I knew this day would come sooner or later, I was just kinda hoping more for the “later.” Today Simeon and I are taking Ana on her first airplane ride. God help us all.
Part of Simeon’s job, the job that allows me to stay home and raise our daughter, involves traveling, often for a week at a time. This early in the game (10 weeks yesterday! Can you believe it?) Sim can’t imagine being away for that long. Heck, he has trouble with an 8-hour work day (in which Ana and I often stop by and visit him) how can he be expected to go for days? And even more importantly, how can I take care of an infant 24/7 without ANY help or even the prospect of help?
Anticipating this problem, we always said we would just go with him. Hey, it could even be fun! Since the job reimburses all of Sim’s expenses (airfare, hotel, food, etc.) we would really only be out my airline ticket. We checked the rates and decided the cost of my ticket was totally worth it and clicked the “Book Now” button on two plane tickets to San Jose. We even upgraded to first class. Since one of us will be holding Ana, I wanted the extra room. Plus first class only has two seats in each section so I won’t have to worry about sitting next to some perv watching me feed Ana during the flight (highly recommended during take-off and landing to help their ears adjust to the change in altitude, by the way). A perv-free flight? It’s nothing but the best for my kiddo!
It was all coming together. We booked the flight. Reserved the room. Even made plans to meet up with some of our friends for dinner while we were in town. This was going to be like a nice little get-away. A luxurious travel experience that we don’t even splurge on for our own vacations. We even started to get excited and think about how fun it would be!
Well, now I don’t see any “fun” in sight. Particularly after last night watching my daughter projectile vomit for the first time in her life. She doesn’t even spit up for crying out loud! The only fluid that has ever come out of her mouth is the little bit of milk she has yet to swallow when she drifts off to sleep while nursing. So watching Ana empty the contents of her stomach with force rivaling Linda Blair in The Exorcist has put a little fear in me. How will I pack enough clothes? Do we even have enough clothes to handle an exorcist baby? Does the state of California?!
To be fair, we aren’t entirely sure if she is getting sick, or if she just gagged herself with the pacifier since moments before she did just that. But is that really something you want to have to be worrying about right before taking your daughter on an airplane for the first time? No. No, it is not.
Our bags are packed with extra, oh I’d say, everything. I have read just about all I can on how to travel with an infant. We even have a game plan. And I will totally tell you how it all plays out when we get back. Wish me luck!
Good luck. I’m sure it will be fine. I was a notorious projectile vomiter as a child (as I am being constantly reminded by various relatives recently with the birth of my cousin) and my Dad worked in the travel business so we flew all the time. I first flew at 4 weeks, and neither of my parents tells any traumatised flying baby vomiting stories, and believe me, if there were any they’d be telling them.
Have a good trip.
Oh sweetie, that sucks. I’m trying to stay positive like Uli, but I’m praying that Ana doesn’t have the flu that’s been going around the country. I guess the Beaverton School district sent home over 20% of their students last week due to vomiting, etc, and Dodo said the same thing’s happened in Astoria. For your sake, Ana’s, and all of the people on the plane, and who you guys come into contact with this week, I truly hope that’s not what’s wrong with Ana! Keep us updated!
Well, so far so good. Our flight is currently delayed, so I am sitting in PDX enjoying the free Wi-Fi and just waiting to take off. Ana has been delightful and happy all day, so I am hoping it was just a fluke that she threw up last night. Nothing like coincidence to make for paranoid parents! But thanks, I appreciate all the words of encouragement! 🙂
i am sure that she will do smashingly well! i am glad you opted for first class…no need to have a perv checking your boobies out!
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that. A nice break for you guys. Nothing like having to take care of a poor sick little baby, especially while traveling, and certainly no fun for the baby itself! I hope you guys have an awesome trip. Take pics and check back in with us often! We’ll miss you!
I think everything will be just peachy. How long could a flight to Cali last? Two hours? That’s nothing. It’ll be over before you know it!
It could be worse. When my parents were young and my dad was in the service, my mom had to take a 2-year old and a newborn on a military flight to the Phillipines to join my dad. They were both horribly, horribly sick with the flu and hearing her tell the story of how one was vomiting down her back while the other was having explosive diarrhea is enough to make anyone reconsider having children.
So no matter what, know that your trip couldn’t be as bad as that!
Ha ha ha, oh my god Carole, that’s so horribly comical. Because it wasn’t me of course. 😉 I have the most awful picture in my mind….
Carole’s right Carrie, there’s no way your trip will be anywhere near that bad, so enjoy yourselves.
i am SO glad she didn’t have the stomach flu. We had it at our house and it was the worst week of our lives! Brandon , mitch and i were so SICK! Then last week we had 140 kids absent with it at my school. There were so many teachers sick that there wern’t enough substitute teachers. I hope you don’t get it!
Enjoy your trip!