Kylie Cecilia Washington!

Kylie was born 1-30-14 at 6:11pm, 20 hours after my water broke. She was 6lbs 13oz and 20in long. She has passed all her tests and is really good at nursing =)

Ready to go home

Early Labor

I was in early/stalled labor for 21 days! Almost every morning I woke up to painful, regular contractions. I would take pain meds and they would eventually go away until I got up to walk or stand, then they were back again. I was in the Labor and Delivery department of the hospital a lot to make sure things were still going well. Over the 21 days I lost my mucous plug, became 3cm dilated, and 50% effaced. I was getting pretty fed up with the process. Who is in labor for that long!? It hurt, and I felt miserable, but there was nothing to be done about it until her due date. George stayed home from work most days to be with me, as neither of us wanted me to be alone is early labor. It was nice having a lot of time together as a family of 2 =)

My last belly picture! 1-25-14

Water Breaking

On Wednesday, 1-29-14, I was really sleepy. I also had a bit of an anxiety issue that morning about feeling like it would never be over. My doula suggested I stop making pain meds when the contractions start, as that might be stalling them. So I didn't take any that afternoon. I took a nap from 7pm-10pm, and I woke up to my water leaking. It was not really a gushing break, just a slow constant leak. So exciting! Finally almost over! I was hungry, so I asked George to make spaghetti so I could eat one last meal at home before going into the hospital. I was hanging out in the shower since everything was hurting, while George made food. I didn't want to get out of the shower, so he turned the water off and I just ate sitting in there. It looked a bit silly, but it was comfy =) After that, George started packing last minute things into the hospital bag. We were out of nutter butters! I have basically lived off of those for the last few weeks of pregnancy. I need snacks for my hypoglycemia and those are the only things that ever sounded good. So I got out of the shower and we walked to the store, since I needed to be walking to progress labor anyways. Contractions started to get worse, so we headed to the hospital.

Spaghetti in the shower!

Hospital

We got there at 2am. The nurses were trying to be really pushy about giving me pitocin to progress faster, but I wanted to at least try on my own. They kept saying how much of a risk of infection there is if Kylie is not born within 24 hours of my water breaking. I kept telling them that it was only 4 hours so far, and there was a ways to go before talking induction. I was entirely pain-med free for a LONG time. I layed in the shower, (in my room!) walked around, bounced on the birth ball, and talked a lot. I let George and Liza get some sleep in the wee hours of the morning while my doula and I went into the hallway for massage and birth ball bouncing. I had on a wireless monitor the whole time so they could keep track of Kylie's heart and my contractions. I even wore it in the shower! It was super awesome. At one point I asked the OB about pain meds, and he said they would have to be through IV, so I decided to tough it out some more. Now is where time gets a bit fuzzy, I have on idea when things happened exactly. The contractions were getting really painful, and time was running out, so I got an IV with pitocin and pain meds. The pain meds worked, but they were short-lived and I as told each dose is less effective. Once the first one was wearing off, I was so exhausted that I was sleeping between contractions. Waking up to THAT evry few mites was getting unbearable very fast. I noticed I was clenching up when one would start, and I would try to relax, but it was really hard. It that rate, I would never progress, so I decided to get the epidural. My main argument against an epidural was that it can cause issues when it's cold outside. I have determined that it was/is TOTALLY worth it for me. Everything was so much more pleasant after it was put in. Rather than dreading contractions when they would wake me up, I didn't feel them much at all and I could sleep. I slept for a bit, and talked for a bit. Eventually a nurse checked me and said I was complete! They gave me an hour for her to drop more before pushing. The doula and Liza left and let George and I have our last time together as just a couple. =)

Ready for walking around at the hospital

The Birth

Right before we started pushing, my room FILLED with people and everyone was moving me and putting things on me and it was quite overwelming. I didn't really know what was going on, and I was trying not to think about how many people were around so I could stay calm. I later found out what happened was that Kylie's cord was wrapped around her neck so her heart rate was dropping. Once they put me on my other side and put an oxygen mask on with deep breaths it came back up. Then it was pushing time! Pushing felt... weird. I don't really know how to explain it. It's a weird sensation, and quite uncomfortable, but with the epidural it was not painful. Towards the end they had to use something to help get her out, because of the cord issue. But she came out and started screaming. They put her on my chest all very slimy and purple and screaming. I was just crying. I don't even know why, I think everything was just really overwhelming. George was crying too =) After a good long while they took her off me and cleaned both of us up and weighed her. They took out the epidural, and we got transferred to the Mother-Baby unit.

