Bahama Mama!

Sometime in September, I received a phone call from Zippy telling me that he "unfortunately" had to go to the Bahamas for a work meeting in October.  Of course, I had to ask if I could tag along! From there, we had lots of highs and lows...originally Grey was supposed to go with us and when I found out it wasn't the best trip for little guys like him, I was a sobbing mess. I wanted to go to the Bahamas (hello?? who wouldn't??) but I didn't want to leave my little boy for a whole week when I have only spent a night away from him. I finally came to terms with it and was excited, treating it as a baby moon since baby ZJ will be here in a few months and we won't be going anywhere in awhile and also as an early 5 year anniversary-baby ZJ is due the week of our anniversary. I was getting very excited, got the okay from my doctor to travel, and went shoppign for some fun maternity beach clothes. Then, we had our mid-pregnancy ultrasound and my doctor called me to tell me I had a low placenta again (just like with Grey) and that I was going to be put on pelvic rest for 10 weeks-no exercise, no lifting anything over 10 lbs(how in the heck do you do that with a 19 mth old at home?), and to take it easy as much as possible. Then she ended the conversation with a brief statement that she didn't know what the health care was like in the Bahamas and she strongly recommended that I not go, she did not feel comfortable with it.  I was a MESS! I had just convinced myself it would be fun, that it would be okay to leave Grey and NOW, I can't go, I have to stay home, and I can't even pick Grey up?  I was a wreck.

I did some research, found out what the hospital care was like, and that I would be traveling with an ER nurse, and since I was going to an ambulance meeting, I think I was in good hands. I tried to contact my doctor and she never got back to me(over 2 weeks and multiple attempts to contact her), and my appointment with her was canceled. Luckily, I saw a midwife who that it was a great idea for me to go, that I could snorkel and do some walking around without causing any injury to myself or baby ZJ...this was the day before we were to leave!

I am glad I went. We went to the Atlantis which was just insanely amazing. I want to go back when the kids are over 6, because they have an amazing water park with tons of pools and slides. They had two slides that went through the shark tank, one that was a 60 foot drop almost straight down, and a crazy river-think the wave pool and lazy river combined! There were tons of aquariums all over the grounds and we got to watch shark feedings, manta ray feedings, and see all sorts of tropical fish.  It was amazing. The food was fantastic, the other people who also attended the meeting (about 100 in total) were alot of fun and the wives all hung out at the pool drinking tropical drinks watching the older kids play while the meetings were going on. Next time I go though, I don't want to be pregnant. I enjoyed reading my books and laying in the sun-trust me, it was much needed but I would have loved to partake in the bars, late night casino (it was really smoky), the water slides, and boating excursions ( I was a little nauseas already so decided I wouldn't chance it). Zippy went on two scuba trips-one with sharks and the other in a ship wreck. I stayed back with Chase and sat in the sun, people watching.  I actually didn't have my camera with me too much so here are the few pictures I took....

View of the harbor from our room. Atlantis is on Paradise Island which is connected to Nassau by a big bridge

 Stormy sunset from our room

 Our hotel-one of the 6 on the grounds

 Chase (right) kept me company while Zippy scuba dived!

 Hotel Beach

 Snorkeling right off the beach was fun!

 One of the tanks-crazy looking shark and a grouper

 Us missing Grey alot :)

I want to really thank Michelle, Brian, and Andrew and especially Grammie for taking such good care of Grey while we were gone. It was so much easier to relax knowing we did not need to worry about him :) It was a great trip but I am enjoying hanging out with Grey all weekend now that we are back!