Tag: Pregnant

A ‘Rash-ional’ Recollection Of Post Babe Peculiarities

Though I can’t really give you great details as to what exactly happened/was felt on what day (that’s all totally gone and lost from the memory bank) I will detail (some in a semi discrete way of detailing) a few ‘things’ about what I and my person have experienced after having given birth to this blob 🤪

During the first days of that first week home, evenings were weird.
I realized I was probably overtired and dealing with a lot of hormonal things going on but for some reason, during the day I’d feel pretty good and ‘with it’ and then as soon as it started to get dark outside, the feelings got heavy.
It felt sad and lonely and scary inside the house…probably outside too but I didn’t find that out 🤪
It didn’t feel like there was any place for good feelings.
Not as in baby blues or a dislike of Lake or myself, just ALLLL the emotions of the day and the thoughts of facing the upcoming night, (though he was sleeping pretty decently) felt like a weight falling on me with the setting of the sun.
I felt like I couldn’t get enough light in the house and the realness of having a little life to care for became really, real.
The tears came nearly nightly for 3-4 four nights.

The patience with the husband was nearly non existent 😬

I found out I had burst blood vessels in both my eyes (most likely due to pushing) after my sister seen and told me.
I showed my mom and you’d think she would never have been able to be in the room with me WHILE I gave birth, by her repulsed reaction 😂

I’m bottle feeding Lake, so you can fill in the blanks as to why cabbage leaves and ibuprofen had to be purchased 4 days in 🤪
That was … different. Gravity didn’t exist and I don’t ever need/want to pay for the effects that were imitated… if you catch my drift 😂 If you don’t, too bad because I’m not going to explain 🙈

One nice-ish thing about being pregnant, was that I didn’t have more than one zit, for 9 months 😳
But that came back in a smattering of little pimples and an extremely, desert dry face 😬

Clinical strength deodorant had to be purchased to deal with a change of those hormones and extra strength meds were bought to combat the daily headaches, which began a couple weeks in and then lasted 5 weeks or so.

The doctor said the headaches were most likely caused from holding Lake so much and the way it twists your neck/shoulders, especially if you are prone to using one arm more than the other, which I am. His recommendations for relief were time, hydration and stretching.

I had some MAJOR baby brain.
If thinking coherent thoughts were represented by bouncy balls in baskets, all my baskets were thrown in the air and the bouncy balls were ricocheting off every single surface, not to be caught 🤪

I was forgetting stuff and also having trouble formulating thoughts and making decisions on new things, without feeling like the bouncy ball thoughts were also going to start exploding, along with their unstoppable bouncing 🙈

It has mostly revised itself… I think 🤓

A couple days post birthing him, my muscles began to feel very strained when I’d move around…my arms and neck having that same lingering feeling as your leg has after a bad Charlie horse.
That lasted a few days but the sore upper abdominal muscles/ribs when using them in specific movements, lingered for a good 9 weeks.

Haven’t had enough information yet?

Let’s talk rashes 🤓

During the following days of being home, the stretch marks on my stomach were a bit itchy but I tried to ignore it best I could.
Come Thursday the 22nd, I gave them a good, hard, relieving, amazing feeling scratch… and so it began. A rash then began to appear on my stomach and I figured it was just due to the extensive scratching.
During the day it progressively worsened and spread to my limbs and hands and come end of day, my face, ears, legs and feet, including the bottoms of my feet, were all rash ridden.

The itching was insane. I was able to call my doctor and get some cream for the husband to bring home and I applied that liberally and tried not to scratch.
The next day it was even worse. The desire to shred my skin off has never been so strong and writing about it, is almost making me get itchy again 😅
The sister mixed up some essential oils she’d read to try online and brought them over in the morning and then I went over to her house that afternoon to try an oatmeal bath. It eased it minimally while IN the bath but the gentle pat dry with a towel afterword, pretty much reawakened whatever it had calmed.