Skin-to-skin right after she came out

Mother-Baby Unit

In general our stay was good. I was thinking about trying to go home right away, but I am glad we stayed. I had a bit of a meltdown one of the nights when Kylie was really hungry and really sleepy at the same time. This resulted in her being too sleepy to eat, but too hungry to sleep, which just resulted in inconsolable screaming. The nurse helped me manually pump "milk" into a spoon and feed it to her so she could sleep. Apparently this issue occurred because I was just letting her sleep until she woke up, which was too long between feedings. I was tired too! Anyways, we got that worked out and now we wake up every 3 hours to eat and it works MUCH better. =)

Eyes open!

My birth experience thoughts

My birth plan was pretty simple and flexible. I wanted delayed cord clamping, which became a mostly moot point with a cord issue as we had, immediate skin-to-skin, which I got, and I wanted to labor naturally as long as possible, which I did. I was pretty adamant about not wanting an epidural, but I had considered it in the case of no progression due to the pain. That is why I ended up getting it in the end, and I am happy with my choice. I was getting to the point that I was dreading contractions and the thought of pushing sounded miserable, which I decided was not a good state of mind to be in for birthing a baby. I was much happier and George was much less stressed after I got the epidural put in. I also didn't really want an IV because I was worried it would ruin my experience. When they did end up wanting to give me one (for pain meds and pitocin) they wanted to put it in my hand, to which I said "NO NO NO!" I knew if it was anywhere that is not the "normal" place for an IV it would seriously gross me out and I would be unhappy. That seems to be the only place the nurses really didn't want to put it, and they went and fetched the anesthesiologist to put it in for them. Once it was in I barley noticed it, so that went over well. Overall I got everything I wanted, even if it seems like I gave things up in the end. All of it was my choice, and I don't regret any of it. =)

There are a TON of pictures still on the camera. I am working on starting to sort through and upload them. Kylie's Flikr set can be found here.

Home and happy =)

Rachael

California

Why we moved to California:

George was being underpaid for his talents at the job he was at in Burlington. He tried to address this with his bosses, but my impression is they were powerless to fix it until a spot on a higher up team opened up, which doesn't have a clear timeline. Sometime around when this was starting to be apparent to us that it might be a problem with the price of living in Burlington and a baby on the way, Google contacted George about wanting him to interview. We discussed this as a couple, and decided it was worth talking to them because they have an office in Boston that wouldn't be too bad to commute to. I did NOT want to move to Cali. 

He went ahead and did the phone interview and they really liked him! The next step was to fly out to Cali for an interview at the Googleplex. At that point Google had made it clear that they wanted George in Cali and were not offering a job in Boston. I really like Boston, particularly Burlington/Lexington. I reluctantly agreed that we could fly out and check it out, and if Cali was not too bad and they were offering enough interesting work and salary, we might do it. Still only maybe. We flew out to Cali on something like 3 days notice. We arrived, picked up our rental car, and spent the afternoon with some friends (Liza and Clint) in the area. I didn't like it very much. It reminded me way too much of Texas, and I didn't want to go back to that. I REALLY like Boston. 

The next day, George had an all-day interview. I was taken on a tour of Googleplex by Clint, who works there already. We ate lunch in the AMAZING TOTALLY FREE cafe, and I tried caffeinated water for the first time. I spent most of the day walking around and enjoying the awesome weather. As much as I like Boston, this place was starting to look amazing. And, George did awesome in his interview! 

When we got back home we discussed how much money it would be worth to leave the East Coast. The company he was working at is a really cool company and they would be finding a higher place for him eventually. Boston has SNOW and amazingly colored leaves in the fall. Education is highly valued in the area we lived, and our senator was the BEST ONE. But, our family would thrive better with more income. We would better be able to take trips to see cool things or go to museums. There would be less stress about prices of things, which makes for a better home life. (Not to say those who are struggling are bad or doing anything wrong! We just were discussing how given a choice it might be better for OUR family.) I determined the minimum starting salary it would take to make me leave.

Then George got the offer letter (YAY!) and Google pretty well surpassed what my minimum was to get me to leave. Plus they included the list of benefits, which are spectacular. I kinda ran out of reasons why we shouldn't move to the West Coast. George's previous job did not want to attempt to match Google's offer, so we decided to move. (But the old job still a great place! No bad thoughts or feelings!)

