’s girl’s weekend! Well, it was girl's weekend. I left on Friday and now I am back.

What a nice weekend. It started off with a drive out to the coast with my friend M. At this point, none of my friends (except one, I think) really knows that I am pregnant. With everything that’s been going on, Alberto and I decided to really only tell our families and our employers. But, since M and I are pretty close, I knew that I would tell her what was going on at some point this weekend. I just wasn’t sure when. I guess as we got closer and closer to the coast, I thought maybe telling her while we were alone and in the car would be the best time. So, I told her everything. How I am pregnant, how I’d had my first trimester screening blood test, and how I’d gotten a call just two days ago about my blood work and how it didn’t look so good in some areas. She was very gracious and listened to me and all my stuff…but, she made sure not to ask too many questions or to be insensitive to my thoughts or feelings on what was happening. She even tried to comfort me by telling me a story about her brother in law’s daughter and the medical miracle that she is (I don’t remember all the details). She also told me that whatever happened, that she and her husband T (T and Alberto are buddies) supported us and would be there for us. It was very sweet and I felt a little bit of relief in talking to her about everything. I think part of that reason is because she’s been through some difficulties herself when it comes to pregnancies, and, I feel a sort of kindred spirit with her.

When we got to the house, I was both pleasantly surprised and disappointed. The house was great – it would fit us all comfortably, and, it had everything we needed! However, there was no beach view. Instead, it was a view of a forest...kind of. Still, it was nice and there was a hot tub. I know, I know…hot tubs and babies don’t exactly go hand in hand. But, if we were to turn the heat down and get it to below 100 degrees, it would be just fine to take a dip. Anyway, the other ladies arrived (J and W) and we dove straight into our ladies weekend. I cooked dinner (a delicious baked ziti), and, while I cooked, J came in and we had some alone time to talk. I thought that this might be a good time to talk to her about what was going on, so, I unloaded on her. I told her everything, and, I was able to maintain my composure while telling her (come to think of it, I held my composure with M, too. Maybe because I didn’t look at her in the eye while I talked about it? I was driving). I am mostly always able to control myself when I talk to J. She, too, has been through some difficulties when it comes to pregnancies. Also, J and I know each other from school – biology, specifically. We took our final two anatomy and physiology classes (a three course series) together at Portland Community College, so, we’d just learned about the most prevalent trisomy conditions. Like 2 months prior to all this happening. I think that’s another reason why I can talk to her about this and not get emotional…it’s almost like I’m talking to her about it from a biological standpoint. Just like M, she was gracious as well. Very understanding, patient with me and my thoughts, and extremely supportive. J expressed how she was sorry that we had to go through this and told me that she’d be there for me through this, however I needed. Love her.

After that, we all had dinner, we talked, J and W drank…M and I both had some lovely Brita filtered water…and, we just had a good time. And that’s what the weekend was…drinking (non-alcoholic beverages for me), talking, napping, eating, watching movies. All with some lovely ladies, and, just what I needed. I even took a dip in the hot tub on Sunday morning; WITH a cup of joe. Living on the wild side, huh? Well, not exactly. I watered my cup of coffee down, making it into a sort of half caf, half decaf cup and J (or maybe M?) remembered to turn down the heat on the hot tub and it was 98 degrees by the time I got in it. Perfect! The temp kept dropping while we were in it, as when we got out it was at 95 degrees. I was so glad I got to take a nice, relaxing dip with a yummy cup of coffee on our last morning at the beach…and I didn’t even have to feel bad about it.

We wrapped up our trip with a quick jaunt through Manzanita, and then we headed out to Cannon beach. It was a beautiful day, so, we walked on the beach for a bit, took some photos, and then we had fish and chips for lunch at Jackie’s favorite fish n chips joint: Ecola. DELICIOUS. I had a white fish, of course, so, it was all good. After lunch, we hugged and said our goodbyes…and just like that, our ladies weekend came to an end. M and I hopped into the car and made the trek back to good ole PDX.

Can’t wait for my next ladies weekend. In the meantime, here are a couple photos from our weekend...