How I Travel with a Baby

Sleeping in the taxi on the drive from the Denver airport to our downtown hotel.

Traveling with babies and toddlers can seem daunting. The first time I tried to travel with kids was back when I was a grad student and I took my two nephews from Kansas to California to visit my parents. My sister was being treated for breast cancer so I took her 3 year old and 8 month old out to California on my own! It was trying but I just powered through and did it. I think that experience gave me a lot of confidence when it came time to take my own baby on a flight. One of the problems that I had with my nephews was that they missed their mom, well, I wouldn't have that problem with my own child!

Anyway, the other day a friend asked me some questions on Facebook about traveling with her baby and so I thought I'd share my advice here for future reference. So, let's get to the advice!

First, do you need to buy a plane ticket for your baby? No, if they are under 2 years old then they don't need there own seat. However, a carseat is the safest place for a baby to ride and it will give you a place to put the child so that you can have both of your hands free. If you decide to have the baby sit on your lap you will need to have him/her added to your ticket so that it says "plus infant" on it. You can do that at check in/bag check. When flying try to nurse or give a bottle on takeoff and landing or use a pacifier, the sucking helps the ear pressure adjust.

Second, do I need to bring a carseat on the plane? Yes, if you purchased a ticket for the baby, no if they are going to sit in your lap. The airline allows you to check a car seat and stroller for free. I prefer to check these and not lug them through security. I have a bag for both my car seat and my stroller to protect them from rough baggage handlers. 

Since I check my stroller I use a baby carrier (Ergo brand) to carry the baby through the airport. I still use it now that she's nearly 2 years old although now she walks some as long as we aren't in too big of a hurry. You can actually leave the baby strapped to you when you go through security, they will just test your hands after you go through the metal detector.

What about taxis, busses, and subways? In all of my checking and researching I have found that taxis do not require a carseat although that totally freaks me out! If you know that you'll be in a car a lot then bring the carseat. If your baby is little enough to be in a bucket/infant carseat than just bring your stroller that the carseat clips into and it will save you time. Practice installing your carseat using the seatbelt. I use a city mini stroller and have an attachment that allows virtually all carseat brands to be used with it. I love my stroller! On public transit you can have the baby on your lap or leave them in the stroller. Again, having them strapped in a carseat is always safest even without being belted in. 

What about renting a car? Yes, you can rent a car seat. When you book the car online you choose additional features and it's usually $8-10 per day. They should have it for you at the rental place ready when you get there. However, it will be a toddler seat and probably a lower end one. If your child is particular then they may not want to sleep in the rented car seat. You also never know the history of the carseat and generally they don't come installed so you have to install it. I just prefer to bring my own since checking it is free and then I know how to install it and I know the baby won't hate it!

Do I need a stroller? I like to have a stroller. A lightweight, easy to fold stroller is ideal. If you do a lot of walking it will be great. It's also nice to just have somewhere to put the baby while shopping or eating. I do a combo of baby carrier and stroller to make stairs easier. I also like being able to put all of the stuff in the bottom of the stroller, quite handy for shopping. When navigating busses and subways I put the baby in the carrier before heading down into the subway or while I'm at the bus stop and that way I can just jump on.

My last tip is to keep in mind that you'll need to go slower and may not get to see as much and that's okay. Sightseeing with a baby has to be a little more relaxed. Take lots of snacks and drinks for baby and just try to enjoy yourself! Also, remember that in a pinch you can always buy something that you may have forgotten! 

Birth Day

Today is the day! We decided to go ahead with an induction. Here is how the day went:

4:15 wake up at home

5:00 check in to labor and delivery

5:30 3 cm

5:45 hooked up to monitors and get my IV (took 2 tries)

6:00 start pitocin

6:15 start watching hgtv, so far so good

7:00 contractions coming every 3-4 minutes, new nurse came on shift, she has 30 years experience 

7:30 Dr came to check me. Still 3 cm but he went ahead and broke my water. Craziest feeling! I even got the big classic gush.

