Florida Vacation

*Warning! Super long post!*

Last Thursday Tony and I flew to Florida to attend his sister's wedding in Ft. Lauderdale. She was having a destination beach wedding so the whole family gathered to be there for her special day. I must say, I didn't mind leaving a snowstorm and showing up to 86 degree weather! The humidity wasn't too bad, and it was so nice to wear shorts all the time!

We went to the beach Friday during the day. The water was so clean and nice. It was really a pretty beach. I usually don't like the ocean because it stinks and the water looks dirty, but this beach was more like a Caribbean beach (not quite..but close enough). It was nice to be in the water and I think the baby liked the rocking motions of the waves. She slept basically all day and hardly moved. After our day at the beach all of the whiteys in the family (Tony, Caity, and me) all developed pretty bad sunburns and looked pretty fabulous at the rehearsal dinner that night, haha. I put sunscreen on like 3 times and STILL got burned! The rehearsal dinner was really nice. It was at a place called 15th Street Fisheries. Even though Tony and I aren't big fish eaters, Tony ordered grouper just to try it, and we both ended up liking it. Yay for trying new things! :)

Saturday was the "big day." All of the bridesmaids congregated in Carleigh's hotel room to get our hair done. I had to step out several times because of the hairspray fumes, but it was still fun girly time. I didn't really take ANY pictures (I'm bad, I know!!) so I just have to describe everything! Our hair was all done in low buns with loose curls. Very beachy-looking. I tried my best to cover up my funny-looking sunburns with foundation. I even enlisted Tony to do some cover-up work on my back, and he did a really nice job! It didn't totally get rid of the burns, but it helped blend it in a little bit for pictures. I'm hoping the photographer can do some Photo Shop magic on that stuff. ;)

The wedding was beautiful and very romantic. I really hope that Carleigh and Sherwin are happy, they both did a great job and looked so happy together. During the reception/dancing part, Carleigh had each of the members of the wedding party announced and we had to dance in together. If you know Tony and me, we're not the grooviest folks on the block. I've been to a lot of dances at church, but I am by no means talented in the dance department. We decided to just goof-ball it up to compensate for our lack of skills. Tony did his best shimmy down the runway and I was laughing so hard I could barely move. I already felt like an idiot trying to boogey down with my big baby bump. We survived and did it for Carleigh. She seemed pleased with everyone's dancing and luckily we weren't the only ones who did some silly stuff.

After all of the wedding celebrations were over, Tony and I decided that we'd use the rest of our week in Florida to take a last-chance vacation as a couple without a baby. We did a lot of fun stuff: an Everglades Tram Tour in Miami, ate at some local-recommended restaurants that were delicious, went to a comedy/magic show (we were the only couple there without kids, haha), did some more beach stuff, and even played Mike and Carmie in a rousing game of mini golf. It was really fun! My feet were so swollen and puffy the whole time from the heat and--I think--elevation change. Tuesday night we drove from Orlando back to Ft. Lauderdale so we could catch our plane on Wednesday. We went swimming in the hotel pool--fabulous!--and relaxed in our hotel room to enjoy our last night of vacation.

Wednesday morning we woke up as normal, ate breakfast, and began packing our bags. RIGHT before we were ready to walk out the door, I decided to hit the bathroom one last time before we went to do some sight-seeing to pass time before our flight. When I was in the bathroom, I noticed that I was bleeding. I got really scared and tried to stay calm when I told Tony. Tony was a superman and remained completely cool the entire time as he told me to call the doctor. We ended up having to wait about 30 minutes to call because the office wasn't open yet. When I finally got through the nurse asked me a handful of questions and then sighed and told me to go to the nearest Labor and Delivery to get an evaluation to make sure I wasn't going into Pre-Term labor.

We checked in at the nearest hospital where I was hooked up to all sorts of machinery. The doctor came in and examined me, and told me that I was having contractions. He hoped it was just because of dehydration and ordered an IV for me. This was my very fist IV of my life, believe it or not, and it was the WORST EVER. They screwed it up the first time and after like 45 minutes they realized NONE of the fluid was going into my body. They pulled out the IV a little and I could feel the fluids flowing, but soon I began developing a huge bulge in my arm and it hurt really bad. It looked like my arm was going to pop! The nurses took their time taking it out, saying it was "just infiltrated" and they tried again in my other hand. Luckily that one worked, but I really would be okay if I never had to have another IV for the rest of my life.

The IV wasn't helping the contractions, so they ordered an ultrasound to check the length of my cervix. At this point we had been at the hospital for around 5 hours, and had to cancel our flight home. I felt so bad about the money wasted (the airline couldn't help us at all with transferring/penalties/etc.) and the money being spent to pay for the medical bills, but Tony didn't seem to care a bit about finances and helped me get through my rough day. I was actually a little excited that I was going to be having an ultrasound because I thought I would get to see my cute little baby girl. It was a bit of good news in a day full of scary stuff. Unfortunately for me, the ultrasound tech was anything but nice and I didn't get one peek at my baby the whole 45 minutes she did the ultrasound. I was told by the receptionist that this was a diagnostic ultrasound and that I shouldn't ask a lot of questions so as to not break the tech's focus. Tony wasn't even allowed in the room with me. The only question I asked was, "so, is she still a girl?" The tech just glared at me and I shut my mouth. I was really sad.

Finally, 11 hours later, the doctor told me my cervix was perfectly strong and wasn't shortening at all, so my contractions weren't actually leading to labor. I was able to go "home" to our hotel and was put on 24-hour complete bed rest. Tony literally jumped up for joy and began collecting my things as I was disconnected from all of the monitors and needles stuck in me. We found the nearest McDonald's (neither of us had eaten the entire day in the hospital. I wasn't really allowed and Tony didn't want to eat in front of me) and stuffed our faces. We have never been so glad to see a hotel room in our lives. My bleeding and contractions, the doctor said, were most likely caused from simply over-doing it and not staying hydrated.

I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow, and I'm a bit afraid that he'll put me on bed rest for the duration of my pregnancy. 24-hour bed rest was hard enough for me and I don't think I could do it for two months! I'm also secretly hoping that they will do an ultrasound and since I know they are nice I might get to see my little girl :). One can hope, right?

So - that wraps up our Florida trip experience. It was a nice vacation even if it was a bit eventful at the end. We are all doing well now, safe and sound at home in cold Utah.