Now, things got complicated. The original plan was to stay at the old job until the baby is born, then move to Cali in late March. Then I thought about it, and that sounded like a terrible idea. Moving all our stuff is pretty stressful, getting to know a new area is stressful (at least to me,) and infants I hear are pretty stressful, so how about lets NOT do all that at the same time. I shouldn't be on a plane after the last week of December due to the potential of things going wrong and having a baby ON A PLANE, so it had to be before then. We got the offer letter around Thanksgiving. I was already set up to have surgery on my left wrist the first week of December, and I had to be in town for a week after that for a follow-up. We had a very tiny window of potential moving times. After lots of back-and-forth e-mails and figuring things out, we finally got it set up for movers to take our stuff December 11 and deliver it by December 27. I found us a cool new apartment, and Liza and Clint toured it for us and took lots of pictures. 

All of that is over now, and we have our stuff in our new place in California. I would still rather be in Boston, even with the current blizzard. This place is not that bad though. I think it will grow on me. George starts his first day at Google in the morning! Apparently Google will be giving him 7 weeks of paid paternity leave once Baby Kylie is born, even if he is only able to work for a few days before that. It's pretty awesome =)

Rachael

2014 Goals

If I write out my 2014 goals here, I might be more likely to stick to them. That is the idea anyway.

• Take at least one picture a day.
• I had this goal before when I got my camera, but then I failed at it. I will try again!
• Do at least 30 minutes of Memrise a day to work on my French. 
• Ideally every day, but at least 6 days a week.
• Blog more often!
• I was trying to stick to at least monthly updates, but I don't always do even that. I think this will get easier once I have interesting things to tell everyone about the baby =)
• Catch up on paperwork and STAY THAT WAY.
• I have a little pile of places to call and things to figure out that I avoid. I need to clear out the pile once and for all! Like tax stuff. I don't even want to think about it. Bleh.
• Start logging receipts. 
• George and I talked about doing this a few months ago, but with the huge move and all the new baby stuff expenses, we decided it would be easier to wait until the new year to start. I would like to start tracking how much we actually spend on things, because for the most part I really don't know.

That is all I can think of right now that I want to change in 2014. =)

Rachael

Hand Surgery

For those of you who keep up with me in ways other than my blog, you probably know I had hand surgery recently. Here is how that all happened:

The Beginning

Saturday, October 12, I knit a purse for a little girl I was babysitting. It was cute and awesome and super fast. The next morning when I woke up my right wrist was hurting. It was not that bad, and I figured I must have slept on it weird or been knitting a bit too much the day before. I went ahead and got a wrist brace to wear just in case I sprained it, in the hopes that it would heal faster. Over the next few days, it started hurting more. I called my doctor so he could check it out, but he was out of town that week. It was getting bad, so I just made an appointment with one of his associates. She told me I had De Quervain's tendinitis. Basically, the tendon that runs along the outside of my right thumb was inflamed. Not a huge deal, I just needed to wear a brace that immobilized my thumb for 2 weeks. I was told to stop wearing the wrist brace, and to wear this one instead. I started wearing it on Thursday, October 17. There is a sock on my hand under the brace because the exposed Velcro was itchy.

The Pain

Halfway through lunch the next day (Friday, October 18,) my wrist started hurting VERY badly. Just suddenly, almost-in-tears pain. First thing I did was call the doctor to see if I could get an "emergency" appointment that afternoon. As I was waiting for a call back, my fingers went numb. That scared me even more than the sudden pain did. I called the doctor back, in tears at that point, asking if I should go to the ER or something because I was afraid my nerves were dying. The doctor called me back shortly after that, and after getting more details told me it was just carpel tunnel and not to be worried about my nerves. I was told to wear BOTH braces, was given painkillers to take when needed, and I got an appointment with a hand "specialist" (actually a surgeon) the following week. During that week, my right hand started getting swollen when it was not raised up high. I kept it up and iced it twice a day. I wore both braces all the time, awake and sleeping. By Tuesday, my left wrist was starting to hurt like the right one did at first. Meanwhile, the right just kept getting more painful. Painkillers were my friend. The only risk to Baby Kylie is/was the risk of her getting addicted to them and then going through withdraw once she is born. As much as that would suck for both of us, it is really not that bad. 

