I got up and dressed, and woke up Julie. I snuck into her bedroom, and just watched her sleep. Then I slowly started rubbing her back, and playing with her hair. She was out for the count, and didn’t even flinch. Part of me said to let her sleep, but the mother in me couldn’t leave her without hugs, kisses, and cuddles. I picked her up out of the crib, and she was so confused. I laid her on my shoulder, and we rocked in her glider, enjoying a good ten minutes of cuddles. Then my nerves hit again, I passed her to Shaun, and continued vomiting bile. Moments later, Courtney arrived. Shaun and I each got a few more “squish hugs” as we like to call them, loaded the car, and started driving towards the airport.
Shaun asked if I wanted to eat, and I told him no. Today was the first day of weaning, the first day of leaving our baby girl, and I was an emotional wreck. By the time we made it to the interstate, I started asking Shaun to let me go home. I was still sick with nerves, and just didn’t want to leave. I knew I had to, and that it was an important step for Julie and myself, but if he’d have said ok, I’d have gone back home immediately. When we got to the airport, the tears started. I’m not a crier. It’s probably been a good year since I cried last, especially ugly cried. It was bad. There was snot and tears everywhere. Shaun parked the car, unloaded the suitcases, opened my door, unbuckled my seatbelt, and physically dragged me out of the car, shut the door, and locked it. He refused to let me go home.
I knew that he made the right decision, but getting on that plane wasn’t any easier. I prayed continually, asking for my stomach to settle, my nerves to be calmed, and for us to make it to Florida safely. God was clearly listening. By the time we boarded the plane, I was ready to go. My anxiety was gone. We made it to Florida around 2PM, after a very bumpy flight from tricities to Atlanta, and a much nicer flight from Atlanta to Fort Meyers, followed by an hour long bus ride to Marco Island.
The AT&T summit is tremendous. Their goal is to treat their top employees like celebrities for the weekend. We had priority check in,a bellhop took our bags to our room, we received a welcome beach bag with towels and sun screen, $200 in visa gift cards for Friday’s dinner (the only meal not included in our stay), confirmed our spa reservations for a massage, and they gave us directions for how to pick out our winner’s gifts. We selected a new set of Calphalon pots and pans as the big gift, a Michael Kohrs purse for me, and a fancy watch for Shaun.
We missed lunch because of the flights, so we grabbed a sandwich from the hotel’s bistro, and headed to our room. We called Freedom Fertility to arrange the arrival of our medications, changed into swimsuits, walked on the beach, went swimming, then decided it was time to get ready for dinner. We FaceTimed with Julie, and she kept asking where we were, and when we were coming home. We hung up on her while she was crying, but Courtney said she’d done really well all day.
Right as we walked into dinner, we got the sweaters movies from Courtney - Julie in her pajamas, saying she loves us, misses us, and hopes we have a good time. Courtney is amazing, and knows what Julie and I both need. It lifted my mood so much, and we were exited to head into the pavilion for dinner. The food was excellent. They had a huge buffet with a great variety of options. If I could find their garlic salad dressing recipe, I’d make it every day, and the ice cream and waffle station was amazing! After dinner, we got to watch a fire dancer perform at sunset, they drew caricatures of each of us, then we headed to bed. And crashed hard. Tomorrow we start estrogen, and have the day to ourselves. There’s scheduled times for meals, but no set plans for the conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment