Brielle’s Life

Brielle’s Trip to the Zoo

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August 8, 2015 Zoo Atlanta Trip!

The day was really pretty when we got there. There was a slight breeze and it was under ninety degrees with clear skies. It warmed up a little more during the day, but we really couldn’t complain. Jen and Adam had given us free tickets into the park so that made getting in nice and easy. It was so nice of them to do that for Brielle. They’re the best! Right off the bat we started with the flamingos, or flingos as Aunt Tessa calls them. We wound our way through the park. David and I told Brielle all about the animals, some of them even looked and acted like her big sissies, so I made sure to tell her about that as well.

We made it to the Panda exhibit and then decided to take a break and get something to eat. Brielle was very hungry and was letting me hear about it. I mention a lot about what and where we eat because Brielle almost always likes or dislikes something and let’s me know about it. I found us a table inside, sat down,and she immediately started kicking me. Apparently she was only comfy if I was in a reclining position. David came back with food, pizza and Mac & cheese. There weren’t a lot of options. Brielle doesn’t even like pizza and was going crazy for this pizza. I think she was too hungry to care. And if I’d slow down, she once again, would start kicking me hard,”Hurry up Mommy, I’m starving!”

We rushed to the elephant encounter and got there just in time. We learned a bit about elephants, the herd, and Tara and Kelly, the two elephants at the zoo. We got to meet Tara. Tara was 9,000 pounds. She was very pretty, smart, and lazy. We learned a bit about Tara and she showed us some tricks and then we got to pet her. Elephants do not feel like I’d expected. I talked to Brielle while I loved on Tara. I wanted to include Brielle as much as possible. Then we got to feed Tara! We were given three pieces of lettuce and handed them to Tara one at a time. Tara is very food oriented so she was very appreciative.

Tara showed us some more tricks and then we took pictures with her. After that the encounter was over. David asked some questions about Asian elephants and African elephants, if they get colds (I think he was envisioning them sneezing), and if the elephants retire. To which the keeper said,”Tara has unofficially retired herself.” But that the zoo does not retire elephants like the circus does. Tara was reluctant to do things that required extra physical effort, unless there was food.

We finished up the zoo with the kangaroos and the petting zoo and then went home. I think Brielle had a lot of fun! Although we were both pretty worn out by the time we got to the car. Once we cooled down, Brielle started dancing. I think she was happy to be out of the heat, like father like daughter.

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Mommy and Brielle posing with the very sleepy kangaroos.
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Brielle and Mommy are feeding the elephant!
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Brielle fed an elephant!
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Daddy is having fun!
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Brielle and Mommy posing with the flamingos.

Brielle’s Third Day in Savannah

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Monday, August 3. Well, the morning started out a bit rushed. David forgot to set his alarm. We agreed to meet downstairs and checkout at 10 AM and David woke us up at 9:30 AM. No rush.

We had breakfast at this good old country place. It had good southern country cooking, David’s favorite. Brielle found my bladder fascinating so naturally I felt like I had to tinkle every five seconds and that made it pretty difficult to walk. The joys of pregnancy. I ordered stuffed french toast with strawberries, Mom ordered a breakfast plate with bacon and eggs so that we could each split. Dad ordered a ton of food, as did David. By the time they had each made it about halfway through their meals they called it, “Challenge not accepted.” Which was probably best, because we had a lot of walking to do.

We went to St. John’s Cathedral next. I didn’t know how Mom and Dad would feel about cathedrals. Some people enjoy looking at old churches, other’s don’t. They liked it. Actually extremely impressed. I walked around a bit and then sat down up front and cradled Brielle. The organ was playing and it was beautiful inside the church. She loved it. Brielle moved more and was more alert than she had been the whole trip. She was peaceful and happy, if that makes sense. It made me so happy to feel her. I’ve never given much thought to cathedrals, but feeling her move, hearing the organ, and taking in the beauty of the cathedral was incredibly moving. And I found myself again saying, “Lord, please save my baby.” I flipped through their church books. As I opened the hymnal it opened to “Lovely Infant” and I couldn’t think of a better or more encouraging hymn to open up to. David came and sat down with me and we loved on Brielle and spoke softly to her. We love her so much. Mom came and sat down with us and Dad took action shots with his camera.

