Okay, so I'm catching up! Here is my son's first trip in March 2006. We had been planning a big family trip with my parents, my sister and her family, and my aunt and her family for about a year. Then, my sister comes to me and says "I'm pregnant!". Her baby would be 4 months and she and her family didn't want to cancel the trip. My niece would be bit younger than we would ordinarily go but the trip was still do-able.
Then, da, da, da, da! I found out that we were going to have a big surprise too! And if this baby was as late as his sister I didn't think I could go. I talked to my doctor and she said "You're going to a luxury resort? So sit back and let everyone pamper you. Breast feed a LOT to keep the baby hydrated, drink water all the time. Keep cool, stay out of the sun and don't overdo it. Have lots of naps and go with blessings!"
I hated to disappoint everyone by cancelling the trip, so we went. I was nervous about everything, I even worried about being able to find summer clothes for him in January, and I did not want to go shopping with a newborn, so I bought him 7 little gymboree 0-3 month outfits in the fall before he was born. When he was born he was so small he wore premie clothes for a while, and when we tried these adorable little outfits on him right before we left, of
course they were miles too big. I remember putting the sandals and swimsuit on him and when I lifted him up the swimsuit dropped right down to the huge boats on the end of his feet. These massive sandals that had looked so tiny before he was born were twice the size of his feet and were the only thing holding the swimsuit on. My sister laughed when I told her and said "You thought you would take him SWIMMING?!"
Of course she was right, to keep cool he was always either in a onsie or just a diaper and we drapped thin white blankets over his car seat to reflect the sun so we didn't need to put sunscreen on him. I guess I forgot that 6 week old babies aren't going to be doing a lot of walking so they don't really need SHOES! They were super cute outfits though. He would have been styling! I think I was nervous about going so I focused on silly things I could do beforehand. But the trip was great!
I spent a LOT of time in the baby centres breastfeeding. I went into the one at Epcot and fell asleep one afternoon and came out an HOUR later.
I really do feel like if you are recovering from childbirth, a deluxe resort at Disney is a great place to do it. We ordered a bassinet, baby bath and a toddler bead for my DD from ABBF.com, and we had a full kitchen this time stocked with lots of juice, water and healthy groceries so we never had to go out to eat if we were too tired. DH took lots of photos of DD enjoying the parks for me so I wouldn't feel like I was missing out on too much and every evening at the hotel we watched little slide shows of her. I went to the parks for maybe two hours a day and skipped them entirely a couple of days.
We used Garden Grocer to deliver the food and they were great! However, when the delivery guy from there knocked to deliver the groceries I was breastfeeding on the living room couch. I was all covered up but he was an older guy and seemed so embarrassed. You never saw someone bring in a weeks worth of groceries so fast! Anyway, I guess he had a lot of deliveries for the hotel because I went over to my parents and sister's two bedroom suite on another floor about an hour later and my DS was still hungry so I covered up and started feeding him again. Then there was a knock at the door and you guessed it, it was the Garden Grocer man with my parent's order! He looked over and saw me on the sofa again and I thought he was going to pass out right there.
All in all it was a wonderful trip. While we were at Chef Mickey's we caught my DS's first smile on film and I'll treasure that memory forever. Sure it was a different and much slower trip than any of the others have been, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I think as long as you listen to your doctor, take it easy, drink at least 3 liters of water a day and be good to yourself, that a trip with a baby can be magical!
DS's first trip - I still can't believe how little he was!