Yes, it's almost September and I'm still trying to get caught up on Christmas. To be fair, Hunter's first Christmas was very eventful. First of all, we took a 3 week old on a road trip from Northern CA to New Mexico, and then on to north Texas. Oh and we had our 2 Miniature Pinschers with us as well. The car was stuffed to the brim with all of our normal luggage, a portable crib, a large dog crate, all of Jon's snowboarding equipment, a jogging stroller, and a full load of baby stuff. Those of you with kids will know - just all of that baby stuff that you have to carry around. We have a large SUV and it was completely packed from side to side and top to bottom. We would drive for several hours (well, Jon would drive. I was still on narcotics from my surgery), then make a pit stop. Jon would walk the dogs while I nursed the baby and changed his diaper. We would get food for us and gas for the car and then drive for a few more hours. Because Hunter was so tiny, he was still in that baby phase where they sleep 21 hours out of every 24. So it all worked out pretty well!
Our first day of driving started in Livermore, CA and ended in Kingston, AZ. Towards the end of the day, I started feeling a little off. I was freezing cold in the car and just couldn't get myself warm. When we got to our hotel, I took a hot shower to try and warm up, but it still didn't work. I was alternating hot and cold all night long and just couldn't get my body temp to stabilize. By the morning, I was so sick I could hardly move. My entire body ached all over. After a few hours of debate over whether or not I would be able to get back on the road, we finally decided to head to the hospital. It was a relief for me just to walk through those ER doors. I was so scarred about how I would take care of Hunter while feeling so sick, I started feeling better as soon as I knew I'd be seeing a doctor. It turns out I had mastitis, a very common infection that nursing mothers can contract. I was given antibiotics for the infection and told to take Tylenol for the fever. By lunch time, I was feeling so much better and we were finally ready to get on the road. Considering each dose of my antibiotic was 3 pills, I was taking several Tylenol, was still on my prenatal vitamins and also taking my post-surgery meds, at one point we counted 12 pills three times a day for a few days there! In other words, I was a mess, but I was getting better.
We were supposed to drive from Kingston to Angel Fire, NM that day, but because of our late start, we only made it to Albuquerque. Jon wanted to press on the additional three hours, but I was so exhausted, we just had to stop for the night. I have never been so happy to see a bed and a shower as I was that evening. I don't think I've mentioned yet that the whole purpose of this road trip was to see my family in Texas. I was on maternity leave and we wanted to take advantage of the time off to give my parents and grandparents as much time as possible with Hunter. We stopped in Angel Fire, in the Northern mountains of NM because my grandparents had recently purchased a house there. We wanted to see the house and spend a few days in the snow before heading on to Texas. Our half day drive into Angel Fire was easy and uneventful, especially because I was feeling back to my old self. Well, my old-just-had-a-baby-3-weeks-ago self, of course.
We ended up staying in Angel Fire for 2 days or so and then going on to Wichita Falls, TX. We were able to spend about two and a half weeks there. It was such an amazing time! Living so far from my family is very hard for me and having that time with my new son and my parents and grandparents was priceless. I will remember those few weeks as long as I live. We don't have a ton of pictures to share from those weeks because we really got to just live normal life while we were there.
But, alas, we had to come home. I think Hunter had a pediatrician appointment that we had to get to. Well, the drive home went much the same as the drive out there. Drive a few hours, stop, nurse, walk dogs, get food, get gas, and then drive some more. This all went along just fine until we passed through Barstow, CA. About 20 miles outside of town, I was driving (I'd stopped the narcotics), when all of a sudden every light on the dashboard flashed on and then the engine just stopped. Luckily we were at a place where the shoulders were very wide. We pulled off and called AAA. About 30 minutes later, a flatbed tow truck showed up. We transferred the car seat over to the tow truck and all piled in as we headed back to a garage in Barstow. Hunter and I went and sat in the Starbucks next to the garage while Jon ran around with the dogs. All the while, we were praying this was not a complicated fix on the car.
5 hours later, we got the news that the car needed a new engine. I'm not sure I'm setting the scene well here: I've been in a Starbucks for 5 hours with my 6 week old baby. We have been away from home for almost 3 weeks and after driving 36 hours-ish total, we're 8 hours from home. We have enough money to get home, but certainly not enough on us for a new engine. We don't know anyone in Barstow. We have two dogs we have to think about taking care of. And we've just been told our car needs a new engine. Oh, and I just had a baby and all those post-baby crazy hormones are not out of my system. I remember thinking to myself as Jon told me the news, "Ok, Bethany, this is a real life adult situation and you get the chance to manage this like an adult." I flashed through the few times in my mind when my parent's cars had broken down on family road trips and how they had handled things calmly and reasonably. And then I completely fell apart and broke down. All I could think about was this little baby I was holding. God had put us in charge of him and I had no idea what we would be doing when we walked out of this Starbucks. Where would we take him? And how would we get there? And how would we pay for it? Ug - being an adult stinks sometimes!
After getting my freak out moments out of the way, we finally decided on renting a car to get us home. I won't go through all of the options we considered, but there were quite a few scenarios. For once, all of the TV we watch paid off as this came to mind, "Pick Enterprise, we'll pick you up." That is exactly what we needed and thank the Lord, Barstow, CA has an Enterprise Rent a Car! Not only that, they had a truck big enough for all of our stuff (see the beginning of this post), the baby, me, Jon, and the dogs. Jon took care of all of the back and forth with Enterprise to get the car while Hunter and I continued to sit in that Starbucks. 7 hours after I walked in there with my tiny son, we walked out and got in that pick up truck. What an amazing feeling to finally be back on the road and headed towards home. It was very strange to just leave our car in Barstow, but it was what we needed to do. Had it just been Jon and I in this situation pre-Hunter, we probably would have handled things differently. But, as we quickly learned, having a baby changes everything. We needed to get Hunter to a place where he would be safe and sound and the best place for him was home. I don't know how Jon did it, but he drove that entire 8 hours back to Livermore that night. Because it was so late when we got on the road, Hunter only had to eat once. So we were able to make our best time of the trip so far.
As I told Jon at the time, that was our last road trip for a very long time. Had Hunter been much older, it would not have been so easy. Plus, it's going to take a while for me to forget about the 7 hours in the Barstow Starbucks! I know God was watching over us, even though at the time I did have my doubts. We certainly have some good memories from those 3 weeks! Pictures coming in the next two posts.
