Oh My Achin'

Everything.

Sometimes I am just too confident in my abilities.

You know, I've been very blessed with great pregnancies and this one is no different. I feel good, I have a decent amount of energy, and I want to be able to take part in all things normal. It is a disgusting idea to think that I have to be "delicate" in any way because I'm pregnant.

So, when Donnie & I scheduled the day that we would fulfill our promises to the big kids, I was 100% sure I could handle the load with only minimal tiredness.

The promise we made? Back when the big kids' birthdays rolled around in May and June, we asked them if we could forego the big birthday bashes (since we were in the middle of a crazy ball season) and just take them to Six Flags or White Water instead. They agreed and we've all looked forward to doing this before school started. So when we realized our time was running short, we scheduled the trip for this past Thursday.

Obviously, the pregnancy DOES prevent me from a really rewarding trip to Six Flags and since David isn't quite tall enough to ride all the thrill rides, he agreed with me that it would be best for us to do White Water while Donnie and the girls went to SF (Hudson stayed with my sister's family for the day). It was a great arrangement and we were all excited about it. I knew I should be able to ride the tame slides without any problem and if exhaustion began to set in, the lazy river wasn't far away.

So we started our day when the park opened. IT WAS A HOT, HOT DAY of course but once we were inside the turnstiles the shade trees and sound of running water helped us forget about the true scorcher that it was. David was SO excited and as soon as our stuff was packed away in a locker, we rushed over to the first of our innertube rides.

Oops. Stairs. I KNEW there would be stairs, of course....but in my mind we would walk up them slowly, while standing in a terribly long line and taking a teeny one-step-at-a-time climb. Uhhh, no. The crowd was small and we basically walked STRAIGHT UP TO THE TOP of the attraction without pause.

OK, that was fine the first.....hmmmmm....five times. But it wasn't long before I was out of breath and my calves felt like fire. I much preferred the rides where the raft was waiting for you at the top, as opposed to the one where you had to lug it up by yourself. Those nearly killed me. In fact, on the double-tube (an 8-shaped innertube that allowed David & I to ride down together) I did not enjoy the ride at all because I was so busy calming down the ache in my lungs.

Thankfully, David got pretty exhausted, too. He ENJOYED the lazy river so we drifted many laps around in it. But he wanted to re-do all his favorites after lunch and....who I am (SuperMom) to deny him??

So we go at it again. Goodness.

Kiddie area you ask? Yeah, I tried but my little 6-year-old took one look at it (from an aeriel view at the top of his favoritee "Runaway-River") and said, "No, Mom. That's pitiful."

So we survive it and actually had a really great time. I didn't think about the heat even once (the park really is nicely shaded except for a few spots where you are in the water) and my determination to DO THIS for David gave me the strength to get us back to Donnie & the girls.

But once we were with them, I became a whiny baby. I needed my bed. And I needed the assurance that I would be allowed to be as lazy as I desired on Friday.

Thankfully, Donnie was off work so we all slept late (I don't think anyone made a peep until about 9:30am.) But it didn't take me long to realize that Friday was "recovery" day for me. My legs HURT. And I mean REALLY HURT. My back was aching. My arms reminded me air-filled innertubes are NOT as light as one might think. Oh my. I barely moved but when I did, there were sounds to let everyone in the house know that I was not enjoying it.

Thankfully there is a wonderful invention called "Sport" and by taking it every few hours, all my pain was gone by evening, except for my legs. Oh my poor legs.

And today is Saturday. They still hurt. But I'm hoping that with continued Sport, I will be pain-free by nightfall.

Moral of the story? Waterparks are possible but should be taken in small doses.