And it just got worse.

Come evening, I was standing trying to get up the courage to apply the cream, clenching my fists and teeth so hard I was quivering and near tears due to the current itch strength and the thought of having to touch my skin and make the itch even worse.

Via ‘the google’, it seemed like PUPPPs but that’s typically something gotten before the babe is born.

 

Come Saturday I went into the walk-in clinic and got some stronger meds.
The doctor said it seemed like a reaction to something and asked if I’d changed anything at home but Lake was the only thing I could think of 🤪 He then asked if I had a husband home to help, because the night time meds would knock me out and the day time ones could almost make me feel squirrelly 🥴🤪

Whatever they were… they worked 🙌🏻

Praise. The. Lord.
Seriously. I don’t know how to explain the itch properly or how a person would handle it DURING pregnancy when you’d have all the discomforts of pregnancy to add to it 😳😖😰
The meds took care of it within a couple of days and after that, any other post Lake body happenings, seemed pretty bearable 😅

I still feel a little paranoid when I get a strong random itch but besides that I think I’m pretty much back to my normal 🤪

I do believe that pretty much covers the most apparent and perhaps slightly unexpected, side effects I experienced after having had a baby.  Though most of these occurrences are ones I didn’t read or hear about before hand, when I was looking up what to expect after having a baby.

So I hope you found this enlightening, insightful or at least entertaining at my expense 🤪

If you had any unexpected side effects of having a baby and are willing to divulge, I’d love to hear about them! 🤪

I do believe I’m now out of the immediate danger zone for experiencing anymore overly weird bodily things in relation to this, so in ending the topic, I now leave you with this, the sincerest of wishes…

‘May you never itch, as I have itched’. 😂

Preparing For Departure

 

Well, Baby H came into the world at 1:41 am on Tuesday, September 15th, 2020.

He got to snuggle with his daddy and Grams and I for a little while before they took him for his first official check up. The nurse walked away with him, whispering sweet words and promises of singing to him the whole walk to the nursery 😉

We slowly got relocated in our new room around 4:00 am and there’s a photo of Mom and Mikes McDonald’s on my phone, so I guess Mike must have went out and got some food for us all before Mom headed home but I don’t remember that 🤪

Baby was wheeled back into our room around 5:00 am and they were going to leave him with us, after very briefly and abruptly saying where the bottles and diapers were in his bassinet. We quickly asked if he could stay in the nursery and luckily he could.
They left him for half an hour of snuggles and then took him at 5:30 am.

It was then, that we finally got to go to sleep.
Luckily Mike and I got our own beds too 🤪👍🏻

(I was surprised at the lack of instruction the nurse offered about feeding, burping etc. thinking if we were people who’d never been around kids much, it would have been extremely daunting to be told next to nothing and just being left in charge of a little life.)

I awoke by 7:30 a.m. and they brought baby, and breakfast, by 8:00 am.

Mich jumped into the role of attentive dad and took care of baby the whole morning 🖤 Feeding, changing and soothing him, so I could eat my cereal.
Water retention/ swelling was a real thing that I was experiencing. My rings being very much stuck on my fingers and my eyes feeling more closed than open 😑

Between nurses coming in to check on us, food trays being cleared, trying to stay semi on top of all the messages coming in, and stressing out about choosing a name for baby H, I finally got to freshen up and take a breather and a bath, around noon.
While I did that, the babe was introduced to his Dutch grandparents via FaceTime 😉🖤

Next on the phone were his great grands and then his Canadian grandpa came for an in person visit after that!

Mom understandably stayed home that day to recover from her coaching job 😉👍🏻

The sister then wrote that she’d be coming in to see us and we placed an order for some Tim Hortons soup and bagels, though my appetite hadn’t been overly strong at all.

