The Details

Let me start by saying that I would NEVER intentionally put my pregnant wife or me in harm's way. No one, and I mean NO ONE, could have predicted the way things ended up happening. Hindsight is 20/20 and there are many things I/we would have done differently knowing now what I didn't know then. The important part is the result of all this...Amanda and I are back home. Amanda feels fine and the baby is doing just fine too.

We arrived in Cancun late in the afternoon on Wednesday (the 19th) and checked into our hotel. The person at the front desk told us they would have more information about potential evacuations the next morning at 9:00am, so we did our best to enjoy the rest of the day at the hotel. As it turns out, it would be our only night at the resort. We had a very good dinner and we also walked on the beach as moderately big waves crashed on the shore. We were able to watch CNN from our room, so we got an update on Wilma and the forecast track before going to bed. The next morning, I got up a little earlier because Amanda and I wanted to eat at the Japanese restaurant in the hotel that evening and you needed to make reservations between 7 and 8am down in the lobby. As I open the room door, I see an orange sheet on the floor. As you can probably guess, the sheet said that the decision had been made to evacuate the hotel. The evacuation process would take place between 9am and noon. So, I closed the door, woke Amanda up, told her the news, and suggested that we take showers and then go eat a big breakfast. At breakfast, you could see the looks of concern and nervousness on the faces of the other hotel guests. The hotel was handing out "to-go" boxes so people could put together some snacks to take with them to the shelter. Amanda and I packed ours with granola, dried apples, apricots, prunes, and various seeds. We figured this was the best thing to pack for ourselves...especially for Amanda as the mix of fruits and nuts would provide a higher level of nutritional value than just about anything else available. After breakfast, we went back up to the room and reorganized our luggage so we could take the important items and leave the rest of our stuff in the room. The evacuation sheet told us to take our IDs, money, bathroom items, one blanket and one pillow per person, and room keys. We took those plus several bottles of water from the room refrigerator, our sandals (in case we had to walk through water...which we did have to do), cell phones (damn batteries didn't last very long), a couple card games, and sleeping clothes. We stayed in our room until just before noon so I could get one last update on Wilma before we had to leave. We went down to the lobby and boarded a bus that would take us to the evacuation shelter. The shelter was a large gymnasium which consisted of two basketball courts at opposite ends of the gym with some space in between. When we got there, the place was already packed with people. There were these green mats we had to use to lay on and by the time we got to the shelter, there weren't many left, so we managed to grab a couple and squeeze ourselves into a small spot on one of the basketball courts. Here is what it looked like in the gym:

You can see my black backpack and our other black bag being used as a pillow prop at the very bottom of the picture. Not only were we packed in there like sardines, there was no A/C and no way for the wind (which was starting to increase) to create any airflow through the gym. It got hot...and with all the humidity, it was muggy, sticky, and just plain nasty in this gym. The hotel did a decent job taking care of our food and water needs, but as you can imagine, it was on the most minimal of levels. There was plenty of bottled water and fruit. On a side note, I don't think I'll be eating any bananas for the next year or so...I ate enough down there to last me a looooong time. Most of the meals served were just some vegetables mixed with some mayo with a side of...you guessed it...more vegetables, this time more like a cole slaw with vinegar. The meals severely lacked protein which is incredibly important to Amanda and the growth of the baby. Thankfully, I bought four protien bars before we went down to Cancun, so Amanda could supplement the food we got from the hotel with those bars. Those protein bars and the "Germ-x" hand sanitizer turned out to be the two best purchases we made for this trip.

For most of the day on Thursday (the 20th), Amanda and I talked with the people around us and played card games. As the day progressed, the wind got stronger and more rain bands moved into the Cancun region. By Thursday night, the winds were gusting to hurricane force (more than 73 mph) and the power would occasionally go out, but didn't go out permanently until early Friday morning. The first half of Friday morning was spent listening and watching Wilma come in with full force. The roof would occasionally rattle rather loudly as the force of the wind started pulling up the metal sheets that compose the roof. They weren't being ripped off...but it was only a matter of time before they did. Once it was determined that the gymnasium was no longer safe for us, the second evacuation began. I'll pick it up there with the next blog entry. Stay tuned...

Thank God We're Home

We're safe...we're home...after the incredible ordeal in Cancun, we're just happy to be back in Amarillo. There will be plenty more to come on this in the coming days. Thanks to everyone who thought of us, prayed for us, and helped us get through this in one piece. Stayed tuned for all the details.....

Now is not the time!

For those who don't know what I do for a living...I am a meteorologist at KVII-TV in Amarillo. I've been in the TV business for 8 years now and have been a storm chaser for 11 years. I've seen more than 2 dozen tornadoes in my life...some a little bigger than others. In addition to tornadoes, I have experienced numerous bouts of extreme weather in my life including blizzards, major hail storms, and even this heat burst in Oklahoma City (click on the link to read the article...you'll see some error messages on the side and top of the article, but the article itself explains the event.). There is, however, one experience I have yet to encounter...and that, my friends, is a hurricane. I have always said that at some point in my life, I want to experience a hurricane for it is truly one of Mother Nature's most powerful and incredible phenomena. My plan was to do this excursion when the right opportunity and situation presented itself. What I did NOT plan on was the possibility of having my first experience with a hurricane while Amanda and I are trying to take our last vacation before the baby comes!!!

