Whooping cough and karaoke

I got my whooping cough vaccine last week. It's recommended for all parents - to - be or anyone expected to spend a significant amount of time around an infant. I called to make appointments for both of us on Monday. The doctor's office did their usual routine of "oh, can't squeeze you in for at least two months" and then call back to say we could come in on Wednesday. I guess it's the medical version of playing hard to get, or something. They called back again to say Eric had actually been recently vaccinated, so he was covered.

I went in, got the shot, and it didn't really hurt at all. I was mentally pinning up my gold stars for making strides in overcoming my lifelong crippling fear of needles, due to all the blood you have to give during pregnancy. I went out to the car and glanced over the information sheet they had given me. It started to seem oddly..... familiar. The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that I too had received the shot recently, just last summer, in fact. By the time I got home I had completely lost my mind and was well on my way to full blown hysteria that having two of the same vaccine in the same year was 100% guaranteed to have horrific results, TBD.

I called the office and they did verify that I had received the vaccine the previous August. After being on hold for quite some time while they conferred with various nurses and doctors, they said it was on purpose so that some of the antibodies would be passed on to the baby. Well then. They could have told me that from the start. Also, I specifically remember my doctor telling me to get the vaccine last summer because I shared that I hoped to be pregnant soon - so what exactly was the point of that then?

I was relieved that I wasn't about to succumb to a terrible bout of whooping cough any minute (supposedly) but I didn't get off as easy as I thought from the painless injection. The area got red and swollen the next day, and the red area just kept growing and growing, to the point where it would elicit "OMG what is that?" reactions from a fair distance, and also shirts with sleeves hurt. But none of the "severe reaction" symptoms from the info sheet have occurred yet, so unless I just jinxed myself, we are in the clear.

Despite that troubling experience, I still went on to do things and see people in the next few days. Something weird happened, actually. I had this weird urge to interact with the world Friday night, and was dissatisfied just spending time alone with fictional characters. Quite odd.

Saturday was my good friend John's birthday party. We get along well. He opted to celebrate his birthday the same way we celebrated our wedding. Karaoke.

This was just the at home warm up before we went out to a karaoke place and had our own private room. That's right, we had complete control of the microphone. Be very jealous.

Going out was a big deal since he has a brand new son. I've mentioned this kid quite a bit, because he's awesome. Before karaoke, we met at their house for delicious barbeque. Eric thought we were going out for barbeque. I had to give him the bad news that those days are pretty much done.

Now, it's an early dinner with two pregos, a new baby, and a toddler in attendance. It's a bit of a change from our celebrations from a few years ago. I don't mean that as a complaint. I got my wild days out as a youngster, so I'm loving this new style (clearly, I didn't get knocked up by accident).  Plus I'll take all the baby and toddler practice I can get!

Why have birthday cake when you can have birthday pie? Well, obviously I would never personally choose such a thing, but this pie is actually so good that it's an acceptable choice. It's made with Berger cookies, a Baltimore delicacy (loaded with chocolate, which is why it's ok for a birthday dessert).

The classy choice is to bring the pie to karaoke and bathe it in black light. 

 

I was willing to leave the house at 9am on Sunday. This is a pretty big deal for me. My BFF Casi and I (see above, holding cute baby) have been tight since middle school, and another one of our close friends from that awkward era lives about two hours away. We met her and her adorable daughter for brunch.

She's due two weeks after me and also having a boy. I put on the full fledged blogger hat and demanded a parking lot bump photo.

 

One year from now, expect an awesome Instagram side by side of this photo and one of us holding our boys.

Then I came home and studied for a test I have to pay for and take to prove I can teach reading in the state of Maryland because 9 years of successful reading test scores from my students doesn't do that. Apparently. Totally not bitter. Pray I don't fail.

Are you a hypochondriac like me? I occasionally give in to temptation and ignore my husband imposed ban on WebMD. But I'm getting better. Just this weekend I summoned the willpower not to click on a picture labeled "graphic" in an article about the American Ebola virus victims.