9:30ish played cards and beat the husband

11:00 upped the pitocin and the contractions seemed to be never ending. I had the nurse check me and I'd progressed to 4 cm. decided it was time for an epidural.

11:30 the anesthesiologist came and began placing the epidural. Took a few tries to get the catheter placed but felt great once it was in.

12:00 Dr came to check on me

1:00 another check and now I'm at 5 cm!  The epidural is great, I can still move around and feel the contractions but no pain. Feeling great about the decision for pain relief!

2:30 time to turn over and do a quick check, 6 cm! I'm definitely more numb than earlier but still feeling good.

3:30 managed a little nap that was quite refreshing! Time to sit up, I'm so numb that I'm not feeling any of the contractions. 

4:30 Another check and I'm at 8 cm! Starting to get a little feeling back and feel some contractions. Hoping to get to 10 by the next check!

6:30 Dr comes in and checks and we need to turn the baby. She was face up and needed to be face down. They had me push a few times with the contractions as they turned her. I guess I'm a good pusher and seemed to instinctively know how to do it, such an odd thing to be proud of but I am! My pushes and the turning got the baby past the lip of the cervix and got her turned the correct direction and the next thing I know they are telling me I'm ready to really push! I was surprised but also excited since before turning the baby I was only at 8 cm.

7:00 begin actual pushing. It felt good to push and do something productive rather than sit and wait. I knew that she would be here that day but anticipated taking 3 hours or so to push her down and out. The nurse and my family were great, everyone was calm and quiet while encouraging me. I tried to just breathe when not pushing and focus on seeing my little girl and asking God to see us through. I actually enjoyed the pushing phase because it at least felt productive and since I had the epidural the pain was very manageable! 

8:00 began to feel tired but really trying to continue with strong productive pushes. My contractions never really had a strong pattern so sometimes the contractions take forever to come and sometimes there is no time in between. This stresses baby out a bit so at 

8:15 the Dr comes in and suggests using forceps for one contraction to guide her past my pelvic bone. Everyone gets prepped and gowned, lights are dimmed, we wait through a few contractions and push a few more times. Dr inserts the forceps and at

8:31 my beautiful Caroline Joanne is born! Once her head is out her shoulders come out pretty easily and then she just slips out. I hope that I never forget that feeling! The feeling of my daughter being born has been the most amazing physical experience, there is relief and joy and exhaustion all mixed together. Both Chris and I cry and then he cuts the cord and she is placed on my chest. She is the most beautiful being in earth! Chris keeps stepping back until I remind him that they can all work around him, it's his daughter and he gets to be as close as he wants!

While I hold my little girl the placenta is delivered, apparently huge and very healthy looking. There is some tearing so Dr stitches me up, thankfully I'm still mostly numb in that area! 

9:30 the nursery nurses come in to weigh and measure, Caroline is 8 lb 9 oz and 20 inches long. She is healthy and other than a few marks from the forceps she looks incredible! She comes back to me very quickly (maybe 5 minutes later, but always in my sight). Once back I begin to nurse her or attempt to, she doesn't like to open her mouth but we work together and get a few good sucks. 

Chris leaves to take my mom back to our house to sleep. 

They ask if they can take her to the nursery to bathe her or if I'd prefer it done in the room. I opt for in-room and so that's what they do, Chris watches and takes notes on how to do everything. I cry because he is already such a wonderful and caring dad, just like I knew he would be!

We stay in the labor & delivery room for a long time. Chris holds Caroline while I get some pain meds and try walking to the bathroom for the first time. I nearly pass out in the bathroom but manage to make it to a chair to sit down. Other than that incident I'm doing really well.

12:30 am they finally move us to the mother care wing. I can't believe L & D are over! Caroline stays with us and suddenly it's just the three of us alone together. I think that we are both in a little shock.

And that is what happened on the day that you were born!