What followed was very disappointing and annoying… she texted us to say that security was telling her she wasn’t allowed up due to the nurses in the maternity ward saying it wasn’t allowed.
Mike went and tried to ask in person if she could come in and the new nurse on shift told him no.
So then I walked to see Pro, get our food and see what exactly was up.
I then walked back to the nurses station to ask why she wasn’t allowed in, when literally 30 minutes before I’d asked visiting rules to make sure of the restrictions and I had been told I could have up to two visitors at any time, not necessarily family, so long as they’d have masks on.
I was told that I’d been given incorrect information 😬

So, babe stayed with daddy so I could visited with her for about an hour in the lobby.

Then I went back to my room to eat my first real food of the day at 3:30.

Between trying to solidify our name decision, freshen up, paperwork, nurses, baby tending, guests or lack of, phone calls, etc… I was exhausted, had walked over 4,500 steps, been up doing stuff more than laying down and I desperately wanted a nap but never got one 😬

Mike left for home around 8 p.m or so, thinking he’d be more rested if he stayed there and thinking the nurses would take the babe in the nursery again.

Unfortunately, the new night nurse wasn’t the most enthusiastic about tending to my offspring and said she’d take him for a little bit after his check up at 12:00 a.m. since he’d have his 48 hour check at 1:41 a.m. 😬  So due to my med schedule etc. I ending up staying up waiting for her to come take him and bring my meds but she came late, forgot my meds and then only took him for a few hours, returning him at 4:00 a.m. Resulting in another very short, interrupted night for me 🤪

Wednesday –

By 8:00 a.m., the doctor had come and given us the okay to be discharged, Mike had come in from home and our child’s name was finally and officially, decided 😅

Thus,’ Lake Fallan Johannes Hagenouw ‘ was readied by his father whilst I got ready and we packed up, filled out his birth certificate information and prepared to leave, after what felt like a very, very long stay 🙈

It really felt like I’d been in there for years… giving me an appreciation for those who are unfortunate enough to have to spend much of their time in there. It really felt like I went there in the summer and came out in the fall…the trees having dropped a majority of their leaves during my stay.

I’ve never before in my entire time of knowing Michiel, known him to take a corner SO slowly and cautiously while driving, as he did when we left the hospital with Lake 😂
I halfway wondered if he was even planning to turn or if he somehow hoped he could just ever so slightly adjust his straight direction in a way that would result in the correct path, because let me tell ya, I think a full cup of water on the dash would have been perfectly safe and unspilt 😉

Before we could head home, a stop had to be made at the fathers sawmill, so we could introduce the little human to his uncles before they headed off for a weekend hunting trip.

He was proudly shown and received and then packed back up into the most uncomfortable looking position in his car seat 🤪
We went on to get a couple grocery items and then finally got back home, a much changed unit from when we’d left 🤓

Lake had an introduction to be made once we got home, to Atlas, the cat 😏🤪

Lake began crying during his diaper change and Atlas’s reaction to this loud, odd new sound, was that of tense stress and confusion 😂😬
I tried to reassuringly pet her and it freaked her out, sending her running to her room downstairs 🙈

I was exhausted and feeling it hard and the houses general state of chaos was magnifying those emotions.
I was so tired I didn’t even open the gifts set up that the sister had snuck over and set up to greet me on my arrival back home as I wanted to wait until I was in a better mood to enjoy it.

 That’s telling you something, when Jess will leave an available gift, unopened 😳

Mich sent me to nap, which I managed to do for a little while and then we got to go eat dinner at the parents house. Mom had made a meal for us, as well as the sister, sister-in-law and all those littles.

All of who were more than ready to make the newest family members acquaintance 😏

Then began the first night home with Lake and our new beginning as a family of three…

Aren’t You Excited ?! A Slightly Different Perspective On Pregnancy

 

I wrote this post a few days before Lake was actually born. I then mulled over it for a chunk of time, had my husband read it and also my mom. After they had both read it, I felt like maybe they were the only ones who should read it and it didn’t need to be released ‘into the wild’. It didn’t leave the back of my mind though, even after Lake’s birth and then there were many little things that crossed my path, that felt like a continued nudge to share this.

