Annie visits Morgantown

Me and the girl on the plane!

Steven had a wonderful opportunity to take a 2 week training class on a type of aircraft in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago!  At the sound of the news I immediately began squealing.  As you may or may not know, Pitt is only 1.5 hours away from our beloved Morgantown, WV.  Since he would be away from home for two weeks, I thought it'd be a great opportunity to go visit some friends!  (Which would also prevent me from being home alone with baby for two weeks!).  Annie and I took Steven to the airport on Sunday, December 2nd.  I had my 6-week follow up on that Tuesday, so unfortunately Annie and I weren't able to travel with him.  Instead Annie and I travelled all by ourselves via airplane after the appointment. Let me just say that I was terrified of travelling alone with a 6 week old baby.  Nursing in public is something that neither she nor I are comfortable with.  As I may have mentioned, I have a forceful letdown and so a mess is typically involved.  Annie cant keep up, so she pulls off and milk squirts everywhere.  So, not only do I have to contain the flow, but I have to keep her from going crazy and all the while try to stay covered up.  Through the course of our trip Annie would need to eat 1-2 times. 

We start our day at the doctor. Since the on call guy delivered her at the hospital, I had never actually been to his office.  And of course, the hospital is big and I cant find it.  By the time I found it and got out of there, my arm and back was exhausted from lugging a car seat around.  It took longer than I expected and we were running late to get to the airport.  I decided on the fly that there was NO WAY i could lug that thing around the airport all day.  Annie and I needed to leave for the airport at 12pm and it was 11:40 and she hadn't eaten yet.  But instead of going home, I book it to Target to buy a stroller that's compatible with her car seat.  (BEST DECISION EVER.)  Luckily a friend was taking me to the airport so when I got home she was able to help me with Annie and her son assembled the stroller.  Good news: we made our flight!  Thankfully there was a seat in between me and the guy in my row so I was able to nurse Annie without any issues.  We connected in Charlotte and Annie and I got stuck next to two burly men - who by the way, didn't even acknowledge me or my cute little baby.  Luckily Annie was fine and didnt need to eat.  It would have been impossible for me to have fed her on that flight.

We arrive in Pitt Tuesday evening and spend the night with Steven in his hotel room.  My BFF Amanda was supposed to pick us up on Wednesday morning and Annie and I would spend the week with she and her family (Steven came on the weekend).  I get a text Tuesday and her daughter has a fever.  SO... we postpone our arrival.  Instead we spend another night with Steven she picks us up on Thursday after her kiddos are fever free.  We get there and I surprise my community group with our presence.  It's a great night!

Our good friend Dave picks Steven up on Friday and he gets to spend the weekend with us!

During our stay things seemed a little off with Annie.  I've never heard the kid cry so much.  She would scream and scream and scream when she was tired.  It was the most trying week of my life up to this point.  I never realized how hard travelling is on a tiny person.  I stayed stressed a lot because of our running around (again, the whole nursing in public thing) and it's always a bit more stressful when you arent at home.  We were able to visit with many of our friends, but it seemed like there were an awful lot of sick people in our circle!  We did get to go to church on Sunday at Crossroads.  Gosh, we miss that place SO much.  One day we hope to go back to WV. Words cannot express our love for our church!!!

Fast forward to Monday.  Now, our plan was to head back to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, spend the night with Steven, and fly out on Thursday.  However, my BFF Amanda got horribly ill on Tuesday with a double ear infection and bronchitis.  And Annie and I were staying in her house.  Now I realize that i will not be able to protect my precious darling from every little thing that comes her way, but having a now 7 week old exposed to fever, ear infections, and bronchitis... absolutely not.  So we scurry and make a few quick arrangements and get the heck out of there.  We spend the day with my friend Michelle.  There were so many curve balls thrown our way through the course of our stay that I just made the decision to go ahead and go back to Pittsburgh to be with Steven rather than try to finagle somewhere else for Annie and I to stay for the night.  So, we leave a day early and spend two nights with Steven... which was great since he was able to help out with my crazy baby (who was still pretty fussy.  AND after a week of a fussy baby.. this mama was fried.)

Thursday.  The day Annie and I fly back.  (We fly free ... but we fly standby, meaning if there is a seat, we get to fly.  We would have tried to come back with Steven on his flight Friday, but he wanted to be sure that we got home before him so that he wouldnt have to worry.  Sometimes there arent seats available on the flights we choose, so we are pushed back and moved to others.).

The morning starts out chaotic because Annie was up all night long.  Steven and I barely got any sleep.  We were exhausted... and I had a full day of travel ahead of me and he had to somehow make it through work.  I get to the airport and I think the ladies at the ticket counter forgot to have their coffee.  By the time they got their acts together and got us our tickets, I had 15 minutes to get through security, pee, and board the plane.  *panic*.  I get to the security checkpoint and I cant find my driver's license.  After wasting even more precious time digging for it, I finally find it and rush through security.  Of course all of the lady officers want to ooh and goo at my baby,which ordinarily I would eat up.  however, my plane was getting ready to leave without me.  SO after rushing like crazy we finally make it to our gate in the nick of time.

The gate lady was super nice and gave Annie and I our own row of seats.  Annie was a gem.  She was so perfectly behaved and slept the entire flight (which she should considering that she was awake all night.)  Our flight was on schedule and I had enough time to where I'd be able to nurse Annie in the bathroom when we arrived at our connecting airport before we had to board the next plane.  We get to Reagan National and its weird.  We get let out on the tarmac and are shuttled by bus to the gates.  Thankfully the airport employees were helpful in getting Annie and I on and off the bus (keep in mind I have a stroller, car seat, her, and a backpack!).  They take us to gate 35A, which is great b/c we are taking off from gate 36.  I get there... and our gate has been changed.  I have to take yet another shuttle to get to the other side of the airport.  It takes me a while to figure out where the heck to find the shuttle... and I'm stressing b/c we are starting to run out of time and Annie is getting hungry.  I get on the shuttle (which seems to take forever) and they bus us over to our gate.  Once I've located it, I head to the bathroom to nurse my girl.  The line is lengthy and there is one handicap bathroom (which I need to get the stroller into).  Eventually we make it in - and lucky me, the lady who is coming out dropped a major load.. and I'm gagging as I walk in.  BUT, I dont have any other options.  So I get Annie out and sit on the floor (trust me, way better than the toilet at this point).  I get everything and start nursing.  And wouldn't you know.  No sooner than we start, Annie blows her diaper out - through her clothes.  I lay her (on her changing pad) on the floor and change both her diaper ... poop is up to her shoulders... and her clothes.  She is frustrated because she's so hungry.  She is 30 minutes overdue for feeding.  I latch her back on and she's so frustrated she has a hard time getting going again.  Time is ticking.... our plane is due to board in 20 minutes.  It usually takes her 20 minutes to eat.  She nurses one side and as I'm switching her.. she blows out her diaper a second time.  Again, poop halfway up her back.  SO I once more have to change her and wipe her down - all on the floor of this bathroom stall.  She's screaming bloody murder.  We get cleaned up and I attempt to nurse her again.  We have less than 15 minutes until boarding and I haven't talked to the gate attendant to get us a seat yet.  Annie is being crazy, so I give up at my attempt to feed her (I have a bottle in the backpack for emergency use) and pack up. 

We get to the gate, get our seats (again by ourselves. yay!) and I take a seat to try to finish feeding her via bottle.  She eats an ounce and BLEEEK.  Projectile... all over me. and her.  The burp towel catches most of it... but by this point I'm done - and they are calling us to board.  I clean us up and load her up as quickly as possible and we, by some miracle, get on board.   Annie sleeps the entire flight.  I sleep the entire flight.  Finally. A break in our chaos.

The pilot announces that we'll be landing in 13 minutes so I decide to try and feed her (she is due to eat around the time we will be in the car on the way home).  She cant seem to keep up with my milk flow and is thrashing about - so I give up and give her her bottle.. because she's starting to cry. However, I really wish she would have nursed b/c my boobs are about to explode.

SO.  We make it home by the grace of God and  I pump about 10oz.  Told you they were full.

The rest of the night ended in massive amounts of crying - from both me and her. Between the changes in elevation, our day of travelling, her being exhausted and on top of that coming down with a cold ... we had a very very rough afternoon and night.  Keep in mind we didnt sleep the night prior and I was zonked after travel.  It was so bad I had to call my friend Sherri to come and help me (Steven was still in Pittsburgh).  BUT. We survived.

Overall it was great seeing our friends and being able to go to WV... however... I learned that travelling is hard on a tiny person - and on a tiny person's mama.  The week in WV was very stressful and tiring for me... Annie was completely off schedule which made her crazy.  To top it off she is sick this week.  I have to say the last to weeks have been exhausting and very trying.  After the last two weeks that we've had... Steven and I are start to question whether or not Annie will ever have a sibling.  I know, I know, everyone says it gets better and these weeks have been out of the norm - but man.  This stuff is for the birds! 


But hey, look how cute she is!