Anatomy Scan

One of our big worries with my Hashimoto's Hypothyroiditis was how it would effect our little Bean, as we have been calling our baby to be. Since my diagnosis did not occur until well into my first trimester there is they worry that my thyroid could hurt how Bean was developing. I was classified as a high risk pregnancy because of this and I am being seen by the OBGYN and the Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinic. One bright side is that I will have routine ultrasounds until the end of my pregnancy to make sure Bean is on track instead of just having my 20 week anatomy scan and being done. Well yesterday was our big anatomy scan and a big source of my anxiety for sure! I know everyone hopes for a healthy baby, but with the thyroid issues I was terrified I could have inadvertently hurt Bean. We have to check that all organs (especially the heart) were formed and correct as well as many other things.

Well, let me tell you, our little Bean looks fantastic so far.

Baby toes!!!

Bean has ten fingers, ten toes, an adorable little nose and mouth, all four chambers of the heart (working!), as well as a spine that has a healthy taper (so no signs of spinal bifida), ribs, functioning kidneys... everything looked good from what our tech Sara could tell. Our tech was so fabulous. She had us relaxed, played some wonderful taste in music, and just helped put us two high strung first time parents to be at ease. Bean's heartbeat filled that little room at 151 beats per minute and it is a sound I will never tire of hearing. My placenta is right on top so she warned me it may take a little longer to feel kicks, especially for Ryan to feel from the outside. Occasionally I feel like I can feel little swooshes or bubbles, but it is hard to know for sure!

We told Sara we wanted to know the gender, but not right then. We asked her to write it down and seal it in an envelope for us. Then we gave that envelope to our friend Donna who will put together a box for us to open on Saturday. This weekend I am acting in a local community theatre production of A Time to Kill as the judge and both of our families are coming to see the show. We figured having everyone together, siblings included, would be the perfect time to all find out together!

The only down side is I was dying to open that envelope!!!

I had to keep it away from Ryan as he kept trying to hold it up to the light to see the picture inside, so he wasn't allowed to hold the envelope anymore after that. I then put it in the glove compartment of my car until I got to rehearsal and was able to give Donna the envelope. She refused to look at it last night as she wanted to give nothing away... so as of right now only Sara (our tech) and Donna know what Bean is for sure!

So, what do you think? Is our Bean going to be a girl or a boy? I will post after this weekend with the results!!!

Dracula



Once again another theatrical journey has come to a close. I am back to having free evenings and weekends (you know, when I am not working) and wondering what to do with all the extra brain space that used to be reserved for copious amounts of lines. Dracula was a fun show and different from the other shows I've done here in Eastern North Carolina. Firstly, we had a very large cast, 14 people plus a larger than usual crew... that nearly doubles some of our previous shows! I was also pretty sick for a good week or two leading up to the show, which was panic inducing for sure. Plus Ryan doing his school for his B-Billet... let's just say it has been a crazy few weeks.

 

Up on the ladder during tech, one of my favorite places to be during tech... hanging lights!

But we made it. This fantastic cast, some I've worked with before, some brand new, all came together for a wonderful production. There were fake fangs, blood, hissing, crucifixes (crucifi?), stakings and everything else you'd expect you'd need for a production of Dracula. I was Professor Sarah Van Helsing... yes Van Helsing is usually a male (Abraham) but we went in a different direction! I got to do stage combat again for the first time in years including slaps, punches and a pretty painful looking head smack that got a collective OOOH one night from an audience!

 

The full cast

Van Helsing in costume... honestly it was all mine minus the scarf!

 

The above picture was taken during our tech rehearsal since I loved how I managed to do my make up, but my mom mentioned you could tell I had been sick. How did she oh so delicately put it? Oh yes, I had a scrawny neck! Most of the weight has come back by now but at this point I was down a good ten pounds and living off of saltines and ice pops.

My best friend Donna and I

Below are some stills from the production captured by the campus photographer I believe. I borrowed them from a friend's facebook page.

Confronting Vampire Mina

 

Renfield was about as crazy as her hair!

 

Post fight, after I butted heads with a vampire.