This post by an Instagramer I follow, was one of those ‘nudges’ and even though it’s more to do with ‘after’ baby and my post is more about ‘before’, I appreciated seeing someone else with similar thoughts/feelings and willingness to share about it.

@Darylanndenner

I will say, now that Lake is here we are thankfully all doing very well and adjusting to life as a family of three, much better than I was anticipating. Baby blues haven’t been a thing and the majority of pre-babe fears and doubts, have dissipated, for which I am very thankful. There have of course been emotional days and moments but that’s nothing unusual when introducing a baby into your life I think 😉

 

– September 10th – Written Pre The Babes Arrival –

I’ve thought about writing this off and on for like… 9 months 😬🙈 But every time I’d think about sitting down to actually do it, I’d think, ‘Nope. It’s too much. It’s not the norm. It will be taken wrong and people won’t understand. It doesn’t SOUND nice.’

Finally I just wanted to write it down so it’s out of my head because such things usually won’t exit my brain until they’ve been said or written. My husband has also told me a few times that I should just try writing it out… I’m obedient, when I want to be 🤪 This was vetted by him, as it’s been a little nerve wracking for me to post but, because I trust him, you have him to thank for reading this 🤪

Before I begin, I want to say that I TRULY wouldn’t want to hurt anyone with what I say, or bring undo pain, but I do want to show a perspective that is seen less often, from what I’ve noticed.
My hope is that by some small chance, maybe there is someone else out there who has had similar thoughts and feelings, and by seeing mine, won’t feel so singular in them.

But, in the end it is up to those who will read this, to come up with their own conclusions and thoughts, about me and mine 🤓

 

I haven’t been ‘excited’.

About what you may ask?
About the soon to be born child that we will be welcoming into our home and lives.

Yes, I talk about it, write about it, ask questions and have tried to be as prepared as possible, and no, it was not a ‘surprise’ 🤪🙈
I smile and discuss it/him, I post pictures and talk about names and outfits.

That doesn’t change the fact that it’s not a path I ever dreamed of taking though.

Ever since I can remember I have not liked, nor wanted, children.
I was never the young girl who wanted to go hold the new babies, to play with the ‘sweet and precious’ little ones, who wanted to grow up and be a mom.
The very idea of pregnancy creeped me out/sounded awful and seemed unnecessarily fawned over (Still does 🙈).

People would say, ‘Oooh, once you’re older/married you just wait and see, you’ll change your mind! 😄’. Do people typically change their mind about a food they have seriously disliked their whole life once they ‘get married’?

I think not 🤪

It wasn’t some little thing to just say to be different, it’s a for real, ingrained and felt my whole memorable life, characteristic.

That feeling has not ‘changed’ as I have aged.
It would be a whole lot easier if it would have.
We went into marriage fully aware that kids were lowest on the list of my desires.
Actually it wouldn’t BE on a list, if it was a ‘things I desired’ list 🙈
Mike on the other hand, likes kids and is fabulous with them.
They are as drawn to him, as he can be to them, and he reacts with love, fun and patience.
He knew he’d like to have kids but was also more than willing to consider a life without, if I never got on the same page.
He was supportive, loving, not at all pushy or nagging and left it up to me to broach the topic.

And so, it was indeed me, who came to him with the topic of, ‘Should we start a family?’.
I’ll honestly say it was just Gods nudging that had me even remotely THINKING about, thinking about having a kid.
Nothing else would have been able to sway my feelings on it besides feeling His persistent push towards the idea of starting a family.
It was a matter of where we were in life, what we’ve done, what we want to do and what we wanted our future to look like.

Did I actually want my future to look like baby items in my house and a little life to take care of, teach, raise and care for, for the rest of our forever? No.

Did I feel like it was what God wanted for us and a step I needed to take, trusting His leading? Yep.

