Split, Croatia

Well, it's only taken me an entire year but I'm finally going to write a few posts about our Mediterranean cruise!

This trip was our last 'hurrah' has a single couple. When we left I was a little over 10 weeks pregnant. If I had known I was pregnant when we purchased the cruise I wouldn't have done it. I'm already prone to sea sickness and combined with pregnancy... it makes for a 'bumpy' ride, if you know what I mean.

Anyways, I was only sick on the first day (thank God). Then I got my sea legs and the trip turned out better than I could have hope for.

Day 1- VENICE!

I L.O.V.E. VENICE!

It is my favorite place in the world. Really... it is. Too bad the entire day was spent waiting in line to get on the cruise. If I had known this, I would've got there a day early. I was so bummed out. Cameron promised me he would take me back, and I'm holding him to it!

 I did get a few good pictures as we were sailing away~

Day 2 -Split Croatia

I wanted to do some research about each port before we left. Since we only had a day at each place I wanted to get the most out of our trip. though, I seemed to have skipped over this one. Croatia is beautiful. We walked around for about an hour. We then decided to do one of the walking tours that we had passed by earlier. I recommenced you do this for any city you want to visit. It's a great way to get to know the area and at the same time learn or find out what it is your looking at. I promise you its worth the cash. You can and will enjoy a place so much more if you do.  TIP: Don't buy the cruise trips... there over priced and your stuck. However, there was one port of call that you MUST buy a cruise tour for and I'll talk about that in another post.

Here are some photos of our day in Split...

We saw Diocletian's Palace and learned a lot about the history of Split. It was informative..
The last photo shown is of an acapella group that was singing in a dome shaped structure. The room carried the sound out into the streets. It was amazing and they sounded beautiful.

After the tour ended we did some SHOPPING and eating... remember I was pregnant at the time. 

As you enter into the city you walk down into what looks like a dark dungeon. At the bottom there are lots vendors selling all kinds of nick-knacks. I'm not really a souvenir person but FUN FACT: this is the one place in the world you can buy red carol jewelry.

TIP: Try and talk vendors down in price. You would be surprised how many people are willing to go down in price. 

The rest of the day was spent walking around enjoying sun and cafes'.  

London, England

We had a great time in London over the 4th of July weekend. It was nice to visit a country where we share the same language. 

Fun Fact: Did you know that Brit's love American accents?!

I found myself wanting to speak with a British accent almost everywhere I went. (I secretly wish I was British.) Not to mention men seem so much more attractive when they have an accent... am I right ladies?! 

Anyways...

Day 1 

Going through customs took much longer than I initially anticipated... but at least they stamped my passport. Out of all the countries I've been to England is the only country that has stamped my book, and probably will be the only one to do it. I almost immediately had my "Welcome to England" moment when I saw one of the custom's agents teeth. 

Once we checked into our hotel in South Kensington we took the underground to Westminster and saw Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. 

We walked around for a little longer and found the Imperial War museum and it ended up being closed due to maintenance, so we decided to call it an early night so we could plan out the next two days.

Day 2

We got an early start on day 2. We first went to The Tower of London, which was much bigger than I thought. We were able to see the Crown Jewels, which for me... was a highlight of our trip. It really is something I think everyone should see for themselves. We walked around in some of the towers and then headed to The London Bridge. It was cool to go inside and see the exhibition but, we quickly moved on. Then it was the HMS Belfast. Which was also a quick trip considering we were both starving. 

Then it was onto Piccadilly Circus! Totally packed with people... they call it the 'Times Square' of London. Then we went into M&M's world...a chocolate lovers paradise!

By then it was late afternoon so we decided to do some exploring. We found China town, (Cameron was in heaven) and Ripley's Believe It or Not.  

 

By this time everything was closed for the day so we decided to take a stroll through St. James Park and when we came out the other side, Buckingham Palace was in front of us. 

The Queen was home so the Palace was closed to the public. So we decided to call it a night and head home for the evening. As we were heading home on the Underground I saw a poster that said Bon Jovi was playing in Hyde Park that very night! Since our hotel was a 15 minute walk from Hyde Park, we decided to go! Sadly, you needed tickets to get in... so we sat outside the entrance and ate dinner while listening to some rock classics. It was great!

Day 3

 Our day started off with a trip to The British Museum. That place is huge... I mean HUGE! We saw artifacts from almost every period/culture on the planet, including the Rosetta Stone. It was all very overwhelming but also very cool. By the time we left it was lunch time so we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to Kings Cross so I could get my picture taken at Platform 9 3/4 (this was a must do before I left London).

 After I got my Harry Potter fix we headed to Trafalgar Square where the National Galley is located! I was probably most excited for this part. Cameron, eh....not so much. I was able to see some of the most beautiful/famous art in the world. Van Gogh, Monet, da Vinci, Eyck, Seurat, Degas, Botticelli! Oh my, the list goes on! I was in heaven.

