Pregnant Road Trip Part 2

  

The week passed quickly and it is already Thursday morning. Rob and I get up early and start packing up all of our stuff. We have decided to take my Mom’s Hyundai and leave my 4Runner for Dad, Shannon, and Blaine. We were finally packed up and on our way; our first stop was dropping the dogs off in Kremmling along with the camping gear. This made it a tight trip for a little bit with all the extra animals and gear. Due to time constraints we decided to drive straight through to Sturgeon Bay, WI, this is a 20+ hour drive, it took us about 24 hours due to the frequent potty breaks and food breaks. We had 4 hour shifts and Rob, Mom, and I were going to switch so that one person would not get too tired or drive too much. During the night, four hours seemed a little longer and a little tougher so we switched more often.                We finally make it to the hotel about 12:30 in the afternoon.  We have about 2 ½ hours to sleep and get ready before we need to be at the rehearsal dinner for Jerry and Sandy’s wedding.  Mom opted out of going because she was too exhausted, not having slept much on the trip.  We went to the party and had a lot of fun.  I must say that being pregnant in the Midwest is not much fun in the summer.  The heat and humidity were awful while we were there and I tried to stay inside as much as possible because of it.  We had a great time in WI at the wedding, but it was a whirlwind of activity and before we knew it, we were on the road again to visit Rob’s family in IL.

                Sturgeon Bay to Mt Prospect was only about a 5 hour drive, so it was much better than the previous drive.  We got to Rob’s parents house and got settled and ready for the baby shower.  Ron and Gayle (Rob’s parents) put on an amazing party.  The girls had a lot of food and fun baby shower activities in the basement (with air conditioning), while the boys had some food and beer out in the garage (no air conditioning).   There were so many people there, and it was really nice to see everyone!  People were unbelievably generous and we ended up with lots of good stuff for our little baby!!  Thank you again to everyone who came to the party!!!!

                We stayed in IL until Wednesday morning.  It was nice to spend some time with Rob’s parents, but again since it was only a couple of days, it seemed we were bouncing around all over the place.  We tried to make sure my mom got to try all the wonderful Chicago food that I have been talking about.  Gayle had beef sandwiches at the baby shower, and they were wonderful.  We also had to make sure we made a trip out for real Chicago pizza.  We went to Gino’s East and were all impressed with how wonderful the food was. 

                There was a little downtime one of the days and we went birthday shopping for Rob.  Poor guy had been driving straight through to WI on his birthday, so it was nice that we got some time for Rob to enjoy his birthday a couple of days late.  He ended up getting some nice tennis shoes at REI.  While we were at REI the soon to be grandma’s saw some very cute things for our little girl.  We ended up going home with a few more baby clothes.  It was fun shopping, but by the time Wednesday came around, we had a LOT more stuff to pack into the car with us.  We had 3 bags full of baby clothes, towels, wash cloths, toys, etc.; not to mention a baby tub filled with baby monitors and other baby things to add to the luggage that we came out with.  The car was definitely getting a little squished, the trunk was full as was the back seat, with space for one passenger in the back and two up front!  Then, we were on our way to SD.

                The South Dakota trip was about 10 hours, not our worst drive, but also not that short.  We had to head back up through Wisconsin and then head west.  The bonus was we got to drive by Rob’s parent’s cabin in Necedah.  Rob and I stayed a night there last time we road tripped, but it was nice to show my mom the place!  We also had to make sure that we got some Wisconsin cheese before we left.  Other than the cheese and the cabin the drive was mostly uneventful.  We got into Platte around 8 and had some desert and did some visiting with Don and Gwen.

                The next day we did breakfast at Shorty’s and got to visit with more family.  While we were there we did some running around visiting people.  We had dinner (or as they say in SD, supper) at the Pizza Ranch one night and dinner at Cliff’s house another.  Both were great opportunities for us to gather with family and chat.  We also made the trek out to my cousin’s farm to see her new little baby girl.  It was so much fun to see and hold her little girl, and think about how very shortly I will be holding my own baby girl.  We also got to see Heather out in the field combining (for those of you who don’t speak farm, it is kinda like harvesting).  It was pretty cool to watch and see how they had everything perfectly coordinated to move all that they had combined to the right place.  Rob also got to have some boy time, he went fishing and golfing with my uncles, and I believe he did good enough to get a repeat invite next time we are out in Platte.  Don, Gwen, and Shelley, taught us a new card game called Sixteen.  Rob and I are now completely obsessed and play most nights of the week.

                Saturday was the day we decided to go home.  With another 10 hour drive that got us back to Littleton in the evening.  This was better, because Rob and I could stay the night at my parent’s instead of making the 2 hour trek back up to our house.  We stayed the night and then went up the next day.  I was so done being in the car by this time.  I was also very glad to see my puppies, I had missed them so much while we were gone.

                Biggest struggle for me during this car trip:  panty hose.  I was advised to wear panty hose while I am pregnant, to keep the blood flowing so that when I get older I do not get varicose veins. 

~Ali

Just for Fun - Babies Vs. Zombies

-Jenna

Pregnant Road Trip Part 1

              What to do in the summer?  There are many things we like to enjoy; camping, road trips, weddings, etc.  It so happens that this summer all the things we wanted to do ended up in a 2 week overlapping time period.  It was very fun and I was excited for all parts of our trip, however I was wondering how pregnancy would make this different from normal.  Turns out it was not that much different but there were definitely some things that made it more challenging.

                The first part of our journey was the annual camping trip with my family to Sylvan Lake.  We got there Sunday July, 10 and set-up camp.  Now the great part about being pregnant is that I am not allowed to carry anything too heavy or do anything too strenuous.  My job mostly consisted of sitting and watching (with only a little giggling at the madness that comes with setting up a tent), although, I did set up the bed.  Rob and I have a nice Coleman double mattress, which helped to make sleeping a little more comfortable.  However, I did notice that sleeping on an air mattress while pregnant does have some draw backs that it did not before.  The one thing that I noticed the most is that my hips hurt, it actually woke me up in the middle of the night.  So, overall, I decided that I will forgo sleeping on air mattresses while I am pregnant in the future.  Unfortunately, for this trip I have a week and a half of air mattress sleeping in me.  Making sure the mattress was really full did help to make it more comfortable.

                Camping was pretty low key this year; there were some of our regular camping activities that I could not take part in this year.  Caving was one of them, although the caves were closed so no one else got to go.  We also had a 3 mile hike, which leads to a very beautiful lake.  My mom and I went on the hike but only went for the 1^st mile.  The last mile of the hike is VERY steep, and I didn’t want to push myself too hard.  Mom and I took our time walking back down the mile to the car and then we brought books so that we could read while Dad, Jeff, Jenna, Shannon, and Blaine finished the rest of the hike.  It was the best exercise I got on the trip and it was fun for the dogs, Bunker and Fiji as well.  Mom, Dad and I also went on a little walk around the lake so we could let the pups have a little swim.  Wearing tennis shoes and walking on a relatively flat trail I managed to roll my ankle.  Luckily the fall was not too intense, with definitely no harm to the baby.  My ankle is still a little swollen, but it only hurt bad for about 2 days.  There were no more hikes for me after that.  Let’s hope I will have better balance the rest of my pregnancy!

~Ali