Mom goes to Chi-town

For the first time I left my little man behind with dad for 5 days. I had a "quick" work related trip to Chicago. Frankly, I was freaking out at the idea that I was trusting John to rock the baby to sleep, get up in the middle of the night, and keep him happy during the day.  Typically John does really well with the baby until he starts to fuss, then he hands him back over to me. And up until leaving for Chicago I was the only one (except for my mom) to put him to bed or given him a bath. So I was terrified I was going to return to a child that hadn't slept or been bathed in 5 days. I left lists of what to do all over the counter, on the bottles in the frig, etc. I had also mentioned to lots of friends in town that John would be alone with Ian for the weekend, just in case they wanted to stop by (wink, wink).  Thankfully, after 5 days in the windy city I returned to my adorbable baby who didn't totally smell like spoiled milk.

Speaking of milk.... that was a bit of a stress... I had a good stock pile in the freezer but you just never know if you are going to have enough. I had talked to some work collegues who had travelled for work and actually over-nighted their milk on dry-ice. Seriously?! What a hassle.  I had tried pumping double time the week leading up to me leaving but there is only so much prep you can do when working full time.  I mean, I am not going to sit at my desk in my open office pumping to increase my stockpile... I do draw the line somewhere. I was a bit concerned on Saturday (after I had only been gone 2 days) John posted this picture on my facebook page with the note: "Ian is going through bottles like happy hour is about end."

I mean worst case scenario I was going to have to send John out to get formula to supplement and give it to him for the first time. But we made it through! There was a little to spare when I got back. And because everyone cares (this is the stuff prior to having a kid I never thought about) I still had to make time to pump while I was in Chicago. When I was at NeoCon, this meant I'd sneak into a restroom with the battery pack and pump in the handicap stall (I swear I never thought I'd do this) in the Merchandise Mart. Thankfully due to my ties with IIDA HQ I was able to store my stash in their staff freezer (amongst their lean cuisines). However I did have a moment of "who in the hell am I?!" when pumping in the handicap stall....


Pump: (Sarah in stall pumping) swoosha...sosoo...swoosha...sosoo...  swoosha...sosoo...  
Random lady #1 in restroom: (talking to another woman at the sink) That battery charger is sorta freaking me out. It's sooooo noisy. 

Random lady #2: Shhh. (quieting her own voice) I think it's a breast pump.
Random lady #1: Oh yeah, that's what it is... ha ha ha (laughs).... I remember back when I was breast feeding people didn't even recognize it and now code requires a room for it but I guess the Mart is so old there isn't a nursing mother's room. 


As though she suddenly realized that 1. it was actually a pump and not a battery charger, and 2. she was an a-hole who recognized that I had no where to go but the handicap stall.  Believe me, I wanted to yell out... yes it's a freaking breast pump thankyouverymuch... now wash your hands and get the hell out of here. Anyway, at the end of the trip I collected all my liquid gold from the IIDA freezer (thank god IIDA is full of understanding moms too) and put it in a cooler to come home. It's not that hard to get through security... you just utter the words breast milk to TSA and they lose their edge. Aside from a quick "open your cooler and we are going to look at it" I was easily on my way home with my frozen milk to replenish the stash.


Oh but before I wrap this up, I must mention that I'm convinced John made it through the long weekend of me being away because of all the great friends that we have. THANK YOU. They were all over baby duty... On Friday night our dear friends Auntie Jess and Krystal watched Ian and allowed dad to go to the Rockies game (yeah, he has it EASY.... BS, right?). They even took babe on a walk (and texting mama a pic to know all was well)...

Auntie Jess & Ian

Then on Saturday night "the boys" came over to hang out with John and Ian.... And our friend, Sara Nakon, came with her husband Dave to check out the scene. I was pleseantly surprised when she texted me on Saturday that all was going well! On Sunday Ian and dad went to City Park Jazz with all our friends. Ian learned how to drink out of a Koozie (he's really cool)....

look at John's face... as though he is horrified

So, it is doable to be a working mama who travels. Not going to lie that it doesn't come without some stress, but YOU CAN DO IT.