Yesterday we drove up to the Blue Mountains to visit some friends and their delicious dumpling little baby girl. (Thanks for dinner guys, it was delicious! So good to see you again.)
This was to be BB's first long car trip.
She's not so fond of the car, although lately it has been getting a lot better. If we go somewhere during the day it's fine, but as soon as it gets dark she's not a happy camper. One of us sits in the back with her but it doesn't always help. She must be thinking – Why are you watching me scream and not picking me up?
Yesterday's two 90 minute drives were challenging. On the way up it wasn't so bad. She was okay for about half an hour before she had enough, and somehow with a lot of shhhhing and rocking I managed to settle her until she fell asleep, although it broke my heart to see her little bottom lip quiver every few seconds as she dozed off.
The return trip was harder. She had fallen asleep in the capsule before we left, but when we clicked it into the car she woke up straight away. As we drove off she started screaming. I was driving and all I could picture was her little open gummy mouth in the back. We stopped to get petrol and I gave her a boobie in the car and she seemed to settle. We tried again. No go. After about 5 minutes we pulled off the motorway and I climbed into the back. She was inconsolable. It broke my heart as normally she'll stop crying as soon as I hold her. The whole situation was awful and I felt like it would never end. We were all angry and upset. After a few minutes she calmed and stopped crying, and we sat in a steamy car on the side of the road for another thirty minutes before trying again.
The last thing I wanted to do was drive. But I had to focus on getting us home safely. PB sat in the back and sung Sarah Vaughan. It was soothing and started to dissipate the built up tension in the car. Soon my passengers both fell asleep. I drove silently on the wet roads until we reached home. Other than a dozey little feed BB didn't wake again until the morning. It sounds silly but I thought she might have hated me after the ordeal, but luckily I was greeted with a big beautiful gummy smile.
We're not going anywhere in the car for a couple of days.
(Photo on my iPhone with my new Hipstamatic app. Love it!)
Hipstamatic is the best!
ReplyDeleteThe 1st few car trips are hard. Especially the longer ones. Abi was 5 months old when we drove to Noosa and back. It was hard, but we managed.
I love the gummy smile, I miss it all the time.
xx
Oh, you poor darlings. They seem to have a car time limit don't they?
ReplyDeleteWe went away fishing at Easter and thought that we might be pushing our luck with the four hour trip there and then back again with a one year old. Cohen was fine on the way up. We were wondering why everyone had made a fuss when we told them of our plans. We felt like perfect parents. But two nights of sleeping in a tent and everything being different for him, he was a mess on the way home. It was terrible. We were all angry and frustrated and helpless too. Then there were traffic jams. Four hours became over six hours. I crawled over from the front to the back seat while Dave drove on the highway. Cohen kept reaching his arms up to me to be picked up and I could do nothing. We would pull over and let him run around and have a break, then he just screamed louder and longer when we had to put him in the car again. I sang, hugged him, rocked him, told him stories until after hours of crying he fell asleep from exhaustion. Oh, the relief when we got home! And he forgave us too.
I don't know if that helps you feel any better or gives you a laugh, but I hope so.
:)
no, she doesn't hate you she lubs you! babies always love their mamas. Isn't it silly how we feel guilt for everything?
ReplyDeleteShe's is such a cutie pie.
That photo is hilarious! The story... not so hilarious. I didn't know babies hated being in cars, that will be a bummer when mine come along and all the grandparents live 3 hours drive away :S
ReplyDeleteAnna, I hope you don't mind me following your blog, I know you've had some doubts recently about it all. But it is such a beautiful and interesting read, I'm with all the others who definitely want you to keep going but will understand if you stop. I originally saw it because of your wedding (which was amazing) then started checking regularly because of your birth story (which gave me shivers).
Cheers,
a stranger in West Oz who thinks you're awesome.
i have a few similar stories to that. there were only a few times when che was inconsolable but it broke my heart every.single.time.
ReplyDeletephoto is super cute and you have to frame the drool shot in the post below x
oh. i can understand her, i don't like long car drives either. have a great week!
