Disney at 8 months pregnant! I must be crazy!!!

[Buckeye Princess]

Hello all! This is my first time posting a trip report and I am so excited!!!

First a little about our planned trip, then I'll give you a little background on myself and my Disney experiences.

When- December 12th-19th

Where- We are debating between the Grand Floridian and the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We currently are booked at the Grand Floridan from the 14th-19th. From the 12th -14th we'll be staying with Justin's Grandparents and visiting with them as they live about 30 minutes outside of Orlando. We stayed at the Grand Floridian during our honeymoon, with one night at the Wilderness Lodge due to availability. We loved GF. I'm torn between going with the familiar that I love, and trying something new. My pros in favor of the GF right now are the romanticness of the resort, the ease of the monorail while very pregnant and we know that we loved it. Yet I definitely see us stayign there when we travel with kids. The Animal Kingdom lodge is very appealing to us as a safari in Africa is one of our dream trips that we hope to do in the next 10 years. We love animals and interesting food!!!! I don't think we'd stay there with young children so I view this as our only change for a long time to experience the resort. I could use some advice!!

Who- Myself, Cassandra 26, due Feb 3rd, a lifelong Disney fan who has only had the joy of experiencing WDW more recently in my life.
Husband, Justin, 24. He went once with his family when he was very little, but I was able to pull him over to being a Disney lover on our honeymoon trip.
We are both originally from different parts of Pennsylvania but now reside in Cleveland as Justin is in school. He is pursuing a combination MD and PhD. He's currently a lab rat working on the PhD portion in the biomedical engineering field. I work for American Greetings managing seasonal greeting cards that are designed specifically for Target stores. I love holidays, especially Christmas, so it is a great job for me. We were married Sept 2007.

Due to Justin's school schedule he was not able to take a long vacation until November. We planned our honeymoon to Belize for the last two weeks of November. I was bummed that we would have to wait 2 months for our honeymoon, so Justin surprised me with a honeymoon trip to Disney the week after our wedding. He was able to sneak away for 4 days so we left Tuesday evening after our wedding and returned the following Monday evening. Here are some pictures of our first honeymoon.

We are very into sports and adventure travel so you'll notice that we are usually geared out with athletic wear and Justin always has our camelback hydration backpack on. It worked out great in the Florida heat. Our clothes wicked any sweat away quite quickly, as well as the water from Splash Mtn. and we always had plenty of water to drink.

Minnie examined my ring then asked me to go to talk to Mickey and drop some hints for her. It was one of the best character interactions of the trip.

We wore our ears the entire trip.

Disney for us is such a unique vacation. Our travels usually entail some remote isolated places. We often go on backpacking trips where it is just the two of us trekking through the woods for several days. For our Belize honeymoon we spent the first 6 days on a private island with just us as the staff where we scuba dived, snorkeled, surfed, sea kayaked and learned to windsuf. Then we went inland to a small lodge for 7 days in the middle of the Belizian jungle. Here we went caving, explored some little seen Mayan ruins, climbed waterfalls, biked, etc. Then we spent the last 4 days on the coast for more scuba diving and some river kayaking. As you can see we are very go go go kind of people.

Learning the basics of windsurfing on land before hitting the water.

We biked 5 miles, mostly uphill to see this waterfall. It is 1,100 feet high!!!! I was exhausted. Luckily the ride home was mostly downhill. It rained that morning so we were very muddy.

Kayaking several miles away from our island (in the background) to find a good snorkel spot.

We got our certification before going, I can't wait to go diving again.

Spelunking...aka caving. We had to swim, squeeze and crawl to get around. It was crazy and so much fun.

When we were trying to pick a location for a last getaway before baby we decided on Disney after thinking of a few other places, but then turning them down because there was just too much I wouldn't be able to do. It would be so hard to be somewhere tropical and not dive, or to miss out on other activities. Disney seemed perfect. It makes us excited as we dream about taking our little baby there someday. And food!!! I figure that even if I am swollen and tired there is always lots of great food and good shows.