I could tell Cameron was ready to move on after an hour so we left and went to the Churchill war Rooms.  I was surprised how interactive and updated it was. We both enjoyed that piece of WWII history. 

 

We soon found ourselves taking a stroll through St. James's park once again, and ended back in Westminster. I tried to get into the Abbey but it had closed for the day : ( So we continued to walk around and see the sights once more before we left the next morning.

We left at 4:30 am from our hotel to get to the airport on time. We took a taxi from the hotel to Liverpool Street Station where we hopped on a train headed for Stanstead. I had one of the best moments of our trip in the taxi. He took us past all the sights on our way to the train station so it was a nice 'Goodbye London.' Anyways the moment happened when both Cameron and I saw Big Ben in the early morning hours still lit up and covered by a thin fog. I WISH I got a picture of it! It was one of the most dramatic things I've ever seen and it's something I'll never forget.

All in all, we had a wonderful time. Emma had a rough couple of days but we and she managed. We ate fish and chips, I heard bloke, cheers and Emma REALLY laughed for the first time the last night we were there. It was a perfect end to our trip.

* I also realized that I never blogged about our cruise to Greece last year. I'll do that once I have some time on my hands!

Our greatest adventure~

I feel incredibly sad that I didn't chronicle my pregnancy on my blog the way some do. It's been such a long road getting pregnant and actually staying pregnant... maybe a part of me has just not wanted to blog just in-case something went wrong.
I feel like I need to share my journey with you all, I’m not sure why… I hope I’m able to articulate my story so that others may feel a sense of peace or understanding with their own trails.

Finding out I was pregnant for the first time wasn't the happiest moment, it was more shock than anything else.
We had just moved to Utah and I hadn’t been feeling very well. I associated it with the stress of moving and leaving behind a nice apartment. Turns out that was not the case, Cameron found me passed out on the floor, he called the ambulance and after about an hour in the hospital, I was told that I was pregnant.
My jaw literally dropped. I just looked at Cameron and thought, ‘how are we going to do this?' Turns out he had the same thought.
We went to my first doctor’s appointment together on my birthday. At this point I should have been 12 weeks, I had been doing some research and I knew at week 5 the heart starts to beat so I was looking forward to hearing it for myself.
I remember thinking that alone would have made all the sickness worth it.  
We sat and waited, they pulled us into a room where the doctor came in and introduced himself. I remember lying on my back as he had his microphone pressed up to my lower abdomen trying to hear the heart beat. There was no sound, he turned off the air coming into the room and still... no sound.
I knew immediately something was wrong.
He told me not to worry that I probably wasn’t as far along as we initially thought but he wanted to be sure so, he sent me down to the ultrasound room where we were immediately seen.
Almost as soon as I saw the baby my eyes filled up with tears.
The baby didn’t look anything like a 12 week baby should; it was smaller but big enough for a heartbeat and  I just knew…
I asked the ultrasound tech if everything was okay. She didn’t reply… she just looked at the screen and touched my arm and said she'd be right back.

I broke down. The ride home was the worst; I just sat in the passenger seat staring out the window. Was something wrong with me? Why had I been so sick? Why am I still sick? Why did this happen to me? What if I can never have children?
The doctor had determined that I had in fact been carrying for 12 weeks but lost it at 7-8 weeks, which explained why I was so very sick.
He gave me the option of surgery or pills. I wanted to do it at home privately so I went with the second option.
Sadly, it didn’t work and I ended up having to go into surgery.

For me, losing the first was the hardest. Though, looking back it was a tender mercy that things didn’t work out. We were young newlyweds that didn’t have a dime to our name.

In September 2008 Cameron joined the US Army and we moved to Fort Bragg in June of 2009. We immediately tried to get pregnant; after a year we saw a fertility doctor to no avail. After 19 long months, we finally got some good news.  
I came home from the grocery store in late October; I picked up a few miscellaneous items including a pregnancy test. I had planned on waiting until the next morning to take it but I thought, ‘Why not?’
I took the test and walked away not really thinking much of it since the answer for the previous 19 months had always been the same. I came back into the bathroom a few minutes later and there it was… not one but TWO lines staring back at me. I checked the box 3 time’s jus to be sure and I started jumping up and down screaming Oh my God! Thank you! Thank you!
I grabbed the test, ran down the stairs and and jumped into the car.
As I headed to Cameron’s work I kept looking back down at the test saying, ‘this can’t be real!’
He was sitting a room with a bunch of other soldiers when I walked up and asked to speak to him. My eyes were red from crying so many happy tears. I asked to speak with him and he stood up and we walked around the corner and I just opened my bag and handed to him. It took him a good 10 seconds to realize what was going on… and he looked up at me and said, ‘Are you pregnant?’ I began to laugh and I said, ‘Yes!’ We embraced and kissed, seeing how excited he was made me so very happy. Cameron walked around saying, ‘I’m going to be a Dad!’
It was one of life’s good moments.
He later told me he thought he was in trouble because he saw I had been crying.
Oh my husband…
Soon the appointments started and things were looking well. After week 8 the doctor said since everything was looking good he would see me again until week 12.
A few days after my 8 week appointment I started feeling much better and I took as a good sign.
At our 12 week appointment we were both ready to see our little bean. They had been doing ultrasounds at every appointment just to be on the safe side.
Once again, it was the same story. There was the baby, it looked the same as before but there was no little heart beat.
We both cried this time.
I felt totally inadequate as a woman… I should be able to bare children and fulfill my purpose here on Earth. But, what is wrong with me? Why would he(Cameron) want to be with me if I couldn’t even give him the children he so desperately wanted?
These are feelings that I continued to feel until recently.
Within 10 minutes after our appointment Cameron had me laughing again. He’s such a good man.
We understood that it just wasn’t our time and we’d be parents on the Lord’s time. Not ours.

