For years I have been struggling with a tumor that away my jaw bone over the course of 10 or more years. Right before I got pregnant I had surgery to reconstruct my jaw, and hopefully generate bone (something that had not occurred in 3 years). Today, I had a post-op appointment to determine whether or not I had healed, generated bones, and if I was eligible for dental implants. Today's appointment was different, I had to bring my son with me.
Having to bring my son along with me, to such an already nerve wracking appointment, caused me some anxiety. I, therefore, decided that, as I live upstate, I would stay at my mother's with my son to make my commute to the doctor appointment easier (she lives about 20 minutes away opposed to my hour and a half); plus, my mother was coming with me for the appointment to help with my son. We have a very rigid routine that we follow at home, and I implemented it at my mother's. The familiar routine soothed my son, and we had a normal, non-eventful evening. I was so proud! I never imagined that he would sleep so well in an unfamiliar setting!
My mother and I decided that we would take public transportation to the appointment. The doctor is in the city, and my son screams any time we're stuck in traffic, public transportation would just make life easier. So today we woke up bright and early, my son wakes up anywhere between 4 and 4:30 ever since daylight savings time, and got ready for our big adventure. My mother and I packed our bags, got the toys and food together, got all bundled up, and headed out for the bus. The bus pulls up, and we get on....you should have seen the faces of the passengers when they saw that we had a baby with us. They were all scared that a restless baby would disturb their normally peaceful commute. In theory, they were right to be concerned; however, my son was nothing but smiles and curiosity. I expected him to have a meltdown, it was his nap time after all, but I was happily proven wrong. My son was so intrigued and excited by the new experience that he was nothing except calm.
After the bus, we transferred to the subway. Passengers on the subway NEVER expect a peaceful journey so we received no wary looks as we boarded. Again, I anticipated a meltdown, but I guess I should have learned from the bus trip. Again my son spent the entire journey inspecting/analyzing everything he saw. Then again on the 5 block walk to the hospital, my son was breaking his back to gaze up at all the sky scrapers.
The whole day, which lasted from about 8am-2pm, I was on pins and needles waiting for the breakdown, the tears, the tantrum that never came. Nap time was skipped, and it was only when we got on the bus to go home that exhaustion finally overcame excitement and he passed out. I was so impressed by my son's behavior. I had packed a whole bag of tricks to keep him calm and cool, and none of it was needed; not the snacks, the toys, the music, etc. I guess excitement trumps exhaustion. Now I can only hope future adventures will go as smoothly. I guess that's all we can do as mothers, hope.
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