Backstory:
This next post is the backstory of how this literal dream trip came to be. I will warn you. This post is not what you're expecting. This will be the only time I will bring seriousness to my PTR or eventual TR. I have written the full story with details, but I've also included a "to the point" condensed version. It's not a fun story so you decide which, if any, you want to read.
Detailed version:
This trip came to be last year. Last October was my 30th birthday and my son's 1st birthday- 10 days apart. I was pregnant with Vivian and had an absolutely awful start the pregnancy.
You see, we had a miscarriage in June of last year, but before we could even process that fully we found out I was pregnant again the following month! Talk about a whirlwind. It was so close together my Doctor initially thought it was a surviving twin from my previous MC. (it was not) It was crazy but we were so relieved to be pregnant again, that is until week 7 of this miracle pregnancy.
One day when I was only 7 weeks along, only two months after suffering my first MC, I began to show the exact same signs as my first MC. I won't get into gory details, so keeping it vague. Of course I was home alone, my parents were in Fl at their "vacation home" they're snow birds of sorts, and my husband was working in Brooklyn- quite a rough commute with traffic. So I got my neighbor to watch DS and off to the doctor I went. I KNEW I had lost the baby. It was so similar to my first MC. So I get in my doctor's office and after telling her the details and an exam she said she didn't think it was a MC, just an "implantation bleed" but sent me for an ultrasound. Talk about relief. So off I go a few doors down getting my third ultrasound in two months. As soon as the technician started I could tell something was up. She never turned the screen for me to see and she was very quiet and "busy". Instead of showing me the baby once the pictures printed and sending me on my way, she took the pictures and told me to wait for a minute while she went to speak with my Dr. My heart sank again. So she came back in after what felt like an eternity and told me to go back to my doctor's office as she wanted to speak with me. This had never happened to me during my entire pregnancy with my son so I knew it wasn't good. I shot some panicked texts to my mom & husband and off I went. The wait for my doctor felt like forever. She came in and was very serious, very unlike her. Then her words confused me a bit because she told me that I didn't have a MC again and that it was just a "implantation bleed" like she had said when we was all reassuring earlier. She then proceeded to tell me it was the largest she had ever seen and it is compromising the baby. She didn't think the baby would survive it. I was basically told to go home and wait for my second MC in two months. I was shot. The ups and downs in that day alone was rough. Add on top of that she sent me home on bedrest in hopes to try and help the baby survive. My husband rushed home from work since I was now not allowed to lift my then 9 month old son. Since I'm a stay-at-home mom my parents flew home early from their trip and I spent the next two months never alone, which for an introvert like myself was especially hard & frustrating. My parents and sister-in-law alternated staying with me at the house to basically do the heavy lifting for me. It was the longest two months of my life. Not being able to care for your child and waiting to lose your next was pretty intense! THANKFULLY, Vivian is a little fighter and she made it just fine! After my first trimester I was allowed to get off of bedrest and return to normal life. We did not need to worry about the baby so much but I was advised to take it slow with lifting and things like that.
During this time my husband had been trying desperately to figure out what to do with his pregnant wife for her 30th that was coming up quick. So I decided where better to celebrate my 30th than on a
Disney Cruise! So we booked a 7 day
DCL cruise that had us at
Castaway Cay on my 30th. Talk about awesome!! Then I realized my little guy's 1st birthday was the week before so OF COURSE we added a week before to celebrate his birthday at WDW. Well, once my brother and his family & my parents heard about this trip of a lifetime they were in. So two weeks after getting off of bedrest we headed off to WDW, all 9 of us!
It was awesome. The first day there we threw Benjamin a 1st birthday party at WCC with all of our family, about 40 of us! Most of my & my husband's extended family live within 45 minutes of Orlando so it was great to see everyone at once, celebrating the little guy. We ordered this awesome cake. It was so fun.
On our first full day we headed over to HS. Took our first family Photopass picture and then headed right to Disney JR.'s live stage show which Benjamin LOVED!
Not long after than began the worst trip of our lives. My husband had gone on FB and noticed an alarming message. He had a private message from someone he did not know and it stated they were looking for the family of his father. That he was in the ICU and they were trying to find any family. My DH's father had decided to live a very rough, lonely life so he doesn't have a cell phone and we usually only hear from him every once in a while. So my husband immediately calls the hospital his father's friend said he was at to get more information on what was going on. The first conversation with the ICU nurse did not go well at all. My husband was a wreck and couldn't give us any details on what was going on. He just couldn't retain any of the info from the shock but it did not sound good at all. So my mom is a retired nurse and called back. She spoke with the nurse, the nurse even broke protocol to give my mom info that she shouldn't of since this was such a tough situation.
Basically my father-n-law was in a medically induced coma, however they said he would recover and not to rush home. It was shocking and my husband was obviously shaken so we continued on, somewhat, and kept in contact with his doctor. We also were able to get ahold of my sister-in-law and brother-in-law that were in NJ and could go and see what was going on and be with their father. Although, they are a bit estranged from him, they didn't leave his side. Which was nice to see, especially since my husband has been the only one who has had a decent relationship with him.
My parents paid for a ticket for DH to go home and see his father for the day at the end of the week before we left for our cruise. So the plan was he'd fly home on Friday morning visit with his father and then take the first flight on Saturday and meet us all for the cruise. By then he'd be doing better and would be awake and then we'd have peace of mind going on the cruise.
The next morning, was our second day and it was Benji's actual birthday. So we of course spent the day at MK. We took him to the barber shop on Main Street and got him his first haircut. He did so great!
