Adventures in Traveling

We had quite a week! On Monday, I was determined to get everything ready for our trip early. No last-minute scrambling and staying up all night because of my procrastination. I made Elliot promise he would also get everything together, and our goal was to be packed and ready to go by midnight. Although our flight was not until 1:15 the following afternoon, I was concerned about being ready because Micah and I had an activity planned for the morning – session #2 of our OnesiesDC program. Our activity for the day was a meeting with a relationship counselor and a photo session with a photographer. I was determined to time everything right so that Micah was wide awake and happy for his pictures (unlike our 3 month photo session disaster . . . but I digress). My plan was to wake up in the morning, be out the door by 10, and have Elliot pick us up after class so we could go straight to the airport. I figured if I was ready to go by midnight, I could go to sleep after pumping and have a relatively calm and easy morning for a change.

I was so impressed with myself! Before Micah went to bed, I pulled out all of his outfits, folded them, and gathered all of his other items. I also made a list of everything else that needed to be packed, for both of us. Shortly after Micah went to bed, I finished up my laundry. Right before sorting my outfits for packing, I detoured to the bathroom. While I was in there, all of the sudden I felt strange . . . and blood began to GUSH out of my nose and down my throat.

I called to Elliot, and we tried squeezing my nose, leaning back in a chair, ice on the bridge of my nose . . . everything. I called my mom, and she said I should go to the hospital. Like every mature adult, I realized she was correct. I also knew I had no time to go to the hospital, pack, and still make my trip. So, I decided that I was going to will the bleeding to stop and go about my business. It was a LONG night, but 2 1/2 hours later, I finally got the bleeding to stop. I was exhausted, and took a bit of a nap.

Naturally, it was 2:00 am when I woke up. I still had to pump, and because of the prior drama, I had not done any packing. It was 4:30 am before I finished everything . . . just in time for Micah to begin fussing. I didn’t get ANY sleep before he woke up at 7 ready to eat. I ended up finishing the packing, and we got out the door for our class at 10. Micah was refusing to nap all morning, and fell asleep just before we left. I knew he’d be a grump when I woke him up for the picture session. Luckily, I was wrong, and he was cute as can be. Elliot came to pick us up right at 11:15, and off we went to the airport.

The trip out to LA was uneventful . . . except my little guy refused to sleep. Seriously refused to sleep. He was awake for over 11 hours straight. He started to get a bit fussy at times because he was over-tired. When we arrived, we drove straight to Rayna’s house and headed out to dinner with Rayna and Stuart. Dinner was wonderful – we ate at a restaurant called Riva. Micah finally crashed during dinner – he had woken up at 7:00 am ET, and he napped 3 times for a total of maybe 20 minutes, and he went to bed at 8:30 pm PT (of course, despite my intention to keep him on East Coast time, he decided he preferred California time). I sure hope we have an easy time switching back!

Micah woke up the next day happy. We played, he napped, he was really quite wonderful! It turns out, Micah was not the source of my California drama. While we were there, we stayed the first 2 nights with Rayna, an old family friend of mine. We spent Wednesday shopping, and I left Micah with Elliot. Then we met my law school friend Leila and her daughter for lunch at the Brentwood Country Market, and Elliot and Micah joined us. After lunch, Elliot took Micah on a long walk back to Rayna’s house, and they hung out and relaxed by the pool with her dog.

While Elliot & Micah spent time together, Rayna and I went for a manicure/pedicure. We had just finished and paid, when all of the sudden . . . the blood came gushing again out of nowhere! I knew it meant I had to go see a doctor. The ladies at the shop were great – they were cleaning me off as the blood was gushing – I couldn’t believe how helpful they were! While we were deciding which hospital, Rayna suddenly remembered that she knew an ENT. Luckily, he was willing to see us. As we drove across town through terrible traffic, the bleeding stopped. Although I wondered if the doctor would think I was crazy, I decided to keep the appointment since this had already happened twice.

The ENT was wonderful! Dr. Raphael Nach. He was so sweet (and I loved his South African accent), and he immediately found the source of the bleed. He decided to irritate the spot so that he could confirm it. Unfortunately, it started gushing again. Dr. Nach was surprised by how much blood. He decided that it was bleeding too much to cauterize, and he numbed my nose so that he could pack it instead. Somehow, the numbing agent slowed down the bleeding, and I was able to get my nosebleed cauterized.

We decided to stay in that evening with Rayna, Brandon and Stuart and make dinner. Micah went to bed right on cue at 7:00 pm, and he didn’t make a single peep all night. We had a wonderful dinner (and we made smores sitting by an outdoor fire pit). The next morning, we woke up and headed off to my conference. Well, it took us 2 attempts to leave . . . Elliot forgot Micah’s bottle at the house, so we needed to turn around to get it.

When we got to the hotel, we were upgraded to a suite! I went to see the exhibits, and took a few meetings. Elliot also met with another consultant and took care of Micah. It was actually a productive day for me. I think I might have landed another client or two, so the conference was well worth the trip. The suite was perfect for us – it allowed us to put Micah to bed in one room while we watched tv in the other. We had a relaxing evening, then headed back to the airport in the morning.

The trip home was LONG. Micah was napping when we first arrived at the airport in LA:
He slept through security and while we waited for our flight. He woke up in time to nurse for takeoff, and then he dozed back off for another hour. He woke up as we were arriving in Denver. We had a 3 hour layover in Denver, which just made the whole trip even longer. Here is Micah playing at the airport in Denver:

Micah was a real trooper – and so good. He was smiling and laughing almost the entire time. He had 2 or 3 periods of fussiness on the last leg of the trip. He was just over-tired, and he needed his medicine, and we were having trouble getting him comfortable. I think he was also sick of being held/confined. We landed at midnight, and Micah was so sweet while we waited for our luggage:

We didn’t get home until almost 1:30 am. He slept most of the way home in the car, but woke up as we entered the house. I nursed him again, and he went straight back to sleep.

Micah slept soundly until I finally woke him at 9:45 this morning. I was afraid to wake him earlier since he had been so exhausted. His day has been all screwed up today . . . but he has still been cute and playful when he is awake. Today we tried him sitting in the Bumbo seat:

I tried putting him to bed at 8:30, but he really wouldn’t fall asleep. I ended up bringing him back downstairs and he chilled on the playmat and is now currently asleep in the swing. I’ll have to figure out how to get him upstairs and figure out if he needs to eat again. I’m hoping we can get him back on schedule by tomorrow. I think I’m going to wake him up by 8:00 am no matter what.

Tomorrow I’m off to Atlanta for work! Micah is becoming quite the traveler. My mom is joining Micah and me this time – I have 2 days of meetings. I’ll update when I can!