We made it to VA. The actual flying part of the the flight went great.... we took off early and the usual 3.8 hour flight was only a 3.5 hour flight. However, LC didnt fair so well. We made it to the airport fine thanks to Mr. Mallory's chauffeur services. We kept her awake hoping she would sleep on the plane. We got on board and everything was going great. Shannon nursed her as we took off and she fell asleep right away. She slept for about 45 min and then woke up and was a bit fussy and fidgety and not liking where she was at or what we were doing. So, Shannon nursed her again and she fell asleep for about 20 min. Then she got up and she started to get more and more fussy, coupled with a little bit of crying. We tried everything.... holding her in different positions....changed her diaper.... I got up and walked her up and down the aisle... tried to get her to play a bit....all of that. She remained fussy and just not having any it. Shannon tried to nurse her again but still, nothing would calm her down. We never had any real meltdowns, just fussiness and very fidgety. We were about an hour out of the 3.5 hour flight when they came over the intercom and said they wanted everyone to get seated and strapped in due to the moderate turbulence ahead as we made our way to landing at Charlotte. So, I came back to our seats (I was up walking with her), handed her to Shannon and then we both proceeded to get us seated and buckled. Shannon gave her a few cheerios to try to get her to calm down.. Just as we got settled I looked over and she was really drooly....hmm, very odd.... then, LC proceeded to violently projectile vomit all over Shannon! Just covered her from head to toe! It was the runny, sour, breast milk type of vomit.... So, now we have no idea what to do. Just as we were trying to think about, "what do we do next?" , she vomited again. Same type and style.... runny... smelly vomit. I ran to the back to get some towels and a bag and came back and started moping up Shannon... Now lets pause for a second but I am the type of person that vomits, or at least has the urge to vomit, if I see, hear, smell, or sense someone else is vomiting. ... So I mopped up Shannon up as best as possible and but really wasnt doing much because the runny vomit had already graciously soaked through Shannon's clothes. It was also very bumpy and we couldnt get up or anything because of the turbulence. We just rode it out and I had the bag ready to catch any more puke from LC, or from myself. Just as we were landing, LC puked again... and again.... but I was too slow to get the bag there. Luckily for Shannon's clothes, LC's PJ's and Dodo absorbed it all. The puke this time was the chunky, gross bile stuff because LC's stomach was running out of items to throw up. Just as we exited the runway and taxied to the gate, LC fell asleep..... HARD asleep, in Shannon's lap. She was sooooooo tired. The whole time that we were trying to get her to calm down we could see how heavy they were and she would nod off for seconds and then wake back up. Poor thing!
Also, the flight was 100% full. We called 24hrs prior to departure to try to get the bulkhead seats and they gave us row 33... which we really didnt look into more it because they assured us that it was a "bulkhead"... It was indeed the bulkhead, however, the bulkhead was behind us and not in front of us..... which also meant we coulldnt recline our seats. Another plus! Yeah! So, we were in the waaaaaay back, as in last row.... next to the two toilets with everyone slamming the bathroom doors as well as lights from the bathroom turning on and off as they opened and closed said doors.
Needless to say it was good to be on the ground. We waited until everyone was off the plane... which we really didnt have any choice in the matter because we were in the very last row. I also wanted to make sure we didnt need to clean up our seats. "Puke covered Shannon" was sitting at the window, I was in the middle and a nice lady who liked us in the beginning of the flight was seated in the aisle. I apologized to her so many times for everything along with everyone else around us. Luckily the guys in front of us didnt have a care in the world due to the jack and cokes they consumed before the flight.
Again, LC was knocked out cold, so we got up, collected our things and walked off the plane. Shannon smelled like vomit, which im sure the flight attendants and pilots all encountered as they bid us fairwell as we exited. She was covered head to tow... shirt, pants, hair, etc. We went directly to the family bathroom and changed LC's clothes. We realized the backup set of clothes we kept in the bag were incomplete. No socks and shoes and only a onesie. Great for the cold temps they had in NC. Shannon had puke all down her shirt. We found out that her her sports bra collected a lot of the vomit as well. Shannon stripped down but we realized we didnt bring any spare clothes for parents. She took a babywipe shower and threw on a jacket. LC was also covered from head to toe and her security toy/blanket thingy was also really nasty. She also received a baby wipe bath. We bagged everything up in the handy US Air bag they gave us and went to meet the family. LC remained in great spirits. I think throwing up really made her tummy feel better. She was just dead tired. We met the family, got our bags, which were the only ones on the carousel thanks to our pit stop. The family, as well as everyone else, probably thought we were the worst parents ever because our kid had no socks/shoes and was only wrapped in a blanket. Didnt we know it was cold on the east coast??! We grabbed some clothes for LC from the bags and got her properly dressed. We got in the car because now we had a 3+ hour ride.. it was rainy... and cold.. yikes. We drove back and LC fell asleep and woke up a few times here and there... but we made it back safely. She acted very strange yesterday but we are hoping it was the lack of sleep. She only took a 1 hour nap in the afternoon. She also threw up again after she ate her dinner. It must have not bothered her too much because she proceeded to play in her fresh puke. We are just hoping the bad appetite, puke and small nap was all because of her lack of sleep. We estimated that she only slept a total of 4 hours last night... where she usually sleeps 12. We put her down last night at 745pm and she is still sleeping now as I type this. It is 930am. She usually is up to eat by 530 and then up at 8 for good. So, hopefully she is getting all of her sleep back.
We still dont know what happened on the plane. If it was the bumps.... breastfeeding.... anxiety due to flying or just the "newness" of it all... dont know. It wasn't the most fun we've ever had but we did experience a few positives. The good things to come out of the flight incident were, (1) it was easy to adjust LC to the eastern timezone due to her lack of sleep (2) they didnt charge us for our two bags (because I'm Military), (3) the brand new Airbus 321 we were on was VERY big, roomy and clean.... well, I guess row 33 isnt that clean anymore, and (4) my gratuitous vomiting tendencies might be broken. :) Great success!
We are all fine now. We all got caught up on our sleep and ready to seize the day..... the 23 degree day. Yikes! Oh, and VaTech won last night too.... so it cant be that bad.
We are so happy to be here with family and looking forward to spending time with them!! We are not looking forward to the trip back home and trying to strategize about what we need to do to set us up for success.
Here is our little pukey kid (who is still sleeping!)
Christmas gifts kept pouring into the house the week we left. Here is LC helping me put together her sweet new wagon from Gramma and Grampa C.