Did I seriously hope we wouldn’t actually be able to have kids and that my mere willingness to think about a kid would be enough? Yes.

Did I feel guilty for having such a hope, when I know there are those who long, pray and struggle, for the very thing that so easily became a reality for us, when I didn’t even want it? Absolutely.

I didn’t cry for two days after taking the pregnancy test.
I just didn’t want to think about it.
Yet THINK about it was all I’d done for the 48 or so hours since seeing those two pink lines.
Think endlessly and tiresomely about everything and anything to do with what our future would now be.
Not happy thoughts either but thoughts of stress, worry, fear, disappointment, sadness, loss… you get the idea.
My head felt heavy and as if it would either burst or simply, achingly and possibly, just shut down.
Neither happened 😜

I know it’s (it = he = baby) what our lives need and will be exactly how it should be…but that doesn’t mean it excites me and THAT is a very hard thing to explain and not a thing you see or read when researching, ‘first trimester’, ‘ birth announcements’ etc.

Speaking of birth announcements… I dreaded ‘telling the news’.
I so disliked that people react like it’s the most blessedly wonderful thing to occur in our whole lives existence and that we/I undoubtedly feel that way too. I didn’t want to have to fake a smile and excitement but it’s not really something you can just casually NOT let people know about 😜 I didn’t want the, ‘congrats!! This is SO exciting, you must be thrilled!’ That isn’t to say I wasn’t able to appreciate such things and realize all mean well and that theirs is the typical reaction to babies.
I am well aware that it’s my reaction that is skewed.
I just couldn’t bare the thought of having to emotionally respond with positivity.
Thus, why we waited what’s considered a long time, to say anything.

Amidst all my Pinterest searching, app reading, people talking etc. (and trust me… I do a lot of pre-research when something stresses me out 😅) there wasn’t a single thing about ‘being pregnant by choice but NOT feeling overwhelming joy, excitement and love for the babe within’.

I honestly still feel no real connection to the babe… I can’t say I love him or smile upon every flutter and kick.
It’s uncomfortable.
He’s causing near constant heartburn/numbness and pain in my ribs/back, my belly is heavy and in the way of overall life-ing and I can literarily feel my skin stretching apart.

All that to say, I’ve still been blessed with a very good pregnancy.
Haven’t thrown up once, felt very little nausea and in general had no/very few of the oddities that so often attack those who are growing another person.
That doesn’t mean I’ve seen it as magical, lovely, sweet and precious or an amazing experience whatsoever though 😬
His movements still just creep my out and I feel like it’s a little unknown thing inside and I can’t at all picture ‘it’ as an actual baby, nor do I presume that I’ll miss being pregnant AT ALL.

As the day of his arrival comes ever nearer (it should actually have been yesterday due date wise🤭) it’s more trepidation that I feel than excitement.

Our lives are about to be turned upside down.
Isn’t it understandable to be a little freaked out by the fact that life’s ‘old’ normal is going out the window and the futures pretty unpredictable right now??!😅
I think so… but why is that part so rarely spoke of? 🙈

Yes, I know people say it’s the best thing ever, that we won’t be able to imagine life without him, he will be loved so fully, so immediately and so on and so forth. It’s hard trying to think of answers to those type of interactions that show socially appropriate amounts of joy and excitement, while yet being truthful about feelings that are the not at all similar.

I don’t fully doubt those sentiments either, but how come no one ever says things like, ‘It’s going to be hard but you can do it’ or ‘It’s not all magical that’s for sure, but try not to forget that there will be good times too’ and ‘I’m sure you’re feeling nervous about giving birth, I was totally scared/stressed out and don’t be worried if you’re not overwhelmed with immediate feelings of love.’?

There were many times that having the whole day to focus on the fact that I don’t have any of the ‘normal’ feelings that people on social media are displaying about the same life changing event, were mentally draining.

