To preface the day, Jonas had woken up between 2-3 am with gas, and did not go back to
sleep until about 7 am. I probably should have left him in his crib, and he would have
eventually fallen back to sleep, but he was SO LOUD, that I did not want to wake Mia up. So,
we did a lot of walking outside the room, and bottles, and more bottles, etc...
When he finally fell back to sleep, I went upstairs and kissed all of my friend's babies goodbye,
and said goodbye to the nannies, cooks, and staff; helped load up the two trucks, and we were
on our way.
Poop started our trip off, except it was not Jonas's. I was not watching where I was
stepping, and I stepped into a pile of dog poop right before we got into one of the trucks. So
gross, but I got it off, and we were on our way home. :-)
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time. We got through check-in well, thanks to
lots of tipping, and the poop started. Because he would not eat much food from me, and
was only taking bottles, the consistency was that of "newborn" poop. (enough said) :-)
I had come prepared for the day, thanks to everyone's advice from my adoptive GLA yahoo group. My friend Mia thought that I had packed way too many diapers, wipes, and changes of clothes. Even a complete outfit change for me. God knew... :-)
We were getting ready to go to check into our gate, and meet with IBESR (Haitian Social Services), and the first
explosion happened. Luckily, this one did not require a change of clothes, but a lot of
wipes were used. We changed him right there on the floor, with everyone staring at us
and thinking that we were nuts; but I did not want to chance it leaking out onto our
stroller.
With that behind us, we got into our gate and knew that the plane was going to be about 2 hrs
late. Sheryl and Rebecca were supposed to fly with us to Ft. Lauderdale, but because of
the delay, they would not be able connect to Atlanta until the next day. So, they were put
on a flight to Miami, and then on to Atlanta.
We were starving, but to get to the restaurant upstairs, we would have to take all of our
stuff up with us, and go through security again. Not fun, and I had a bigger type jogging
stroller that I "thought" he might nap in since it laid down. So, breaking it down was easy,
but it got to be a pain every time we had to go through a security check point. So, Lisa,
Sheryl's friend, and Mia went to get everyone's lunch. Jonas did not like it, and he did not
like any of the snacks I had brought for him, so he had another bottle... :-)
Finally we boarded, and they put us right up front of the aircraft, so we could get off first
and get through immigration and customs fast. We originally had 3 hours in Ft.
Lauderdale, but because of the delay, we were left with one hour to go through
immigration, hopefully get Jonas's visa extended to 12 months, go through customs, re-
check our bags with another airline, and get new boarding passes. Aside from God
intervening, we were not going to make our connecting flight!
Jonas slept most the flight, and when we got off the plane first. Our gate-checked stroller
was not there!? It had been loaded first before everyone's luggage, so it would be pulled
out last... Everyone got off after us and headed for immigration. Finally, the stroller
arrived, and we headed for immigration. I have never flown internationally through Ft.
Lauderdale, only through Miami, so I was expecting a BIG immigration room. Oh no, it is
small, and there are only about 4-5 immigration officers checking people through; so to
see everyone on our plane in front of us in line, was not good. There was NO WAY we
were making our next flight!!!!!! God knew better... I saw a haitian man who was
directing traffic, and I told him that I had a child here on a medical visa and that we
needed to catch our next flight in 45 minutes. Jonas was still asleep, and maybe looked
sick??? :-), so the man talked to someone, and we were moved right to the front of the
line. This particular officer that checked our paperwork had never extended a visa before,
so he sent us to another room to have that possibly done. Our file was behind about 8
other files, and who knows what had to be done with there paperwork, but the clock was
ticking...
Jonas knew we were in a hurry, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. :-) I was
holding him, and then I felt the force in his diaper! lol... Within a few seconds, the whole
room was filled with Haitian baby poop aroma. (For all of you that know the smell, you
know how potent it is! :-) ) This poop required new shorts, but the shirt was still good.
Within about 3 minutes our file was called, and Jonas's visa was stamped for 12 months.
Honestly, I don't think the immigration officer even looked at the paperwork, he just
wanted us and the stink out of there!!!!!!! :-) I thought we were in the clear now! His
intestinal track had to be completely cleaned out!!!
We got our luggage, and headed to US Airways. We got everything checked, and even had
about 10-15 minutes to chill out. I bought some yogurt for Jonas, and he downed it. We
boarded our plane heading to Washington DC. This was kind of fun, because I have never
been to our nation's capital, and I would be seeing it for the first time with Jonas. We
boarded and got seated, and I called Ryan to let him know that we were in the States and
making our connections. I also called Lori Shepler, to let her know that our flights were
on time, because she lives close to the Indy airport, and was meeting us there. As I was
talking to her, I felt an all too familiar vibration on my leg, and told her that I had to go.
That quickly, Jonas had pooped again, and it had oozed out of his diaper, on to his shorts,
then on my leg, the seat, and on to the floor. OH MY GOSH...... This was my worst
nightmare coming true!!!!!!!!!! Every time he had pooped before, I kept saying, "thank
goodness this was not on the plane!!!!!"
Immediately, some people put their shirts over their noses! (no joke) Mia started getting
wipes, diapers, and changes of clothing for both Jonas and I. I pushed the call light for a
steward, because frankly, I did not know what to do! He came back, and said, "Don't you
know that we have a changing table in the back?" Okay, did he just say that??? Usually, I
think things but do not say them, and am polite, but I had been up since the middle of the
night, and was exhausted!!!!! I looked at him and said, "Do you think that I planned on
this happening??? That this was something that I had on my "to do" list today, to get
crapped on by my child in an airplane???" He then said, "What are you going to do?" I
said, "I don't know, that is why I called you for help! Unless you want me to get poop all
over your aircraft, I need your help!!!!!!!!!!" ( I was not being quiet either!) He was so
grossed out, and SO UNPROFESSIONAL!!!!!! He made me feel so stupid, and it was all I
could do to not start sobbing. But, I knew that if I started crying, I was not going to be
able to pull myself back together.
Moms on the plane were kind with their looks, but so many people were so annoyed with
the situation!!!!!!!!!!! It was so embarrassing!!!!!!!!! I got Jonas to the back, changed him
while he was screaming, changed myself. The flight attendant had to change out my seat
cushion, and clean the floor. We held up departure by about 30 minutes. When I got out
of the bathroom the plane smelled like coffee and not poop. The steward had put coffee
grounds on the floor under my seat to mask the odor, and it worked! When I sat down, he had the nerve to
ask me if I thought we were done? I looked at him in disbelief, and said, "If I could have
predicted this, do you think I would have let it happen??? I am hoping it does not happen
again, but I don't know..." I was about ready to strangle the guy!!!!!!!!!!
We took off and had an uneventful plane ride. Jonas loved playing in his own seat. We got
into Washington DC late, and had about 30 minutes to make our connecting flight. As we
were running through the airport we heard "final boarding" for our flight! I stopped at an
information desk and asked them to call our gate and tell them we were on our way. She
said that she would try, but no guarantees. We had to go through security AGAIN, and we
could see our gate. I asked if they could let them know that we were here, and they would
not. It was almost like they were trying to be unhelpful! I was so annoyed...
Then the security girl looked at my passport picture and did not think that it looked like me. (Are you kidding... I know I looked hagged out, and tired, but come on...) She called her supervisor over and he felt that I looked like my picture... But, then they looked at all of our passports and boarding passes for about 5 minutes. (Maybe it was the two white women with the black baby that was throwing them off???) It seemed like an eternity!!!!!!!!!! Our gate and final plane was less than 100 feet away, and these people were being ridiculous!!!!!!!! Finally, they let us through, and we boarded. I honestly thought we were going to be spending the night in DC. God knew that I could not handle any more... :-)
The flight attendants on this plane were SO NICE, AND HELPFUL!!!!!!!! I got Jonas changed into his pajamas, gave him another bottle, and he slept the whole way to Indy. Actually, he did not even wake up until the next morning.
So, I like to say that that day was like the "amazing race" with a child. I have traveled all of my life, and I have never had a day where everything was cut so close! We could have never made it home without God's hand, and all of your prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you are having a bad day, I hope that our events made you laugh. I look back and can laugh now at how ridiculous that day was!! Honestly, it was something for a movie script!!!!!!!!!!!!!