38 Weeks!

Friday marked 38 weeks pregnant. I definitely feel tired and having more pain and overall crankiness. The heat is not helping my mood either. I am also still waiting for my new office to be finished so that I can get everything moved and ideally unpacked before this little girl comes.

On a positive note I have been fairly productive this past week finishing up our 2011 & 2012 family albums, 2010 is nearly finished and I have the photos organized for 2009. I have also finished the baby blankets that I was crocheting for my cousins twins that are due shortly after Caroline. 

The last person I know who was due before me had her baby this past week, she was due on the 22nd. Apparently the biology lab is the place to be as two friends have gone into labor there in the last three weeks. The key seems to be to go into the lab on a Wednesday the week before you are due. I plan to visit the lab this coming Wednesday!

36 Weeks

I hit 36 weeks on Friday, the last day of May which means that this baby could theoretically come at any time! Here is a picture from Sunday before heading out to church.

Today I had my check up with the doctor, today marked the first of my weekly visits and my first exam to see how close to d-day we are. Good news is that she is in position with her head down and the doctor says things look good and he doesn't see any indicators that I'll have a troublesome delivery. So, what do we do now? We wait, she'll come when she is good and ready and I wouldn't bet any money that she will come in the next week. We'll give her a little more time to get nice and chubby :)

36 Weeks

34 & 35 Weeks

Here are some more updates on the belly, again, taken with the self-timer which makes them a little grainy. Today I hit 36 weeks and I'll try to get those up next week. This week we also did our professional maternity pics and I'm really looking forward to getting those back soon!

This first picture is 34 weeks pregnant. Feeling pretty good but definitely waddling, especially when I've been sitting at my desk for a long period of time. This weekend we rearranged our living room so that I could use our recliner and still see the TV. I hate the way it makes our living room look but I have to say that sitting in the recliner is the only time when I'm fairly comfortable! I find myself even working from my recliner whereas I used to always sit at a table to work.

34 Weeks Pregnant

These next two pictures are both at 35 weeks, they are taken on successive days simply because I was really digging the brown shirt and necklace combo. I need to get my bangs cut soon but I am happy that I can still put my hair in a ponytail but that it's not so long as to take hours to dry!

34 Weeks, 6 days Pregnant

35 Weeks Pregnant

First Mother's Day!

I got to experience my first Mother's day this year at 33 weeks pregnant! I was extremely emotional and of course I cried during the church service. The kids went up on stage and they talked about their moms and then they all got daisies to take back to their mom. The preachers daughter knows that I'm pregnant and is very excited to meet Caroline so she brought me her flowers, it was such a sweet gesture from a precious little girl.

After church we had a wonderful lunch with our friends and then relaxed at home and prepared for our awesome vacation!

Work Shower

We had our last baby shower for Caroline, if you are keeping count that's shower number 4! My wonderful coworkers threw me a lovely come and go shower at work. Unfortunately I was off my game and missed out on taking pictures until the very end but I did get this great picture with my good friend Rachel and her little girl Anna. Don't you just love Anna's hair? Anna was born just before Christmas and she's already handed down quite a few adorable outfits to Caroline!

Me, Rachel and Anna

At the party there were amazing cupcakes made by one of my coworkers and other tasty snacks. We got a lot of great practical gifts, including 3 baby bath tubs! By the end of all the showers we were left with 5 ways to bathe Caroline. Here are all of the bath tubs lined up on our dining table. We will be keeping the blooming bath and just one of the other plastic bath tubs!

5 ways to bathe Caroline and keep her squeaky clean!

Church Baby Shower

On May 5th the women of our church hosted a baby shower for Baby Caroline. The shower was held at the church building and they decorated with rubber ducks everywhere. We definitely feel loved by our UCC family! Here are some pictures from the afternoon, enjoy.

There were signs up telling everyone where to go

Here I am with all of my lovely hostesses! Jennifer, Christine, Kara, Lauren, Leslye, Celia, Carolyn, Tara, Rebecca, Ronica, and Melinda. I love these ladies!!

