Big Family Steps: Baby showers & Margaritas

I am extremely lucky to have the friends I have here in Okinawa. They are my go to people when I need a cup of sugar or even just someone to vent to. It makes living here much more special. When you're expecting, you really start missing your family. Sharing the excitement over your newest addition is something truly amazing. But having friends makes it a little better. So that's why I'm so happy to be writing about the baby shower that I had with my Okinawa friends.
One of the unfortunate things about being here so long is that I've watched most of my friends leave. Many of my friends who have already moved arrived here before or after us even. It's starting to get to be a bit sad watching everyone else leave, not knowing when that time will be for us. Don't get me wrong, I like many things about Okinawa, but one of the saddest things is watching your best friends leave. Unfortunately most of my friends are now gone. On the bright side though, I've met some great new friends to share my new excitement with. And it's those great friends who joined me today for my Baby Step #2 shower!
My friend Angie did a great job planning my shower. She cooked and baked some wonderful goodies and found some really cute games to play. She is a great friend that i'm very lucky to have.
Unfortunately the weather was a bit of a mess, but we made due thanks to the tent covering us. Gotta love okinawa weather, it would rain for 5 minutes and then be hot and humid and sunny for 15 minutes! Sub-tropical weather at its finest. I had a great time still, and am very thankful to those who came.

The boys in the morning hanging out

Wendy made this Diaper cake

Dima helping set up

yummy foods

After the shower, I geared up and headed out the door with Angie and Tim to run a Margaritaville 5k Fun run. This was just for fun, as I wanted to run a 5k before baby was born. I usually run longer then 5k, so I figured it would be fine. The biggest problem I had in this run was the fact that it was hot out. It was 110 degrees and very humid! Being 32 weeks pregnant- the heat is your enemy. Luckily, I hydrated like crazy beforehand and even brought my camelbak with me to strap on my back while running.
Before the race we got to pick up our t-shirts, margarita glasses (which light up!) and tons of other great goodies. There were free margaritas (non-alcoholic) beforehand which many people were grabbing. I wasn't dumb enough to grab something like that before running in the heat when pregnant though.
And so, the race began. I was doing great for so long. I was passing people like crazy, I even passed a lot of young Marines, which is really saying something when in your third trimester. I didn't pay any attention to my time at all during the race. There were 3 water stations during the race which served margaritas, gatorade, and water. I didn't stop at any of them though because I had brought my own. I ran the entire thing, until I got to that last water station. It was then that the heat got to me. I had to stop for a little and walk. There was no shade at all during the entire run and it was 5pm so the sun was blazing. I decided I'd stop for one song on my workout playlist, but ended up needing to walk for 2 songs. So that was about a 5-6 minute walking break. I was really sad at myself for having to stop, but gosh it was very hot. You'd be surprised how many others had to stop too.
What was even worse, is that during this time of the race- baby decided to turn and drop into birth position. Yep. Baby dropped. I began to feel some extreme pelvic pressure and noticed my belly looked a little lower. Zach never dropped (he was breech) so I was unfamiliar with the feeling. I am still not 100% sure if this is indeed what happened, but I'm assuming so with all the pressure I began feeling.
I finally got my second wind and ran for the last leg of the run. I finished in 34:11 (according to the watch of the guy who was a few strides behind me). Not even close to my best time, but being 32 weeks pregnant and running in the heat must have something to do with that. I thought it was actually a very good time considering heat, humidity, pregnancy, and having a baby drop.
The run was hot, but fun none the less. I look forward to many more runs in the future! Even though I couldn't enjoy a nice cold margarita after the race, I still had a great time. I'll have one of those yummy, tasty drinks sometime after baby is born. Hey, it's 5 o'clock somewhere right?