My first night away...

At 6:25am on Thursday morning, I flew to Seacaucus, New Jersey for interview #4 and #5, which are the final interviews for a new position I'm working towards. Because the flight was over 8 hours (including a stop and layover) and return flight was the next day, Friday, I decided (after WAY too much thought) that it would be best to leave Ginger at home. I didn't want her to have to spend 16 hours on a plane within a 48 hour period, and with germs, swine flu, and everything else, it just made sense. Our good friend Kari watched Ginger all day Thursday, and then Paul came home after work and took over Thursday night, and all day Friday. It was his first chance to be the primary caregiver for that long too- and he was a champ. I love him so much!

While I was driving to the airport at around 5am, I did lose it briefly in the car. In the few days prior to me leaving, I really tried not to stop and think about the fact that I wasn't going to be able to see, feed, kiss, or sing to Ginger like we do every day.

The worst part of the experience was using my breastpump. I had to bring ice packs and a cooler to keep what I did pump, and each time through security I had to pull it all out and declare it. That wasn't too bad- but the most challenging aspect is finding the time and place to pump. On the way out, I attempted to pump at my seat on the plane, with my "hooter hider" covering me, but even with the hippie mom and grandma next to me, I was still too paranoid and the let-down wouldn't occur. So I waited until we got to Houston, and went into the handicap stall in the public restroom and pumped. I can imagine the women coming in and out and wondering what the "whoosh, whoosh" sound was coming from the stall. My phrase I repeated to myself all weekend was "I'll never see these people again, I'll never see these people again".

Once at the hotel, pumping wasn't a problem, but again on my way home- what a nightmare. My first flight was delayed, but not enough for me to be able to pump again before we left, and then I was on the plane and didn't want to sit in the lavoratory and have people knocking on the door, waiting in line for 15 minutes. So I figured I'd just wait until I got to Atlanta and use the public bathroom again. Wrong- because our flight was delayed, by the time we actually got to the airport, my other flight was already boarding. The 5 HOUR flight, mind you. So, I had no choice- I had to pump on the plane. I jumped on to find that I was seated next to two military men- no WAY I was trying to pump sitting next to them. The captain of the flight came over the loud speaker to annouce that while we were technically leaving on time, we were in a line of about 25 planes to take off, and were being held for a brief weather issue. I thought I would seize the opportunity- and asked the flight attendant if I could use the bathroom. She said sure- I grabbed my bag and ran in, set everything up, began pumping for maybe 30 seconds, and then hear the captain say "prepare for departure". I dashed to put everything away, spilling breastmilk on the floor, throwing everything in my bag as fast as I could, and I hear a knock on the door and the flight attendant says "ma'am we're just waiting on you in order to take off. Can you please take your seat?" Talk about stressful!

So I returned, embarrassed to see all the passengers staring at me, and slumped back into my seat. Once we took off, I ended up waiting about 20 minutes and then just returned to the bathroom and did it, and it was fine, but gosh it's stressful and something I really never, EVER thought about before having a child. I'm sure other women have been in this situation (in fact I know they have, as I spent a lot of time googling and researching tips and tricks before I left).

Anyhoo, the interviews went fabulous, I feel very strongly that this is the job that I have been waiting for, and hope that it works out. It was tough leaving my baby, luckily only overnight, but the good news is she is still alive (lol), had fun with Miss Kari and Daddy, and was thrilled to see me when she woke up in the early morning. And I was thrilled to see her too.