Melinda made me an awesome diaper cake with so many adorable toys and blankets and what not included. I love the ribbon that she used on the diaper cake.

Here are some of the beautiful gifts that we were given.

Here is another look at all of the gifts that we received.

Instead of having a cake or cupcakes the ladies put together an ice cream sundae bar. They know me too well! I loved all of the toppings, especially the homemade caramel and chocolate sauce!

There were tons of cookies and very tasty punch. I love the giant duck!

This is the Blooming Bath that my in-laws sent for Caroline. You put the flower in the sink to turn any sink into a comfy place to bathe baby!

We got our car seat! I am so thankful to my friends for getting me something so incredibly practical. We love our car seat and are planning to put it in the car this weekend before we leave for our last vacation before Caroline joins our family.

We are so thankful for all of the wonderful gifts, it has been such a blessing to not worry about buying things for our baby girl. I have actually only bought one outfit and her drawers are completely full of newborn, 0-3, and 3-6 month clothes. We have quite a bit of 6-9 month stuff as well!

Belly Updates

Here are some belly updates from the last few weeks! I didn't get around to the traditional pics by the brick wall mostly because I didn't have my trusty photographer around, he's been pretty darn busy lately with work so here is what I have and I kind of like these better because they put the belly in context and give a glimpse of what life has been like during this pregnancy.

First up is my 29 weeks shot. This picture was taken at the Zeta Rho paint war rush. For those who are not familiar with these types of things I am an advisor for a women's social club (not really a sorority but sort of a similar concept only focused on God and they don't live in a house together). In the spring freshman from across campus get to check out all of the different clubs and begin to see if they would like to pledge a club in the fall. Each club holds a party or rush event that is meant to show off what the club is about and give the girls a chance to meet one another. This was the second year that our girls did a paint war and it was a blast! This picture shows the girls after splattering paint all over each other. I even got in on the action towards the end! You can see me there with the heart on my belly. It was a lot of fun!

29 weeks at the paint war

The week after rushes it was time for what most clubs call "Spring Formal." Well, our girls aren't super frilly and they are very budget conscious so we opted for a beach themed social held at the church. Here I am with my good friend Tara showing off my belly bump! Ps. I love this new dress, I plan to wear it at my shower tomorrow and for my maternity pics and then maybe every other day until baby arrives. It is super comfy and allows for good air flow!

30 weeks at spring social

This last update is from week 32, see my post about my Zeta Rho shower for week 31 1/2. I decided to try the self-timer on my phone and it worked, this is the 6th take :) It's a little blurry but not bad considering the method used. I was getting ready for work that morning and thought it would be a good opportunity to take a picture, especially since my hair was looking pretty great!

32 weeks in the nursery

More Pics of Caroline's Sweet Nursery!

We are slowly but surely making progress on Caroline's nursery. We've got all of the major pieces of furniture except for a rocking chair and really, if she came tomorrow we would be ready. We are still working to get all of the art on the walls. I have a frame to go over the dresser that has three openings, one for Caroline's newborn picture and one for Mommy and Daddy. I also finally bought the frames for the fingerprint tree guestbook that we got from our California shower and that will go above the changing table. Once those are up and we have the stuffed animals arranged a little more neatly on the upper shelf I think that it will be "done." Check out the pictures of what we have so far:

This is a panorama of the room, I love this feature on my phone! It's a little distorted but it gives you a better sense of the layout of the room. The rocker will go by the windows where the little desk is now. The cradle will go in our room/living room for when she first arrives. The stroller will also get moved, likely to the garage or near the front door.

I'm not in love with the changing table but I sure did love the price when compared to the changing tables that matched the crib and dresser! This changing table from Ikea is nice and sturdy and was less than $50! The one I registered for was closer to $250, which is absurd. I got the green and purple cubes from Target but of course when I went back for more they were out of those particular colors so the cubes in the closet are not an exact match but they are close!

