23 & 24 Weeks and Traveling Hell!

Oh boy, it has been quite the week for this pregnant mama! We are finally home from New York and I am relishing the fact that we have no air travel planned for the remainder of the year. First off, everything is going pretty well with the pregnancy. I did get a call on Thursday while we were in NY telling me that at my appointment on Monday they had found protein in my urine and needed me to do a 24 hour test. They told me my level was really low and I am hoping it was just due to dehydration from being sick leading up to my appointment but I won't really know for a few more days. They are not freaking out about it yet, so I am trying to do the same although I know that this can be one of the first warning signs of pre-eclampsia. 

As for our actual time in New York we had the BEST time! It was so fun to see Marco, Destiny, Cullen & Adelaide as well as Grandpa & Grandma Schott. Everyone was so great to us and we had good food, fun and conversation. It was so crazy just how much colder and snowy it was there compared to California.

As for the traveling, I'd say we've had pretty good luck (due in part to planning ahead) traveling in our lifetimes so maybe we were just due for a travel saga this go around (fitting with 2 & 3 year old in tow and me being 6 months pregnant). Since we were flying from a smaller CA airport to a smaller NY airport (I thought this would be better than driving to/from the larger airports, not my best decision) we had three flights each way. This was my first real experience with United and it was an utter nightmare. We had delays galore, maintenance issues, “no gate” at one airport and they did not seat the four of us together ever (and didn’t even care to try even though I’m pregnant and we were traveling with small kids). I thought our connections were long enough (60-90 minutes) but the way they had the gates set up we had to run/walk almost 20 minutes after deplaning for each connection. Between flights I had to go to the bathroom, I was tired and I was hungry so it was difficult to run and just jump on the next plane. On our last leg on the way there we were delayed again and ran our butts off to catch our final connection only to be told that they “oversold” the flight and that since we were the last ones there they had no seats for us. After letting everyone else on board first and me getting very upset they finally were able to manage to get us on. When we finally arrived I was relieved I’d made it through and hoped for better luck on the way home. 

On Sunday we got dropped off to start our long journey home and boy, this is where the real mess starts. Our connection in DC boarded early and we were all set to go but ended up just sitting on the plane for over an hour as the pilot told us that there was a "paperwork issue". Again, our family was not seated together, which made things difficult to start and with the delay our small kiddos had to sit on the plane for not only a 6 hour flight but over an additional hour for paperwork. When we got to San Francisco to make our connection home, there were no accommodations made for people with close connections to get off the 50+ row plane early, so since we were in the back it took forever for us to get off of the plane. We were also specifically told over the speaker to go straight to Gates 80 & 82 for Fresno. At this point we were all worn out from flying all day (and it was 1:00 am east coast time) but we RAN to the gate in hopes of making our flight in time, as we were under the assumption they were holding the plane the extra 10 minutes we needed. Turns out they were just sending us to customer service as they sent the flight off with the four of us (and many other passengers from our flight). We were not allowed the option of being allowed a rental car to get home and instead were simply told we would get a hotel and be booked on the next flight TWENTY FOUR HOURS later. This was draining and exhausting on my pregnant self and the kids. It also involved shuttles, hauling our stuff around and keeping tabs on the kids at the same time. I tried to make the most of it and we spent the day with the kids in San Francisco but it was a lot of walking and just waiting, I was so ready to be home. After finally getting on the flight home we were told by many this is a common occurrence with United to overbook the small flights and not wait for people banking on the fact that they would miss their connections. We finally landed home THIRTY SIX HOURS after being dropped off at the airport in New York. Total craziness and I'm happy to be looking back at it now and not living it anymore! 

So now the saga is over. We are home, I started my 24 hour urine collection, took a nap and am so happy to be back to normal. I'm looking forward to loading and posting the pics from our trip and the fun time we had while there!