No one likes a crying baby.
What's worse than a crying baby? A crying baby on an airplane.
What's even worse than a crying baby on an airplane? A parent who does not give a shit.
It dawned on me the other day that Miranda and I are still young parents. I don't mean that we are young in age but we are still very new at this. Pure rookies.
One thing we promised to ourselves when we decided to enter the kid zone was that we shouldn't have to sacrifice our way of life. Well, not too much. We love to travel and our baby daughter will be forced to love it, too. Sorry kid. I know, it's a cruel world.
So before we set out on a trans-Atlantic flight back to the States for the holidays, we decided to do a 'test run' to Portugal. Sort of a beginner course for Harper. An introduction into plane travel.
Once again, I have to praise the good people at Etihad Airways, who, if you call in advance and confirm all the details weeks before your trip, are very accommodating to traveling with infants.
Related blog post: Wheelchair success -- Etihad Airways to the rescue!
We had a seven-hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam and then a two-hour hitch to Lisbon.
We were given the front row seats in the economy section near the window and were supplied with a bassinet for the babe that clicked into the wall right in front of us.
Before the flight, Miranda and I were both a little concerned about how other travelers would react if Harper had a crying meltdown at 35,000 feet. So much so that Miranda brought bags of candy to give to the nearby passengers on our plane. It was our way of saying "sorry in advance."
It was a full flight and right across the aisle from us was a very nice woman with a 2-year-old girl. The dad sat in business class and made seldom appearances in the back to say hello to his wife, young daughter and the rest of us savages in economy.
About 10 minutes after takeoff as the plane was still climbing, it started.
The woman's baby threw a conniption fit. She was screaming and crying; squirming in her seat. The seatbelt sign was still on so none of the friendly flight attendants were on the scene yet.
Seems like an all-too-familiar scene on any flight, right?
What made this interesting is that after the plane leveled off and the turbulence subsided, the little girl's screams grew even louder. The mom? She didn't care at all. I think she actually put her ear phones on and started to watch a movie while toddler stigmata took place in the seat next to her.
Once again, my thoughts were with the other passengers.
Thanks to a heavy intake of breastmilk to calm her fears and quell any possible ear popping from altitude change, our baby Harper actually enjoyed the flight. At one point I needed to burp my daughter so I stood up in the middle of the aisle for three reasons:
1) I cramp easily
2) I'm 6-foot-2 and I hit my head on the luggage container at least three times a flight
3) I wanted to show my daughter to a backed plane and prove to them that she is an angel and not one behind the end-of-the-world baby screams that every single person on that plane could hear no matter how hard they tried to block it out
At that moment, Harper was like my kick-ass parent trophy and I displayed her proudly for all to see. As the child across the aisle from us wailed louder and louder, I looked over to my relieved wife and gave her a wink drenched in triumph.
And then Harper shit in her pants.
While I held her over my shoulder. While standing in the aisle.
No one saw that because dear old dad already had a restful hand on her bum as he held her. I literally felt the moisture through her pants.
But I wasn't going to let that get in the way of our victory. Mom quickly handed me the diaper changing bag and then we took our 'no-crying-baby' party into the airplane bathroom.
For any expecting parents in or around the UAE: If you have any direct questions about what it was like to give birth in Abu Dhabi, the different hospital options, doctors, the access to drugs, birth certificate shenanigans, etc. please send me an email (aarongray2337@gmail.com) and I will respond promptly. Trust me, we know what it's like to not get straight-forward answers from trained professionals here. All I can do is tell you exactly how our situation played out and offer my wholehearted advice. Cheers.
What's worse than a crying baby? A crying baby on an airplane.
What's even worse than a crying baby on an airplane? A parent who does not give a shit.
It dawned on me the other day that Miranda and I are still young parents. I don't mean that we are young in age but we are still very new at this. Pure rookies.
One thing we promised to ourselves when we decided to enter the kid zone was that we shouldn't have to sacrifice our way of life. Well, not too much. We love to travel and our baby daughter will be forced to love it, too. Sorry kid. I know, it's a cruel world.
So before we set out on a trans-Atlantic flight back to the States for the holidays, we decided to do a 'test run' to Portugal. Sort of a beginner course for Harper. An introduction into plane travel.
Once again, I have to praise the good people at Etihad Airways, who, if you call in advance and confirm all the details weeks before your trip, are very accommodating to traveling with infants.
Related blog post: Wheelchair success -- Etihad Airways to the rescue!
We had a seven-hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam and then a two-hour hitch to Lisbon.
We were given the front row seats in the economy section near the window and were supplied with a bassinet for the babe that clicked into the wall right in front of us.
Before the flight, Miranda and I were both a little concerned about how other travelers would react if Harper had a crying meltdown at 35,000 feet. So much so that Miranda brought bags of candy to give to the nearby passengers on our plane. It was our way of saying "sorry in advance."
It was a full flight and right across the aisle from us was a very nice woman with a 2-year-old girl. The dad sat in business class and made seldom appearances in the back to say hello to his wife, young daughter and the rest of us savages in economy.
About 10 minutes after takeoff as the plane was still climbing, it started.
The woman's baby threw a conniption fit. She was screaming and crying; squirming in her seat. The seatbelt sign was still on so none of the friendly flight attendants were on the scene yet.
Seems like an all-too-familiar scene on any flight, right?
What made this interesting is that after the plane leveled off and the turbulence subsided, the little girl's screams grew even louder. The mom? She didn't care at all. I think she actually put her ear phones on and started to watch a movie while toddler stigmata took place in the seat next to her.
Once again, my thoughts were with the other passengers.
Thanks to a heavy intake of breastmilk to calm her fears and quell any possible ear popping from altitude change, our baby Harper actually enjoyed the flight. At one point I needed to burp my daughter so I stood up in the middle of the aisle for three reasons:
1) I cramp easily
2) I'm 6-foot-2 and I hit my head on the luggage container at least three times a flight
3) I wanted to show my daughter to a backed plane and prove to them that she is an angel and not one behind the end-of-the-world baby screams that every single person on that plane could hear no matter how hard they tried to block it out
At that moment, Harper was like my kick-ass parent trophy and I displayed her proudly for all to see. As the child across the aisle from us wailed louder and louder, I looked over to my relieved wife and gave her a wink drenched in triumph.
And then Harper shit in her pants.
While I held her over my shoulder. While standing in the aisle.
No one saw that because dear old dad already had a restful hand on her bum as he held her. I literally felt the moisture through her pants.
But I wasn't going to let that get in the way of our victory. Mom quickly handed me the diaper changing bag and then we took our 'no-crying-baby' party into the airplane bathroom.
For any expecting parents in or around the UAE: If you have any direct questions about what it was like to give birth in Abu Dhabi, the different hospital options, doctors, the access to drugs, birth certificate shenanigans, etc. please send me an email (aarongray2337@gmail.com) and I will respond promptly. Trust me, we know what it's like to not get straight-forward answers from trained professionals here. All I can do is tell you exactly how our situation played out and offer my wholehearted advice. Cheers.
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