We Made It!

I know I should be posting about Emma's first Christmas, but I haven't downloaded pictures yet so I may have to wait until tomorrow. Actually getting to Christmas was quite a story all on it's own though. I wasn't sure we'd actually make it.

First of all, it was miraculous to me to begin with that Emma had surgery on Saturday night and was still home on Sunday and okayed to fly on Monday. In my head, the weeks before when I was afraid something was wrong, Friday was my deadline for having surgery without disrupting Christmas. Somehow we made it though.

We were all packed and ready to go Monday morning. I was shocked that Emma required a suitcase all to herself. Perhaps I went a bit overboard in the clothing department, but you just never know what she is going to pee, spit up or poop on! Anyway, for the first time, we took a shuttle to the airport to avoid a massive parking payment upon our return. The shuttle picked us up around 1:45 for a 4:30 flight. At the time of departure, we already knew the flight was delayed about an hour, but we figured it would be since it was so close to the holidays and after such bad weather, so we didn't think much about it. I was just thankful that we would have the stroller at the airport to walk up and down the gate area with. About half way through the trip to the airport, I asked Jeremy if he had picked up the boarding passes that we'd printed. He said he hadn't, but looked in the back of the van at our bags to see if he could find it. It was shortly after that that I heard a very calm and factual, " Oh s**t. I think I forgot the stroller.'" My inital resposne was, "What?! Are you serious? We're screwed." But then I realized it was just one less thing to get through security and we probably didn't even really need it in Pittsburgh.

Crisis averted, we arrived at the line for the JetBlue ticket counter. Not a terribly long line, but it was a bit of a wait and my arm was getting tired carrying a diaper bag and Emma in her car seat. We made it to the ticket counter, presented our ID's and gave the agent our flight number only to be very nonchallantly told that our flight had been cancelled. I assured it that it was only delayed according to their website and maybe she had the wrong flight. She again said no it was cancelled, but offered no other information. I pressed on, in what I'm sure was a more irritated tone than Jeremy was comofortable with, and asked why it was cancelled. Her response? ' Weather.' I wasn't sure I heard her correctly. It was a beautiful day in Boston, and from what my parents had said, not too bad in Pittsburgh either. "Weather? Where?" I asked. "Weather from yesterday." I wasn't sure what yesterday's weather had to do with today, but she finally said that it was because they didn't have a crew because of yesterday's weather. I couldn't believe it. It was 3 days before Christmas and we had no flight to Pittsburgh. She told us they could get us there on Christmas day or give us a refund. We took the refund. All the while, my dad was on the phone with USAirways trying to find an alternative. No luck. He even asked them to check other airlines. There was one flight on American through Chicago that would get us to Pittsburgh at 11 that night. Not ideal, but at the time, it was our only option. I was worried we'd get stuck in Chicago though. I had Dad call and check the price of the flight, but when he did he was told it was sold out. We decided we'd have to drive.

After a $40 shuttle ride to the airport and a $35 cab ride back, we were home again packing our car. It was a good thing we didn't just drive to the airport. We saved SOOO much money. Even if we'd stayed parked there the whole vacation, we still would probably only have paid $20 or $30 more. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. Once home, I took the opportunity to run inside and grab a few extra things that we could bring since we were driving. I also fed Emma a little to maximize our time before we needed to stop. I wasn't really prepared for the roadtrip ahead, but I was determined to get home as soon as possible. By about 3:30, we were back on the road to Pittsburgh. Emma was a little fussy, but I knew once we really got moving, she'd be fine. Well, it takes awhile in Cambridge to get to a point where you can just "go", so after a few stops and starts and long traffic lights, Emma was getting even fussier. About 1 1/2 miles from home, around Harvard Square, Emma threw up. A lot! I told Jeremy we needed to turn around. I sat there with Emma screaming, holding vomit my hands, trying to clean her up, and just started crying. I didn't know why she threw up. It wasn't something she usually did. Jeremy and I were both worried it was her shunt causing her to be sick. 10 minutes later, we were back home ... again.

I undressed her, wrapped her up in a blanket and just held her. She looked pale and was sleepy. I didn't know what to do or think. I felt like the universe was against us and that maybe we just weren't supposed to go home. She fell asleep in my arms and I just cried, feeling helpless. She continued to sleep for about an hour and a half. Her color had come back in her cheeks and she didn't seem to be in distress so I chalked it up to agaitation and car sickness. I tried feeding her and she eagarly took 2 oz. She probably wanted more, but I remember my mom making us take in small amounts of food after we'd thrown up when we were kids, so I decided to see how the 2 oz stayed down. It did. Jeremy and I decided that she was okay and we should take advantage of one of her early morning wakings to just get on the road.

At 1:45 am, we heard our little Emmabean wake. Jeremy got dressed and repacked the car while I fed her. By 2:15, we had Emma, still in her jammies, tucked into her carseat. We were ready to hit the road. It was smooth sailing from there. Emma slept for about the first 3 or 4 hours. We stopped to get gas and I fed her a little. She slept again for about another 2 hours. Again, we stopped this time to get breakfast, feed Emma and let her stretch her little legs. She was a happy camper and managed to have her one dirty diaper of the day while we were still in McDonald's. 30 minues later we were back on the road. She continued to sleep and play a little never fussing a bit. For 10 hours, everything went exceptionally well. Then we listened to our GPS and it took us a bad way towards Pittsburgh. For 40 miles, we ended up on a two lane road (one in each direction) WINDING along the Allegheny River. Emma started whimpering. I had just fed her a little so I feared the worse - car sickness. I had been sitting in the back so I myself was a bit queasy. She started to really scream so I made Jeremy pull over so I could get her out. I took her outside to let her get some fresh air. She calmed down so off we went. About 10 minutes later, she threw up! Everywhere. Again, we pulled over so I could changed her clothes and clean up as best I could. I began worrying all over again that it was her shunt, but I was pretty sure it was just the windy roads. I was beginning to hate life and felt like we really would never make it home. We were so close, but I still felt so far away.

At 1:45, almost 12 hours later, we arrived safely in Pittsburgh. My family all came outside to greet us and give us big hugs. I was so happy to be home safely. My wonderful dad cleaned up the hidden vomit that was under the carseat and even wiped down the inside of the carseat too. My equally wonderful mom got lunch set out for us. We breathed a sigh of relief and just relaxed. We had FINALLY made it to Christmas!