Anika's first plane ride

My poor husband was due to work in Esk for 6 weeks over Christmas and New Year and there was NO WAY I was going to stay in Brisbane on my own with Anika. I was barely coping with two parents, let alone completely going solo! We decided Anika and I would descend on my parents interstate. Of course this wasn't ideal, as my husband would not get to see his daughter or wife regularly, but it's the best we could manage under the circumstances.

My wonderful Mum flew up to help Anika and I back down on the plane. My Mum, once again, was our godsend! I was soooooooo anxious about the flight. There was no exercise ball, no stairs, no music, a confined space and a hell of a lot of people. How the hell were we going to do this? Anika was still screaming in car seats, so even the 25 minute drive to the airport was stressing me out! I was planning the day to the minute and had everyone fully briefed about our journey. I would feed Anika, then she would have her morning nap. When she woke, I would feed her again and the car would already be packed and ready to go. We'd pop her in the car, drive to the airport, back in the sling, try and get her to sleep to the noise of the airplane's, check in, get on plane. Feed on plane. Hopefully feed for the full 1/1/2hours (given she could feed for 14 hours I was fairly sure she could manage that!), get off plane, back in car seat and drive home to my parents. I had no idea how the plan would come off, but we were going to have to get on that plane no matter what state we were all in!

Anika managed so well despite my anxieties. She only started to cry near the end of the car ride to the airport, fell asleep fairly quickly in the sling and woke just before take off. I fed her the whole time and she didn't make a peep! Woohoo! Success! Car ride home to my parents wasn't so great, but I didn't really care as the longest part of the journey was complete.......... This was my poor Dad's real introduction to his granddaughter (he'd visited for a weekend prior to this).

I'd been so looking forward to being at home with my family and having the additional support, I didn't once think about what it would be like for them having a brand new baby in the house again. I was so caught up in my own world of meeting our babies needs, it never crossed my mind that we'd be completely and totally impacting on my parents life. Anika and I were about to turn their world upside down!