Ultrasound Pics

Yesterday I had a full ultrasound, where the tech took measurements of the baby. We were supposed to also find out the gender, but the tech couldn't tell. I'll have to go back for a follow-up. It was the first ultrasound that Aaron got to see in person. We had to laugh when the tech was trying to image a foot, and baby decided to move it out of the picture. Here are the pics that the tech gave us. In each set, the first pic is the original, and the second is a copy of the first with the face or feet circled in red. 

Face, pic1

Face, pic 2

Feet

Predictions

Monday is the big day. Aaron is so excited. When I got home from work he eagerly asked, “Guess what Monday is?” It took me a few seconds to realize why he was so excited for Monday. I am looking forward to Monday as well, so I can start thinking of baby as a “he” or “she” instead of an “it.”

So does anyone want to make a prediction? As Aaron says, “the odds are good, 50/50.” Actually, the odds aren’t quite 50/50, because there is another possible outcome. Baby may not cooperate and might hide the gender. I certainly hope not, because we aren’t the only people excited to find out. However, baby has not cooperated for my doctor when trying to find the heartbeat. I had another appointment today where doc had to get out the ultrasound machine again because the Doppler didn’t work. Luckily the ultrasound machine had been fixed so I got the belly kind, but it still took my doctor a bit of time to find the heartbeat on it.

The Ancient Chinese Birth Chart says I’m having a boy but the Chinese Fortune Calendar says I’m having a girl. Aaron thinks we are having a girl. He says he has had more dreams with our baby being a girl than a boy. In most of my baby dreams, I don’t get to know what it is. But I think I have had one dream for each. I have to guess that it is a boy though, due to an experience garage sale shopping...

In July I figured out that we wouldn’t find out the baby’s gender until the end of October. Since the baby is due in March, I decided that I couldn’t wait until the end of October to do some shopping. After all, the garage sale season ends in October, and doesn’t start again until spring after the baby is born. I spent a few weekends this summer hitting the garage sales. In hindsight, it was probably very good for my wallet that I didn’t know the gender yet. Usually I ended up with just a couple unisex items at each sale. One Friday I managed to find several good garage sales and a thrift store across town. I came home with a pretty good haul. I showed Aaron each piece as I took off tags and put them in the laundry. As I held up one baby bib to show Aaron, I was surprised to see large writing across the back of the bib that I hadn’t noticed when I bought it. The bib had belonged to a boy, and his first name was written in sharpie. It happens to be the same name that we’ve picked out for a boy. “I guess we’re having a boy,” I told Aaron, and flipped the bib around so he could see the back.  

I tried really hard to purchase only items that were unisex, so as not to jinx us into having one or the other. However, one garage sale was all girls clothes, and I would have felt bad for not buying anything. So I picked out a cute shirt. Of course, I then had to even it up. At this point we now have a couple gender-specific items for either a girl or a boy. We’ll be happy with whatever baby turns out to be.

Technology and Fruit Cups

So I ate a fruit cup for my afternoon snack several days ago. It was really good, and I thought I should post a follow-up to the fruit cup debacle I previously posted on Facebook.

Oh, did you miss that post on Facebook? Unfortunately, I can’t copy it and repost it here because I closed my Facebook account. For the basic user, including myself, anything I’ve posted is now gone. At least until I re-open my account, which at the moment I refuse to do. Dumb Facebook won’t even delete an account properly.