ReplyDeleteOh poor BB and MB, it is so heartbreaking when they are inconsolable. We've never had any trouble in cars, but I am nervous about how Jack will travel when we go overseas in a month's time. 24 hours on a plane, not sure he is going to cope too well.
ReplyDeleteEngracia
xx
Lacey cried like that every single day for the first 14 months. I hated it. And I had to be in the car for work. I can't tell you how traumatising that was... I wanted to hold her, and soothe her... but I had to go where we needed to be. Stopping for a moment to stop the crying helped a little, but it still didn't get us where we needed to be.
ReplyDeleteI can't even think about it. Makes me so sad.
Bigs hugs to little Rose. xx
i've never been a fan of dummies, but we've discovered that a dummy really soothes are little bean in the car. (his osteopath suggested it actually, which made me feel a bit more at ease about using one. ) Yes, he spits it out often, but we pop it back in and just having that to suck on seems often to help enormously.
ReplyDeletexx.c
oh yes the dreaded car trip! I have not done a long trip with Taj. Going to the city has been eventful enough for me. I still tear up from the trips I had with Keely as a baby. It does break your hear that you cannot hold them. I remember feeding Keely while she was still in her chair! Don't ask me how I stretched my boob over, but I managed to get it there!!
ReplyDeleteLove your photo! glad you got the app xx
shame little pet, had same hting happen except was on my own, stopping on the side of the freeway in SA at night not the most ideal....had to just let Milla scream....she was fine, i was a mess!
ReplyDeletex
Oh man, those cheeks get me every time. Divine little creature.
ReplyDeleteI used to hate the car with the wee wee wee littlies. If we had to go out in the car one day, there was no way we were doing it again the next day. I hate those car seats/capsules, they just seem so restrictive.. And why doesn't anyone make them in natural fibres?!
awww yes, i feel your pain! The long car trips are a mission, but they do get better! We would bring Tylers cuddle sleeptime blankie in the car and give it to him whenever he got antsy and he'd calm down. I think we did this around 4 months, once he had built up a relationship with a particular one. Now we never leave home without one of his comforters!
ReplyDeleteLook at that bottom lip please! Ah man, her traumatic car ride. Hopefully it's not so bad on her next journey. xx
ReplyDeleteugh, i can't even count how many times I've laid over a carseat, nursing my babes while whizzing down the highway. it'll get better, eh?
ReplyDeletejust passing by to say hello. love the intense look in Rosie´s eyes!
ReplyDeleteYes, I think all of us with little ones can relate to this story. The good news is that they always get over it and smile and adore us like always the next morning.
ReplyDeleteJust stumbled across your blog....it's lovely!
"three people a-freaking,
ReplyDeletetwo hands a-waving,
and one stressed out mummy..."
(to the toon of "a partridge in a pear tree").
I feel for you all!
We used to do the trip from blackheath to mother-in-laws near penrith once every month, and it.was.hell...stop.start.stop.start. stop .start... you get the drift!
All i can say, more knowledgably second time round, is:
swaddle
swaddle
swaddle
No babe that i know would settle when out and about, esepcially after the stimulation of new experiences. I use swaddling as a tool to say,"C'mon now, it's time to get cosy and let those eylids get heavy" and it seems that my one understands and even ASKS for it.
For example, other day I swaddled him when he showed signs of tetchiness in a workshop I was attending. To the amazement of all around he just lay there quietly and contentedly looked around!
I am sure it will get easier. Here's hoping you get many more mtns trips - it is important nourishment for you to be with friends you love and Rosie will benefit from your cup being filled too!
xx tali
I SO sympathize! My poor baby still hates the car, but it's not nearly as traumatizing for us as when she was a wee babe. She's almost one and now can stay interested in the goings-on outside for a while. Usually, we plan our big trips around her naps, but no night time travels for us. When you think about it, it must be scary for them being strapped down in the dark with the shadows of headlights flickering through the car!
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