Don't Upset the Traveling Pregnant Lady

I'm on vacation today! I'm visiting with my family in Pennsylvania this weekend, and since I won't have access to a computer Amy over at The Adventures of JAMC graciously agreed to write a guest post for me. Amy writes about her experience travelling with a toddler and another little one on the way...she's a braver woman than I for making the trip. Read on...

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I'm so excited to guest post for Lynn today!  I found her blog a few weeks ago, and quickly became a follower.  So when I heard she was looking for guest posts...particularly guest posts about traveling with kids?  I immediately thought of a time when I traveled with my toddler while seven months pregnant. 

We had just moved to Arizona a few months prior, and I was really anxious to go home to Texas and see my parents and brother and sister.  My son, Mason, was 23 months, and I was 7 months pregnant with my son, Connor.  Though I was looking forward to the week in Texas, I wasn't too excited about the trip itself.  First of all, Mason was a super active toddler.  That's putting it mildly.  So to have to get to the airport an hour early and try to keep him happy (and safe!), and then take a two hour flight with him on my lap?  Yeah, that didn't sound too fun to me.  My husband was coming with us, but Mason was in a stage where he only wanted me.  He was also in the stage of massive temper tantrums.  World War III type tantrums.  Over the littlest things.  To top it all off, I was 7 months pregnant, huge, and with very minimal bladder control.  Not to mention emotional and constantly imagining the worst case scenarios.  It was shaping up to be an awesome trip.

We got to the airport, got checked in, and made it through the one hour wait.  Our flight was actually on time (score!), and we were in high spirits.  Even Mason.  We'd taken turns running him around the airport in his stroller, he'd had his snack, I'd changed his diaper, and we were ready to go!  We still had the two hour flight ahead of us, but it was also now Mason's nap time, and he was already looking droopy.  We got in line to board, and handed the gate attendant our tickets.  As he scanned them the scanner buzzed.  You know, the kind of buzz you hear when a game show contestant gets an answer wrong.  I felt my first flutter of panic.  He scanned them again.  Buzz.  He pursed his lips, looked up at me, and said, “Um, there seems to be a problem with your tickets.  If you could just step out of line and go see *Elaine at the check in desk...” My husband and I both looked at each other.  Then we did just as the man said. 

As we approached Elaine she had an extra bright smile plastered on her face.  You know the smile.  The smile you learn in customer service training.  The smile you give customers that says, “Hi, we're about to totally screw you, but we're going to try to make you feel just great about it!” In her cheerful “isn't life just wonderful” voice she proceeded to explain that the flight had been overbooked and so our seats were already taken.  They did, however, have another flight to our destination leaving in a mere THREE HOURS.  And, as a bonus for our troubles, they would give us a $200 flight voucher!  She finished her spiel and flashed that smile again.  I don't know how she expected us to react, but I clearly surprised her.

I promptly burst into tears.

My husband patted me on the back as I tried, unsuccessfully, to get my tears under control.  Elaine fluttered her hands and said, “Ohhhh...no, no, no....don't cry!  You're still going to get to GO...it's just a little later...and you get an extra flight voucher...”  Other passengers in line stared at me, wondering what could possibly have upset me so much.  Elaine kept trying to tell me that I was really getting a great deal.  I admit I had to fight the urge to scream, “Only three more hours?!  ONLY three more hours?!  Have you people ever traveled with a toddler?!  Do you know how long three hours is when you have a toddler?!” Obviously Elaine had never dealt with a toddler.  And she was looking at me like I was the crazy one?  My husband, sensing a complete meltdown (and not by our toddler), accepted the voucher and led me to a seat in the lounge.  He sat me down and said he would push Mason around the airport while I just...relaxed...a bit. 

I sat in the airport, tears pouring down my face, trying to breathe, and hating my pregnancy hormones.  What finally calmed me down was a kind lady waiting for the next flight who touched my hand and said, “Are you OK?”  I explained what had happened, and that I was also pregnant (you know, cause I'm sure she missed my gargantuan stomach), and she completely sympathized with me.  For whatever reason this made me feel vindicated and I was able to stop crying and call my parents to tell them we would be on a different flight. 

Were those three hours as smooth as the first hour?  Absolutely not.  Mason was tired and cranky and we had to spend money we really didn't have to eat something in the airport.  I dared someone to say something as he had a monster tantrum in the middle of the lounge floor.  No one did.  I think everyone was smart enough to know you don't mess with a pregnant lady.  Finally Mason fell asleep.  And woke up right as we boarded our flight.  Which meant a lot of screaming on the plane.  I felt bad for the other passengers, but there was nothing that could be done.  As Mason finally settled down for the last 40 minutes of the flight, I found myself thinking that all airport employees should have to travel with a toddler in the same circumstances as part of their training.  I bet you wouldn't see much overbooking then!

The week in Texas was great, and (thankfully!) our flight back home was completely uneventful.  Mason even slept during it.  But the next time we went to Texas?  We drove.