The Wheelin' Season Has Officially Ended!

I am more than disappointed that the first "real run" of the season has officially become my last. I did great out at Knik with the clean-up and had little to no discomfort while riding on the trail. However, this weekend was a MUCH DIFFERENT STORY. But before I get into all of that, here is a pic of all the rigs on this run. We are the first rig on the left.

The snow got a little deep at the top, so we turned things around a little earlier than planned... which by that point, was more than ok with me. Here is a picture of a few of the rigs that got into the deeper stuff. This is actually the best kind of wheelin' because it doesn't tear anything up that won't melt away and reveal the pristine environment that is my back yard... well, technically about an hour behind my back yard.



We ran into a few problems with our tire... the trail proved a little rockier and rougher in parts than our sidewall could handle and a bit of mud got into our bead. When we stopped for lunch, I heard this hissing sound coming from the fron't tire. This is the fix it process on the trail. Not sure how they did it, but we don't need to do any more fixing and it was all done with what we had between us on the trail... my guess is some form of lighter fluid and a match. BOOM! Anyway, it worked out and we all got home safely.
After all the muddin' and rockin' and rollin' we headed back to the creek for an Alaska Car Wash. This is one of the highly modified rigs... yes it is a wagon, but it's got some 40" boggers on it... and they are completely under water. FUN STUFF! After a few runs through the river, most of the undercarriage is cleaned and the mud is out of the axles and breaks... the rest of the car is better left dirty as the mud is a badge of honor that proves that our rigs don't just look good on the highway but actually get out and PLAY.

I knew that this kind of rough play was going to be a little risky before we even headed out because I had been having more of those Braxton Hicks Contractions than I should be at 32 weeks... mainly because I had been overdoing it with the yard-work and chasing down Kaia to prevent potential drownings, rescue searches and toddler/vehicle collisions. But I had pretty well recovered from those and thought it would be worth a shot to see if I could get out of the house and play... besides, how hard could it be to sit there and "supervise" the boys while they try stuff they shouldn't?

Well, it was a LOT tougher than I thought it would be. About 1/2 way through the first planned trail run, I was feeling achy and crampy, by the end of the day, I was getting out for any unnecessary roughness. Knowing that was a possibility before even going out, I planned ahead and convinced Ben to let me drive our other rig out to base-camp just in case I needed to come home early... and I did. What was supposed to be a 4-day weekend of playing in the hills/mud/rivers/snow turned out to be 24 hours of "THAT was a bad idea."

After 3 days of rest and a late-night visit to the Birthing Center, I am NOT in labor and have posed no real risk to baby or myself. However, I have been put on Modified Bed Rest which means no sex, no driving, no stairs, no picking up Kaia, no shopping, no yard work and no exercise. Basically, I can get up to pee, shower, eat and well, that is about it.

This is going to be really tough because my bedroom is upstairs... really steep stairs, and Ben just left for the slope. I guess that will make not having sex easier, but how do I avoid driving, picking up Kaia, shopping or having to chase after a runaway toddler? If I let Kaia out of the house, I will definitely have to do some chasing, and she is going to go nuts if I don't let her out. The good news is that Mom was super excited about hopping the first plane up here to help out so it won't suck as much as it could. Things will work out, but I gotta admit that I HATE that I really need the help.

If any of you have ever been on bed rest, or partial bed rest, I could sure use some pointers on how to keep my sanity. This is going to be a really tough 8 weeks.