Flying with baby

Michael just posted about our trip, you can read about it generally and see some more pictures here.  It is really surreal and sad that Eden's first flight had to be because of Rachel's passing.  But of course, we wanted to be there for these events.  I am so sad Rachel did not get to meet Eden, I can totally imagine her holding Eden and grinning.  

To document the travel aspects of this voyage - I was nervous about flying with the baby - mainly nervous something horrible would happen.  The FAA's rules on lap children are pretty scary.  They let babies, the most vulnerable individuals ever, fly without any kind of restraint - and in fact (unless you buy a separate seat for the baby where you restrain the baby in a car seat), you are not even permitted to use your own restraint other than your arms during takeoff and landing.  This terrifies me - what if there is sudden turbulence?? 

But really, most people choose not to buy a seat for their baby, because the chances of anything bad happening are extremely small, and the chances of anything bad happening where the baby's being in a separate seat made a difference are even smaller.  So we didn't buy a seat either, but I agonized over this decision.

In the end, I spent $40 to buy this vest, which is basically something you can run your seatbelt through to attach it to you.  It seemed a reasonable compromise, even though you're not allowed to use it during takeoff and landing, the most dangerous times of the flight!  I thwarted this rule by nursing her under a nursing cover during takeoff/landing.  

The flights were completely uneventful, basically no turbulence even.  She was very well behaved.  On the flight to Chicago, she barely cried at all, and didn't seem to react to the change in elevation.  On the way back she was overtired and fussy, but we were still able to calm her through nursing or pacifier.

A couple more shots of Eden on a plane - 

In her vest after landing

Eden took this picture!  She pressed the button.
Proof is in how horrible I look - definitely not the moment I would have chosen to capture.

Going through security was also lots of fun.  Both times I took Eden through the TSA pre-check line by myself, while Michael and Becca went through the regular line.  The result:

There was definitely some awkwardness, and a seasoned mom traveler had to help me close my stroller! Oh well.  

All in all a successful, and meaningful, trip to celebrate my cousin's life.