I’m ready to close my yahoo account as well. Apparently my account was hacked, and a spam message was sent to everyone in my address book using my email address. Only there is no record of the email in my sent folders. I wonder if that means the email was sent from somewhere else, but masked as my account. I’ve never been hacked before. So all I knew to do was to change my password. But I felt that it should be reported or something else done besides a password change. So I searched Yahoo’s help center and found nothing. Finally I decided all I could do was contact Yahoo help to report that my account had been hacked and that I had not actually been spamming my friends. Of course to contact yahoo, you have to fill out a form, and it makes you select a subject from a list. I picked “How/why was my account compromised?” even though my real question is “What do I do when my account is compromised in addition to changing my password?”   Luckily there was a box to explain the problem, another box to paste in full headers from an email, and third box to paste an email message. So I utilized all three of those, using a bounce-back message when the spam email couldn’t make it to one of my contacts. It actually didn’t take long to get a response back from Yahoo. But the response was useless. I was sent a form letter, generated based on the subject line I was forced to pick and it did not match my question. It started out, “Thank you for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care. We understand you have received a prompt to change your password when you log into your Yahoo! account.” Nope. I never received a prompt; I changed it on my own, thanks. The rest of the email was useless as well and never deviated from the form. In fact, the customer service tech didn’t even bother to put their name at the bottom, where a space is left in the form for that purpose. Heck, I may be giving yahoo more credit than they deserve. Maybe it wasn’t a form letter sent by a person, but instead an automated response sent by computer.  Yahoo followed up today by sending me a “Your opinion matters” email with a link to a survey. I wasn’t very nice, but I think they deserve it. Dumb Yahoo.

Dumb technology. Maybe that’s why I like camping these days. I like to be cut off from the rest of the world for a few days, at least on my terms. I’ll keep hot water and flush toilets nearby, thanks.  And the ability to retreat into my car during a bad thunderstorm. What can I say, I am a wuss.

Anyway, back to the fruit cup. So the last time we went to BJ’s for camping/hurricane/pregnancy snacks, I found fruit cups that were labeled “no added sugar” and “packed in water.” I’m not sure why I didn’t read the rest of the label. But I got home to find they also had ARTIFICIAL SWEETNER. I didn’t have time to go back to the store. So I took the whole box to work and put it in the food drive bin. I kind of feel bad, because I don’t think anyone should eat artificial sweeteners. But most people don’t care, so I suppose someone will appreciate my donation.

Well I was at BJ’s again looking for camping/pregnancy snacks again (hopefully no more hurricanes), and we went down the refrigerated isle. I spotted fruit cups labeled “fruit naturals.” I was careful this time. I even looked at the full ingredients list. Various fruits, fruit juice, some acids, and some preservatives. No sweeteners. And it must be kept refrigerated, so that means it is closer to natural, right? Yeah, yeah, I’m conveniently ignoring the “natural flavors” ingredient for now. It’s obvious that it isn’t really all natural. It looks like the same fruit cup we had when I was a kid, except packaged in plastic instead of a can. Do you remember those? The cherries are bright pink. But before I investigate this further, I taste it. It is actually a lot better than the ones we had as kids. Sure all the same fruits are represented, but overall, it tastes fresher. Maybe it’s the fruit juice instead of the syrup that it is packed in, or the lack of metal taste from the can. I really enjoyed my fruit cup.

Then I turned to the ingredient list. Carmine is listed as part of the cherries. Obviously that’s where the pink color comes from, but I wondered what it was. I ended up at Wikipedia.

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If you don’t already know what carmine is, and if you ever want to eat a fruit cup again, I suggest skipping this last part below the picture. 

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Wikipedia says carmine is “produced by some scale insects, such as the cochineal beetle and the Polish cochineal.” And, “to prepare carmine, the powdered scale insect bodies are boiled in ammonia or a sodium carbonate solution, the insoluble matter is removed by filtering, and alum is added to the clear salt solution of carminic acid to precipitate the red aluminium salt.” Oh, also, “it has been known to cause severe allergic reactions and anaphylactic shock in some people.”  

Yummy. Made from insects and ammonia. I should probably figure out where the nearest hospital to my work is located. Just for future reference.

For my own sake, I’m not looking up the rest of the ingredients that I don’t recognize. But I guess I’ll try to stick with whole fruit once I’m done with the fruit cups.

