{"id":34908,"date":"2013-12-30T05:55:50","date_gmt":"2013-12-30T10:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=34908"},"modified":"2015-12-27T15:48:18","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T20:48:18","slug":"flying-with-diabetes-and-a-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=34908","title":{"rendered":"Flying with Diabetes and a Baby"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few months ago, my husband suggested that we go on vacation in December. (Actually, he said “go on holiday.” South Africans know how to make everything sound fancy.)<\/p>\n

My first thought was Count Me In.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I began to mentally prepare. I hope my parents will babysit Maya for a week\u2026 I need to start pumping milk\u2026 I need new flip flops… I have to refill my insulin prescription.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Maya was happily playing on her mat. Gary picked her up and made her “fly” around the living room. He said to her, “Soon you’ll be flying on a real airplane!”<\/p>\n

I realized that Gary was planning to take Maya with us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I love being with Maya. She’s my best bud. But whenever I’ve seen babies on airplanes, their parents look wrecked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, we figured that with a little preparation, we would be just fine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As I always do, I planned to make an extensive packing list comprised of several categories.<\/p>\n

But first. A list of the categories:<\/p>\n

Clothing, Shoes, Toiletries, PJs, Beach, First Aid, Electronics, <\/em>just to name a few. And of course, Diabetes.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But time got away from me. My categories were merely headings with no bullet points underneath. I only managed to fill out one list. The one called Baby<\/em>. I became an avid online shopper. Diapers, wipes, baby food, baby swimsuits, baby sunscreen, baby sun hats, and a lightweight umbrella stroller were all delivered to the apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maya was all set.<\/p>\n

Gary packed too. It took him seven minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for me. I left my own packing for the last minute. I had no lists and nothing to check off. I had to wing it. I threw some shorts, t-shirts, and test strips into my bags, and that was that. \u00a0<\/p>\n

We made it to the airport with two suitcases, a backpack, a small black bag, a diaper bag, a stroller, a car seat, a red Vera Bradley carryon filled with diabetes paraphernalia, and a seventeen pound baby.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We checked our suitcases and then we continued onto airport security.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ah, airport security for the person with diabetes.<\/p>\n

After stepping through the metal detector, a TSA agent usually pulls me aside. It’s annoying and predictable, but also a little thrilling. For a moment, I feel like a person with something to hide.<\/p>\n

The agent typically asks me to hold my insulin pump. This is followed by an explosive trace detection sampling of my hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Occasionally, he calls over a female TSA agent to give me a pat down. He shouts, \u201cFemale Assist!\u201d It’s all very intrusive. But I understand that they take security seriously, so I am okay with a pat down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This time, I stepped through security, and, as expected, the gentleman asked me to step aside. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I wondered what he would scrutinize. My pump? My lancets? My bottle of insulin? I was ready to obey.<\/p>\n

But he wanted none of those things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was only interested in my 9 month old daughter’s pink and green sippy cup.<\/p>\n

I had filled it with water before we left for the airport. I intentionally measured out 3 ounces so that we could take it through security. But the agent said it had more than 3 ounces. And if I wanted it back, he’d have to “test the liquid.”<\/p>\n

Testing the liquid didn\u2019t sound appealing so I asked to spill it out.<\/p>\n

He said that to spill it out, I’d have to exit the security area (escorted by another agent), dump the liquid, and then come back through security with the empty cup.<\/p>\n

Complicated.<\/p>\n

But that is what I did.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I passed through the metal detector for the second time, surprisingly, it was a breeze. No one stopped me. I slipped on my Sperrys and strolled over to Gary and Maya who were waiting for me on a bench.<\/p>\n

Maya napped for part of the flight. (Don’t ask about the other part.) While she slept, I finally had the chance to carefully peruse my big red bag of Diabetes<\/em>. Even though I winged packing, it was well stocked. I didn’t forget anything. It made me feel secure. I could finally relax.<\/p>\n

We’re in our hotel room now. Gary is organizing our bags. Maya is drinking from her sippy cup. (I refilled it.) And I can see the sun shining outside on our balcony. I’m ready for holiday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But first \u2013 a nap.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":53098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nFlying with Diabetes and a Baby<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ah, airport security for the person with diabetes - the 'best' part of flying with diabetes. 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