Grounded
I am constantly amazed at the ways that I am tested as a mother. Motherhood has been and always will be a learning experience, and yesterday continues to prove that.
Avery and I traveled to Atlanta on Monday for a conference that Coca-Cola was generous enough to invite me out to (more on that later.) I wanted to bring Avery with me because I am still exclusively nursing her and my mom was driving up to spend time with her while I was at the conference. It was a win/win situation.
Our flight home yesterday afternoon was scheduled for shortly after the conference ended, so my mom dropped us off at the airport and we quickly said our goodbyes so that I could make our way through security and to our gate. Traveling with a baby always makes it a little bit more difficult, so I like to leave a little bit more time for me to be able to do all of the “extra” stuff that they require.
I was so looking forward to getting home to see Harlan and MacKay. Although we were only gone two days, it seemed like so much longer than that and I was really missing my family.
Shortly after boarding the plane, the pilots informed us that we were delayed for about 15 minutes because of bad weather in New York. It didn’t bother me at first because I had just started to nurse Avery for take off and she was slowly drifting into sleep. As that 15 minutes went by the pilot comes back on and informs us that we all need to get off the flight because we are delayed three hours and they wanted us to be comfortable outside of the airplane rather than squished inside (how nice of them.) The pilot had such great timing that he made the announcement just as Avery had fallen asleep.
I gathered up all of my stuff, woke Avery up and made my way off of the airplane. I waited right outside the airplane doors for them to bring up my stroller so that I didn’t have to carry Avery around for the next three hours. As we were waiting, the flight attendant comes up and says that there is a new take off time in an hour and that we all need to get back on the plane (yay!)
Soon after taking my seat and settling back in, I realized that we weren’t leaving at their new projected time and we were still being delayed for a long time. We were going on two hours of sitting on the plane at this point and I was getting restless and so was Avery. That’s when I had to pull out my creative mom skills and try to entertain my 5 1/2 month old daughter that wasn’t happy with just sitting on my lap.
We laughed, we played, we made some friends, but ultimately we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
We waited over four hours on that plane.
They piled everyone back on around hour two and didn’t let anyone get back off. First class was getting royal service and we were served warm water. I had to beg them to get Avery’s car seat from under the plane because it was getting nearly impossible for me to hold her that long and she was getting SO tired (it was way past her bedtime.)
Luckily a little over four hours after getting on the plane, we were ready to take off and head back to NYC. Avery spent the flight home sleeping.
I rewarded myself for such a hard afternoon with a glass of cheap airline wine.
And at that point in time, it was the best wine I had ever tasted.
After nearly seven hours on a plane that day, I was exhausted, crazy, and just plain cranky. Avery woke back up as we were getting our bags and felt just about the same way I did.
And then I woke up to these people this morning and all was right in my world again.
I’m chronicling my adventures on Babble.com! Check out some of my Babble posts at Baby’s First Year.
Tags: baby on airplane, flying with baby, travel delays, travel delays with baby, traveling with baby
Categorized in: Motherhood
This post was written by Lauren
{ 10 Comments }
[...] delay. Four entire hours stuck on an airplane that wasn’t moving, with a baby (here is the full story of our LONG crazy delay.) With Avery being only five months old, it was a true test on my [...]
Twitter: myhonublog
says:
Oh my goodness! I’m so glad that they allowed you to have the carseat! And kudos to you for keeping her comfortable throughout the experience! I’ll have to look into your creative mom skills before I take my little one on her first flight this Sunday. We fly from Sacramento to Chicago.
Mary S recently posted..Peekaboo!
Twitter: dadarocks
says:
Welcome home – glad all is right in the world a day following such a terrible adventure.
DaDa Rocks recently posted..Mike The Knight rides into the New York Renaissance Faire to celebrate it’s 35th Anniversary
Twitter: sarahviz
says:
Oh no! I’m so sorry about your travel “adventure”. It was nice seeing you in Atlanta!
Sarahviz recently posted..Gone Girl Movie Roles
Twitter: glamamom
says:
I cannot even imagine! So sorry darling. We had a similar situation on what was supposed to be a quick trip to Chicago when Bubba was a year and half. Not nearly as long a delay but he was beside himself. When we finally got off the plane I was bawling. I’m happy to read that the issues were limited mostly to circumstances beyond the airline’s control and not related to the other passengers. I find people’s judgement generally makes it SO much worse than it needs to be. In any case, glad you’re back safe and sound and hopefully as time goes by you’ll only remember the positive aspects of the trip.
Glamamom recently posted..A Summer of Firsts
Twitter: RedStethoscope
says:
OK, I just headed over from Babble, where I asked why they left you on the plane for four hours (but you explained here). What a yucky flight home…that glass of wine was much deserved!
Twitter: themommygames
says:
We do the ATL – NYC flight a lot and it is always delayed. Such a pain! You poor thing! I’m glad they brought you her car seat and that there was a seat for you to put her in.
Ashley recently posted..African Drumsticks
I was wondering what kind of car seat your baby uses ?
Thank you!
Hi Jessica! The one in the picture is the Orbit infant car seat! We love it!
Twitter: YUMMommies
says:
Oh wow. The adventures of flying. It sucks that they wouldn’t let you all back off the plane and didn’t offer you all the same services that first class was getting. These airline companies could learn a lesson in customer service. Glad you all made it home safe though. It was nice meeting you in Atlanta!
YUMMommy recently posted..Thankful Thursday