Fall Festival

Last Saturday we went to the Clagett Farm Fall Festival. When we left the house, it was 54 degrees and rainy. When we got back into the car, the thermometer read 47 degrees. Despite the weather, we always have a good time.  Today I was mostly prepared. For the potluck, we took Rice Krispies Treats that I made with homemade marshmallows. We took enough cash to buy flowers, silent auction items, and other goodies. I had Aaron pack our camp chairs, and we took water bottles, and our own tableware. Unfortunately, as the first really cold day of the season, I didn’t bring my cold weather gear. Aaron and I both had a hoodie, and I took a slightly rain resistant jacket to put on top. We really should have had heavier coats, hats, and gloves. Especially since I was just getting over a cold. I came home wind burnt, which is never fun. 

After we put the food on the table, I went with a small group to check out the medicinal herb garden. Holly talked about mullein, pennyroyal, yarrow, comfrey, plantain, artichoke, spilanthes, cotton, cayenne, fennel, and alfalfa. Holly usually passed around a bit of each herb as she talked about them. Pennyroyal is in the mint family and makes a good tea. So when the pennyroyal came to me, I pulled off a leaf and popped it in my mouth. Holly then continued to say that the essential oil is toxic, and has been used for self-induced abortion. My hand went immediately to my mouth and I spit out the leaf. Luckily, it takes a lot of pennyroyal plants to make the concentrated essential oil, so I was in no danger. Holly also discussed mullein as an expectorant, and yarrow is antimicrobial. Artichoke leaves can help lower cholesterol by improving liver function. Alfalfa makes a nourishing tea, good for pregnancy. My favorite was the spilanthes flowers. If you eat a tiny bit of a flower, it makes your mouth tingly and numb. It’s good for toothaches. Aaron had stayed in the barn while I was learning about medicinal herbs, but he came out to the garden when it was time to eat. So I made him try a nibble of the spilanthes flower. I told him it would make his mouth tingle, but he still wasn’t prepared for it. He made the funniest faces!

The best part of the festival this year was the food. Everyone makes amazing dishes that are healthy and so good! I usually can’t eat a lot, and lately vegetables haven’t been very friendly with me. But I filled my plate with a variety of different salads and veggies. It was all wonderful, and I went back for seconds! The Clagett Farm string band provided entertainment while we ate.

The festival also features a silent auction. It was a bit small this year, maybe because the weather kept away last minute donations. But there were still some great items. As I finished writing a bid on a large handmade knit hat, Aaron came up and asked what I had bid on. “But I wanted to bid on the hat!” He pouted. I had to laugh and told him that I had bid for him, not against him. I also bid on a vase that I did not win, and a small berry bowl and a cookbook co-authored by the beef guy at the farm that I did win. As the silent auction neared closing time, I circled the table looking for empty bidding sheets. I was shocked to see that a medium adult knit hat did not have a bid. The tag said 21-24 inches, so despite my big head, I knew it would fit. So Aaron and I both won a hat in the auction. And we both immediately took them out of the bag, removed the tags, and put them on.  Ah, warmth! 

After the silent auction closed, a few hayrides started. We decided not to join the hayrides, so we purchase some mums, and took our winnings and flowers to the car. I made another trip back to barn to make a donation and bought a small container of Ray’s Halloween Hot Sauce. After a quick pit stop, I joined Aaron back at the car and we headed home.

Since it was rainy, I didn’t take any pictures. But here is a picture of spilanthes I grabbed from the internet.

Doctor's Appointment

I hate going to see the doctor. In fact, usually I’d prefer going to see the dentist over the doctor.  It all comes from being very sick when I was really little and having my blood drawn every day because the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. And more than I hate seeing the doctor, I hate getting stuck with a needle. I don’t faint or get sick. But the rest of the day I ache all over, and the length of my forearm (because that’s the only place I’ve been stuck as an adult) itches on the inside. I am sure it is all in my head, but that’s what I feel.

I remember once when I was little, going with my mom and brother to the doctor’s office. My brother needed to get a shot. While we waited in the exam room for the doctor to arrive with the shot, I started scheming. I wanted to trip the doctor when he came in, grab the shot, stick the doctor with it, grab my brother, and run out. Of course I knew that the flaw with the plan was that my mom would not allow me to carry it out. I didn’t attempt it.   

