The Kindness of Strangers

Last week we went on a trip to my home state for my sister's wedding (eek can't believe she's married!). We were understandably nervous about the air travel for said trip - it was the first time for the twins on a plane and we were not sure what the pressure changes would do for Nicholas's head and shunt. We were also traveling to a higher altitude than we normally are at. We consulted with Nicholas's neurosurgeon who told us that because we control the pressure in Nicholas's head with a mechanical tool, it was highly likely that he would fare better than the rest of us as we acclimated to the different pressures. That was a relief! Mike collected physician notes from Nicholas's pediatrician and neurosurgeon along with copies of his latest CT scan and shunt series and the card that indicates the current pressure his shunt is set at so we could carry it all with us in the event of an emergency trip to the children's hospital that didn't know us. We hoped against hope we wouldn't have to use it (and we didn't end up having to!) but figured better prepared than not.

Mike called TSA to ask for advice on what to do with all the bottles of water, powdered formula, Nicholas's feeding pump, and the medicine that we needed to carry on with us. The TSA agent told Mike to ask for a supervisor upon arrival to security check and that's what we did. A PSS (passenger support specialist) walked through line with us, helped us get everything on the conveyer belt (the stroller didn't fit, so that was walked through and hand checked), walk all the kids through, check out all our "special" stuff and got us on our way. We were through security in less than 15 minutes. It was incredible.

The flight out was running on time and when Mike went up to get the tags to gate check the stroller, it was suggested that we pre-board so that we had more time to get everything set up. We were not allowed to all sit in the same row since we had two lap infants - there are only four oxygen masks per row so someone wouldn't get one. I sat in one row with Emily and Zachary and Mike sat across the aisle holding Nicholas. Emily was fascinated. She watched people board, smiled and flirted at them, and was very calm. Nicholas, on the other hand, was less than thrilled. He ended up fussing most of the trip there. Luckily we were surrounded by parents and they were all very understanding. There was a girl who sat next to Zachary in the window seat and she entertained him the entire trip. She played games on the iPad with him, listened to his stories about a million times, and helped him get his movie set up when he wanted some quiet time. I was amazed. I thanked her profusely and she revealed that she works with children. She is clearly in the right field.

On the way home, we ended up getting to the airport early. We asked at security for a PSS and they looked at us like we had asked for a three headed dog. We explained what had been told to us at our home airport and they said there was no one there like that. We asked for a supervisor and they told us to speak to the gentleman helping the passengers through line. He didn't really understand what our needs were either, but he tried very hard to help. Our things went through, a TSA agent took the bottles filled with water to be checked and when he was done, he just walked away from them while grunting "it's good." We took that to mean we could pack everything back up and nobody stopped us, so I guess we were right. We were still through security fairly quickly but it was a less pleasant and helpful experience.

This flight appeared to be running on time as well, and when we got the tags to gate check the stroller we were again given pre-board access. Zachary had a meltdown when we boarded this time because he wanted to sit by me and we had decided on the way home he would sit by Mike. A gentleman was sitting across the aisle from Mike so I sat in the row behind him with Emily. When both Zachary and Nicholas were crying, the man jumped up from his seat and ran to the back of the plane. Nicholas cried during pretty much the whole boarding process which ended up working out very well for us because nobody sat in their row. I had a woman sit in the window seat, but the middle seat stayed open. The woman winked and said she always sat next to lap infants because the row almost never filled up. She was also incredibly nice and held Emily for me while I strapped in. She talked to Zachary through the break between the seats when he turned around and said hi. She told me that parents get so stressed out when their babies cry but that most people don't care and understand that babies will be babies.

Nicholas ended up calming down once we took flight and actually slept through the entire flight. Emily cuddled up and fell asleep too, and Zachary watched movies and played games through the whole flight. So, the family that boarded like lions ended up having the quietest children on the flight.

All in all it was a very smooth process because of the helpful staff through most of the journey and kind people on the flights. Ironically, we met twins almost everywhere we went. On the flight out, the woman sitting next to Mike had three year old twins, we met a man in the airport with six month old twins, one of the servers at the wedding reception was a twin, and on the way back the woman who sat next to me was a twin. It seems we've joined a very close knit community.