Off the Plantation

So at last, I was able to deliver Quinn to Monterey... Although since we arrived, my activity level would leave some thinking I brought her not to the Golden State but to the State of Inertia.

Perhaps it was the whole build-up to our grand departure that has left me a bit listless and lazy. Even though I'd been well warned that a baby's discharge date tends to take parents a bit off guard, I shamefully had to ask the doctor to delay hers by a day because I was so unprepared. Taking her out of the hospital wasn't the big ordeal, but transporting her nearly a thousand miles was.

After a lot of hemming and hawing, the consensus was that flying would be the safest method of travel. The dangers of flying were decreased air pressure, and exposure to infection. Since Quinn doesn't have any lasting breathing issues, the decreased cabin pressure wasn't much of a concern, but the exposure to the Respiratory Syncytical Virus (RSV) -- what most of us would call a nasty cold -- made it a hard choice.

Sadly, I don't remember details from biology class like the Creb Cycle, but I am haunted by images from a video capturing a sneeze in slow motion. Having that horrifying video and scenes from the movie "Outbreak" running rampant through my mind, you can only image how paranoid I was about exposing Quinn to so many people on the trek back.

Surely the flight attendant thought I was nuts when a minute after boarding the plane I had my and Quinn's heads completely covered with a blanket. When she came by to ask what kind of beverage I'd want and I didn't even unveil my head to respond, she must have thought I was in need of something a heck of a lot stronger than apple juice.

I guess this is how early the lack of vanity sets in as a parent because I didn't care one iota if people thought I was molding the youngest member of the KKK, we were wanna-be vampires, or just simply someone who doesn't get off the plantation much.

Thankfully, we arrived without incident despite my jetliner jitters.

More pictures and video to come, along with a many thanks to all of you who helped us get home safely and sanely!

Besos,
J & the Jetsetter