So besides all of the other things to worry about with getting pregnant, I was also not looking forward to all of the doctor’s visits. For my first pregnancy appointment, I tried a new OB/GYN, and luckily, it turns out I like her.  So my appointments have generally not been too stressful. But since I have borderline high blood pressure, my pregnancy is considered “high risk” and I have to see my doctor every two weeks.

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This is where you should stop reading this post if you don’t want to know the “fun” bits of my doctor’s appointments. Don’t worry, I don’t know the gender yet to reveal it.

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The routine is to show my insurance card, go to the bathroom and pee in a cup, get weighed, get my blood pressure checked, and then meet with my doctor.  

On the first two initial visits the baby was too small to see with the kind of ultrasound machine they have that goes on the belly. Instead, I was surprised to find out those first visits required the use of a wand type of ultrasound that goes inside. Gosh, they don’t show that on TV or in movies. At least the first time I got to take home a picture for my discomfort. 

After the first two initial visits, the doctor checked the baby’s heartbeat with a regular “on the belly” ultrasound machine. Now just to be clear, the ultrasound machine that my doctor has is nothing fancy. I will have to go to different office for a real ultrasound at 20 weeks to find out the gender and have all of the other baby ultrasound checkup stuff done.   

All was well until my doctor was in training for a week, and I had to make an appointment with a different OB/GYN. I saw this same guy doctor in April for a regular female check-up, and when I told him I was thinking about getting pregnant, he told me to take folic acid, lose weight, and come back in a year if I‘m not pregnant. I wasn’t impressed, so that’s why I switched to my female doctor. But I assumed I could suffer a short routine appointment with him. Instead of using the belly ultrasound, he just tried to use the Doppler to hear the baby’s heart beat. I could hear something that sounded like the heartbeat, but every time I did, he’d move the Doppler. I wondered if his hearing was up to par for listening to the Doppler. But whatever, he wasn’t concerned. He asked me if I had had my first trimester ultrasound yet.  I hadn’t, so he put in a referral. While he was at it, I asked him if I could have a referral for my 20 week ultrasound, so that I could make that appointment and have it coincide with my mom’s visit. But guy doctor didn’t understand that I wanted to make the appointment to occur in my 20^th week. Instead, he thought I wanted to have the 20 week ultrasound around then, which was 13-14 weeks. He told me I couldn’t have it until 20 -24 weeks, which was also different than the 18-20 weeks I had heard previously. So I let it go. A few days later the referral shows up in the mail. Instead of “first trimester ultrasound,” like he had told me, the referral said “genetic testing.” I was furious. I had discussed genetic testing with my regular doctor and the nurses, and they knew I didn’t want genetic testing. But guy doctor didn’t ask me about genetic testing and didn’t bother to tell me that the ultrasound would involve genetic testing. So I fell into my usual pattern of behavior with doctors… I didn’t bother to make the appointment.

I really should have contacted my regular female doctor when I received the referral. Because if the referral including anything other than the optional testing, I would have been in trouble. At my next appointment, my regular doctor saw the referral and asked if I had made an appointment.  She pointed out that it was now too late, because I had started my second trimester. Luckily I had been correct, the ultrasound was just the genetic testing that had I decided against. I also explained the miscommunication about the 20 week ultrasound. She understood and would have made the appointment for me then, if the computer system would have let her. But she assured me that at my next appointment I’d be able to make the appointment, and it wouldn’t be a problem to get the day I wanted.  

She also tried to use the Doppler to hear the baby’s heartbeat. But this time, I didn’t hear anything either.  Being more thorough, she used the belly ultrasound. I was amazed to be able to make out two distinct spots - a head area and a body area. We could just make out the heartbeat as a little flash in the body. But when doctor tried to have the machine record it, Baby moved so that it was hidden! Baby did this a few times before doctor was able to get a fix on it.

That brings me to today. Normally I’d have my appointment on my day off of work which is on Friday this week. But my regular doctor wasn’t available, and I refuse to go back to the guy doctor. So I made my appointment for this morning (Wednesday), and I had to go to work an hour late after the appointment.  