That day we decided to try something new. Cameron re-enlisted for Europe and we would do some traveling before we would try to have a baby again.
Though, soon after we arrived in Europe in April of 2011 I unexpectedly found out I was pregnant for the 3^rd time.
Once we found out we just said, ‘We’ll wait and see what happens.’
I was now officially considered a high risk pregnancy which got me into see the doctor just days after discovering I was pregnant.
In Germany you schedule appointments but you rarely if ever are seen within an hour of your appointment (socialized medicine at its best).
I ended up waiting almost 3 hours before I was seen. I remember looking at Cameron and saying, “If they’ve made me wait 3 hours just to tell me things didn’t work out again, I’m going to be pissed.” On top of all of that my doctor was a total creeper.

Once the ultrasound began it was like the same movie reel on repeat. I just looked at Cameron and said I was done. At this point, adoption seemed like the only option left for us.
I had to go in for surgery for the 3^rd time. I was terrified to have it done in a German hospital even though it was a simple procedure. Turns out I had every right to be.
I went home from the hospital and over a 3 week time period was having excruciating pain to the point where I was on the floor curled up in a ball, at that point I decided it was time to go to the hospital. Turned out they botched my procedure and I would have to go in again.
Cameron was angry.
They literally put me on an operating table and did nothing. I wish I could say this only happened to me but sadly, that is not the case.
It turns out the same creeper doctor that ‘examined’ me, was the same one that did my surgery. Could this be any worse?
Soon after I was admitted to the hospital I was pushing out blood clots the size of my fist and the next day I went back into surgery. This time, with a COMPLETELY different doctor than the first.
Thankfully everything was taken care of this time. 


I instantly went on birth control and I refused to get pregnant while I was living in Europe.
So we started to travel… We visited all over Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Crete, Croatia and Greece. After a solid year of traveling I had a change of heart and decided to go off birth control and have some fun in the mean time doing whatever adventure came our way.

But, God in all his wisdom decided it was time once again. Within a month of stopping the pill I was pregnant.
This time I didn’t need a test to tell me, I just felt it…
We decided to not tell anyone until I was at least 12 weeks pregnant but I did start seeing a new doctor at a different hospital around 7 weeks.
This time the doctor put me on all kinds of medicine to help ensure our babies’ survival.
Thankfully, I carried that baby for 40 weeks and 2 days.
I’ve had so many happy moments.
Feeling her move for the first time or seeing her little perfect face on the screen and instantly falling in love.
Finding out it was a girl… even though I knew all along. ;)
The first moment I saw her.

Watching my belly grow and knowing that no matter what, Cameron will always be there for us. Both Emma and I are so blessed to have him.
What can be more romantic than creating a life with someone that you love and see that person come into this world?!

Through it all, God has truly blessed me with a perfect little girl!

Emma Leigh-Ann Jackson

Born: 10 April 2013

PICTURES!

Cameron and I had some pictures done last week and I wanted to share some of them with you!

The last one is my favorite!

We're heading out on our Mediterranean cruise in less than a week! So be looking out for future posts!

I hope you all have a great week!

Canyoning Interlaken

We had a blast in Switzerland! I can't wait to go back and do some more 'intense' stuff. I'll post about our trip a little later but I wanted to share this with you all!



For those who don't know... I'm deathly afraid of heights. Put it this way, we took a lift up to the top of some mountain and I was literally bear hugging Cameron, crying and breathing heavily the whole way up. Needless to say... people where staring. So, you can imagine canyoning was a trip outside my 'comfort zone.' But, I still had a blast and momentarily conquered my fear.
Thankfully, what you don't see @ minute 4 is in him asking me, "Are you ready?" and I reply..."Nooo." Glad they cut that little snip-it out and cut right to me saying, "I'm ready!"
Was I?
No.
Did I do it?
Yes.
And I really can't wait to do it again!