My husband and I were never super into traveling, but we love to go visit family and attend important events with families and friends. When we had kids, we weren’t going to let that stop us from traveling to do the things that we wanted to do, plus we thought it would be nice for the kids to see other areas of the country and fun (Ha. Weren’t we naive). We had several great trips with our kids. We took our 10 month old to Europe and it was great (European airlines will give free upgrades to bulkhead seats for parents with young kids, where they can attach a baby bassinet). However, we have had a couple of horrible trips, or at least some really rough moments on some survivable trips. Although there were rough times, we survived, which, with young ones in tow, is sometimes all you can ask for.
By far, our most difficult “vacation” was a five day trip to Texas to attend a close family member’s wedding. We knew it would be rough to begin with, as the wedding was scheduled for two and a half weeks after my due date with our second child. For some reason, we never questioned that we would attend the wedding. I probably should have heeded the warning when multiple people seemed surprised when we told them that we were going to all attend the wedding, but I’m stubborn, and didn’t think twice about it at the time.
I checked with my OB/GYN during one of my prenatal visits and she said that I and the baby would be ok to fly as long as everything went well with labor and delivery, but she strongly suggested that, when I booked my tickets, I should request wheelchair service to take me to the gate. Really!?!? I thought this was way overprotective. I was active and though it would be fine, but she really thought it would be a good idea, so I did it. And, thank God for her wonderful advice! Little did I know how much I would need it.
When booking our tickets, I discovered that you can’t book a lap-child ticket for a child who hasn’t been born, so we had some last minute calls to the airline to add the baby to the ticket shortly after her birth. We decided to drive to Chicago so that we could have a direct flight to Texas. We had done this several times, both with and without kids, and it had worked fine. We used one of those park and ride companies, which was fine on the way down.
Then our troubles began… while in the O’Hare Airport, I was trying to nurse our two-week old and our two-year old son was watching the planes through the window. Then, as only a two-year old could understand, he started licking the railings in the terminal. Eww! Chicago O’Hare, the busiest airport in the country that year, and he is licking something that hundreds of people have probably touched. Eventually, my husband was able to move him away from his new favorite thing to lick, and we were on our way.
We made it to Texas, checked into our hotel and settled in. I was so happy I had the wheelchair service at the airport, because even with that, I was exhausted. We did our best to sleep as a new family of four in a hotel room, all together sleeping in one room for the first time.
Then, it happened. The night before the wedding, we wake up to our two-year old crying. He had thrown up all over his bed. He had contracted the norovirus. We are trying to keep him quiet so that he won’t wake his sister, but he is really upset and sick and we had to strip the bed. We called down to the front desk, and this kind, 20ish year old night manager in a nice suit comes to our room with clean sheets. I asked him what we should do with the dirty sheets, and he gave me the most horrified look. We found a garbage bag, and I was able to hand the package off to him, all while he looked like he was completely grossed out, but also trying so hard to keep his composure.
As anyone who as dealt with the norovirus knows, it was a rough couple of days that followed. We spent the next couple of days trying to get my son to rest and fully recover, learning where all of the local Walgreen’s stores were, and trying to keep my newborn daughter from getting this virus.
On the day we were set to go home, my husband and I came down with the virus as well. We were both sick, and trying to drag the two kids and all our luggage through the airport. Once again, thankfully I had the wheelchair service because I don’t think I would have been able to walk to the terminal, and they were nice enough to give my kids a ride as well.
We came back to the Midwest to -5 degree temperatures (it was January), and we reached our final hurdle. A group of middle aged men who had just gotten back from a skiing trip tried to jump in front of us in line for the shuttle back to the park and ride (when my husband had to step to the side to wave for us to come outside). Being sick and tired, I almost lost it. Can you believe they would do this!? I began to lecture these grown men about sympathy and empathy for those with babies who couldn’t wait outside in the freezing weather. They told us to wait for the next shuttle! I couldn’t believe it! Finally, the driver was able to move things around and get us all squished into the shuttle together.
We made it home, handed the toddler off to my in-laws so that we could recover, and the baby never got the virus (thankfully). We did learn some things from this journey: asking for help is totally needed and don’t feel bad about it, make sure toddlers know what is acceptable to do in an airport, try to laugh at the ridiculousness of these early days, and tip the hotel workers/maids well if you are going to have a sick toddler in a room for four days. We can now look back on this and laugh, but I hope others have smoother newborn traveling experiences.