I love all of her duck pieces but I also love the fact that it doesn't look too ducky and it is definitely a room that can grow with her and change with her changing interests and needs. My Mom made the duck quilt and the little tag blankie shown in the picture. Now we just have to wait 8 more weeks for our little girl to get to use her new room!

Updates on Baby Caroline!

The pictures from the last few weeks aren't the greatest as the husband has been out of town quite a bit and wasn't able to take the pictures for me. I'm not a huge fan of taking pictures in the mirror but I'd rather have those than nothing!

This first one is at 26 weeks and I never thought that I would be wearing a long-sleeve shirt at that stage of pregnancy considering that I live in West Texas! This day I got dressed and looked in the mirror and felt huge, I had to take a picture! I think it's just the style of the shirt and how fitted it is but it was kind of fun and I got all sorts of comments that day.

This second picture is at 27 weeks, this was also the week of my last flight before Caroline arrives. I traveled to New Orleans for the Southwestern Social Science Association meeting where I presented some research with one of my colleagues. We had a great time and I took advantage of being pregnant and ate lots of Beignets and a Po'Boy the size of my head. It was a great trip but it wore me out completely, traveling in the third trimester is much more challenging than I had anticipated. I was also awfully swollen after this trip, a combination of poor eating and not enough water led to some serious water retention. My doctor was a little concerned at my appointment the following Monday but since then the swelling has been much more manageable and is only bad at the end of the day when I've been on my feet a lot.

This last belly shot is back to our traditional outside shot, it was finally warm enough to wear capri's and short sleeves! This is 28 weeks and I was feeling 28 weeks. This was also a rough week of work, I had to deal with some cheating issues and some other work situations that were challenging and so it was a very emotional ride for me. I am pretty proud of how I handled everything and then after an overnight retreat focusing on prayer and solitude I was feeling refreshed and renewed going into week 29.

Over the last few weeks Baby Caroline has also been blessed with amazing gifts from her family! We got this quilt in the mail from her Great Aunt Marie who lives in Kansas. I a just adore the colors and the pattern and I'm sure that Caroline will love it for many years to come as well!

More gifts came from Grandma Sally, she sent a box full of great stuff including some burp cloths, receiving blankets, adorable clothes and Caroline's first baby doll! One of the outfits that came made me smile, it is the "I love Auntie" bib below. I sure wish that her Auntie Sarah lived closer but I know that she will love her aunt and her cousins and I hope that they'll take good care of her when she comes to visit and I hope that they show her all of the secrets of Disneyland as well :)

Coming up we have our classes at the hospital, my church baby shower and my work baby shower so stay tuned for lots more pictures and goodies for Caroline!

Precious Hand Me Downs

I mentioned in a previous post that Caroline's room is filled with hand knit baby clothes made by my grandmother, well, here is one example. That's a picture of me at 6-8 months and here is the dress and bloomer set that I was wearing. I can't wait to see our little girl in it and to take a picture of her to send to my Grandma, what a precious gift!

A Name for Baby Mac

Well, her room is coming along nicely! Who's room? Our little Caroline's room! That's right, we settled on a name for our little one. I spent a while creating this awesome bit of art work for her all the while thinking we should have picked a shorter name, especially considering that our runner-up name (Leah) uses half as many letters!

The letters are made from scrapbook paper in frameless picture frames (the kind with the little clips on the sides). The letters I printed from Word on regular white paper and then cut our of the brown scrapbook paper, this was by far the most tedious part of the project. I have to say that I am impressed with how well I lined these up considering I did it on my own, thank goodness for the laser level!

Along with putting her name on the wall I also hung the ducky art work that was previously on the floor. We have also since purchased a mattress for the crib using gift cards from our fabulous friends. The sheet laying in the crib was made by my mom, Grandma Sally. She made us 4 sheets, all in our color palette and theme. This one is striped and polka dots in green, yellow, cream, and brown. These are so much prettier than store bought and cheaper since she had a coupon for the sheets and some of the material she had been saving since I got engaged 6 years ago (not really joking about that).

