how to travel overseas with an infant (part ii)

In the three weeks between submitting a passport application and waiting for it to arrive, we had an airplane test-run with Berlin and we flew to Lubbock to stay with my siblings for a week.

Test-run is the wrong word. If it went poorly, we were still going to Germany, so... preview. We had an airplane preview with Berlin. 

Overall, it went pretty well. Jeremy gave Berlin a grade on each flight, based on a scale of 0-100 and assigning the appropriate letter, and Berlin got As on both flights on the way down to Texas. Granted, they were short, but we were still grateful that they were smooth. That was certainly promising.

 

We used the advice we'd been given to feed him during takeoff and landing (the sucking and swallowing helps with babies' ears and the pressure changes), and he didn't ever cry about his ears, so it's something we'll continue. I guess we couldn't really say if it helped or not, but I'm not really willing to have him scream because I skipped that step. We fed him when he got the least bit fussy (because thus far in his life, the only reason he ever cries is because he's hungry), took turns taking him to the bathroom to change his diaper, and held him carefully for the 20 minutes he fell asleep. He was a pretty happy camper. 

Until we got to my mom's. And it was bedtime.

There's no way to know for sure if it's related, but Berlin was really constipated that first night. He's never had this happen before, and we've been on several flights since this one and it's never happened again, but he had a really rough night because we had no idea what was going on. After about an hour of just screaming, he finally fell asleep. He woke up in the middle of the night screaming, ate and fell back asleep, and then in the morning he woke up and was just unhappy. My mom remembered, randomly, that some of her kids had that problem after flying, and so she and my step-dad grabbed some generic suppositories from Walgreens. 10 minutes later he had a gross diaper and the tears were over for good. Like I said, Berlin's never had this problem before flying, and even flying several times after the problem has never repeated itself, but I always travel with suppositories now. Just in case.

We had a fun week, and at the end of it, we flew home. The flights home were mostly uneventful, though I think Jeremy did give Berlin an 85 on the very last leg. Probably because he cried once or twice because he was exhausted but tries to keep himself awake always. He's so afraid of missing something.

 Oh. Looking at the pictures and realizing there's an outfit change, I remembered. We did have one event. Why would you need to change an outfit for a kid who doesn't vomit or spit up? Considering the first flight, was a good sign because, hey, he's not constipated!

But Jeremy was the one who took him to the bathroom. That's why he got an 85. 

Still not too bad. And even though he was smiling and good-natured for the drive from the airport, the poor kid was so worn out, he fell asleep almost as soon as we got home. Even before we got home. We stopped by my cousins' house to see my aunt, and he fell asleep during the introductions.

So after a mostly uneventful trip, we felt like we had some really good experience. We can handle flying to Germany, right?

...right?