I have a work conference in Orlando next month. Due to flight schedules from Omaha I have to be gone from Thursday until Saturday night (even though the conference is only from noon-5PM on Friday and 8 AM-noon on Saturday). Si and I discussed getting a plane ticket for him and flying everyone (us and the girls) down to Orlando for a mini-vacation of sorts. But the flights are EXPENSIVE, and the babies are really too young to enjoy/remember/know the difference between being at home vs. being in Orlando (at Disney World), which essentially turns this into a question of what is easiest for us.
For those of you that have been following my journey, you know that I breastfeed my girls (or pump and feed them the breast milk). Of course this is a major concern if I have to be out of town and away from the babies for any significant period of time, but overall my concern with being gone without my babies for 3 days is multifaceted.
First, leaving the girls at home. It can be done, but Si dealing with two teething 4 month olds BY HIMSELF for several nights is not going to pan out well (the nanny would be around during the day on the weekdays so it would only be evenings, overnights, and the weekend). I mean sure he can do it, but he will be SO frazzled by the time I would get home. And in all honesty, I wouldn't choose to do it on my own unless I absolutely had to, so I'm thinking that he probably isn't going to have a great time with it. Not to mention that I will be forced to pump for every single feeding (every 3 hours during the day and at least once at night) and won't have ANY exposure to my girlies at all. I bet my milk output goes way down. Boo.
And pumping while traveling??? How the heck am I supposed to do that??? My flight down is over the course of 7 HOURS. No way can I go that long without pumping. So what are my options? Pump in my seat on the plane? Um, not really an option (the pump is loud enough to be obvious and easily detected by the person next to me, besides the fact that I don't really want to bear my breasts for the world to see). Pump in the bathroom on the plane? What, for 30 minutes while none of the other passengers can go to the bathroom (the flights out of Omaha are almost always small planes with only one bathroom)? Yeah, not so much of an option either. On my 50 minute layover between flights? That would be an option, except I have to change planes (and terminals), and the planes start to board 30 minutes before take off. There is no way that I can de-board the plane I am on, change terminals, find a bathroom to pump in and pump for 30 minutes, and still catch my connecting flight. Not going to happen. Sigh.
I woke up this morning at 4 AM (as usual) to pump (the girls are sleeping through the night now, so I have to get up and pump since no one is awake to feed - and it's my biggest pump of the day so I can't skip it!). Anyway, so I woke up this morning VERY upset. I had come to the realization that when I woke up at 4 AM in Orlando (for several days) that there wouldn't be any girls for me to look at or listen to breathe, or hear the tick tock of Brianna's swing as it swings back and forth all night. All I would have in Orlando would be silence. I literally cried while I was pumping this morning, and it took me a good hour after I was done to get back to sleep.
Then it came to me. Why not bring one baby with me to Orlando?! This would solve my breastfeeding problem on the way there (and back), would lessen the load on Si (he could easily take care of one baby - one baby would be a breeze after taking care of two all the time!), and I would still get to be close to one of my babies. Would it be ideal? No. Would it be doable? I think so!
I was so relieved when I came to this realization. However, I've never traveled with a baby before, so I have no idea how big of a pain in the neck it would really be (in fact, all I could think was that traveling with one had to be easier than traveling with two - which was our original plan).
There are only a couple of hours each day that I would be in meetings, so I was thinking that maybe I could see if the hotel had a nanny/babysitter that they could recommend, and worst case scenario there are other work people there with me who maybe would potentially volunteer to watch Bri for 45 minutes or an hour at a time during the conference. . . we could just rotate! I would have to excuse myself from the meeting at some point to go and pump anyway. . .it's just a thought. . .
So what do you think? What would you do? Would you leave the babies at home with Si? Would you take one and leave one? Would you just pay the money to fly Si down there too (with Olivia too of course!)?
How hard is it to fly with a baby? How hard is it to pump and try and bring gallons of breast milk back through security? (okay, so gallons might be an exaggeration, but it probably would be a gallon and a half. . .). Anyone have any experience with this? I'd love to bring Bri with me if possible, and I don't really care that it's extra work. I bring the girls out on my own all the time, and while it is extra work, I refuse to not at like a normal human being doing normal things simply because I have twins. I don't think traveling would be that much different. . .but maybe I'm wrong. Your insight is appreciated!
Besides, how can I go for 3 days without seeing these beautiful little ladies smiling back at me???? =)
Megan
Aww your babes are so sweet! If it were me I would bring Si. But that is just because I couldn't bear to be without my twins :) and if you pump while there without a baby it may be difficult to go thru security with the milk. They could make you toss it if there is not a baby around. And I would be content to know for a fact I don't have to rely on anyone but my husband to watch the babies while I'm working. Yes, it's an added expense but the time not worrying about everything is worth it!
ReplyDeleteIf you do take Si and the twins you should read my post about my flight experience with twins. Lots I didn't know and had to find out the hard way!
If the reliable childcare thing worked out - I think brining one baby is a stroke of brilliance. Though, it does seem like a trade-off of headaches/compromises to all go versus bringing one baby. That said, I haven't braved flying with twins. However, I have flown with one baby on a few occasions and at this age a nursing baby isn't so bad on a plane. It's great not to have to pack formula, just extra diapers/outfits and that sort of stuff. You can check the car seat so you have it when you get off the plane and usually you can gate check your stroller which makes getting through layovers fairly easy.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I don't know if this is a helpful comment but I am curious as to what you decide and to hear out it all works out after the fact.
Good luck!