The Vancouver Beluga Whales

For my birthday this last weekend Mark planned a trip for us to Vancouver BC, specifically to see the Beluga Whales.    Getting out of town was a much needed change. With all of the upcoming anniversary dates, my birthday and the holidays I have been really down these last few weeks. It was good to get away.

I don't think I even need to say how much whales mean to me, especially beluga whales. Elisa was our "little baby beluga" and anytime I see anything whale it seems like it is a little "hello" from her up in heaven.

I knew seeing the belugas would be uplifting, but it was even more wonderful that I was expecting.

Not only did we get to see the belugas at the aquarium exhibit, but Mark was amazing and booked us the "beluga experience". We were able to explore behind the scenes of the Vancouver Aquarium and at the end, meet and feed a beluga whale!!  Mark was so wonderful to research and organize all of this.

It was amazing. These creatures are so beautiful and awe inspiring. And it felt like including my girls in my birthday. My heart was filled.

Here are some pictures from our day. Photo credit to the wonderful people at the Vancouver Aquarium

Aurora and Qila are the two belugas at the Vancouver Aquarium.  They are a mother-daughter pair, which also made this experience even more special for me.  We interacted mostly with Qila, the daughter,  shown here

This was so cool!

Mark got to shake her hand :)

They asked us how "in to it" we wanted to get, and we all agreed we wanted the full beluga experience.  That included being splashed by her big tail!

We included "beluga" in this last photo with the trainer, our guide, and the two other women who were in the Beluga Experience with us

Capture Your Grief - Day 9: Family

After Elisa was stillborn in January, Mark and I felt like any picture we took was always incomplete always missing our two girls. We wanted to be able to include Elisa, and Luca in our photos. My cousin had given us a larger version of the below whale stuffed animal as a gift for Elisa at her gender reveal party. We searched online to find they also made a mini-version, the perfect size for travel and so began "adventures with baby beluga"

Meet Beluga Whale, she represents Elisa (stillborn January 2015) who was our 'little baby beluga', and she is holding a star to represent Luca (miscarried August 2013, Luca means light).

Beluga at the Coast

Adventures on our yearly trip to the coast.

At the Washington Coast

Our Niece specifically asked if we brought Beluga on our trip, because she wanted a picture <3

San Francisco

Baby beluga does San Francisco.  Chowder at boudines on the pier and a ride the ducks tour of the city!

Sounders game

Sounders game with Mel and Mushu

TEARS Walk

Today we did the TEARS Foundation Walk for pregnancy and infant loss awareness.

Baby Beluga in Ireland

After Elisa was stillborn in January, we felt we needed a trip to just get away. We spent two weeks in Ireland, traveling throughout the country, here are some of our pictures

Our hotel, the Eliza lodge, close, but just off by a bit in spelling. And the hostes' name was Adrianna, Luca's middle name :)



We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral

We stopped at the Guinness brewery, and went on a tour

Signs of Baby Beluga

I have become more appreciative every day that we gave Elisa a nickname, and had something to call her throughout the pregnancy, even before we knew she was a she.  I feel like I see our little Baby Beluga everywhere and although it makes me sad she isn't here, I am so glad I have little reminders of her in unlikely places.

Like today, I went to Target to get some thank you notes for all of the wonderful things people have sent us.  And look what was in the stationary section....right at eye level

Of course I picked up a package to use for thank you notes, but then an extra package to keep just to have around the house.

Showing Baby Beluga the World

This is the start of this blog, jumping off from our Caring Bridge Page. 

After our appointment last Monday, when we received the update on Baby Girl's diagnosis, we realized things might not turn out the way we wanted. We still hope and pray everyday for a miracle, that she can make it to a point where she could be delivered and be with us here on earth, but we are also slowly trying to take in the fact that that might not happen.

After getting through another few days of shock that things weren't getting better, Mark and I decided if the only time we have with her might be while I am still pregnant with her, we want to make the best of that time and show her how much we love her. Still being on bed rest, (we are still doing anything in our power to give her the best shot we can) makes grandiose gestures or big outings difficult, but we knew one place we wanted to take her; The Olympic Peninsula.

This is where my grandparents grew up, and where we took family vacations when I was growing up. It is beautiful out on the Peninsula, evergreen trees, forests, and (cold) northwest beaches. Throughout our relationship Mark embraced how important it was to me, and it is where he proposed nearly 6 years ago (we got engaged January 10th 2009!). If we were going to start making the best of the time we have with our baby girl, what better place to start?

So yesterday morning we got up, popped in the car and headed out. It's about a two hour trip from our house and so we made it there, grabbed some lunch and then headed to the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge. This is a beautiful area, with a view of the Straight of Juan De Fuca.

First we went to one of the drive up view points, or as my family has always called them, The Cliffs of Insanity! because there is a huge drop off, with the waves below, just like in The Princess Bride (one of my all time favorite movies!).




Picture we took later looking up at the "Cliffs of Insanity" from below



We only had to walk a few steps to get a gorgeous view of the mountains and water.






We set up the tripod and took a few pictures. We wanted to document that she came here with us. It was really cold out but it was really important to me that I look pregnant in the pictures so I shed some layers and left my big puffy jacket behind the camera. With baby girl having such severe IUGR even though I am nearly 26 weeks pregnant, she is only the size of about a 21 weeker










After getting some pictures, we drove a few minutes within the Wildlife Refuge to the entrance to the Dungeness Spit. This is the longest Spit in the US; the Spit itself is 5.5 miles long, and near the end of it is a beautiful lighthouse. More family history here, as my great, great grandparents were the first keepers of the lighthouse here over 150 years ago.

There was absolutely no way we could make the trip to the lighthouse with my limited mobility but we were able to make the short walk, very slowly, from the parking lot to the beach.

When we got to the beach we headed left a bit and found the spot where Mark proposed 6 years ago. We had a beautiful view of the water right in front of us and the snow capped Olympic Mountains behind the water. It was nearly 4pm by the time we got to the beach so we started to see the beginnings of the sunset. It felt so good to be out in the fresh air

We set up the tripod again and took some more pictures. This one below is by far my favorite. Taken at the exact spot where Mark proposed 6 years ago.





It is amazing to think how different we are now than we were 6 years ago at this same place; we had no idea then what life had in store for us. How in these last 6 years since engagement and 4.5 since we got married we would truly live the words "in sickness and in health", "in good times and bad". Since the joyous time 6 years ago when Mark asked me to spend the rest of my life with him, his father was diagnosed and rapidly declined from cancer. We endured the passing and funeral of his father. We held each other in the dismal times of infertility and wondering if we would ever have a family. We rejoiced when we found we were pregnant in May of 2013 and endured what has thus far been the hardest time in our life when we lost our baby Luca from Misscarriage. We continued to gain strength in our relationship as we once again struggled to get pregnant and were over joyed and scared to find we were pregnant again in August of this year. Just when we thought we couldn't endure more, and were hoping it would be our break, we some how found our relationship could be stronger as this pregnancy became high risk. And now as we face the real possibility that our Baby Girl could be born sleeping and we will once again have an angle baby rather than bringing one home, I am so very grateful for Mark walking through this by my side