They speak of their ‘to be born’ babes with love, touch their belly with tender caresses and talk about how wonderful it is to feel the kicks, about how they love their baby so much and already can’t imagine life without them, how they are sure they will be best friends and just can’t wait to meet them.
How they have baby fever seeing the other newborns around, that breastfeeding is the most magically bonding experience or how they love the accessory of having a bump.

I’m not upset they feel that way…I’m a bit upset that I DON’T…that my feelings and thoughts are so opposite and thus a little isolating.

Those that know me, know I’m not good at hiding my true thoughts and feelings and though I don’t ever want or mean to come across as blunt or ‘too much’, I can’t help but feel like I’m showing a false image if I don’t say what I truly think and feel.
That’s what this is all about I guess… I’m not looking for sympathy, nor am I looking for people to tell me it’s okay.

I just want it to be known that maybe, not every person who is pregnant by choice, is living in a wonderful world of happy anticipation.

It’s very hard to get across that though my feelings are not what I’ve come to think of as ‘the usual’, I AM still grateful the baby is healthy. That I’ve had ‘an easy pregnancy’ thus far.
That Mich will be able to experience being a dad.

That even though it’s not something I’ve ever wanted and I still feel no real feelings like I think I should, I have to trust that it was God who lead us here and will continue to do so once the babe is ‘out and about’.

And that last part will probably be sooner than later.

Like, literally any day 😅

I am ‘ready’ as far as having a room and items and a supportive and helpful husband, friends and family.
I am getting pretty antsy to see who he takes after look wise and I do look forward to seeing him with Mike and visa-versa.

Am I ready to love, nurture, sacrifice, teach and comfort a wee little living being?

I don’t know that anyone ever is… but I’d appreciate any extra prayers 😜

 

I know this is a bit of a stretch from my usual ‘home makeover/DIY/recipe’ sharing, so I would really appreciate hearing from you, if this type of post interests you or if I should stick to the simple, homestyle type subjects in the future 😉

Prepared For Landing – A Nursery Reveal

1 week and 4 days until Baby H’s due date and his room is now officially completed! And none to soon I think 🤪

Since our house only has the option of two bedrooms upstairs or one in the basement, it was a simple choice of where the newest addition will be dwelling.

Upstairs… in my craft room 🤪

Meaning I had to sort, discard and disperse my craft/art supplies throughout other areas of the house, which was no tiny task if we’re being honest… though it was rewarding because I do SO enjoy getting rid of items and finding new, usable spaces in our home 🙈

I put together an idea board for how I was envisioning the rooms transformation and so it began…

Continue reading “Prepared For Landing – A Nursery Reveal”

Campside Camaraderie

Day 3 – July 25th, 2020

The campers hadn’t planned on having an early morning so neither did we, sitting down at our chosen breakfast place around 10:00 am.
That wasn’t really by choice though, as we had entered and left three other spots before finally settling on our perch at ‘Sunhouse Cafe’… we learnt from the previous evening to be happy with the menu pre settling 😉

The ambiance was very much what we enjoy and the presentation was lovely 👌🏻

Downside, small meals… upsides, tasty, enjoyable atmosphere, good view and nice company 😉

A grocery store was found next and some provisions for the day ahead, purchased.
More campfire sitting, campground walking and visiting ensued for the rest of the morning/early afternoon.

Mike warmed us up some thick slices of buttered sugar bread over the fire, which he’d purchased at ‘Dutch Delicious’ in Edmonton.

Sugar bread being a sweet loaf we purchased often when living in Holland.

A mini walk was taken along the lakes edge, after which I retreated to the truck to stretch out on the back seat.

Cousins catching up.


An ice pack on my ribs and tennis ball beneath my back #comfortable 🤪 It turned into a nap… not all together unexpectedly, nor unfortunately 😉

When I awoke, it was nearly time for supper, which was created by one of the girls on the camping trip and also a couple steaks grilled by Mike and another fellow.