Yes, this is what we are faced with right now...the very real possibility that tropical depression #24 (currently just south of Grand Cayman and Cuba) will strengthen and become Tropical Storm Wilma in the next day or so. From there, conditions will be favorable for it to strengthen even more and become Hurricane Wilma. The current forecast track offered up by The National Hurricane Center does not bode well for us and our trip to Cancun later this week. Being around weather for as long as I have, I know that hurricane forecasting, while better in recent years, is still notoriously bad...especially beyond the day two timeframe. The only thing we can do is wait and see what happens. The way it stands right now, we're in for one hell of a vacation!

The Day of Determination: November 4

So...now we know when we will find out the gender of our baby: November 4th. I have a feeling the next three weeks will go by so slowly that it will feel like time is standing still. We can't wait! Other than that, the most recent appointment with the ObGyn went just fine. The doctor offered us the opportunity for Amanda to give blood for a "quad test". This test is "an enhanced prenatal screening test for Down Syndrome, trisomy 18, and neural tube defects. It is done between the 15th and 20th week of pregnancy and measures substances that come from the developing fetus and placenta and are present in the mother's blood. The substances measured are alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), estriol (a form of estrogen) and inhibin-A." So, as soon as we were done with the ObGyn, Amanda went down the hall to offer up some of her blood for the tests. The doctor also did a quickie ultra sound to check the baby's heartbeat, which was 156 beats per minute.

Amanda and I are going to go on one....last....vacation before the baby comes starting this Wednesday (the 19th) and coming back home Monday (the 24th). We're headed to Cancun and we're staying at an all-inclusive called the Riu Cancun. It came recommended to us by one of my co-workers. We'll be sure to take plenty of pictures! If nothing else, this vacation will help time go by faster because time on vacation always goes by too fast.

15 Weeks and Going Strong

It's hard to believe that we're already 15 weeks into the pregnancy. Time is just flying by! As I'm typing this, Amanda is in the back bedroom...soon to be the baby room. I would go in there and try to help, but I would just be kicked out and told if I want to live to see the birth of the baby, then I better not return. Well, okay, not really. However, I know she wants to sort through some of the stuff/junk that's back there...so I'll just let her sort and determine what she's going to keep and what's going to become fodder for the garage sale. Of course, if we want this to be a real garage sale and have enough stuff to sell, then we have to go through the rest of the house too. That'll be fun (please note the sarcasm).

As for Amanda...also known as "the baby factory"...she's doing very well. The only bump in the road has been sleep...or lack thereof. My sister (who went through this whole pregnancy thing about a year and a half ago...and has been extremely helpful so far. Thanks Jen!) suggested Amanda get a body pillow. Now, for those of you who don't know about body pillows, let me explain. It's a pillow that's about 3.5 to 4 feet long and just a little wider than a standard pillow. But, it becomes very useful in that it relieves a lot of pressure and pain by allowing her wrap her arms and legs around it. In summary, it helps her sleep more comfortably on her side. She meant to go get one from Target last weekend when she was on the other side of town, but she forgot to check them out when she was there (more on that later). So, I went to Target Monday to make the purchase. The selection wasn't what I had expected. I had three styles to choose from: a bright pink "Hello Kitty" pillow, a vivid yellow "SpongeBob Squarepants" pillow, and a sky-blue "Tinkerbell" pillow. Well, in my opinion, the Tinkerbell pillow was the most comfortable, so I bought it. Turns out to be a pretty good purchase because it has helped Amanda sleep a little better.

Now back to Amanda forgetting to check out the body pillows. My poor wife...she's slowly but surely loosing her mind. It's all part of being pregnant...becoming forgetful and frequently absent-minded. By her own admission, she has become like our dog "Halo"...dumb as a stump. There have already been several instances where she'll walk down the hallway toward the back bedrooms, stop in the middle of the hallway, and declare she has no earthly idea what she was going back there for. I do laugh...but only because she laughs...so I'm laughing with her. In the same respect, I feel bad for her because she needs her memory to tell clients the names of trees and shrubs they should consider for their landscape design...and the names have already escaped her while meeting with people. I've already suggested that she start making lists as often as possible.

Other than that, she's doing wonderful...and she looks as beautiful as ever! Here is an updated picture of her at 15 weeks (click on the pic to get the full-sized picture):


See what I mean? She's gorgeous! Our next appointment is October 11th...which technically will be past the magical 16-week mark. Between 16 and 20 weeks is when you're supposed to be able to find out the sex of the baby. If we can find out, we will! I'll keep y'all posted. Until then, y'all take care!