I accidently arrived too early. The front desk guy was there, and he sent me to the bathroom, as usual. When I was finished, I came out just in time to see the regular nurse just walking in to the office with her coat on. Another nurse offered to take my weight and blood pressure, and get me settled in an exam room.

Up until my previous appointment, I was averaging about 1 pound lost a week. Today I’m the same weight as two and a half weeks ago. This is actually good, in my opinion. I’m not supposed to gain too much weight during pregnancy, because I’m already overweight.  My blood pressure is also holding steady, so that’s good too.

Today I had a longer wait for the doctor, just because I arrived so early. Of course, I forgot my book. I started thinking of all the medical stuff I needed to get done. I’m supposed to get a flu shot, take a glucose test, and get a PPD test. The flu shot I’m on the fence about and if I get it, I want to pick a week that I don’t have big plans, just in case I get sick. For the glucose test, I have to drink a sweet drink at the lab, and then wait an hour before they draw my blood. I was supposed to do that by now, but I caught a cold last week and honesty, I forgot about it. I’ll do it next weekend.  The PPD test is done in the doctor’s office, and I have to come back between 48-72 hours to have it read. That’s been a problem because I don’t want to take time off from work just for the test. However, I’m already taking time off of work this morning, and I have a day off on Friday. So I asked my doctor if I could come in on Friday to have the test read. Luckily I only need to see a nurse, so I said I’d get the PPD today. Doctor also asked me about the flu shot. I told her honestly that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get it. Although she highly recommended getting it, she also said that it was my choice. I was happy to hear that.

Doctor was also right about my 20 week ultrasound. The computer system let her make the appointment this time, and it was no problem getting it scheduled for the morning I wanted. Also, I’m not waiting until 20-24 weeks like the guy doctor said. My doctor said it wasn’t a problem to schedule it for 19 weeks, 6 days.  I can’t wait. I’m taking Aaron and my mom!   

After the administrative stuff, Doctor pulled out the Doppler, but we heard nothing. Then she got out the belly ultrasound machine.  I could see the head and body again, but the heartbeat was not showing up. The doctor started to get agitated with the machine, and she kept pushing harder into my belly. The nurse came in with the PPD test, so doctor showed the nurse the screen and discussed how the quality of the picture had gone down recently, and some other problems she had had with the machine recently. So the nurse left to let someone know that the machine needed to be fixed. Doctor turned to me and told me that we should use the wand.  I didn’t really care at that point, since I’ve had the wand on my first two visits, and it wasn’t that bad. Doctor apologized several times. She said that this far in the pregnancy, we shouldn’t need to use the wand, but the machine wasn’t working right.

The first image that popped up on the screen was the top of Baby’s head. I could see my baby’s brain! It was so cool! Doctor said it was a good looking brain. But that’s not what we were looking for. Doctor moved the wand around until we got a side view. It was at this point that I realized why doctor was apologizing so much. The wand had plenty of room the first two visits. This time, not so much. It was very uncomfortable, and I also felt like I had to pee. Every movement with the wand hurt. To me, it seemed like she was poking around for a long time before finding the heartbeat. I actually said “Yay!” when she found it. “Nice and fast,” the doctor said of the heartbeat, and she printed out a picture for my troubles. She pointed out the head and spine in the picture. I think I can also see an arm, but doctor didn’t point that out, so I’m not sure.

After getting dressed, the nurse came back in to give me the PPD. I didn’t watch, but when she was done it looked like a mosquito bite on my arm. It didn’t hurt too much at the time. But I’ve been paying for it all day. Again, it is probably all in my head. I’m achy all over and the inside of my arm itches. It also doesn’t help that my belly feels like it was used for a punching bag.

I think seeing Baby’s brain made the whole experience worth it. But today sure has been a roller coaster before even getting to work!

The second photo is a copy of the first, with Baby's head circled in red and spine boxed in orange. 