We left just as they were beginning another service. It had just started raining as we were leaving. An older man stopped Mom & Dad to do this cute thing where he makes flowers out of palm fronds. He “marries” you or renews your vows and you pay a small price for the flowers. David and I did that our first trip to Savannah. So we didn’t feel it was right to do it again. Maybe we should have? I’m now regretting not watching Mom and Dad get their flowers. I don’t think I could have handled any more emotion though. I was raw, so raw from the church and the thought of losing my sweet Brielle. Mom and Dad bought David and I a flower as well, so that was nice.

We headed to the Juliette Gordon Lowe house. That was a really interesting tour. I don’t think Brielle got much out of it, but the rest of us did. I didn’t expect much because I’ve never paid attention to the Girl Scouts. But this definitely piqued my interest. At the end, the tour guide told me I’d have to have Brielle become a little Girl Scout. I didn’t tell her Brielle had anencephaly. It’s a nice thought though. It’s nice to think of Brielle growing up.

We then went to the Harper Fowlkes House. That was a strange tour. The woman who had owned the house was quite a feminist and had a very interesting story, but she had donated it to the Society of Cincinnati. Which is a society only for men, who were officers in the Revolutionary War. I told Dad it was her way of rubbing this in their faces, they had to honor a woman’s history and legacy because she left them a huge historical home. If I’m right, that woman is smart. I like her. I don’t think it was as nice of a house as the Juliette Gordon Lowe, but it was still interesting.

I had to hang out back and sit for a while because my feet were just too swollen. I think that bothered the tour guide, but whatever. We then went to the car and headed to Blick’s Art Store. Dad and I were the most excited about this. I restocked on some Micron pens, looked around, bought a sketchbook, and a new eraser since my old one had gone bad. Dad and I had a lot of fun. And they had giant canvases. Dad asked if he could have a drawing table for his office now that Tessa had taken her old desk. Mom said yes, and now Dad’s in heaven.

We had lunch at this great place. It was some sort of cafe near SCAD and Blick’s. I was having really bad pains, I think Brielle was letting me know she’d had enough. So once we ate, we got in the car and headed back to Atlanta. I tried to find some houses that I love that are just outside of the squares, but I couldn’t find them. I was so disappointed.

The girls (our dog children) went crazy when they saw Mom and Dad. I haven’t seen Emmy that excited in years. She was SO happy to see her Grandma and Papa again. We talked for a bit, I had some popcorn, which Brielle and the girls enjoyed. Dad and Mom found it hilarious how fixated Emmy and Rosie were on the popcorn and how they would take turns getting their piece. It didn’t take long before we all went to bed. I snuggled Brielle, the girls, and David (family snuggles). And we went to bed.

Brielle’s Second Day in Savannah

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Sunday, August 2, was a very wet and rainy day!

When we met Mom downstairs, she said Dad had run off to the concierge lounge. When he came back he had pineapple for Brielle. He said, “I heard my grandbaby loves pineapple.” It meant so much to me that he went and got her favorite for her. I love my Daddy.

We started out the day by having breakfast at 700 Drayton Restaurant. Which was good, great fruit which Brielle loved! I had a quiche and a bowl of fruit, seriously amazing bowl of fruit. Brielle tolerated the quiche and then did a happy dance for the fruit.

We then waited for a while for the trolley tour, which we chose to do first while the rain was the worst. And so did everyone else. The trolley tour was really cool and Brielle loved it! She was moving about like crazy during it, I guess she found Savannah history fascinating? I took a couple of pictures of my favorite houses that we passed. We passed a tavern for pirates, the one that inspired the tavern in Treasure Island. A Ford Model T store. A regency era square, which I really liked since that is my favorite era and more interesting places.

We had lunch at a vegan/vegetarian restaurant. It was really tasty! Brielle was very happy. I had a pita of some kind, that had lots of stuff Brielle liked on it. It was good for us to rest after walking around after the trolley tour. We then went back to the hotel and changed for our trip to Tybee.

Thankfully we got to Tybee as the storm from Tybee moved to Savannah, so we had a nice window of good weather. I was so excited to share this moment with Brielle. I am part fish, and love the water, so this was important to me for that reason. David just loves the beach, the ocean, the atmosphere, etc. so he was excited to share ocean air and seafood with Brielle.

I enjoyed coasting with the waves, and letting them take Brielle and I closer into shore. I had a really hard time feeling Brielle while we were in the ocean. I know that she didn’t dislike the ocean and “swimming,” because she never did her angry kicks or the, “I don’t like this” kicks. We think it probably felt similar to being in the womb anyways, but she may have very well been enjoying it. She’s still small and I don’t feel every little thing she does. Either way, we had fun. I spoke to Brielle quite a bit, as did David. We told her how much we love her, what the ocean was like, I told her about waves, and let her feel us float. I sang to her the lullaby I sing to her everyday. We rubbed on her and I found it hilarious that the baby fish found my ankles fascinating. So I told Brielle about the fishies. There were also quite a few jumping fish, so we shared that with her as well.