The Shot

I met the hand surgeon on Friday, October 25. He told me that the tendinitis was all better, but the carpel tunnel is/was bad. There are only 3 things they can do for carpel tunnel. 
1. Wear a brace and deal with it. 
2. Steroid shot into the tendon. This works for 1-4 months, then needs to be done again.
3. Surgically cut the tendon to make the tunnel wider.
I had already tried the dealing with it, and it was not working out for me. I opted for the shot. There was no risk for Kylie because it was just a local shot. As soon as I said we should try the shot, he started putting out bottles and a needle. I didn't even have time to prepare myself for a shot! First was the lidocaine to numb it. Pinched a bit, but not too bad. Then the real shot. If you have never had a needle touch your nerves or tendons, you cannot imagine how much it can possibly hurt. I was in tears. I didn't want to be, but sometimes we don't get choices. It was okay though, this was going to make me better!

I was fine leaving the office, and in the elevator, and getting in the car. As George was driving us home, the lidocaine started wearing off. There have been 3 times in my life that I have labeled myself as being a 10 on the pain scale. Once was when I was in the ER for chest pain. The other was later during surgery. This was the second. I took another oxycodone, because IT WAS SO BAD. All to make it better though, right?

The Next Step

Wrong. The immediate pain got better over the next few days, but my wrist never got any better than it was the day I got the shot. I also developed a shooting nerve pain in my index finger, most likely due to the shot touching my nerve. November 1 I started wearing a wrist brace on my left hand as well, because it was getting worse. Friday, November 8, I had a follow-up with the hand surgeon. The shot did not work. At all. Either I have some really weird body chemistry that makes steroid shots ineffective, or my wrist just got worse as it was "getting better" so it ended up feeling the same. Regardless, it was pretty obvious this was becoming a huge problem. Even if I did decide to just tough it out (with painkillers, I am not a super-hero,) it would most likely be back at least with future pregnancies. Given that, he recommended surgery. Both hands needed to be done, as the left was obviously showing carpel tunnel signs as well. One at a time is the best approach, so you can still function at least a little bit without help. The surgery I had was 3 parts. Carpel tunnel release- cutting the tendon sheath to widen the tunnel. De Quervain's release- cutting the tendon sheath to help the thumb tendon. And Synovectomy- removing inflamed tissue.

George and I a few days before my surgery. I got cool arm warmers to wear under/over the braces.
George wore some too =)

Right Hand Surgery

The first surgery was Wednesday, November 13. We were going to have a fetal monitor on, but my OB said it was unnecessary. According to her, there was no more risk from the surgery than any other time. I did have to be awake though, because if I was asleep, Kylie would be asleep too, which did have some risk. All I have to say about that is awake surgery is not for the faint of heart. I did fall asleep for the very beginning of it, and when I woke up I quickly informed the entire room that THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH LIDOCAINE. That was the 3rd time in my life I was a 10 on the pain scale. There was a curtain between me and my arm, so I didn't get to/have to watch it. I had the anesthesiologist on my side of the curtain talking to me. Mostly making idle conversation, trying not to think about all the pressures I could still feel in my hand. When I could feel something I would tell her and she would pass that on to the surgeon who would put more lidocaine there. The sutures were unfortunately, the worst part. I could feel all the tugging going on =/ Kylie was kicking during a lot of the surgery, which made me feel a lot better. This was for her sake, so I can hold her and take care of her when she is born =)

The recovery was extremely long and painful. Actually, it's not all over yet. My right thumb is still numb, and my median nerve is still irritated, so I get sharp pains in it. My fingers are still stiff and it is difficult to squeeze things tightly. I can only bend my wrist maybe 3/4 of what I should be able to, but it is getting better. Even given all of that, it hurts significantly less now than pre-surgery. The surgeon said he was surprised at how much inflamed tissue he had to remove. Given that, it was most likely going to be a problem in the next few years regardless of what I did. Kylie just sped up the process.

Left Hand Surgery

My second surgery was Tuesday, December 3. I was going to wait longer between them, but we are moving to California on Friday and I needed to still be around Boston for my 1-week post-op appointment. (More about the move and why on my next post, hopefully tonight or tomorrow.) To be honest, I was terrified of the second surgery. My right hand was still in pretty terrible shape, and I was worried I ruined it by getting surgery. George said he was there for me, and it really is best for Kylie if I get both done now. As it turns out, I just had really irritated nerves in my right hand for no good reason. I felt like the surgery itself went a lot smoother, and the recovery went WAY better. My left hand is almost stronger and better than my right hand already. I have no numbness or nerve pain. I had almost as much inflamed tissue in my left as my right, so I have no idea what made the difference. Neither does the surgeon. I am happy I had it done though =) My post-op appointment was today, and everything is healing well! 

