Sorry, I’ve been remiss in my posting schedule! I didn’t go to Miami (Peggy!), so no worries there. We flew home on Saturday (didn’t get to bed until 2 am, then up at 8 for church), and I was NOT feeling well. I have never cried in so many airports in my life.
I guess that I don’t travel well these days – at least not on the way home. We left Ft. Lauderdale around 2 pm, which was fine. The guy at the Air Canada counter was able to upgrade both Rob and I to first class, which was fun. They fed us lunch, we got real glasses (and cutlery!), our own TV’s and all sorts of fun perks (like nice soap and hand cream in the bathroom). The flight attendants were very gracious and all sorts of lovely. We had a great flight to Montreal.
We had to clear customs in Montreal, and the clerk that we ended up with was NOT having a good day. He seemed really concerned that we had spent a whack of money, but not on alcohol or tobacco. He really wanted to know what we spent the money on (or rather, what we were bringing back). I said the first thing that came to mind (and frankly, what I was most excited about) and said “kids clothes”. He then asked how many pieces, and I don’t have any brain power so I said “a lot?” We did buy other stuff too, like stuff from Bath and Bodyworks (which I now LOVE TO DEATH!!!), and a few articles of clothing for both Rob and I. Apparently, Rob felt that I was joking with the guy (who didn’t want to be joked with), even though I was just trying to give an honest answer. Rob wasn’t the one that did the shopping, so I volunteered the info. I felt pretty upset about it, mostly hormones I’m sure, and I was very tired and my feet were killing me (although that was just the beginning). So once we got to the chairs at our gate, I got to lay down and have a little cry. I do have to say that the chairs at the Montreal airport were the nicest of all the airports that we had to sit in. Vancouver’s were pretty nice, too, but these ones were the best (I think, anyway).
Oh, and I have this to say about the view of Montreal from the airplane: 1. There are a heck of a lot of golf courses in/near Montreal. Like 8 in a matter of a couple of minutes of flight. Seriously, golfer’s paradise, I am sure. 2. There are A LOT of brick buildings in Montreal. It’s so pretty from the plane – very red and black (roofs). It was very pretty from the airplane, and I would have loved to spend some time there. Also, the Dollarama is spelled the same in French and English! 😆
For this flight, I sat first class and Rob traveled in Economy. It was a really short flight – Montreal to Toronto. I wasn’t expecting much on this flight, but it turns out that I still got chicken fingers (which weren’t fried, thankfully, and lots to drink. I do have to say that one would think that the little hot cloths they give you to wash your face and stuff wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but they felt AWESOME. I wanted to put them on my poor, swollen feet, but thought that might gross people out, so I didn’t.
Toronto was interesting to fly into. They have very light coloured dirt, compared to home, and there’s a huge traffic exchange that we got to fly over with lots and lots of bridges and stuff. It was interesting, and a little worrisome the first time we landed. But it all worked out. Flying over the Great Lakes was pretty neat, too, although my geography is bad enough that I can’t tell you which ones we passed.
By the time that we stopped for something to eat, I was pretty miserable. We went to Tim Hortons, where Rob had dinner, and I had an ice cap. My feet were very swollen, and to the point where it felt like they would split open every time I stepped down. Seriously, I thought I was going to either have my feet crack open and gush or that I would end up with stretch marks on my feet. So, Rob ate his dinner, and I had (another) little cry. And by little cry, I mean that I had an Ugly Cry (you know, where your face changes colour, your eyes go beat red, and everything scrunches up and looks really really ugly). So, I had huge wet marks on my jacket after that (I used it to bury my face in, so everyone in the Timmy’s wouldn’t lose their appetite over my Ugly Cry). It seemed that every time I looked at my feet, I would burst into tears. Plus, I just felt like Rob wasn’t very much fun to travel with (in his defense, it had been a long day with a whiney wife, and always a long time to wait for our bags). Add that all to hormones, and I was not in good shape. Anyway, we managed to find a couple of rare-ish CD’s at the music store that I had wanted, and were able to pick those up (yay!). I ended up laying around on the floor while we waited for our flight, in hopes that some circulation would decrease the swelling (it didn’t). Rob was scheduled to fly Economy again, while I was seated in first class, so we asked if there were any empty seats in first class, if Rob could be upgraded. The guy at the gate was snotty and seemed to think we were insane for asking. So, awfully discouraged, I pre-boarded the plane. It turned out that maybe the guy saw me hobbling towards the gate and all pregnant and stuff, and felt sorry for Rob. He ended up calling Rob to the gate counter, and gave him the seat beside me. It was really nice to be able to travel together. Rob slept the whole way home, but some times it’s just nice to actually get to travel with your travel companion, you know? Anyway, they fed us (again), and otherwise turned off the lights and let us sleep. The nice thing about this flight was that our chairs were rather adjustable. They had foot rests, and leg rests that moved, so I was able to get pretty comfortable. Sadly, my feet were falling asleep and I knew that wasn’t a good sign.
By the time we landed, I could barely walk. It was a very slow process to get from the gate to the baggage carousel and then out to the taxi. By the time I got home, my ankle joints wouldn’t hardly move, and I seriously thought that my feet were never going to go back to shape. I hobbled up the stairs and in to bed, and sadly, my feel were still huge by 8 am. They had a little more shape to them, but not a heck of a lot. I ended up sitting in the nursery during church with my feet up (fighting off waves of dizziness). I also rode in the back seat of the car, with my feet up on the front seat. It’s actually quite a nice place to ride, if I may say so myself! We did go test my blood pressure after, at the drug store, and it was high (although according to the pharmacist, not high enough to warrant running off to the hospital). I sat for a while and re-tested, and it had come down quite a lot, over 10 points, so that was good.
I ended up staying home from work yesterday – wanted to keep my feet up and rest, so that way they might go back to normal, and my blood pressure might even out. I feel mostly better today, although my feet aren’t their usual prepregnancy slimness, and I’m having some nasty braxton hicks… but I have my Dr. appointment today, which makes me happy. Maybe she’ll have something good to say about the swelling, etc.
Anyway, all in all, I had a great vacation, Rob had a very successful conference thing, and we’re both very happy to be home with our cats (and OFF THE INTERSTATE!!!)!
Struggle and Emerge 