Airplane

Call us naive, call us gluttons for punishment, call us what you will, we figured that flying with a newborn wouldn't be that bad. After all, all they do is sleep and eat and poop, right? Well that, and the hour or two of intense alertness during the day. That is a bonus and an amazing experience, what with the looking around and the the weird face and arm movements. No apparently voluntary movements yet, although she is starting to make what looks like a smile while she is dreaming (what does a three-week-old dream about, I wonder).

So yes, we decided to fly with her. Our friends Lia and Vijay are getting married on Saturday, in Vancouver, and they asked Tricia to read a passage, so we decided it would be a good opportunity to visit all of the Vancouver folks and introduce them to Sophia (Her uncle Todd has a new nickname for her, by the way: Sofa. Didn't take long...). Plus, knowing we were coming, folks decided it would be a good chance for a shower, bless them. So off we go. We packed everything we owned, and hailed a taxi to the airport. Car seat is a must for traveling anywhere, so it gets attached to the taxi seat and the stroller, bags and sundry items are collected and off we go. The airport people at check-in said we could keep the stroller up to the gate, where they would check it and we would pick it up at the other end of the flight.

So the first thing was security. Not a big deal all things considered - Tricia walked through the detector with Sophia, and she beeped, which meant I had to take Sophie while they did the magnetic wand thing for her, then they went around Sophia with the wand while I held her. She didn't even blink, even though the wand was re-arranging all the ions in her insides (funny how we're nervous about radiation with our kids but not with ourselves...). Then the security guy looked over the stroller very well (since it would not go through the x-ray) and we were given a clean bill of trustworthiness. I had suggested at the start that it would have been easier just to send Sophia through the x-ray, but that didn't go over well (Dad gets stares of bewilderment from all around...)

We pre-boarded, which we had done once before with the dog, and Sophie never blinked. We got settled into our seats, and were lucky that there was no-one beside us. The flight attendants told us all about what to do - hold her as if you were burping her during take-off and landing, put your mask on before hers, etc.) All the flight attendants crowed around her to ogle (she is a pretty cute, pretty little baby after all) and then we were all buckled in and bumbling along the pavement to the runway. The engines revved and the plane moved and loud noises and all sorts of chaos all around, and she never blinked. The pressure change didn't even seem to bother her that much. She fed a bit when we were in the air, but not much. A little suck on Daddy's little finger and she was back to sleep.

So I neglected to mention that this was WestJet, which meant a connection in Edmonton. (There are almost no direct flights from Regina to Vancouver). We were in the air for a little less than an hour, and we started down. Pressure changes got my ears going, but Sophia never blinked. I think Tricia was more startled than Sophie by the bouncy landing. Then off the plane, into the boarding lounge where Daddy took her and changed her (grungy men's room in Edmonton, but it had a change table!)

Then back on another plane for the hop to Vancouver. Again, up we go and she doesn't even blink. A smooth ride, a bit of food, Daddy's finger and all is well. We started the descent an hour or so later, and

(wait for it...)

she blinked.

and grunted.

and started to fuss.

and then let out a wail.

Now if you are a regular reader of this blog you will know that Sophia is not prone to wailing. She'll cry a bit from time to time, but never for very long and never what you would call a wail. This was different. This was a child in distress. Nothing would calm her down (not even Daddy's finger!) She was screaming and snorting and just all sorts of unhappy. Then we realized it - We were the people on the plane with the screaming baby! We were the incompetent parents who couldn't keep their baby quiet! We had become everything we sneered at about parents before we became parents. As has been said before, we were much better parents before we had kids.

The problem, of course, was that she needed a change (and probably some food and some lovin') and we couldn't change her while the plane was on final approach. When we finally landed, the person behind us leaned over the seat and was very nice and said how she had kids and sometimes there's just nothing you can do. Then we looked up and noticed ... The Horde.

The Horde had gathered while we were recovering from the landing and trying to settle poor Sophie until we could get her somewhere where we could change her. Many were well-wishers with kind faces, but you could tell in the back of their minds they were thinking what foolish young parents these be. Then one pipes up and says "Is she hungry?"

Is she hungry?

DAMN! I never thought of that! You mean we need to FEED her? Thanks for the tip there, miss smarty smart! (admittedly, we were a bit strung out by that point, and didn't actually say that to her, but sometimes I wish we had)

So the long and the short of it is that eventually, after a half hour of stress in the baggage collection area trying everything we could think of, Sophia calmed and we got our luggage and returned to Tricia's parents' house. We suspect it was a combination of many things, but mostly the "I've had enough" effect.

We'll be flying home in a week, on (I think) a direct flight. Wish us luck...