3D ultrasound and lots of happy tears

What a day! Where do I begin?

Last night I went out with a group of WYC friends (Evie, Dom, Emily, Isaac, and Imogen) and had a great time. We went for dinner at La Casa Pasta, then hit up some karaoke at Club K across the street. Dom and I went out dancing after everyone else went home, and I finally called it a night around 1am. I stayed at a backpackers hostel in the city last night, as the buses don't run back to the Hutt late enough for me to get home. Anyway, I set my alarm for 8am so that I'd have lots of time to get up, check out of my hostel, take the train back to the Hutt, and take the bus back to Kelson and to Kirsten's house where I could comfortably watch Karyn's 3D ultrasound broadcast, which was scheduled for 6pm Wednesday night (noon Thursday here).

The whole morning was a comedy of errors, really. I walked half an hour from my hostel to the train station, only to find out that I had missed the train by 5 minutes. The trains only come every half hour, so I had to wait until 11:05am for the next train to Lower Hutt. No worries, I can still make it home on time, I'm thinking. I catch the train, and as soon as it pulls up to Waterloo Station I get out and run to catch the bus to Kelson... which came and went only TWO MINUTES before the train got to the station. The next bus to Kelson comes at 11:59am, and takes about 20 minutes to get home. This won't do.

(It's raining, by the way.)

I decide to walk to Queensgate, the mall in Lower Hutt, to catch some wireless from Gloria Jean's Coffee (they MUST have wireless, right?). I'm walking through the rain with my backpack, I can feel my socks getting wet through my shoes, and I'm stepping all over the bottom of my jeans..... but I HAVE to get to somewhere with internet access for noon so I can see Karyn's live ultrasound broadcast. Period.

After walking in the rain for 15 more minutes, I get to Queensgate to find out that Gloria Jean's doesn't have wireless. It's now 10 to 12. I try another coffee shop in Queensgate, no luck. By this point I'm in tears, thinking that I'm going to miss this whole thing after a nearly 2-hour attempt to get home to the internet, and 2 missed public transit attempts. I'm frustrated, I'm soggy, and I JUST NEED WIRELESS ACCESS!!!!

I finally make it to Starbucks across from Queensgate. They have internet! Hallelujia! I pay for an internet code, and I sit down at 12:05 thinking I'll tune in a bit late, but much to my delight, the broadcast is late in starting. Perfect! I ended up catching the whole thing from start to finish. It was AMAZING. I took a bunch of screen shots while I was watching, and here are a few of my favourites:

Head on! I heard Karyn laugh out loud when she saw this view (I think I heard her say "AWWWW!" too).

BIIIIIIIG YAWN! :o)

K let's be honest here.... this one looks like the killer mask from the movie "Scream." (Am I right???) (Check it out here for comparison)

Yay! The babies have ribs! Haha.

A lovely little profile. :o)

Cute little face! :o)

And how did Auntie Lauren hold up through all of this, you may wonder? Well, let's put it this way: I had only been watching for about 5 minutes when one of the guys who works at Starbucks came over and gave me some napkins to dry my eyes and nose and everything else that was watering as I sobbed at my computer. They even turned off the music so I could hear what they were saying during the ultrasound. :o)

(Are you crying yet, mom?) :o)