Alcohol

I was looking over our pictures (http://hooppics.shutterfly.com/) to see what events I haven’t written about since getting pregnant. And at first it seemed like quite a few of them would have involved alcohol. I sat here thinking, “Crap. Did I drink?” Luckily the answer was always “No.” I was very careful when we started trying. In fact I’m pretty sure I wasn’t pregnant yet when we went to Atlantic City, but I made Aaron use my free drink coupons, just in case. 

We went over to a friend’s house for dinner near the end of June, and of course they opened a bottle of wine.  None for me, we’re trying.  I *might* have been pregnant by then, but it is hard to say for sure.

The next day we went to Fado Irish Pub to meet some friends from Pennsylvania. Now Fado is the one place in DC that I know I can get a good cider. I have always had a drink here, even when we took my mom and grandma. Luckily Aaron can now stomach cider, so I cheated and had a tiny sip of his.

Fourth of July rolled around, but I wouldn’t be “late” for another 2 days. We invited all of our friends over, so I stocked up on beer and cider. I drank Izzy sparkling juice instead.  That was actually a weird day. I felt so “out of it,” like my head was fuzzy all day. At the party, one couple brought their own turquoise plastic cups. I’ve never purchased turquoise plastic cups. But several of us were talking in the kitchen and our drinks were sitting on the counter. Instead of my bottle of Izzy, I picked up a turquoise cup. Luckily I was still talking, so the owner of the cup quickly pointed out my mistake before I had a chance to drink from it.  It was so bizarre. I read later about “pregnancy brain” so I guess maybe that’s what was wrong with me.  

I took the first pregnancy test on July 10 that came out faintly positive. I took another after work on July 12, and we told our parents that night.  Since then, there haven’t been too many occasions to drink. Normally I only drink when we have an occasion to do so, whether it is a party, or going out to dinner somewhere that serves cider. We don’t usually drink at home or on a regular basis. But of course the first few weeks that I knew I was pregnant, I start dreaming about drinking! We always want what we can’t have, I guess.

I almost forgot; we were invited over to our friends’ for dinner and a wine tasting in the first week of August. We had already announced that I was pregnant, so they got me a bottle of sparkling juice that was actually really good. Jennifer said that’s what she drank when she was pregnant. So I held their nearly 5 month old while the rest of them tasted fancy bottles of wine.  I may have sneaked the tiniest taste (not even a full sip) of Aaron’s wine when they came across a particularly good one.

Intervention convention was in mid-September, and that was hard. I have to admit, I do enjoy drinking at conventions, because 1) it is other people’s booze, 2) drinking makes me a lot more social, and 3) I always have a ton of fun. Intervention is a new convention so I didn’t know what to expect. Well, I just had to attend the panel, “Ultimate Room Party: How to seem completely badass with booze.” After the panel was finished, we were invited up to the panelist’s room to try some out. I made Aaron try some drinks and I just stuck my tongue in his cup to taste it. Sadly I didn’t see many room parties. The room next to ours decorated around their window and door, opened the window curtain so everyone could see their awesome spread of food and the room full of people, and they had their door ajar.  I don’t think you could make a party any more obvious. But when opened the door, everyone just stared at me. I’m glad I had enough sense to ask if it was an open party. “No. Invitation only to keep costs down.” WTF? That ruined my night. The one party I could enjoy because they had food instead of booze, and I wasn’t invited. I’m getting really fed up with people at conventions flaunting their private parties. That is just not in the spirit of convention.  After that, I really didn’t feel like doing much else. We didn’t even get dressed up for the steampunk dance, which actually turned out to be a good thing, because the dance started over an hour late. So we skipped the dance, and for the first time since I’ve been of legal drinking age, I went to bed at a decent hour at convention.

I’ve already told you about the Renaissance Festival. I missed my cider, but I drank herbal tea and “limey on ice” instead and managed to stay well hydrated.

I guess I will be making a non-alcoholic jell-o brain for Halloween. If people would eat it, I could make two brains, one alcoholic and one not. I did manage to find the perfect liquor to make the brain creamy but not weird looking. Most liquor doesn’t mix right with the other ingredients.  The stuff I use is from Africa and it’s not always easy to find. But making an alcoholic brain would be a waste, because most people won’t eat it. I’ll just have to save it for next year (or later) when I can eat the leftovers myself.