Aftermath

I can finally type using both hands again, and I just started being able to knit again a few days ago! Things only get better on a day-to-day basis. Is there still pain? Yes, but it feels more like soreness and stiffness than the numbness and burning the carpel tunnel gave me. Do I still take pain meds? Yes, but only once or twice a day. I take them right before intense physical therapy, because it is hard to cause yourself pain even when you know it's for the best in the long run. When I am not using my hands/wrists, they don't really hurt much. According to the surgeon, I should be able to knit all I want without risk of getting carpel tunnel again for at least 20 years =) Even with all the pain, it is totally worth it.

If you wondered why there have not been blog posts lately, that is why. Typing was painful until recently, and a blog post is a lot of typing. I am back though! =)

Rachael

Anxiety Issues

I have an anxiety disorder. This has been known for a long time, and was medically diagnosed when I was 16. It is not rational, and I can't help it. Sometimes things cause it in stupid ways, like things being on the floor making me freak out. Or not wanting to go into a room with a closed door. Should those things make me freak out? No. But I don't really get choices. 

Then sometimes, the anxiety presents in even more odd ways. Today, I woke up and I felt miserable  Just really anxious. Like I wanted to go into the corner and cry my eyes out for no apparent reason. Nothing happened, and nothing is different about today that I can see. I took a shower, and didn't feel any better. I cannot take my anxiety meds anymore because of the baby, so I had to figure out something I could do. Anything really, to make the anxiety go away. So I opened iTunes and turned on the new Bowling for Soup album. I played it loud on my speakers, and I made myself go into the kitchen and make a pesto sandwich (I think that is my new favorite food.) I was not hungry, but I had not eaten. I didn't want to listen to music, or sing, or dance. 

That was about an hour ago. Now there is an empty plate in front of me, and I am feeling much better. I guess maybe part of me is starting to understand how to deal with anxiety, even if all the rest of me screams, "NO. NO MUSIC. NO FOODS. GO CRY." 

Bowling for Soup, my favorite band since 6th grade, still making me feel better =) Also, food. Everyone loves food =)

Rachael

September Updates

Hello everyone!

Baby & I are doing well. Morning sickness went away around week 12. I have had a migraine every day since then, but drinking a glass of tea in the morning and in the afternoon makes that go away. Except for once, when I still had a bad migraine no matter what I did, FOR 6 DAYS. I ended up taking meds (per my OB) that are not so great for the baby, but it did stop the crazy migraine, and I only had to take them once. For the most part though, I feel great! I can stand, walk, go upstairs, and other things normal people take for granted all the time. =) My neurologist is not sure if this is a permanent change, or if I will go back to being broken once the baby is born. We shall see. That just gives me a good reason to have a lot of kids!

Baby is developing right on track, which is good. There was a slight scare with a potential neural tube defect, but it was just a false positive. I feel kicks every day now, and they are strong enough that George can feel them too. Baby has started "retaliating" kicks as well. George will poke my belly, and get kicked in return. =P My belly button started turning inside out a few days ago, which really weirds me out. In the beginning when my belly started growing it turned into an endless vortex (you could see the inside before then) and now it looks even more weird.

We were planning on going down to Virginia for Christmas/Yule, but I was told by my OB it might not be a good idea to travel so far away 6 weeks before the due date. We are still planning on going to Texas for Thanksgiving (and a baby shower!) though. =)

I will not be sharing the baby's sex or name on the blog until they are born =) Mostly because I cannot trust that everyone will stay open-minded about colors and styles of things if they know the sex. It really should not matter at all. Bright colors, in ALL colors, are awesome =)

Rachael

Gencon!

The story of Gencon.

I stayed up late Tuesday packing everything to be ready to go in the morning, including a backpack full of snacks to keep with me. We got up early Wednesday, showered, packed shower stuff, and headed to get the oil changed before the trip. Dropped off the car (2 hours?!) and walked to the donut shop for breakfast. That went well, car was ready, and we headed off at 11am-ish. GPS estimated the trip to be 14.5 hours. We speed a little (totally guilty) and we stop for bathroom breaks and quick foods. I was thinking maybe 15 hours total, which would put us there at 2am. I have been drinking copious amounts of water every day to prevent headaches, and I quickly learned that is not a fun habit in a car trip. So I started not drinking as much water, and got a migraine as it was getting dark. Bright lights on a road is just about the worst thing I could have been looking at =/ It kept getting worse and worse and I had (well, George did) to pull over to throw up around midnight. I layed down in the back, but I just felt pretty terrible the last few hours. We ended up getting into the hotel just before 4am, and crashed on the comfy bed. Our plan was going to be to get up at a decent time for an event at 1pm Thursday, but nope. Sleep is better.