This was a late planned trip so I'm behind the ball on Ressies. I've been calling daily trying to cobble together a plan. Once I have something even somewhat concrete I'll post.

Has anyone else ever done Disney while in their third trimesters? Any thoughts on AKL vs GF??

 

[Buckeye Princess]

Well today I just got news that may put a major kink in our plans. One of the things I was most looking forward to on this trip was the food!!! We have the free dining plan and I figured that even if I was tired or swollen, we could at least eat our way around the world. I love food, and this is supposed to be a very epicurian trip for us.

Last week I had a glucose test for gestational diabetes. I got a call from my doctor today that I tested slightly out of range. That alone doesn't mean I have gestational diabetes, but I have to go back on Thursday for a fasting glucose test. I am very nervous, not just for what it will mean for our trip, but also what it will mean for the baby and the pregnancy. I admit I have not been nearly as good about diet and exercise as I should be. I had a week where I definitely was eating a few too many Halloween chocolates each night. I'm generally a healthy eater and didn't think I was being THAT bad with my little extra indulgences of desserts at night. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that all goes well, and saying several prayers.

 

[O_Jr71]

hey i just found your report. It's great so far and you looked so pretty on your wedding day! I hope everything turns out ok!!!!

edit:: i like the grand floridian so much more than the akl but...since you said you probably wouldn't be able to stay there again for a while cuz of kids and stuff..i would try it now this way you won't be missing out

 

[Buckeye Princess]

Well I haven't posted much in the way of our plans because right now they are in a bit of turmoil. It turns out that I do in fact have gestational diabetes. I was a bit surprised because I don’t have any of the risk factors. My doctor actually waited until slightly later in my pregnancy to test me because she wasn’t expecting me to have any problems. Luckily I’m only slightly out of range and should be able to control it with diet and exercise and not have to take insulin or monitor daily. Instead I will go in for a glucose test at the lab once a week.

For a few days we considered canceling our trip. Then I met with the nutritionist and realized that the new diet isn't nearly as bad as I expected. It's actually pretty close to how I normally eat. On a day to day basis I tend to eat pretty healthy, however this normally goes out the door the moment I'm out to dinner or on vacation. It will take some restraint and planning but we've decided to forge ahead and continue with our trip. The key to my new diet is making sure my carbs are even at each meal/snack, and fairly equally spread out. So basically I just eat little meals, all day. I can do this! I felt a little awkward at work the first few days noshing on my snacks during meetings, but luckily I work in a very accepting environment where pregnant women are so common we joke that something is in the water.

I've been spending much of my evenings on the phone trying to change ADRs and switching our schedule around. Looking up menu's online, some restaurants we had selected originally aren't quite as friendly to the new diet as others. I can still indulge here and there according to my doctor, I just have to make sure it is in moderation. I have a major sweet tooth and desserts are ok, as long as I factor them into the overall carb count for a meal. I think I will be eating lots of meat and veggies so that I can still get a little dessert!!! Additionally, because we will be doing so much walking, I’m allowed extra carbs! Woo hoo!!!

My goal is to have our schedule a little more cemented by this evening so I will post that soon.

 

[TxRabbit]

I'm so interested to hear about your trip!

I am making plans for our own Disney trip. Our next family addition may or may not be on the way when we go. We are leaving that in the Lord's hands. So I think about what it would be like to go while expecting.

Sometimes I think that normal is so subjective. I was sorry to read that your were out of range on your testing. Don't let it worry you. Just listen to your body, continue to eat well, I'm sure everything will be fine.

 

[princess&her4princes]

Hi!! I just stumbled across your report, you guys are such a cute couple!! What great adventures you have been on and the most exciting one..right around the corner with baby!! So sorry to hear you have gestational diabetes, but it seems pretty manageable, I"ve come close twice, but thankfully never was diagnosed with it , but have friends who have had it and they said it was easier than expected. Good luck!! Can't wait to follow your TR!!!

 

[stitcharoo]

your dress is so beautiful and elegant.
you look like a friggin princess in it.