Busy, busy, busy

Life has been busy.

Carrie failed her first glucose test and had to go in for Round 2. The thought of pregnancy diabetes really spooked her for a while, but she's doing better now. She's been stressed and depressed lately, but we're 29 weeks down and Shane is still kicking mightily. We'll get through this kid yet. Carrie's mom came up Friday to spend the night and spend some time with Care-bear, which let me drive a couple of hours in traffic to just miss seeing my friend's wedding. That was a bummer, but I was just glad I got out there at all so I could see the ring and yell congratulations from the dock. It was also nice to get out of the house for a change. Maybe I'll get Carrie to go see Toy Story 3 with me this week, or get to armor up and get my butt kicked with the local SCA crew.

I got my second rejection on my Life Choices story. The good news is, the rejection letter said "Much improved" and "do please try me with your next story."  I haven't heard back on the flash piece, but I noticed some editing errors in it when I showed it to my wife. It probably won't pass muster, but it's all practice.  

Speaking of practice: I haven't done much writing lately here or on any stories. I need to get back in the habit. Life gets busy, I get tired and distracted, or I end up playing League Of Legends more than I should. This week I'm going to make a goal to try and guarantee a once a week post here on my blog and to spend at least 30 minutes a day writing. It's not a lot, but every little bit counts.

So, my wife is on bedrest...

In a word, last Thursday sucked for my wife.

The day before, Carrie told me that her foot was bothering her when she walked. I've heard many stories about pregnant women and swollen ankles, so I assumed it was something of a similar nature.

Nope. It was a stress fracture. I got a "I broke my foot" call at work. And that wasn't the worst of the day.

Carrie has been going through a lot of horse trauma. Chilly got starved by a leaser over the long winter, rescued, and now has Lyme disease. Throw in some angry/hurt feelings and you have a butt-load of stress for my wife. Pregnant + Lots of Stress = the beginning of pre-term labor.

At first, I didn't really believe it was happening. Carrie was only 26 weeks in. She said she felt weird, "like a large cramp from a period." We tried calling the doctor. No response. Twenty minutes later, we started driving to the hospital "just in case" and called the doctor again. I still didn't think anything was happening at this point, but I figured if it just turned out Carrie was just having a panic moment, I could easily turn around. If it was real (and it was) then we would already be on the way. I'm new to the whole parenting thing, but having a baby isn't something you want to take unnecessary risks with.

When we called the doctor again, she seemed annoyed that we were already in the car. However, when we finally did get up into triage, Carrie started having contractions every 3-5 minutes. I remember asking the nurse, Jonni (or something like that), if the blips on a machine were contractions. She replied that Carrie "had been having one for the past 30 seconds." I'm not going to relate the whole night in agonizing detail (I could write a short story on the hospital, the hunt for a wheelchair, empty nurse's stations, and attempting to draw blood from a woman who violently hates needles). Instead, I'm just going to point out that we didn't leave the hospital until after midnight. What's the first thing we do? McDonald's.

That's right, we went on a 12:30 run to the Scottish restaurant on the way home because we were starving. Go sweet tea.

I wrote up lesson plans for a sub (since I was supposed to be up in a few hours) and sent them off at 1:30 AM on the dot. Carrie had already passed out from exhaustion at that point. I closed my laptop, said a prayer, and passed out the moment my head hit the pillow. Carrie's been on bed rest ever since.

Fantasy Football

On a quick note: my fantasy football draft was last night. This is my second year doing it and I'm really stoked. I was really lucky and managed to get second place with a losing record last year, so I probably used up all of my beginner's luck and am doomed to defeat and disgrace. I don't care though. It makes football season a lot more fun than watching my Redskins shoot themselves in the foot.

Here's to hoping for a winning season for all my teams fantasy and real.

Full Medieval Panic

I got to strap on armor and fight medieval style for the first time on Tuesday! I learned several important things at the SCA Heavy Fighting practice:

1. When worn properly, the armor will absorb a huge amount of impact. The first hits are startling, but they didn't hurt much after I got used to the surprise factor.

2. When worn improperly, the armor will not absorb nearly as much. A loose, ringing helm is no bueno.

3. There are gaps in the armor. I have a beautiful bruise larger than my fist on the side of my thigh to prove it. It stung at the time, but was in no debilitating. I acknowledged the hit, shook it off, and kept sparring. It doesn't hurt now either, but it's great for eliciting sympathy from the wife (along with a few looks of "why in the world would you ever do that again?")

4. SCA people are nice. It takes a special sort to help another man dress...even if it is in armor. They also went much slower and would allow me to initiate almost all of the exchanges instead of laying on the hurt.

5. I'm out of shape. I've been trying to work out some in preparation for fighting. Hwever, running around in armor can wear you down surprisingly quick. Also, unlike when I wrestled, you can't just drop against a wall and rest after a match either. You're still encased in an armored sauna.

Basically, when I showed up on Tuesday there were four guys there. Two were doing medieval fencing, and then Will and Ragnar were there to do the heavy fighting. Everyone ended up standing around talking before the action started. Ragnar suited me up, and then Will gave me my first sparring match while Ragnar half coached while putting on his armor. After I was worn out (Will was rearing to go more), Ragnar tossed me a water bottle, and then he and will went at it. Will had tried to recreate a French glaive from a picture, and Ragnar used two swords (Florentine style). They ran all around sparring for a while (Will managed to get backed into a tree at one point), and I eventually got to try a quick match against Ragnar. After we were done, Will and the Baron (now done with fencing) had a sparring match while I stripped down. Carrie sent me a few "When are you coming home" texts, so I watched for a little bit and said my good-byes.

So far, it's easier and harder than I expected. Easier, in that the theory behind fighting sword and shield is pretty simple. Ragnar showed me four basic types of strikes and that was all I needed to know to start. Harder, in that it's much more difficult to time things right, hit where you want to hit, and maintain good form and energy while in motion. In the end, it was a lot of fun and I plan on going back next week.