Flying with Finn

Heidi, Anabel, Finn and Mindy

Finn and I traveled to Connecticut this weekend for the wedding of our friends Mindy and Josh.  It was Finn's first flight, and we lucked out with a first class upgrade on the way up there.  The flight was wonderful, especially since the (male) gay couple in front of us had their 8 month old twins with them too (can you imagine the dismay the other passengers felt when they saw there were three babies in front?)  All three babies were absolutely wonderful; at one point all three babies were laughing as they were being bounced on various laps, causing the man next to me to comment, "It's like a US Airways commercial in here!"

In preparation for the weekend I spent hours researching flying with babies on the internet, and the best resource I out there is a post I read earlier this year on Natalie's blog - if you have any plans to ever fly with a baby you must read it, and then do every single thing she says.  The one thing I didn't do was check my Sit n Stroll at the ticket counter; a friend lent it to me, and I didn't want to mess it up, so I took it through security and checked it at the gate.  My left forearm is covered in bruises from all the times I had to pull the wheels in and then push them back out again, and dealing with it (even though I practiced multiple times with Finn in the seat) was the worst part of traveling.  For our next trip I'm investing in a car seat cover so I can send it on through with my suitcase and not deal with the hassle of the stupid thing.

Friday night was Margarita Friday at Mindy and Josh's, and the house was full of their family and friends.  For the rest of the night (and again on Sunday when they had brunch at their house) the only time I held Finn was when he was ready to eat.  He is officially over his separation anxiety, because it didn't bother him one bit to have so many different people holding him over the course of the weekend.

The night of the wedding I made an huge rookie mistake.  I had debated taking my breast pump with me to pump during the day on Saturday and Sunday.  Finn eats so much more at night than he does during the day, and I typically pump about 10 more ounces a day than he eats, so I tend to get a little full on the weekends.  But it's not awful, so I decided it wasn't worth the effort of taking the pump with me.  What didn't occur to me was the fact that I'd be at the wedding during Finn's prime feeding time. Like I said, rookie mistake. We left for the wedding a little after 5, and Finn snacked just a little before we left.  By the time dinner was over, my boobs were so engorged I thought they might explode right there at the table.  I ended up going to the men's bathroom (the line for the women's was too long) and expressing milk into the sink, all the while imagining what I'd say if the lock failed and a man walked in and found me hanging over the sink, boob in hand.

Luckily I was uninterrupted, and was then able to enjoy a few hours of socializing and dancing before misery hit again.  By this point I was also feeling anxious about leaving Finn with a new babysitter for so long, and then wondering how I'd turned into one of "those moms" who didn't want to leave her kid for more than a few hours.  I seriously never thought that would be me.  I couldn't bare the thought of going back to the bathroom to express more milk, and by that point dancing was pretty uncomfortable, so the last bit of what was a really fun wedding wasn't quite so fun.  But then I got distracted by helping to clean up a little, and then finally it was time to head back to the hotel, where I'd discovered that I'd soaked through my breast pads and my bra (thank goodness I was wearing black so it didn't show!) and realized I'd made rookie mistake #2 and only brought one bra.  What was I thinking?

Despite the mammary mishap, the whole weekend was so fun.  We haven't seen Heidi since Finn was 5 or 6 weeks old, so not only was it wonderful to see her, it was also nice to not be single mom for the weekend, since she was such a big help with Finn.  I had the longest shower I've had in months, and not once did I have to pee while holding a baby.

Strangely enough, the travel this weekend also made everything seem more normal again.  Weird that leaving home for a few days would make me feel more myself, but by the end of the weekend, that's exactly what happened.  And that's a very good thing.