Showing posts with label airplanes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airplanes. Show all posts

Sunday, November 6, 2011

why?

First off, where does time go? I kept thinking that I needed to post and catch up on my blog reading, but it wasn't until I got those sweet "what the heck happened to you?" cooments that it dawned on me just how long it has been... thank you all for checking in on me!

Life is good but busy, and busy good not busy bad. M and I have been on several adventures. We flew to DC and then Nashville to visit family. Which begs my first "why" question.

Why do some airlines not have changing tables in their bathrooms? We were on 2 United Airlines flights and it totally sucked, not to mention seems pretty dangerous. And M wasn't the only baby on either flight.

Why # 2... why did the grad student who I have kicked out if my lab as of December ask me for a letter of recommendation for a fellowship application? Just goes to show how stupid he is...

Why # 3... why did the kind lady in the YMCA dressing room who offered to hold M while I changed out of my wet bathing suit (we went to our first swim class!) not finish putting on her shirt before taking her from me? M was all kinds of confused about why she couldn't try the new milk source... weird I tell you. But I was really grateful for the help. The logistics of swim class almost overwhelm the fun of swim class. BTW, do you really think that baby swim diapers actually do any good or is it just a charade? seems sketchy to me.

Why # 4... when nursing in public, and only in public, why does M like to hold onto my shirt and straighten out her arm, therby raising my shirt the full length of her arm and exposing all of my bosom? The only time I didn't mind was when the guy sitting beside me on one of those plane trips was kind of a jerk and I could tell the nursing made him really really uncomfortable. So we nursed a lot on that flight... :)

Why # 5... Dh is out of town for 3 months. I hate to say this out loud, as I do really miss him, but why does it seem like things are in many ways easier without him around?

Love, inB

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Reflections on the trip back home

1) I am very grateful that I am older and more comfortable with my life choices.  By the time I left I had had about enough of the sideways comments from my mom about breastfeeding (she actually told several people that I missed my calling as a wet nurse, in front of me; talk about awkward).  I had also had about enough of people implying that I was torturing my baby by not letting her eat anything but milk.  Luckily my parents' friends are much more supportive of breast feeding than my mom is so there were some supportive conversations, and ones that they initiated in front of her.  Oh, and I was getting really tired of not having a chair to sit in in my room.  It is really hard to nurse hunched over on the edge of the bed six times a day.

2) My sister.  Oh my sister.  She is amazing.  I don't think I've shared much of her story here so let me give you some background.  She had her son when she was 29 and at 31 started trying for a second baby.  That was 12 years ago.  She has been through more infertility treatments than I could keep track of.  We stopped talking about it for a long time because she wanted our relationship to be an escape from all of that.  So I never asked, she just told me things when she wanted me to know.  And she called me a couple of months ago to tell me that their third surrogate is pregnant!  She was SO nervous about telling my parents.  Neither of us was sure what their reaction to the surrogacy thing would be.  Let me tell you, my sister made the announcement in the most eloquent way that it would have been impossible for someone to not be excited and happy for them.  I was really really impressed.  And can I tell you that she is *glowing*!  I think the pregnant lady glow is more from happiness than pregnancy hormones.

3) Mads did not realize that adults prefer babies that sleep on planes.  Needless to say, she did not make many friends on the plane ride there.  And then she totally lost it on the drive to my parents' house from the airport (which is about 2.5 hours).  Luckily it was just family in the car...  The flight home had all the makings for a nightmare.  The flight was delayed about 4 hours and we were stuck at the gate just the two of us.  But Mads was happy to watch all the people and to play with me.  There was a little nursing nook in the bathroom right near our gate so feeding her wasn't awkward.  And when we got on the plane she fell right to sleep.  BUT THEN... 100 french teenagers on a school trip got on and sat all around us.  They were all simultaneously shouting and talking and, of course, Mads woke up and wanted to know what was going on.  This was now an hour past her bed time so she was pretty tired.  We sat on the tarmac for another hour listening to the french teenagers.  Me trying to keep Mads from getting too crazy.  Luckily, once the plane took off the lights went out and all of them (the french teenagers and my baby) slept for the entire flight.  BTW, if you can afford it I strongly recommend getting a separate seat for the baby.  It would have been a nightmare having her in my lap the whole time (it was a 5 hours flight).

4) It is wonderful to be home.

5) My husband has been out of town since right before we left for my parents house and he won't be back until the 19th of August.  I have even more respect and awe for you single moms out there.  It is really hard always being the one on call and I haven't been doing it for all that long.  Dh isn't even that involved of a dad; I do about 95% of the childcare.  But having that fall-back for the 5% really does make a big difference.  You all are AMAZING. 

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I am not pleased with myself today

A couple of weeks ago I bought airline tickets for me and little M to spend July 24-Aug 7 with my family.  I totally splurged and bought two tickets so that M has her own seat.  I have to take the car seat any way, and this way we'd have more room for nursing and playing on the 5.5 hour flight.  It was a big splurge because the tickets were pretty expensive individually.

Turns out that I completely forgot that I had agreed months ago to speak at a big teacher workshop at the same time.  This is a big outreach thing we do through a museum I am affiliated with and I can't really bail on the workshop at this late date. 

I just paid $300 to change our tickets.  It hurts, really hurts...

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Strollers, airplanes, and kicks

It is very early in the morning again. I slept for about three hours and then woke with a headache. Laid in bed for an hour and then decided to get up and blog, surf the web.

Yesterday we did a bunch of house/baby errands. But I don't feel much better about it because I am ridiculously stressed out about strollers. Do any of you have advice? I really like the ones that you can switch the seat so that it faces front and/or back, but they are pretty expensive and the one I like the best has a bassinet thing that I really don't think I'd use much, and that increases the cost a lot.

And then I was thinking about the car seat. Those things are really heavy. How will I carry little M in her car seat? I am not that strong, and we live on a hill with lots of steps from our garage to our house.

Which leads into thinking about travel. I have been trying to envision flying to my parents this summer with a 3 month old (by myself). All of the gear is overwhelming me. Do I need to have her in her car seat on the plane ride? How will I carry it along with the seat base? How will I go to the bathroom myself? this seems to require not only a car seat but also a stroller to get all the stuff to the plane, and also a carrier so that I can take her to the bathroom with me and still have my hands free so I can use the restroom myself. And then what about all the stuff she'll need while we are there. Oh my god. I am starting to feel very overwhelmed by all the logistics.

It almost makes me feel like I should just stay at home for a year. But that is absurd, of course we should go places.

So then I try to just think of how much I am looking forward to holding little M. But then I start worrying about stillbirth; I unfortunately know two women IRL who lost babies during birth, and then there are all the ones online too. I have't let myself read too much about it, so I don't know all the reasons why this can happen, but I have started to think and worry more about it lately. I guess I won't fully believe that this baby is really going to be here until she is home with me.

But of course, there are other things to worry about too. For example, little M moves a lot these days, and it is sometimes really weird jerky movements: a random one punch, frantic flops like a fish out of water. This makes me worried. Do other fetuses move in sometimes really jerky ways or is there maybe something not right with her neurologically?

I look forward to the real morning when I will have managed to get back to sleep for an hour or two. Things will seem less overwhelming and worrisome then. The sun will be up, and I can try to go back to just being pregnant.