The Trip...(finally) Part 1

It started off as well as could be. I was so organized, Martha Stewart would have been proud of me. The packing was done, the weather was good and even Clark's feedings worked out so that he would eat right before we had to leave. So, we head out, my mother-in-law driving us. It's normally a 35 minute drive, but had left 50 minutes just in case, mostly because both my husband and I are completely neurotic when it comes to being late, or being rushed, especially now with the baby. Then we hit traffic. Bad traffic, and ended up sitting still for about 30 minutes. And then we hit more traffic. And that's when Clark had reached his limit for the car. And the screaming ensued. Don't people realize that people with babies travel, and thus, the car can never come to a complete stop?

So anyway, our car ride ended up taking an hour and a half. 'No problem,' we thought, 'it's a domestic flight, check in will be a breeze.' That was, of course, until we saw the 400 person long line up for our airline. Apparently all servers were down. So there we are, standing in the back of the line, 30 minutes until our flight is supposed to leave. Then, 15 minutes before, they pull us out of line and up to the front to try to get us checked in. We get everything done, and head for security. We have 5 minutes to go, and they announce they will NOT be holding the flight. Then Clark fell asleep in his sling, ten seconds before the security people order us to take him out of it. So I end up holding this exhausted, confused, angry baby as we both then attempt to juggle approximately 46 other things between the two of us. Then we make the mad dash to our gate, being the second last ones on the flight. Now the dilemma begins-Clark is falling asleep-but if we don't feed him on the way up, his ear pain will more than likely wake him up, but if we keep him awake he will more than likely try to claw our faces off and scream until our ears bleed. We opted for keeping him up, and somehow, he was an angel.

He ate his formula as we ascended and them slept the rest of the three hour flight. Even the flight attendants couldn't believe it. An angel baby, that's what I have, I kept thinking to myself. Now I may note here, I did try to breastfeed him on the flight-I had my nursing cover all ready and had even made my poor husband cart around a nursing pillow. But Clark absolutely refused, and fought me as I tried to be as discreet as possible. And this is when I got creeped out. There was a lady in the aisle across and slightly ahead of me. She was actually craning her neck to try to watch me feed Clark. Now, you have to understand, I am what you may call a private breastfeeder. It may be weird, but I only breastfeed uncovered in front of my husband, and covered rarely in front of others, mostly I will just go to the car or another room. And here was this lady, staring at me-it got to the point where even my husband noticed without me saying anything and started holding up his sweater as well(Clark can really struggle when he wants to), but even that didn't stop her. So my mom, who was in the aisle seat got so mad she literally opened her book and stuck it in front of this lady's face until she looked away. It was very odd, and very uncomfortable.

But anyway, moving on. We had chosen a night flight, thinking that he would nap well. Turns out he thought it WAS night, and wouldn't wake up. So we left the plane, walked forever in the airport as all the domestic hangers were full, so we were parked at the very rarely used end of the international-we literally walked for 25 minutes before reaching luggage, all the while me holding this rock of a sleeping baby and not being able to take anything else. You should have seen my poor husband, we really should have videotaped him, he looked hilarious.

So we get our baggage, and the baby wakes up suddenly, screaming. Now here comes the dilemma-we know he won't breastfeed in the airport and I've already missed 2 feedings and am so engorged I'm dripping everywhere. If I give him another bottle now, he won't eat off me later and it will be horrible, especially with how I'm prone to mastitis. So the poor kid had to wait for the hotel bus to come and get us, then he finally ate in the room. I don't know who was more relieved-my breasts or him.

In our incredibly sleep-deprived minds(3:30 am), we realized after 20 minutes, there was no crib in our room. So we called all the other hotel rooms that belonged to the rest of my family, and none of theirs had it either, even though when the room was booked, we had very clearly specified that we must have a crib. Then more disaster ensued, with no one working there knowing where the crib was, and them searching for 35 minutes, until it was finally delivered to our door. Luckily our angel baby continued to be amazing, and slept straight through until 9 am, though he apparently is part walrus, as my husband called it, because in his sleep, he kept lifting his legs and slapping them down very hard onto the playpen mat, making an incredibly loud, incredibly scary sound, especially when you are fast asleep. Yet somehow, he never managed to wake himself up...

Unfortunately for us, we were then woken at 7:30 am by my sister letting me know she had received a call from where my Gramma was living that she had taken a turn for the worse and they did not know how long she might live. So then mad packing and getting ready ensued, all while trying to let the incredibly exhausted baby sleep more(though we only got 3 hours). So off we went, for our 3.25 hour car ride. We'll just sum up by saying he did NOT like it, and would NOT breastfeed in the car, and this led to even more engorgement.

Luckily, we made it to the home in time to see my Gramma, and spend some time with her, and get an update. Then we headed back to a town approximately 20 minutes away, where we were staying and crashed, hard.

I have to say, I was amazed at my child, he slept well, though he hated the carseat most of the time, he did play and sleep in it, even though he was in it for almost three and a half hours straight, compared to his longest time, which was 30 minutes previously. He was great, and made this incredibly stressful trip so much better with his good sleeping and good moods.

Don't I look like an angel baby?

Next time, on The Trip...(finally) Part 2, you will see how even a five month old baby can wake up every 10 minutes still at night, and how family without children can potentially drive you nuts in stressful situations.