It was all very enjoyed ☺️👌🏻

After dinner, some of us headed off to go on a simple hike near the campground.
We drove a little too far and had to turn around but that was only a good thing because two bull elk were spotted munching alongside the highway.

Their relaxed grass chewing, healthy looking coats and velvet covered antlers, making for a scenic pause indeed ☺️

We found the ‘Yellowhead Mountain Trail’ and began the ‘supposedly’ 2 km trek.
Which was nearly immediately more of an uphill incline than not 😬 I don’t know about anyone else but it didn’t really inspire hope for what awaited us and my heavy breathing had me deeply questioning my abilities 🤪

Hubster picked me some little bush bouquets… they gently got discarded along side the path, as I needed my hands to continue the journey 😉

How hard could 2 km really be though? Also, spot the Mike in the above photo.

Turns out, it could be decently tiring 😂

Onward and upward we went, slowly spreading out a little more, each taking their own pace and finding traction along the mud slick inclines, hopping a couple streams and trying to observe the ‘path’ through 4.5 ft foliage.
The three of us who were a little ways ahead, were starting to question how much farther we should go, when the light at the end of the hike began to shine through some thinning trees 🤪

We called to the others that they were almost there so don’t turn back and then we proceeded to take some rapid fire photos, look at what we came to see and turn around to begin retreating back down, due to the setting sun.

As we hadn’t expected the sun to have time to set, prier to starting said hike 😏

One minor slip caused some leg blemishes for me and Mike didn’t love the downward decline with his knee hinting about its ‘less than prime condition’.
Unfortunately one of our hiking members had a rough go of it coming down, due to some pre existing knee problems but thankfully made it and was quickly given Tylenol, water and a chair and hot water bottle near the fireside back at camp.

All in all, it was a bit of an adventure and really, who wants to talk about the simple little, totally doable walk that they took anyways? 😉

I attempted to look up the hike details later and from what I could see, it truly was only 1.22 km there and back but this flatlander obviously has no experience with mountain side explorations 😛

Black diamond being ‘very difficult’ *…though truthfully that could be referring to the ENTIRE hike and not just the part up to the viewpoint, where we called it a day 😉

We again spent the last evening together by the fireside (luckily with a little less smoke inhalation) and we didn’t officially part ways until around midnight, bidding the friends goodbye until next time.
Getting us back to our hostel and in bed by 1:00 ish.

Bed hasn’t felt so good to fall into, freshly showered and comfortably clad, in sometime 🙌🏻

Gaining – Both Weight & Elevation

Day 2 – July 24th, 2020

It was a fresh morning with some light sprinklings of rain as we left our Airbnb room and headed off to find breakfast.

We decided to take up our old habit of sharing one order of food, not even for the sake of prices but more so we can eat more flavours per day 🙈
Stopping one place, eating, moving on to the next and so on 😉👌🏻

‘Toast Culture’ had many good reviews and an appealing Instagram page so we were looking forward to it.
Though the service was good and the food fine, it wasn’t that burst of flavour we’d hoped for.
Having to generously salt and pepper the food and paying $17.00 for the one dish that was mainly a bowl of potatoes.
It was fine and we FELT good after eating the fresher style of meal apposed to some fried platter but it just didn’t impress us as hoped I suppose.

Since we weren’t really filled from that experience, I looked up cafes/bakeries nearby… the desire for a ‘coffee like’ drink ( since hot coffee lost its appeal over a month ago #pregnantproblems) was strong, I think due to the slightly chilly morning.

‘Chocorrant’ was found a moment away and we readily ordered their lemon meringue and crème brûlée croissants and a hazelnut coffee.

