Pregnant Scouter Mom is Going Camping!

When I was 8 months pregnant with Jonas, Steve and I went camping - in a tent, on the ground, at the end of May. It was cold, damp and uncomfortable at night, but an awesome trip during the day. History is about the repeat itself a little bit.

Jonas and I have had many wonderful trips with the 9th Pickering Scouts

Jonas and I are going camping with our Scout group this weekend. We're sleeping in cabooses - the real CN train kind! - on Friday night and in tents on Saturday night. I should clarify, the Cub Scouts are sleeping in tents on Saturday night. The Beaver Scouts are sleeping in the trains both nights, and I might just be with them. As a general rule on these trips, Jonas sleeps with his fellow Cubs and I sleep on my own, so it's not like I'd be bailing a night in a tent with him, and my own preference for sleeping in a tent is currently being overshadowed by an arthriticy hip that's not liking this pregnancy thing very much. (I may just pack my mega air mattress and give it go in my tent anyway. Maybe.)

This trip will be our last chance to go camping, just Jonas and I, (sort of, anyway) for a little while. It's the first Scouting thing we'll do together this year. Jonas is over the moon that I'm taking him and frankly, I am too. It's been a strange year for us. I've been very inactive, particularly when it comes to Scouts, and we haven't been camping since the summer. We both miss it.

Jonas and his cousin Jacob, enjoying Jonas's first camping trip together.

I know that this lay-off is a temporary blip on our radar. We took Jonas dayhiking almost from the day we left the hospital with him, but he didn't sleep under the stars for the first time until he was three. This baby will not be waiting that long. Camping is part of our family identity so we're going to get her out there much sooner. 

I also want to continue taking one-on-one trips with Jonas. Those trips are an important part of our relationship. Our tradition of leaving the stresses and routines of every day life behind, unplugging and getting away from it all together let's us connect in a way that's hard to describe. Sleeping on the ground in the fall while seven months pregnant? It'll be worth a night of physical discomfort. I cherish that time together and I know he does too.

Cheers!