NAM Part 2: Elijah's First Trip to the Big Apple

I never would have thought I would take a 2.5 week year old on a plane to go to New York City. Thanks to my sister Christina, we survived and did not get lost! I'm going to give you the details/timeline of our adventures, which were completely exhausting, but overall successful. 

Tuesday

11:45pm - Pick up Christina from Indy airport (she's lives in Charleston, SC with her hubby Patrick)

Wednesday

1:30 am - Go to bed

4:45 am - Rebecca, Christina, and Elijah head to Indy airport

6:25 am - Elijah's first flight to Baltimore airport - Very successful! We fed him before take off and he slept through the entire flight. Whew!

10:00 am - Elijah's 2nd flight to Long Island (see below for why we flew to Long Island) - as successful as the first

11:05 am - Land at MacArthur Airport (Long Island)

12:11 pm - Take the train from Ronkonkoma (pronounced Ron - KON - kah - mah) station to Penn Station (about 1.25 hrs)

1:00 pm - Elijah wakes up and starts crying pretty much for the remainder of the day until dinner

1:40 pm - Catch a cab

2:00 pm - Arrive at NYU - specifically the Institute for Reconstructive Plastic Surgery (IRPS)

(Details of appointment below)

6:00 pm - Leave IRPS, take cab to little Italy, eat at Lombardi's Pizza (yum), get a cannoli from Ferrara's

8:30 ish - Take subway to Ronald MacDonald House 

9:30  pm - Tour the Ronald MacDonald House (super nice)

9:45 pm - Rebecca has a mini break down

10:00 pm - Sweet Christina took care of Elijah so I could go to sleep

Thursday

Snuggling with me on the last flight

7:00 am - Catch free shuttle

8:00 am - Arrive at IRPS (after a pit stop for breakfast and coffee) for a check up and adjustments

8:30 am - Walk around NYC a bit to kill some time

9:30 am - Follow up at IRPS to make sure Elijah can eat better with the NAM adjustments

10:15 am - Take cab to Penn Station

11:00 am - Eat lunch at Penn Station

11:15 am - Take train back to Ronkonkoma

1:00 pm - Shuttle to MacArthur Airport

2:50 pm - Fly to Baltimore

4:00 pm - Super long layover in Baltimore, but we got to eat a very yummy dinner and Pinkberry for dessert

8:30 ish pm - Flight takes off after delay due to medical emergency with a pre-board passenger

10:00 pm - Arrive to Indy 

11:00 pm - Home sweet home

Traveling with Elijah

Overall, the flights went better than I initially expected. He slept through both flights to NY. He was wide awake, but content on our flight from NY to Baltimore. He did cry a bit the last 10 minutes of that flight. And then was pretty snuggly asleep on the last flight barring a few minutes of crying. He generally loved being carried in the Ergobaby strapped to me. Like I said above, he did great on Wednesday until about 1pm, at which point, the rest of the day until about dinner time was really rough. There were some moments of screaming during our return layover, but I can't complain much. It was exhausting, but he was quite the trooper. Plus, Aunt Christina had the magic touch and was great at getting him calmed down. I was not so great at it. I think he could tell I was flustered. I have learned the best way to travel with a newborn is to feed them at the beginning of the flight so that they sleep through the flight. 

Wide awake, but enjoying the view

I was so glad to have Christina with us. Not only was she great at calming Elijah, but she knows NYC pretty well and I deferred to her completely to get us around. (Also, shout out to Uncle Patrick who is largely responsible for Christina's knowledge of NYC!)

IRPS Visits

Despite the fact that I was completely flustered by the time we got to our appointment on Wed, the staff at IRPS was absolutely wonderful. So many people came out simply to welcome us and meet Elijah. I will likely do a post on the IRPS and the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction (NFFR) staff that we interact with, but since this one is already so long, I will just say that they are a gift from God. They are excellent at what they do, and they truly care for their patients and families. They make the craziness of traveling completely worth it. 

Last photo I took without his device

When we first arrived, they took Elijah back to make his impression. They told me they would reunite us in about 10 minutes (in other words, it's probably best for parents not to be in the room while they do this part). Though it was hard to leave him with them for just a few minutes, I am glad they kept me out because I probably would have had a very hard time being in the room. After they took the impression, they had to make the device which took about an hour and a half. During that time, the dental assistant Stephanie gave me detailed instructions on how to care for the device (another post later). They also took Elijah back for some medical photography. I have to say again that Christina was a huge help during all this time. Elijah was really fussy, and I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on the instructions had she not been willing to keep him in the waiting room and help with the medical photos. Below are a few of the medical photos they took. When I look at these pictures now, I'm amazed at the difference I can already see.

Once the device was ready, they brought us back and placed it in Elijah's mouth. He was screaming. They took it out and made a few adjustments. We waited again. And then finally it was ready. It's held in place by tension from tape/rubber bands. They had me practice taking it out and putting it back in a few times. He was not a happy guy. It didn't seem that he didn't like the device, but rather was tired of people messing with his mouth. Plus, he was hungry. They told me that most babies actually really like the device and cry when it's removed, which I can attest to. He loves to rub his tongue against the top of it. 

We returned the next morning around 8am. The orthodonists came in early so we could catch the train in time to get our flight back. They checked his mouth and made some adjustments to the NAM to make it a little more comfortable for Elijah. They wanted to make sure he could eat ok with it, so we returned around his next feeding. They were pleased with his ability to eat, and then we started our trek back. 

What Now?

Before I go into our future plans, I should explain why we had to fly into Long Island (1hr 10 min by car with light traffic or 3 hr by public transport) instead of LaGuardia which is much closer to IRPS. The NFFR is graciously providing us with Southwest vouchers to travel back and forth. Without these, we would not be able to do this, and we are so thankful to the NFFR! With the Southwest/Airtran merger not yet complete, we cannot use the vouchers on the flights listed on Southwest as "operated by airtran". Unfortunately, Indy is not a big Southwest hub, so it would not be possible to use the vouchers to fly Indy to LaGuardia and back. Nate and I are working on figuring out the best way to do this. If we have to fly through Long Island, we'll likely get a rental car to avoid the 3 hr one-way public transport commute. I'm not above public transportation by any means, but it turns out that renting a car is not that much more expensive and would save a ton of time traveling with a newborn. However, I'm not particularly looking forward to driving around NYC. 

This week, Nate actually gets to come with me, which I'm thrilled about. I can't wait for him to meet the IRPS and NFFR teams. We want to get our trip down to one day instead of the 2 day trip required to go through Long Island, so we are driving to Chicago really early Wed morning to catch a direct flight to LaGuardia. We will then return Wed evening. If this works out ok, this is likely the route we'll take going forward. Nate won't be able to come with us very often due to work, so I'll be traveling with different family and friends throughout the 5 month process. (If you are interested and able, let me know and I'll put you on my list!)

Finally, I'll leave you with this verse. I know it's speaking generally of the Christian walk, but this temporary journey in our lives feels like a big marathon that is quite intimidating. So, I'll be praying (and appreciate your prayers) that we'll have endurance to run this race with our eyes fixed on Jesus so that we will not grow weary and fainthearted.

Hebrews 12:1-3 - Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.