Travel Day from You Know Where

Today was a memorable day in my life of motherhood. It was the day I was set to travel back to LA from Dallas all by myself. I had a little bit of anxiety about this trip. Traveling with an infant isn't exactly a piece of cake to begin with, so it certainly is nice to have an extra set of hands to help with all the gear that's involved with traveling as well as to have someone there who can provide moral support in case things don't go well and baby gets upset. So, I show up at the airport and check in with a nice lady at Virgin America who "courtesy blocks" the whole row for me.

Excellent.

Now I have plenty of room to spread out and don't have to worry about nursing on the same row as a middle aged man. Going through security was a breeze, I had about 3 TSA workers that assisted me with the car seat and stroller. So far, I'm off to an perfect start. After going through security I put Pearson back in the stroller and walk the terminal trying to get him to take a nap. Little man is too excited with all the bright lights to sleep so we head back over to our gate.

As I'm walking back over I hear the lady at the gate say something about a delay. I find out then that the flight is delayed 1.5 hrs due to the plane being rerouted to OKC thanks to a big Texas thunderstorm. Well 1.5 hrs turns to 3.5 hour delay and my bright-eyed peaceful boy quickly turned into an exhausted and unhappy baby. Pearson is pretty laid back, but when he gets tired he gets cranky fast and the sweet little guy fights off sleep like nothing I've ever seen. I tried everything to get him to take a nap: strolling him, putting him in the swing, slow dancing in the terminal to the sound of some gently lullabies sung by yours truly. I was so desperate at one point that I laid him on the airport floor (gross!) so that I could swaddle him. All these strategies provided short term relief for Mr. P, but eventually he was back to expressing in his loudest cry possible that he was tired and was ready for a change of scenery from Terminal E at DFW.

I kept passing this one airport security lady as I would walk him that would look like she had a sense of dread when she would see me coming and at one point Mr. P was crying so loud I was worried someone was going to call child protective services on me due to the loud volume of my child's cries. At about 9:20 I was talking to the Lord and told him that if Pearson does not stop crying by the time I walk to Gate 20 then I'm done, will go home, and take the 7:00am flight out in the morning (which also seemed pretty brutal). I couldn't wait until Gate 20 and called Mom at Gate 21 in tears telling her to come and get me.

I then went to the Virgin counter at Gate 20 and told the gate worker that I needed to get on another flight. He asked me why and I burst into tears, at which point he called for backup to deal with the crazy mom and I was escorted to another counter where it seemed they gave me a mini mental status exam to be certain I was with it. They then told me that they would change my flight, but that if I wanted to get back to LA we were about to board. I looked at Mr. P, who now was as calm and peaceful as could be - definitely the Holy Spirit at work. So I thought what the heck, I've made it this far, let's get home!

The Virgin attendant felt so badly for me that she made an announcement to stop the boarding on my flight and she walked me onto the plane all the way to my seat. After I got settled I started nursing Mr. P who nursed all the way until we started to take off. I was a little nervous that he would be upset on the way up, but he passed out and is still asleep although seems to be rousing a little. I think we have about 2 hours and 45 minutes left, so I'll write another update after we've landed to let you know how the rest of the flight went.

Update:
It is now midnight Dallas time. According to the map on my TV screen we are over the middle of Arizona going 444 mph and have 451 miles to go. I think we will land in an hour and 15 minutes. Mr. P has really been a trooper. He has been snacking for the majority of the trip and I'm pretty sure one or two flight attendants have seen my boob. Sorry Stewart. I can't wait to land.

Update:
We are now about to start our descent. A wave of relief has passed over me. Pearson has made it through without any incidents and soon I will get to see my hubby and sleep in my own bed tonight. Hooray!