Seneca Rocks

I decided that I wanted to start this journal while on our last camping trip. Over Labor Day weekend, we decided to camp with our friend Sue at Seneca Shadows campground in the Seneca Rocks area of West Virginia. The camping experience wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. The weekend was very humid, and either hot or rainy. We even had some scary thunderstorms.

I really find it interesting that the weekend weather reports from Friday can change so drastically by Sunday. We were supposed to have a chance of afternoon thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday. That held pretty well on Saturday. We had to hurry back to our campsite before lunch due to a thunderstorm that popped up while we were at the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center.  We made a sandwich lunch under the canopy, and retreated to the car when the thunder and lightning got close. But after it passed, we had a rain-free campfire dinner. On Sunday, however, the rain threatened closer to dinner.  The first thunderstorm thankfully stayed on the other side of the mountain. We got some rain and could hear the thunder and see lighting flashes, but it move northeast along the mountain ridge. We were finishing with dinner when more thunderstorms began to roll in on top of us. No s’mores for us.  We spent most of the evening reading in the car, wondering if the weather would let up. It didn’t. It continued to thunderstorm through the night and was still raining the next morning.

I thought it was a pretty good idea to have a crank radio with us, just in case we needed news or weather. But it ended up being useless. The radio works fine, if there are radio stations to listen to. I couldn’t find any. While we were holed up in the car, I tried to find some on the car radio as well. No wonder the crank radio didn’t work. There was only one FM station available, and it wasn’t coming from anywhere nearby. The only weather news we were able to get before turning it off in disgust was that rain from Tropical Storm Lee was on its way.  But we weren’t getting rain from Lee yet. During the day, no AM stations were available. Sunday night my car was able to pick up several AM stations, but I gave up on those pretty fast when I realized one of them was from California.

A good lesson learned was to find out about the area where you are camping before you go! I knew that Spruce Mountain farther south was in the National Quiet Zone, but I had no idea how far the zone extended. Yep, we were camping within the National Quiet Zone. So in addition to not having radio stations, our cell phones didn’t work either.  At least we were within walking distance of the few businesses that made up the Seneca Rocks area, in case of an emergency.

Enough about the weather and lack of technology. The real event I wanted to talk about is our hike up Seneca Rocks. Since it was so hot, we tried to get up early on Sunday to take the hike up to the observation platform. The hike was 1.5 miles up to the platform, with an elevation change of 1,000 feet.

We got started early enough that we saw a few climbing groups and fishermen in the parking lot also getting started. But the heat and humidity were already bad. Thankfully we didn’t meet too many people on the way up, except for the guy insanely jogging back down. Being out of shape and pregnant made the hike hard. I had to take a lot of breaks and was winded the whole way. I kept wondering if I was actually going to make it to the top, and whether or not I was going to hurt myself and/or the baby.  A few days before the hike, I had begun to wonder if I was getting a little bit short of breath due to pregnancy.  So I hoped that being winded was normal, that hiking was good exercise, and as long as I took it slow, baby and I would both be fine.  

 Luckily there were a lot of neat things to see on the hike to make it enjoyable - different trees, mosses, mushrooms, rocks, and bugs. When we got to the platform, we had a magnificent view of the valley below. Sadly, we couldn’t see the rest of the Seneca Rocks formation, and I was too pooped to venture farther up. Soon after we arrived at the top, another hiker showed up with a pink travel size ukulele on her back. She sat down and played a bit, which was really cool.

The hike down was a little bit easier, but as Sue pointed out, more treacherous. I slid a few times on the steep gravel path, but luckily didn’t hurt myself. We passed several groups on their way up, and Sue let them know how much farther they had to go and gave them words of encouragement.

Overall, it was a good experience, and I’m glad that I made it to the top. Baby Hoop, you’ve been on Seneca Rocks!

View from the observation platform at Seneca Rocks. More pictures at http://hooppics.shutterfly.com/11782.