Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Dear Lady in 3C:

Yes, you unfortunately are the one that is "stuck" with the baby on the plane, despite being catty-corner behind me.  I'd like to point out the obvious fact that there are 4 toddlers between the ages of 1 and 3 that are already screaming on the plane.  You have to point out to me that I have brought an infant on the plane.  Thank you for making me self conscious about it.  I hope the toddler behinds you screams in your ear and pulls your hair, forcing you to apologize to the innocent baby in my sling.  I also appreciate the advice that you gave me to "stick a pacifier in her mouth to quiet her down" upon the initial descent into the Milwaukee area.  I'd like to stick a pacifier in your mouth to quiet you down.  XoXo, Shari and Elliott

Yes, I was that jerk, the jerk that brought a baby (yes, a 5 week old baby) on a plane.  Baby E had her first official long distance adventure.  Really, it was an adventure for me.  It was a gift to my Mother for her 60th birthday.  The adventure started as I attempted to use a public restroom with baby E in her sling (I used the My Baby Nest, which was awesome) - this turned out OK, seeing as though I hadn't yet been in an airplane bathroom, which is 1/4 of the size of the one I got to use on the ground.  Needless to say, I have a new appreciation for public restrooms.

So, how do you prepare to take a baby on the plane?  I had done some research that advised me to bring a bottle and feed her as we started to take off and as we started to land.  Now, for a baby that has not flown before, I would assume that there is some degree of overstimulation within the environment.   So, I had packed two bottles with cold breastmilk and I was ready to go.  With baby E, she does not like cold bottles, in fact, she hates them.  I choose to ignore this fact and I paid the price.  As we were taking off, I started to feed her and she went bananas.  So, I quickly hustled the bottle away and whipped out a fresh nipple.  After she realized that there was indeed too much stuff going on, she threw up.  Everywhere.  There were three and a half hours left on this flight.  I burped her and she promptly returned to feeding and she was quiet the remainder of inflight.  Now we get to my thank you letter above.  You can imagine the degree of fumes that are coming out of my ears as I experienced 3C's comments first hand.  I simply minded my P's and Q's and ignored her comments and for the record, I was already armed with pacifier in hand.

Note to self and lesson learned: Feed 1 hour prior to boarding and use a pacifier with cabin pressure changes.  Oh, and try to have the seat next to you empty.


Well, needless to say that Grandma was surprised and my entire family got to meet little baby E.  We even got to take a four generation picture since baby E was officially a girl.  All in all, it was an amazing trip.  I'm glad to be home, but it's good to know that you can always go home, even if it's just for five short days.


3 comments:

  1. That's so neat you surprised your mom for her birthday, Shari! I bet she loved it. I love reading your blog! :-)

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  2. Brave lady Shari! 3C must have become cranky from the takeoff...maybe you could have offered her the cold bottle. ;-).

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  3. Biotch!!!!! (that is all I have to say)

    ps...great to see you!

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