Natural disasters and heart shapes

Well, last week Dave left with the band on Wed around lunch to head down to Florida for the weekend for shows. I got home from work around 1 on Friday. I spent most of the afternoon catching up with some friends on the phone and reading our newest Book Club book "Sarah's Key". It was nice weather with sunshine, so I stayed outside until I made dinner. Before I woke up Saturday morning it was thunder storming with hard rains. Now the news/weather people said that they were predicting hard storms and rains and maybe get 5 inches or so. Well, it rained all day, with maybe an hour of just light mist. Around 3:00 the power went out and stayed out til after 6. Turned the tv on, still raining, flooding in parts of Nashville was being reported. There was some crazy live footage of major interstates filling up with water and people having to evacuate their cars, portable buildings floating down the interstate, and big trucks making huge waves & making cars bop up and down as they were trying to push on through the water. I couldn't believe what was happening. Then more and more places started to flood and all attention turned towards the Cumberland River, along with many other smaller rivers around Nashville (especially on the East and West side). The rain continued on Sunday with no relief until after 5pm, and even when the rained stopped the flood waters did not. The rivers were expected to crest, 1st and 2nd Ave downtown buildings were flooding, houses, schools, restuarants, stores, offices, music venues, and the Opryland Hotel all around Nashville were flooding! Of course, most of this was being reported to me via text message and then I finally found a radio w/ batteries, b/c our power had gone out again around 12pm. Dave was supposed to get back by late Sunday night, but I was so worried that the roads would be blocked. I had sent him some pix text of some damage on the news Sat, but not convey how bad it really was to them. They were not getting any news coverage in Florida or Alabama on the way back that eluded to SEVERE problems. By dark on Sunday I was starting to panic a little. My neighbor did come over for an hour to sit and hang with me, but she was nervous b/c she hadn't heard from her parents, whose subdivision was flooding and we heard they were evacuating. We walked to our neighborhood's entrance and were relieved to see no flooding in our neighborhood or on the main road we turn onto. Still no power, night falls, and I only have AA batteries. Which work for the radio, but not for the flashlights or lanterns that I have, so I am relying on one flashlight that only charges electrically, so I light many candles and try to use it sparingly. Get word that schools are closed on Monday, and spend most of my time reading my book by candle light and alternating my meals between peanut butter sandwiches and pineapple & cheese sandwiches, I filled up some water jugs just incase the water was turned off too. I had found my car charger and charged my phone some earlier since it was dying early on on Sunday, but as I went out to charge it again later, my car would not crank! I tried not to panic, let Dave know that it was about to die and really hoping he would make it home. He called after he dropped Pete and Cullen off in East Nashville and my phone went dead in the first minute, instant panic, it was about 11 at night. I went out to my car again, still wouldn't crank, but with the key turned one click the car charger would charge my phone! So I called Dave back and talked to him until he got home....so relieved! Power still off, we went to bed soonly. Power was still off when we woke up, thank goodness it wasn't too hot outside yet. But the sun was out and looked like a pretty day; however, the radio reports sounded awful. Our neighbors found their parents and that their house was ruined, they have since moved in next door. We made it to Wal-Mart down the road for batteries, ice, some food, etc. Then Dave hooked up the power inverter to a power cord in the house and we were able to run our internet, computers, fans, and phone chargers. So we were able to get some more info about what was going on. We babysat the neighbors' 2 girls for a few hours while they went and gutted their parents' ruined house, dvd movie on computer w/ snacks and playdoh worked out well. Then the power came back on by 9, so we had a hot meal and a warm shower before bed. Some people still don't have power and much damage has been done to houses and vehicles. It is hard to get to some areas, so I haven't been able to work a full day yet. Schools are still closed and maybe for a while, even some families houses are hard to get to, but I don't think any of the families I work with got bad flooding. Some people now have nothing though. So sad. We are gonna donate some stuff, but I can't be near the water since I'm preggo. Dave leaves town again tomorrow and I'm leaving for Centre this weekend for Mother's Day. The band is playing in Gadsden on Sat night, so we'll be headed back to N'ville on Sunday.

We were also able to get to our doctor's appt in Franklin on Tuesday. We had our 2nd official ultrasound to get all of the measurements. Marlee looks great, but I was informed that I have a heart-shaped uterus. Which has not been mentioned to me before. It's not formed into 2 different sections, but has a peak/point at the top, so the placenta is in one nook and Marlee's head is in the other. The risks include miscarriages (which my doctor is now not worried about since I'm 5 months/22 weeks along), abnormal pain, preterm labor, and breech positioning resulting in a C-section. Once Marlee gets so big, if she is still head up, she will not be able to turn into head down position b/c of the point. Some women with heart-shaped uteruses have delievered vaginally healthily, and a C-section isn't the end of the world, so this just means that I'll have to be monitored very closely as I and she grows, and towards the end some decisions will have to be made. Hopefully I can pull off a normal birth just fine, but I guess we'll see. Trying to stay positive! As long as Marlee is safe and happy, so am I. Only 4 more months!