We made it through four shows unscathed. My husband came twice, my parents once and a former coworker of mine even showed, which was awesome since not many people I invited could make it. It was Halloween weekend, I  know, but it is always extra motivating when you know someone in the audience. After our last show we took up five massive tables at Chili's for dinner before we parted ways. There is another show in the Spring but I probably will not be auditioning. With my work schedule it has been just too difficult. :( I will always have a special place in my heart for these amazing people though.

 

 

 

Show Time

One of my favorite things in the world is having the opportunity to act and be on stage. It is definitely one of my life's passions and thankfully my husband is patient enough to deal with me being gone at night for months at a time and knowing the week pre show is a time we barely cross paths! As soon as we returned from our trip I jumped right into rehearsals fro A Doll's House where I was playing Mrs. Kristine Linde... a fun role pretty different from my usual ones  but I liked it a lot!

And no, I wasn't a brunette for the show, but our stage manager had some fun wigs for us to play with! Maybe one day if I am brave enough I will get bangs... or dye my hair again!

It is also a time to wear a lot, a lot, of make up! Luckily we had someone on make up this time because I am pretty terrible at it!

Our cast and crew were incredible... I loved getting to work with old friends and meet some new ones too! We tried to make Ibsen not so insufferable or stuffy so we actually set it in Barbie's Dream House. Nora constantly talks about being a doll, hence the title, so we played on it and went with it. We were also judged twice by adjudicators from the AC KCTF (American College Kennedy Center Theatre Festival) where students can be picked for scholarship opportunities and the show could go on to perform at the festival itself. I am not eligible obviously since I am not a student but it is still cool to get feedback from professionals!

The originals! Donna and Mel and I worked on The Mousetrap together two years ago!

Below are my costumes from Act I, Act II and Act III. The jewelry and shoes were mine as was the Act III dress but our designer said I could keep everything for once! Our costume designer was, er, wealthy and basically ignored her given budget and insisted we keep anything we wanted. Totally new experience for me!

Curtain Call

I wasn't in the paper like I was with the Mousetrap but I did make the online article version they posted! I am just in the background but it's still neat.

After the last show our costume designer insisted on taking everyone to Marrakesh for dinner. It was delicious! I was starving so I ate everything on my plate. We had flatbread and dips first then I had the three meat special with Shwarma, chicken kebobs, beef kebobs, rice and cucumber salad. Oh YUM.

For dessert I could not say no to baklava either.... fluffy, sweet and so delicious!

My parents came Saturday night and Ryan came both Friday and Saturday. The beautiful flowers they both gave me are sitting next to me as I type. Saturday night was our best audience and biggest.... 75 kids from the high school on base came and were such a wonderful audience. They laughed, gasped, and even clapped after a scene Felix and I had at the top of act III. It blew me away. Our judge even said if you can engage that many high schoolers you did something right.

I had this week to relax, no gym or rehearsal or anything else but work and time with Ryan. It's been really really nice. The library is open again too, construction complete. And the weather is finally back on track too, hello 80 degrees (to be fair I wrote this all Friday for publishing Monday so that may not last)!! I will take it! Hopefully now I can blog more regularly too. Whew.

The Day of the Show

I know, I know, I have one more trip entry to write! Our journey through Naples/Pompeii and the long awaited pizza is coming along... all the photos are added in a draft, I just have to find the time to write it. The reason my time has been nonexistent? A show of course!

I am so happy to be back and doing theatre. Even a year long hiatus can feel way too long. I am currently in a production of Ibsen's A Doll's House playing Kristine Linde. Tonight is opening night, so the past six weeks have been rehearsals nearly every weeknight on top of a pretty full work schedule. The time I do have free has been basically spent with the hubs since it has been few and far between. He gets cranky sometimes during these rehearsal runs, as do I, as we really enjoy being together... and sadly we haven't had a whole lot of that lately. We get home from work and within in an hour I am at rehearsal until 10-11pm. When I get home I collapse into bed and try and not wake him (doesn't usually work).

But tonight is Opening Night!! It has gone quickly and I know I will miss it when it is over, but that is the way the cookie crumbles folks! If you're local come see us tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 3 at CCCC. My family is coming Saturday night, and we already have 125 reservations for that night, so if you want to come maybe try and do the weeknights or Sunday. I will return to blogging soon!



Our lovely cast and crew (: