I have to say that I have been dreading and overwhelmed by this post(s) for a long time. Not only is there a lot to post and a lot to say - It was an amazing trip - but it ended up being very stressful, emotional and heartbreaking as well. I suppose it is to be expected that not everything in a blog/journal can be happy though, and life events need to be recorded. :)
As a massage therapist, Josh is required every year for his license to take continuing education. He had been wanting to study Medical Massage and found a training that was actual held on board a cruise ship. He was able to bring someone with him, so we decided to make a couple's vacation out of it. We scheduled the trip months in advance and had it set up for Josh's parents to come stay with our kids for the week since the trip would be in November and they would be in school.
A few weeks before the trip, however, Josh's dad had some unexpected problems with his eye and needed to go in for emergency surgery. Unfortunately, they would no longer be able to travel up to stay with the kids. Our trip was already booked, and we could not cancel it. Luckily, my mom was off work for the winter, so my parents agreed to take the kids while we went. The only problem was they would have to miss school (my parents couldn't leave their horses and other animals for that long). The teachers were really good about it and we were able to get all of their school work to work on while they were gone.
On Thursday the 7th, we dropped our kids off with my mom and dad. The next morning, Josh and I got up early and rode the train to the airport where we flew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I was expected a baby and about 10 weeks along. After we got off the airplane, I noticed a little bleeding. I figured it must have been related to the plane ride and tried not to worry. We rode the shuttle to our hotel and spent the night.
DAY 1:
The next morning we rode another shuttle to the cruise port. We checked in, and boarded the ship. The ship was Oasis of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. It was huge!
First we went to check out our room. It was really nice! We had our own little deck, which was fun.
Next we went to explore the ship. It was amazing! It's like a huge hotel/mall floating on the ocean. Once you are onboard, you can hardly tell it's a ship. The first day, we noticed the swaying of the ship a little and felt a little queasy, but not too bad at all. On our floor of the ship, there was a carousel. Throughout the ship there are little restaurants and cafes to eat at. For most of them, the food is included with the cruise (and some you have to pay extra to eat at). That day we at lunch at a little place that served sandwiches and desserts. You just grab a plate and tell them what you want and they serve you up. The sandwiches were yummy!
This is a view from our floor down to the one below:
The ship even had a library! You could check out books and bring them to your room. Josh and I spent a little time here and got a couple of books.
This is a model of our ship. We couldn't believe how humongous it was.
Leaving Fort Lauderdale:
After we explored for a bit, we went to the mandatory safety drill where they explain what to do in case of an emergency. Then we went to Josh's massage training orientation where they served hor d'ourves and explained what to expect for the training through the week and also gave us some tips for the cruise.
Every night on the cruise, they have dinner in their dining room. This ended up being a lot of fun. Each night is set as either casual, semi-formal, or formal. You are assigned a table where you sit each night. The waiter brings you a menu and you can choose from several different appetizers and main dishes. After dinner you can choose a dessert. They always had lots of yummy choices, and it was fun to dress up and eat "fancy" food. :)
Tis was my dinner the first night. Seafood pasta, and some sort of chocolate cake/mousse for dessert:
Each day the ship puts on different shows that are also included. The first night we had reservations to see the musical Hairspray. It was so much fun! The cast did an amazing job, and we had seats really close to the front. It was awesome!
DAY 2:
The next day, Sunday, we were at sea all day. Josh also had his massage training all day. Before he left, we had breakfast delivered to our room (room service was free!) and we ate it out on our deck.
This is a "channel" on our TV where we could check to see what restaurants were busy, etc at the time.
While Josh had his training, I mostly just hung out in our room while I waited. I also went to a little class they held giving tips on things to do in Haiti, Jamaica, and Mexico. It was mostly about shopping, so wasn't too interesting for me. We were able to go to lunch together at the Park Cafe ( a free restaurant on board). They had sandwiches, soup and a salad bar. Very yummy! Afterward I started to have cramps and was still lightly bleeding, so I took it easy all day. Josh had classes the rest of the day, and when he got back he gave me a blessing. I was blessed that I would be okay, but Josh didn't feel good about blessing that the baby would be okay. :( We went to dinner. I wish I could remember everything we ate! After dinner we had reservations for the Oasis of Dreams Aqua Show which was a really cool diving show.
DAY 3:
The third day, Monday, we were in Haiti. I was still cramping, so I called the medical center that was on board. The nurse told me that there would be a doctor available after 4:00pm (although we later found out that they were there in the morning too). We decided to go ahead and see Haiti, but to just take it easy.
We stood on the beach there and found a few shells. It was gorgeous there! If I hadn't been feeling unwell and nervous about the baby, we would have loved hiking and exploring all over!
We looked around the shops a little and bought some souvenirs, then had lunch. The cruise ship catered a big BBQ lunch on the island with burgers, hot dogs, salads, fruit, and desserts. We had had a tour reserved, and were unsure if we should go, but in the end decided to go ahead and do it since it was just a little boat ride and a small walk for the tour.
We boarded a little ferry that took us to another part of the island. They told us some of the history of Haiti and mentioned that it was near where Christopher Columbus came (I wish I could remember the details).
When we got to the other side, they stopped the boat and we had to walk through the water to get to the beach.
When we got to the beach they had a little place where we could get a free drink. It was a fruity little drink that was pretty good! (we got the non-alcoholic version)
After everyone got their drink, they started our tour, which was a cultural tour about Haiti.
They showed us how they crack open the coconuts:
This was a soursop fruit growing on the tree.
One of their huts:
This man was weaving things like hats, bags, and baskets:
Here they showed us how they make peanut butter by crushing the peanuts with this long stick:
See the peanut butter on the end of her stick:
These were coffee beans at different levels (raw, roasted, etc):
They grind their own coffee beans:
We learned that they peel the oranges and export the orange peels where they are used to make fancy liquors or something.
They seemed very desperate for whatever money they could get out of you. Here they
were selling Haitian cookies and candies.
If I remember right, this was yucca root that they are grating here on this log.
They make it into these big round tortilla/bread type things that they cook on these big
skillets over the fire:
We got to try the fresh peanut butter on the yucca bread. It was actually really good!
A Haitian artist who had artwork for sale:
We got to listen to these Haitian musicians play:
This man made amazing carvings of all kinds. The walking sticks were so cool. Josh later
wished he got one, but we were unsure how to bring it home.
They gave us a little flower:
The shells we found in Haiti:
After we got back from the tour, we went back on the ship so we could go see the doctor before dinner. The ship doctor did an exam and found that the womb was closed, which she said was a good sign, but that she recommended we get an ultrasound once we got to Jamaica. They set up an appointment for that for the next morning.
That night we again had dinner in the dining room.
Josh's salmon:
We both had the strawberry cheesecake:
That night we saw the Frozen in Time ice skating show, which was really cool. They also had someone who performed a show with sand on a light projector (hard to describe, but it was amazing!). After the show we made a stop at the ship's acupuncturist to see if he had any advice about the cramping. He was very kind, and told us that he agreed we should do the ultrasound. If everything was okay with the baby, we could come back and he could help stop the cramping.
**Warning, the next paragraph is a tad graphic, feel free to skip**
That night the cramping got worse to where it started feeling like contractions, which scared me. I went to bed and at 4:00, early Tuesday, I woke up with bad cramps and ran to the bathroom knowing I was miscarrying. : ( Josh called the medical center and was told there was nothing they could do until 8:00 am! The bleeding was so bad, I ended up in the bathroom between the toilet and a bed of towels in the shower floor for the next four hours. It was the most devastating and horrific experience of my life. Finally, around 8:00, the bleeding finally slowed down, but I wasn't doing well. The cramping suddenly got bad and I felt a weird dizziness and headache. I was very scared for a moment that I might not make it. I'm sure it seemed worse than it was, but I was so traumatized and scared. I told Josh and he gave me a blessing. The cramping stopped immediately and I felt a lot better.
DAY 4:
I got cleaned up and ate a little breakfast and we headed down to the doctor. She was very kind and apologized for our loss. She was upset that the nurse on the phone had told us we couldn't be helped until 8:00. She said we absolutely could have come in at any time. She told us we should still see the doctor in Jamaica and have the ultrasound done to make sure the miscarriage was complete. We went back to our room and just cried together. We were so heartbroken to have lost our baby. We got ready and went to our appointment with the gynecologist in Jamaica. I was a little nervous to go to a doctor in another country, but it wasn't bad. He did an ultrasound and determined that the miscarriage was complete. We left the doctor and rented a wheelchair. We decided to look around the pier and see the little shops and such. Try to take our minds off things. It helped, but many things and thoughts kept hitting us and making us sad and teary. We originally had planned a tour in Jamaica where we were to see the place that Christopher Columbus landed along with some other things, but we were able to cancel it.
I look horrible after everything that happened and the wind on top of it, but it is what it is. :)
Drinking coconut water from a coconut.
The pier at Falmouth, Jamaica.
A little fruit cart where we bought some local fruits to try.
Josh trying a soursop fruit.
A giant avocado that Josh bought. It wasn't as good as the giant one we had in Hawaii a few
years ago.
These little Jamaican patties were fun to try. Meat filled
Josh got a Jamaican hat.
We bought a few souvenir trinkets. Some little turtles carved from mahogany for the kids, etc.
We didn't do much else and headed back to the cruise ship.
Our view from the ship:
That night we didn't have the heart to go to the dining room where we would be sitting next to people that we had told another night that we
were expecting a baby. We decided to go to one of the other restaurants on the ship for dinner that night. We tried one called the Seafood Shack. Josh had some lobster tails and I had crab legs. We shared some sweet potato fries.
After dinner, we decided to go ahead and go to our show. There was no way we could go home. We had to finish out the cruise, so we decided to just make the best of it and it actually ended up being a good thing. We were able to just be together and grieve and also had the cruise activities to take our mind off things and as horrific as it all was, we ended up feeling like it was meant to happen as it did.
The show that night was called Headliner Showtime performed by the singer Earl Turner. He just sang a bunch of songs and entertained everyone. It was a neat show. I remember though that at one point he sang the song Yesterday by the Beatles and the lyrics to the song just tore me apart after what happened...yesterday. :(
DAY 5:
The next day was another day at sea, and another day of massage training for Josh. He had a really hard time having to go to class after it all, but he didn't have much choice. I just rested in the room that day. For lunch we had room service in our room.
Josh got a cheese and fruit tray (along with something else, I think):
I had the fish, which was delicious.
We shared a banana chocolate pie.
Josh had classes the rest of the day. After class we went to dinner. It was formal night that night, and lobster night, so we decided to go ahead and go:
(I think this dessert is out of place, but I don't remember what day we ate it! :) )
DAY 6:
On the sixth day, Thursday, we went to Cozumel, Mexico.
We had an excursion planned to ride a ferry to what I think was Playa del Carmen to see the ancient aztec ruins, Tulum. This ended up being an interesting trip. The day started out cloudy and windy. The sea was VERY choppy and the ferry ride was horrible. They passed out barf bags to everyone and honestly, we came really close to throwing up. We were SO sea sick. Luckily we had a can of altoids in our backpack that I had brought on the trip for morning sickness, so the whole ferry ride we just kept eating those to keep our mind off the seasickness.
After we got off the ferry, we had to ride a bus to the ruins. We were so not in the mood to ride a bus after being so sick, but luckily it was a smooth ride and we felt much better once we got there.
Sites from the bus:
At the site of Tulum, we were told to be back to the bus at a certain time and we followed our tour guide to the site. It started sprinkling rain a little when we first got off the bus. There were guys selling ponchos everywhere, but they were expensive, so we decided not to buy any since it was only barely raining. That ended up being a mistake. Ha ha!
The walk up to the ruins wasn't too bad, but it started raining pretty hard once we got up there. We were drenched before long!
Our...wet...brochures:
It started by walking through this brick entrance.
The ruins were so cool. It was amazing to see creations from so long ago.
After the tour guide took us through and told us about all the ruins, he left us on our own to explore and make our way back to the bus. We looked around and then headed down to the trail. The way back had some amazing views of the cliffs and the ocean below. Rain and seasickness aside, this was probably my favorite stop of the cruise. I wished we had more time and better conditions. I would like to go back! It was just gorgeous.
We walked back to the little village where the bus was and stopped to look at some of the little trinkets for sale. We found some cute little turtles made from obsidian, turquoise and abolone which I just loved. We bartered a bit with the Mexican lady and got it along with some mini sombreros for the boys. We had to run through the pouring rain to make it back to the bus, but we made it! The next part of the excursion was supposed to be an authentic Mexican food lunch and then a couple of hours to play on the beach. We had the lunch, which was really good and fun to try authentic Mexican. They even had some Mexican sodas (ours were kinda yucky). However, it was raining too much to go to the beach. Some of the other tourists talked the tour people into taking us back to the town to let us walk through the little shops there while we waited. They took us there and we had a bit of time to look around before another bus came and took us back to the ferry.
We were so scared to ride the ferry back! Luckily, it was not anywhere near as bad on the way back. On the way back there were people selling Mexican made blankets. We had no desire to buy one, but then a man held up a beautiful one that looked like it had a turtle on it. Turtles had come to make us think of our little one we had lost, and we just had to get it. Luckily Josh was able to talk the guy way down on the price and we got a really good deal. Funny the little things that help us through a hard time.
When we got back, we hurried and got cleaned up and dressed and went to dinner at the dining room.
Scallop appetizer:
Shrimp cocktail appetizer:
Josh's lamb shank - his favorite meal of the entire trip.
Seafood dinner:
Dessert. This one looked cool, but wasn't my favorite. :)
Some of the nights when we got back from dinner there were towel animals in our room.
this was a rabbit:
That night we hadn't reserved a show or anything because we had returned back so late from Mexico, so we found a little comedy improv show to go to. It ended up being really fun to watch. We even bought a virgin pina colada which was yummy.
DAY 7:
Day 7 was another day at sea as we headed back to Florida. It was also Josh's last day of class. This day he only had a half day of class. I went with him to one of his classes where he was learning about Insurance Billing so I would know how to help him with it when we got home.
There were a few little shops, etc, where you could get free treats. There was a place on the top floor where we got free frozen yogurt from a dispenser and this day we went to a little donut shop. They actually weren't very good, but it was fun to try. :)
That night we had reservations for an Aerobatic show that ended up being one of our favorites. It was amazing to watch all the tricks they did on trapezes and wires up in the air. Since it was our last night, we were instructed to have our luggage set out by our door to be gathered.
DAY 8:
The next day we woke up and had breakfast in the dining room where they had a buffet. Afterward we had to report to a certain area where we would be called to disembark. We eventually left the ship and retrieved our luggage. We caught a shuttle that took us to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale. On a cruise ship there is no cell phone service and it's very expensive to use their internet. We had emailed our parents about the miscarriage, but hadn't been able to talk to anyone yet. When we got to Florida we were able to text and call everyone and talk to them. We decided to hold off on telling the boys until we were back together again. Boy that was a long week and so hard to be away that long from our kids!
At our hotel:
Once we got to our hotel, we decided to go find some lunch. We didn't have a car, so we walked. We found a little sushi place that we decided to try. They had sea urchin (uni) that Josh was really excited to try. His dad had served a mission in Samoa and talked about eating sea urchin there. It was interesting! Very different. The sushi was yummy!
After we ate we walked over to the beach which was close to our hotel. We found lots of seashells.
I just love beach combing. My favorite.
At dinner time we walked in the other direction and found a Thai place to get some takeout. We even found a Winn-Dixie to buy some waters. Isaac had recently read the book Because of Winn-Dixie, so it was cool to see one of the actual stores. ;)
DAY 9:
We ended up with an extra day in Fort Lauderdale before our flight left early on Monday. So that Sunday we went to church at a little church that we had found the day before that was luckily within walking distance from our hotel. It was cool to go to church in a different place. It was an LDS branch renting a baptist chapel!
You don't see a drawbridge very often! At least not where we are from. Kinda cool!
After church we went to lunch at a little Mexican food place where we had some good fish and lobster tacos.
The next morning we were finally able to fly home and go pick up our kids. It was sad to tell them the news of our lost baby, but we felt really strongly that we would in one way or another meet that baby again someday. It was a bittersweet trip for sure!