Thursday we got up something like 1pm and headed over to the convention. They were out of landards for badges (!?!?) but I saved the day by having yarn in the backpack =) We talked to the creator of Killer Bunnies (who knows George from past Gencons) and jumped into a demo of the newest game in the line- Heros vs Villains. We got raffle tickets for playing, and I WON the raffle! That was pretty awesome. We met up with our friends and ate dinner at an Irish pub, that had GREAT mashed potatoes. I got extra to-go. Back to the convention center to walk around and figure out where things were. George and Megan got shakes from Steak-n-Shake and we continued walking, me eating mashed potatoes while walking. Hey, it is better than eating candy! Lol. We went back to the hotel early to get a full nights sleep. Got there around 10pm and headed to bed.

I woke up around midnight (to pee, of course) with EXTREME pain in my chest. I tried to lay back down to see if it went away in a few minutes (pregnancy comes with all kinds of weird pains I have learned) but it got a lot worse. I woke up George and we rushed to the nearest ER. Got there a total of 25 minutes after I first woke up. I got an EKG, which was normal. The doctor was thinking it might be a blood clot, so I got a CAT scan. (With contrast, which was really weird feeling.) Baby was exposed to radiation, which is not that great, but we did not really have choices. A blood clot would be a whole lot worse. The up-side (I guess) is that radiation in the 2nd trimester does the least amount of potential harm. Anyways, while waiting for the results, the pain got worse. I am really good at pain tolerance in general, but this got up to a 10. I don’t think I have ever actually told a nurse/doctor my pain was 10/10, but I was writhing in agony and it was uber terrible. They rushed me some morphine directly into my IV. It made the pain only mostly go away, which is even more crazy. The CAT scan was normal, which means they ruled out the 2 things that can cause chest pain that are super dangerous, and I was sent back to the hotel with orders to return if anything changes. And pain killers. Finally got back around 4:30am. So much for a full night’s sleep and early morning =/

Friday morning we woke up around 1pm, again. Walking around or pretty much doing anything remotely difficult or stressful made my chest hurt. I told George he could go do whatever fun activities he wanted, but I was going to go park myself in the craft room and knit. I got a lot of progress on a sleep sack, and I happen to hit the magic awesome pooling number! We ate dinner in the connected mall after plans with friends fell though because of time issues. A&W Chilli cheese fries! YUM! We headed back to the hotel early and I caught up a little with the nest and I did the sorting form before early bed =)

Saturday morning we actually got up in time for breakfast! The hotel had biscuits and sausage gravy, which is something George and I both miss from the South =) The pain in my chest was gone (with the bottle of painkillers untouched, yay!) so we walked around the vendor hall and picked up some cool dice and the last 2 expansions of Dominion. Had lunch with friends at Steak-n-Shake. We have a friend in Boston who LOVES DrunkQuest a ton. He made this crown out of a beer box and gems and glitter and such. We found the creator of the game and then brought the crown to him to get it signed. He thought it was awesome =P Then I had a chainmaille class at 4pm. Yes, at a gaming convention. It was under “spouse activities” as was the craft room. That lasted until 6pm and I have an awesome Slytherific bracelet that I need to photograph =) Then we had dinner with the creator of Killer Bunnies and the rest of our friends. After that, most of us went to the games library and played Shadows Over Camelot, which was a lot of fun. Got back to the hotel around midnight.

Sunday I wanted to sleep in, but George wanted to hang out early. I woke up at 8am and called him (he was downstairs) and he was like, “GOOD! RUSH RUSH WE HAVE TO DRIVE PEOPLE!” Ahh! That was not a kind way to wake up. At all. But everything was packed and ready to go and we drove some people so everything fit in cars (2 were flying home) and blah. I was sleepy. We played Shadows over Camelot again, but this time with one person being a secret traitor, which was interesting =) Then I got coffee. I was sleepy. I got to buy the pliers I used in the chainmaille class at 1pm (after her last class) so, AWESOME! Mine are bad or something, because it was way easier in the class than things I did things on my own. We left around lunchtime to head back home. The trip was mostly uneventful. We stopped for the night near Buffalo, NY.

Monday was just more driving. I had a migraine Monday night, but I kept being on my computer anyways, and ended up throwing up =/ Grr. Yesterday I had a migraine, AGAIN. Then guess what friendly face is here again now!? This seriously needs a solution. I have been drinking tons of water, I have been eating meals, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!