My first and only trip to Las Vegas occurred when my husband and I learned we were pregnant with our second child. My first pregnancy with my daughter had been easy and I'd felt great throughout it, so we decided we'd take a trip to celebrate. We'd always wanted to go to Las Vegas and our thinking was that we should go now while we could, because with a new little one arriving soon, we might not be able to escape by ourselves for awhile. Our parents agreed to watch our daughter, and we happily boarded the plane that would take us to one of the entertainment capitols of the world!
There was one catch, though. . .I was about 2 months pregnant and suffering through horrible morning sickness. I'd tried a lot of natural remedies including peppermint tea, ginger, and motion sickness acupressure bands. All of these things helped, but there was no miracle cure for me. Normally, I'm the kind of person who LOVES food, and one of the things about Las Vegas that's exciting for me is all of the various types of foods available there. However, when we visited, I had a really difficult time finding something that I felt I could eat. We'd visit huge buffets in an effort to find something that would sound appealing, and I'd end up eating a few bites of cottage cheese and a tiny bit of yogurt.
Obviously, I couldn't drink and didn't want to be around cigarette smoke, but I had still hoped to visit a few clubs so that we could go dancing, a past-time my husband and I usually enjoy. The morning sickness got the best of me in this aspect, too-the gyrating of the body required for dancing just wasn't possible with the constant general nausea I was experiencing, and I was afraid that flashing disco lights would set off another migraine that I was prone to during my second pregnancy.
Before we left for Vegas, I'd checked out travel books and videos from the library to learn about places we'd want to see while we were there. I had a list of casinos to visit and even a few day-trip ideas. Once we got to Vegas, my morning sickness combined with the heat of Vegas in August and resulted in a pregnant mommy who didn't want to walk around much. We were able to visit some of the casinos and used the public shuttle to help cut down on walking, but even the city smells of exhaust fumes and hot blacktop made my stomach turn.
Finally, we sought refuge inside the casinos themselves. We didn't have much money to gamble, but wanted to say that we'd had the experience. The casinos were much cooler than being outside in the heat, but even the casinos were overwhelming because of their constant noise, crowds of people, and flashing lights.
Our last stab at making our Vegas vacation a positive one was to buy tickets to Cirque du Soliel's Mystère. We'd always wanted to see a Cirque du Soliel production, and this was our chance! I was convinced that the beautiful music, colors, and movements would actually soothe my over-stimulated senses, and I was right! We had a delightful time watching Mystère. . .with one exception--it was a rather long production for my overactive bladder to sit through!
It's interesting to me, then, that another Vegas show could draw us back to this amazing city. My husand (who suffered silently as he missed out on lots of amazing parts of Las Vegas last time) and I would love a chance to re-visit Las Vegas and make new memories!