Leaving on a Jet Plane

We have returned from our 9 day visit with Mackenzie's Nana and Papa in Victoria.  All in all the trip was a success.  And really not that much more difficult than I think it would have been without the spica cast in tow. 

The foam padded carseat

I think I mentioned here before that she didn't fit properly in the Britax Hippo seat, the special carseat that they make for kids in spica casts.  So instead we have her regular Evenflo Triumph seat that we bought to fit her brace and it is doctored up with a bunch of foam underneath her.  We brought that with us and checked it at the main luggage check in the airport.  We also brought our Bumbleride Indie stroller with the pillow underneath her and wheeled her through the airport in that and gate checked it right at the plane.

Hanging out in the stroller waiting in line for fish and chips!

Both on the way there and the way back we were able to get the third seat in our row "blacked out" so that no one else would be sitting with us.  People are pretty accommodating when they notice that your baby is in a full body cast.  On the way home the attendant checking boarding passes and ID's even came to our seats in the waiting area and got ours from us and checked us in early so we could board the plane before they even called for pre-boarding.  How is that for service?

Of course in the airports she was up to her usual tricks of being as cute as possible and was entertaining everyone around us.  Makes you feel pretty good when despite everything people are just going on and on about how cute your child is.

The flights themselves were pretty short.  Just over an hour so it wasn't too long to try to entertain her.  On the way there she spent about 20 minutes playing with Daddy's face, and another 20 minutes shaking a wipe around.  She also like looking at and touching the TV screens in the back of the seats.  We took turns holding her.  We also laid her down for a bit on the middle seat between us but that was short lived as she couldn't see everything around here and wanted to be upright.

We definitely missed the spica chair at Nana and Papa's especially for feeding her and keeping her entertained while we ate.   But we made due.  One person would hold her while another fed her.  And Nana and Papa had enough new interesting things to explore that she seemed to be ok to just hang out and crawl around on the floor most of the time.

Checking out the seat life at the Aquarium

We went out to eat in several restaurants and just brought in her stroller and had her sit in there while we ate.  She doesn't like to be in it when it's not moving so there were a lot of snacks being given out to keep her occupied long enough to scarf down the food.  We toured around the Inner Harbor of Victoria, went to the Aquarium in Sidney, took in an Imax movie and Mackenzie even spent a full 24 hours with Nana and Papa while her mom and dad jetted on the ferry over to Seattle for a day.

For sleep she slept in a pack n play with the same adaptations as in her crib at home.  A pillow under her head/neck/upper back and a rolled up down under her knees.  She slept the best she's slept since the cast there!  Grandpa claims its because of the heavier air at sea level.  Whatever it is, I'll take it.

Passed right out!

I wish we had a quick short answer to give people when they ask about Mackenzie's cast.  Through the airports as well as on many of our outings in Victoria we were constantly being asked about it.  The quickest response I have come up with is just to say "She has hip dysplasia.  Her hip didn't develop properly so they did a procedure to put it in place and the cast is stabilizing it".

All in all the trip was a total success.  We had a great time and Mackenzie just rolled with everything like she always does.