The next step is to find a changing table solution or maybe see if we can live without one since it seems a little wasteful! I'll be checking the second hand furniture store and Ikea later this month to see what I can find.

The Nursery

Here is the beginning stages of our little girls nursery. To start we have super high ceilings in our home which allows for this awesome shelf that goes around 3 walls of the room. When my father-in-law was here in January he painted the wall chocolate brown (it was red). I thought the brown would give a nice contrast to all of the little trinkets and things we plan to put up there and display.

Over Christmas when we were visiting my dad and step-mom they offered to buy us a crib. I was thrilled, that's one big purchase that I did not mind leaving to someone else. I found a few cribs that I liked but of course they were all back ordered and I was impatient so my step-mom made the call to order this crib from Target and I couldn't be happier! It is perfect for our little one. It arrived on Friday night and by Saturday morning we had it put together and put in place.

Near the windows (with curtains that came all the way from our house in Indiana and may be older than Mom & Dad's relationship) you can see a big Graco stroller that my father-in-law found for free through Craigslist, a gal took it apart to clean it and couldn't put it back together so she gave it away and Papa Joe fixed it right up for my niece Grace when she was visiting them in Ohio and now our little one will get to use it here in Texas. Papa Joe also brought us the little desk that Dad had when he was a little boy. She won't be quite big enough to use it for some time but it's so stinkin' cute that we had to have it and the green paint on it matches our theme completely!

The big dresser in the room is a hand-me-down from me! As a grad student I entered and won the Family Circle College Cook-off and got a bit of prize money that I used to furnish my brand new house in Indiana. One of the things I bought was this awesomely huge dresser but with a built-in dresser in my closet I just didn't need it so now our little one gets to use it, I just need some drawer organizers because those drawers are huge and I'll never find anything in there without a little organization.

Next to the dresser is the rock-n-play cradle thingy courtesy of Grandma Sally, I had heard tons of good reviews on it and it just so happened to come in a duck print! It was one of our first pieces for baby. In her massive closet our little girl has a huge assortment of hand-knitted dresses and sweaters from her Memere Fournier (my grandmother)!

Shown below is the art inspiration for the room, I found these before I was even pregnant. I always knew that I wanted a duck themed room but I didn't want it to be too kitschy or over done, I think these are just right!

We are still working on getting the mattress and deciding on a crib skirt or not, I'll show updates as we get further along!

Bump Update

Here are some bump updates, I didn't mean to be wearing the same pants in both pictures, it just sort of happened that way! I am definitely feeling her move around quite a bit, especially in the evenings and early morning. When I'm busy at work I tend to not feel her, I get distracted!

I certainly can't wear any of my "normal" clothes anymore and am extremely grateful for the hand-me-down maternity clothes from my good friends.

Lately I've been craving pancakes, brownies and I will never turn down ice cream! I am working to balance all of that out but without much success. I have pretty constant heartburn and should really buy stock in tums at this point!

Me at 18 or 19 weeks, I need to do a better job of labeling the pictures!

23 weeks along and clearly pregnant!

A peak at our little girl, we didn't get a traditional profile picture as she just kept moving around but that's her little skull (kind of creepy but in an adorable way)

It's A...

On February 6th we had our big 20-week ultrasound. I was 19 weeks and 5 days, so pretty close to 20 weeks. They do a lot of measuring and checking on developmental markers during that 20 week ultrasound but it's probably most famous for being the time when you get to find out the sex of your baby (and don't get me started about the gender/sex issue). We really wanted to know so that we could pick a name and my mom could get shopping, I knew that she was dying to know if she was getting a 5th grandson or her 1st granddaughter.

 Turns out our little Baby Mac has female reproductive parts and pieces! We are very excited, although now the task of finding things for her that aren't so girly that I want to throw up when I see them begins!