After the haircut we went to get family pictures in front of the castle, this was Benji's first visit, so our first visit as a family. While waiting for the pictures we got a call from the hospital. DH's father took a turn for the worse and told my husband to take the next flight home. It was shocking. In 24 hours his decline was astounding. We started making phone calls. My husband's phone was dying from all the calls so he was sitting on the floor in the candy shop on Main Street with his phone plugged in to one of the outlets. The awesome CMs there heard what had happened and gave my husband one of those portable battery powered phone chargers that they sell for free. My mom was on the phone with the airline trying to move his flight to the next available that day. It was shocking and surreal. The next thing I know I was kissing my husband goodbye as he ran off to head to the airport. We barely had a moment to take in our first born's 1st birthday together and like that my husband was gone. DH's mom & her boyfriend drove him to the airport.
The next few days were tough. I was stuck in WDW with my son. I couldn't fly home alone as I was only two weeks off of bedrest so there was no way I could do that flight alone with DS. It was just constant calls and trying to make the best of my days with DS and our families. Thankfully, I had my extended family there as well as DH's mom who lives in Ocala, Fl, as DH's parents have been divorced since he was 6. Even with the support it was awful. I felt guilty to go on rides or have any fun, I didn't want to be unreachable to DH, I was also pregnant and the heat that week was unbearable in the mid 90s. So I spent most of that week alone with DS in our room.
On, Thursday I decided to join my extended family to go to AK as there weren't any rides I would go on that I wouldn't be able to take a call and the heat had finally gotten better. On the bus ride to AK I got the call that my FIL passed away. They knew he was not going to make it and wanted to turn off life support once my husband had arrived and got to have some time with him on Tuesday, but my SIL didn't want to let him go. My husband was okay with doing it as he felt he had closure and it was clear he would never wake up but my SIL wanted to wait until he naturally went. That left us now with the question of what to do. Our cruise left on Sat. It was Thursday. If we canceled we'd lose everything and I couldn't fly home alone. So my husband was insisting that I go along with my family and DS and he'd stay home to start on arrangements. Well, there was no way I was going to allow that. The thought of not being a phone call away from my husband at a moments notice, there was no way. This whole week tore me up not being able to be there with him helping him, there was no way I would agree to that. So DH's Uncle called him and insisted that he fly back and go on the cruise with his family. He pointed out that there was nothing to be done at home as the memorial service was planned for a month later and that a cruise was the best place to mourn and be with family- plenty of distractions if needed and privacy of the cabin. So very reluctantly my husband flew back Friday night to sail away with us on Saturday.
Clearly, the mood was very unusual for a cruise. My poor husband was so clearly trying to hold it together for me & DS. We tried to make the best of it. I was so grateful that my parents were with us, as DH looks to my father as "the father he never really had" so it was great that they could have so much bonding time.
The first three days of our cruise was RAIN. That made it tough. It made it all the more depressing. On our third day we had an overcast day, but we were thrilled to be able to be outdoors. DH and my father went on a snorkeling excursion that left DH violently vomiting over the side of the excursion boat and the entire walk of shame back to the ship, including on the stairs of the ship! We thought is was seasickness at first but it didn't go away. My poor DH spent the next 24 sicker than a dog, and then of course I got it. You know how scary it is to be on a ship, pregnant with the Norovirus? After vomiting a certain number of times while pregnant you're supposed to go to the hospital for an IV to prevent dehydration, a danger to the baby. I went way past that number. I just kept trying to sip water and watched for kicks. It was awful. My extended family all got it as well. That whole cruise we only ever ended up having one meal all together. The last day of our cruise, my actual 30th birthday, was my immediate family's only good day of the cruise. I never even saw my extended family on my 30th as they were all sick in their cabins. So that night for my 30th birthday dinner at Remy, my husband felt horrible for me. What a guy, huh? After the two weeks he had and the loss of his father, he was sad for me because my 30th, our son's 1st birthday & first WDW trip, was a complete disaster & heartache. I will say, it was devastating for me as well- not to the level of my husband of course. But I had put so much into DS's first trip. I had special t-shirts for each day, special plans, etc and I didn't even walk away with a picture of us in front of the castle. It was heartbreaking for me, especially with the pregnancy hormones. It still saddens me, but I never let on just how depressed I was about it to DH. Well, I didn't have to say anything, DH knew. So for my birthday present at Remy he proceeds to tell me that we would do a 30th b-day redo the following year, stay at GF in the main building, do any of the F&WF activities I want, and our parents offered to watch our kids for the week. Literally a dream trip! Then the next week everyone would come to spend a week at CR. Needless to say, I was (and still am) blown away.
It was a hard year for us and a devastating trip, so we are going into this trip with such an excitement to spend quality time with the ones we love as every day is a gift!
Condensed Version:
Due to a miscarriage, followed by a difficult yet successful pregnancy, we decided to take a dream trip to celebrate my 30th b-day & DS's 1st birthday that are only 10 days apart at WDW followed by a cruise on DCL. The dream trip ended up being a horrible nightmare involving the unexpected, quick death of my FIL while we were at WDW & the norovirus while I was pregnant, while we were mourning the death of FIL, and still trying to celebrate our 30th & 1st birthdays on DCL. After the trip from hell DH decided we're doing a 30th b-day redo trip for me this year to make up for our family's rough year last year. A trip of dreams- one week for just my husband & I and then a second week at CR with our kids and some of our extended family joining us as well.
So frankly, he has no choice but to be a Disney fan. He's a silly, little, irrational nut job and I can't wait to be terrorized by him on Disney property rather than in the privacy of my own home. Seriously. Why do we even take vacations at this point? All kidding aside, he's actually a pretty great kid and I can't complain.
