Eva's First Flight

By now our daughter's fiesty personality is infamous in these parts. I'm not going to lie to you; both Jeff and I were anxiety ridden before the flight to Houston. In fact, Jeff had to down half a bottle of Pepto Bismal before he even stepped foot on the plane. We've only had Eva fall asleep in public a handful of times since birth and it always followed a major meltdown. Also, ever since she started crawling, she has zero interest in sitting in our laps. From our perspective, the flight was a recipe for disaster. But we also knew that we had to do it sometime and Houston seemed as good as a place as any for our innagural flight.

Thanks to advice of my moms' group compadres, Jeff and I were well armed with an arsenal of new toys and treats to entertain Eva with. The toys helped but our true lifeline was the finger food. Eva usually gets cut off at some point with the amount of Cherrios or Pirate Booty that I dole out to her. But on this flight she received an endless supply. I thought for sure Eva would turn into a giant Rice Puff. Before long, however, even Pirate Booty couldn't sustain her. Baby Eva clearly needed her afternoon nap. I tried nursing her to sleep but, as predicted, she was way to keen on exploring her new environment. Eventually, she did fall asleep though the nap only lasted 20-25 minutes. All in all, I would call the outbound flight a success.

Now, the return flight was another story. The time change coupled with a missed nap started to wear on Eva. On the day of the return flight, she woke up at the equivalent of 3:00 PST, a good 3-4 hours before she usually rises. By the time we got to the airport and checked in, she was already starting to meltdown. She kept fighting it for a good two and a half hours. None of our bag of tricks would help; she wouldn't eat, drink, or play at all. We tried pacing the aisles in the Bjorn but not even that worked. About an hour into the flight we had to stay in our seats because of turbulence. Honestly, at that point, she was wailing and flailing her arms about resisting any of our attempts to soothe her. Yes, we were THAT family on the plane getting an abundance of dirty looks from passengers. There came a point when I quit trying since nothing seemed to help. I knew that she had to wear herself down. About that time a sweet grandmotherly flight attendant came over to help. (Yes, it was that bad). Her attempts to pacify Eva helped for a moment but before long Eva shifted gears into the full throttle cry again. I asked the flight attendant what time it was. When she said that we had another three hours to go I almost lost it. Through the grace of god, Eva finally collapsed and slept for a good forty five minutes. I wept in jubilation.

Despite all the well intentioned folks who said that Eva would sleep on the plane, it just wasn't the case. Eva has always been so sensitive to external stimuli. I learned this lesson within a few days of having her when she wouldn't latch on if there was any outside noise or commotion. Albert Enstein defines insanity as: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This is definitely the case with our baby and naps. Even though the return flight home was harry, I still think it was worth it for the memories and encounters with her baby cousin, Valentina. We had a great time with my niece and her husband and continue to recount the memories with deep fondness and appreciation. Thank goodness we have a two month respite before our next flight!