David and I got out and talked to Dad for a while, Mom went to put on her suit so that she could come swim with Brielle and I. Dad and David stayed on the beach and Mom and I went back in. The waves were starting to get rougher so we didn’t get to stay out as long. But Mom and I talked to Brielle some more, talked about what we wanted to do for the rest of the day and the next day. I told her there was no rush to get back to Atlanta, just we wanted to get back after or before evening traffic. So we decided to stay longer and spend some more time in Savannah. That was fine with me, Savannah is one of my favorite places and I wanted to show Brielle as much as possible.

We went back to the beach and I told Mom that we needed to write Brielle’s name in the sand. As I was telling her this, David said he has already done it. Sure enough he had written Brielle in the sand, and strangely an arrow pointing to the right. He didn’t know why he drew the arrow, he just said he was doodling. Okie dokie. Dad had already taken pictures of it too! So that was nice, especially since the storm was coming in. The wind was picking up and it was beginning to mist. None of us were hungry yet, so we drove around Tybee and looked at the beach houses. Mom and I really enjoy that. I think Brielle enjoyed the stillness and quiet. We managed to find our way to the lighthouse, so we got out and walked around it a bit. There was also a fort nearby. It said it was a hurricane safe zone, but it really didn’t look safe, or friendly.

We went to a seafood place that David found on TripAdvisor. That place had a ton of rules for the customers and the manager/owner was really awful to her employees. But the food was pretty good. Kind of a strange place. David and I ordered fresh calamari for Brielle, she liked it! It was really soft and not chewy at all. Since Brielle is very picky when it comes to fish, I ordered a filet and lobster. Two of her favorites. She was very hungry, so was a happy camper once I fed her. She may or may not have inherited the Wolford hangry gene (extreme anger and tantrums when hungry).

We went to Leopold’s (ice cream) later that evening. The line was out the door, it was so hard to choose what to get. I knew Brielle probably wouldn’t go for ice cream, but dangit, I wanted some. I ordered a hot fudge sundae for myself and a baby cup of birthday cake ice cream for Brielle. Seriously did not anticipate how big the hot fudge sundae was. Dad had a chocolate malt, Mom had an ice cream cone, and David ordered a banana split. He should have known he was in trouble when he was asked how many spoons he needed. That thing was a monstrosity of deliciousness. David said, “Challenge accepted.” He was regretting that later. Leopold’s was a really interesting place, the family history was interesting, and the ice cream was really great too. Brielle was quiet throughout the whole Leopold’s adventure. I think she was worn out and sleeping, it had been a big day for a little girl!

Brielle perked up once we got back to the hotel. I talked to her quite a bit and she was so happy and started reacting to what I was saying. I love it when she listens. Sometimes I feel crazy because it isn’t normal to connect with your baby that much and I think people must think I’m making this stuff up. But I’m not. She’s a very attentive baby. I’ll just take it as a blessing since I won’t have years to get to know her. She had so much fun listening to me talk to her. I sang to her some too and David came over and talked to her too. She just kept wiggling around.

When I got into bed she was still all over the place and having a blast, but it was time for bed. So I sang her, “I’ll Love You Forever,” wrapped my arms around my belly, and told her it was time to go to bed. After a few minutes she started to calm down. David prayed over her and us. And I said my usual daily prayer, “Lord, please save my baby.”

Resources for Friends & Family

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I wanted to share this link with family and friends. It’s a resource for family and friends affected by anencephaly. I know that a lot of times no one knows what to say or do and David and I don’t have the strength to help others while we go through this ourselves. So maybe this will be of some help to our family and friends as we all go through this.

http://www.anencephalie-info.org/e/family.php

Lady & Sons

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We had dinner at Lady and Sons, Paula Dean’s restaurant. David and I have been before, but my parents hadn’t, so we went. It’s one of those things you have to do once. Everyone enjoyed their meals, but of course I ordered shrimp, and Brielle hates shrimp. So two bites in I gave David my plate and ate some of the buffet that David had ordered instead.

One of my favorite things to do in Savannah is walk around the city and take it all in. So after dinner we talked and meandered our way towards the hotel. We had a very good time, and Brielle slept.