The croissants were delicious 🙌🏻🤤

Just like croissants we’d have eaten in Europe but with the added enjoyment of flavourful fillings, of two of our favourite things.
They made up for the breakfast bowl 😉

We could then begin our 4.5 hr drive to Jasper.
I succumbed to sleeping the first 2 hours away, pretty quickly.
Mike listened to another ‘Father Gilbert’ and said he actually didn’t mind it… he’s not usually big on audio books/radio dramas but having nothing to do but drive or talk to a sleeping wife, must have set the right tone 🤪

We paused for a bathroom/refreshment break at Starbucks in Hinton and that’s also when I pulled out ‘the butt pillow’ 😂
I borrowed it from my sister, (not as gross as it could unintentionally sound 🙈) who’d used it during their road trip from The States to Canada back when they moved.
It’s a gel type pillow that is meant to raise the sitting position for short people, so that the back of the user actually sits in the right spot on the vehicle seats.
It definitely helps 👌🏻

Compressions socks were also fought back on… not the easiest thing at any point in life but for sure not with a baby belly, in a vehicle, when the small person is up in your ribs. Mike may have been roped into sock putting on/removing during future wears 😜

Mountains finally began edging nearer but we didn’t see a single animal besides some fenced in Bison way back at the beginning of Alberta 😜

Personal size fruit cups that mumsie had sent with us were eaten…

I only had my little gold spoons from home to bring with and those, along with my silk pillowcase, made for a rather posh looking road trip moment I thought 😉😋

We detoured a couple minutes off our main route, stopping at Annette Lake, as I’d read it was a good one to do a little walking at if one desired and that was an accurate description.

With beautiful blue and turquoise waters, sunshine’s and mountains in the foreground, it made for a lovely ‘first stop’ and we wondered down the paved path alongside it for a little stretch.

 

We got to our hotel in Jasper not long after, ‘HI Jasper’.

A newly built hostel style complex and it was done so very nicely.
Clean simple lines, lots of windows, a nice dining/shared kitchen area if you needed and our room, though a little sterile, was clean and spacious 👍🏻

We rested there awhile, stretching our vehicle contorted bodies while searching for where we wanted to try going for supper.

We went to The Raven.

First that is 😜

The prices seemed high, which we pretty much expected but none of the meals really jumped out at us either.
By that point it felt awkward to leave as we’d already been served our waters, so we ordered what sounded like a very tasty Brie and baguette appetizer. Brie, rhubarb date chutney, candied pecans, garlic butter spread baguette and pickled grapes. It was very little but VERY flavour filled and tasty, if not actually filling 😜

We walked around town a little more, trying to decide if we should share another meal elsewhere, get snacks and head to the campsite where we’d be meeting friends for the evening or if we needed more food at all.
Turns out we did need more and it was found at ‘Alba’ 🤓

Mich got his ‘once a trip’ calamari order and I wanted gnocchi but decided to try the duck pasta instead, since I can neither cook nor easily order duck easily at home.

Both meals were very enjoyable 👌🏻
Mikes being crispy little strips with a zesty lemon garlic sauce instead of chewy rings and my pasta having a savoury, brown gravy type sauce.

We did not share meals that time and our stomachs protested due to that fact but not in an all together displeasing way 😜

Before leaving town we found a pop machine to fill up a reusable plastic bag boughten from a dollar store at home.
It worked perfectly as an ice pack, as was my intention but I wasn’t sure it would work as hoped 🤪

Standing, laying and walking don’t cause too much pain but sitting has proven to result in much upper back/rib pain for over the last month, so I’d been concerned about the icing options.

Leaving Jasper we headed to find the Lucerne Campground to meet up with our friends and family. We drove too far due to lack of cell reception for our google maps but by doing so we got to see the picturesque ‘Moose Lake’ ☺️

By the time we got to the campground, it wasn’t long until the sun starting retreating and we spent our evening around the campfire and under stretched out tarps, due to light smatterings of rain.
Suffering from smoke inhalation and enjoying the conversation until heading back to our hostel after midnight.

Which is probably one of the latest nights I’ve had during this whole pregnancy 🙈

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