8 May 2013

Flying

On the weekend we ventured to the big smoke so Juffin and I could see one of our most favourite bands, and visit my sister who moved down there recently with her daughter.

I was trying to be optimistic about the whole flying with a baby thing, which meant that I avoided thinking too much about it until we actually got on the plane.  I'm trying to be less of a worry wart.  I don't think it's working. 

I assumed that the flight wouldn't be full as it was 7pm on a Saturday night.  What a doufus.  It was packed.  Cheap flights do tend to sell out Jessica.  Silly girl.  We managed to pack everything that we needed, get the Mushroom sorted, drive to the rents and then get them to drop us at the airport without much of a hitch.  Due to previous incidents, I even remembered to turn off the washing machine taps and shut the front windows!  Maybe my baby brain is finally abating...  Even more fantastically, the Mushroom had a little sleep in the car on the way so he wasn't too cranky when we got there.

Things really weren't that bad.  The Mushroom fed well on take off and I had a fleeting thought that he was going to nod off but there wasn't a hope in hell that those big eyes were closing.  "Are you kidding me Mum?! There's way too many exciting noises, smells, faces, thing to look at!  As if I'm going to sleep!"

About an hour in, still no tears but suspect vibrations in the pantal area followed by an obnoxious stench indicated that the nappy did need to be attended to.  Queue musical chairs to get out of seat into aisle retrieve nappy bag, and make way to World's smallest toilet.  Quick hands and lightning reflexes meant that I managed this feat without a hitch and I started getting confident that this flying with a baby thing wasn't so bad.  We got back to our seat, the Mushroom making friends with everyone along the way, and we sat down just in time for the seatbelt sign to come back on.  We were beginning our descent.  Into hell.  Egads!

I get ready to breastfeed again and all is going well until the Mushroom gets distracted and stops sucking.  I can actually pinpoint the moment when he realises that this isn't fun anymore, 'Mummy my ears hurt' face starts and he just disintegrates.  Cue screaming.  And crying.  And screaming.  And crying.  We are those people on a plane with the screaming baby.  Kill me now.

I desperately try to get the Mushroom to feed again, not caring who sees my boobs at this point but he's not having a bar of it.  Juffin tries the dummy.  Dummy gets spat out.  We take turns holding him, and jigging up and down, cuddles, patting, shhhing etc to little effect.  I'm not looking around for fear of getting killed by dagger eyes but it's actually the opposite.  We are surrounded by young men whom, you assume, would be shitty as hell getting stuck in the arse end of the plane with a screaming 6 month old baby but they're actually all brilliant.  One guy is telling Mushroom 'It's ok buddy, you made it this far, it's nearly over' whilst another guy is pulling faces at him over the top of the seat trying to get him to crack a smile.  It was so nice and unexpected which made dealing with a difficult situation a little easier.

The flight back went much the same way except the Mushroom fell asleep for the first hour and we didn't have nice young men trying to distract him on landing this time.  He screamed again but we were resigned to the fact and a young family near us looked on in sympathy so that was nice... poor Mushroom!

Before boarding... a happier time 
   

No comments:

Post a Comment