The day of travel from HELL! aka: Our trip to Houston!

Rich always teases me about this fact that I share with people about myself: I used to be a flight attendant. Why does he tease me? Well, much like I tease him about talking about the Highland Games as an expert, he teases me about being the flying expert. 


I flew for 4 1/2 years as a flight attendant. I saw many things in my travels. So when I married Mr. Travelling Man (aka: Rich Campbell), it has come in real handy. 


Yet this time around, we have a preemie. Before Colin's arrival, we always said that no matter what, we were going to incorporate our baby into our travel plans as soon as possible. I knew exactly how I needed to make travelling with a child possible, and I couldn't wait to test out my "idea" (remember this earlier description of me?). 


So after blessings from our Pulmonologist and our Pediatrician, we were given the ok to travel by airplane. I was to take strict precautions to make sure germs were kept at bay. I figured, with as much medical waiting rooms we have seen over the past several months, an airplane was pretty much no different. 


Yet nothing could have prepared me for the day of travel from HELL! Everything and anything that could go wrong that day, happened. Where do I start............


First, it started innocently enough when we got up at 6am on Friday morning to get ready for our 9:30am flight. After a restful night sleep, I was ready to get my sleepy little boy up from his bassinet to start getting him ready. Yet right away, I noticed that his blanket was SOAKING wet. Thinking maybe his overnight feeding pump had somehow malfunctioned, I looked around for the cause, until I found the reason: HIS G-TUBE HAD COMPLETELY COME OUT OF HIS STOMACH!


Never having had this happen before, we ran around like chicken's with our heads cut off before we were told by his doctor to quickly head over to the ER at CHLA. And so our day began!

Rich helping with Colin's xray's.

After 4 hours in the ER, we finally got the tube put back in. Cause of it falling out: undetermined. Somehow the balloon that was supposed to hold it in place under the skin burst, but how, we will never know. For now, it's back in, and hopefully, not for long! (see earlier post here.


Undeterred, we decided to reschedule our flight for a later one, but this one was not going to be a non-stop (a must when you travel with a little one! Get it over and done with as soon as you can, I say!). 


When we got to the airport, Rich forgot that he left a pocket knife in his backpack from an earlier camping trip. While Rich would usually just chalk it up to "oh well, just confiscate it", this time it was hard for him because the pocket knife was bought on his trip to Finland! But as we were short on time, there was nothing left to do but let them confiscate it. 


Continuing on, we started our 4 1/2 hour flight to Houston. Another tip I learned from watching so many parents travelling with infants: buy them their own seat to sit in. While most people can't afford the cost and figure they will just have the infant sit in their lap, trust me, while doable, it makes things super tough!


So with his car seat in place on the plane, for the most part, Colin did fine. In the back of my mind, I was still concerned over the fact that Colin hadn't pooped in 5 days! I knew something was gonna come out sooner or later, but never figured it would be anywhere else but his behind. However, about an hour before we landed, Colin's tummy pretty much had enough, and decided it couldn't handle any more milk, so he spit up about a cup of milk on me!


With my bags checked, the only one who really suffered was me, since I couldn't change my top (well, Colin did have a sad look after he did it, so I guess he suffered too!). But by the time we landed, I was pretty much dry (although I smelled horrible!). 


As we collected our bags in baggage claim, we soon realized that Rich's bag was not there. Soon enough, he was told that his bag didn't make the flight, and wouldn't be there till the next morning. Our luck was only getting better! 


As we started in the shuttle to the car rental lot, it suddenly started raining like crazy, with lightening going off all around. And of course, no rain gear! Thank heavens the lot had an awning to stand under. 


Yet with our luck, we soon found out that the car we reserved was not available, so another vehicle was given to us. Since it was so late by this time, we didn't care and decided to just load up and get out of there. 


However, this was our lucky day, for no sooner did we have everything loaded up, but we found out the back seat was broken and we couldn't fit in Colin's car seat!


After transferring everything to a new car, we soon thought we were on our way. But just about a block away from the car rental lot, we discovered the GPS device they had given us was not working! Ahhhhhhhhh!


Back to the lot, and after that delay, we were finally on our way. Yet our 1 hour drive to the hotel was a tense one for us, because as we drove along, signs on the freeway indicated that a tornado watch was in effect till 2am that night! You haven't lived until you stare out of a car in fear for tornado's I tell you!


The fun continued when we made it to the hotel. We soon discovered that they did not have a crib in our room for Colin, so we had to wait until one was located. In the meantime, I decided to help Colin get ready for bed and finally had a chance to change him out of his smelly clothes!


Yet, I soon realized that the smell wasn't just attributed to his spit up earlier. No, his tummy had finally decided to cooperate, and when I opened his diaper, Colin finally had the blowout that I had been looking for all week! To make it even "better", he decided to add a little pee to the mix while I was trying to clean him up!


I quickly scooped him up while Rich tried to clean up the diaper pad. Of course, this allowed my shirt to have the lovely look of spit up AND poop! Lovely! 


And that folks, was our day. 


However, the entire trip wasn't all horrible. Colin ended up sleeping through the night as usual. We were able to relax the next day with Rich's daughter Lauren and her husband Ian. We checked out some yummy Texas eateries around town, while Colin would politely nap in my Ergo carrier. And my 1st Mother's Day was spent exploring the NASA Space Center in Houston (another tip: not much to explore here!). 


After our Friday trip, our return trip on Monday was a breeze. We made the non-stop flight no problem, and Colin's tummy cooperated throughout the flight. Even better, Colin is showing NO signs that he caught a cold on his first plane ride! 


So despite all this, watch out world, the Campbell's have decided that we are ready to travel with Colin (at least till flu season starts again!). Just have to make sure Colin has pooped before we go..................