Spouses Flight Appreciation

This past weekend I got to experience my first spouse flight! I was pregnant with Claudia the last time they held one so I was extremely excited! I've been waiting so long to go on one! The day was absolutely beautiful sunny and clear skies...very rare for this state!
All the wives are shuffled into the auditorium to go over safety precautions and having a 100 women together there is lots of chatter! They get to the demonstration of oxygen mask, life vest yada yada yada...who really listens to those things?!? Well I obviously don't! What an ignorant person I am! We were then taken out to the runway and we took a group picture and then had split us up into two planes.  We are all settled in the plane and we got a demonstration of them loading the plane and then dropping a load(from the ground) It was so neat to experience. So we take off and are in the air for maybe 10-15 minutes and my friend Melissa & I were the next wives to experience the cockpit. We get all settled and no sooner than we sit down they point out Mt. Rainier! It was absolutely beautiful but then alarms started going off! I had no chance to appreciate the beauty because we were told to put our oxygen masks on. I look over to Melissa and our faces showed the fear. We had headsets on so we heard what was going on. A smoke detector went off. This happened for a few minutes and then they stopped and we could take our masks off.  The pilots then assured us it was ok and these things happen. We could see the other plane ahead of us and then it starts again...alarms and the panic sets in! My mind is racing I have a new baby, how is Nate going to care for them, will Nate remarry?!? As a woman my mind didn't stop of all the miserable thoughts and questions. If I could of I would've been hugging Melissa but I was strapped in and couldn't reach her.  When they declared an emergency all I could think of was land this plane ASAP! When we saw the runway you could see in our faces we were calming down.  Then they are saying 1500 ft, 800 ft, 200 ft  and then looking out seeing all the fire trucks waiting for the plane was such a relief!
  So we are out of the plane and safely on ground and Melissa & I didn't leave each others side! We are now bonded for life!
 I text Nate and he doesn't call, it was around nap time so i didn't think anything of it but then time passed so i finally call him and tell him what happened his response was ...yeah. And so i start to say what do you mean yeah...arent you concerned? He wasn't! So i ended the phone call quickly and when i got home i ranted to him. As calm as can be he says Nichole this happens on a daily basis what do you think happened when i told you the engine blew.....HOLY SHIT thats what happens is my response! Its F*$#ING scary! He has to be extremely calm and have his shit together at all times! I have a whole new appreciation for what my husband does every day! I will take the stress of raising kids over being a pilot any day!
 The next spouse flight is suppose to be in August....not too sure if I'll be on that flight:-)
Thank you to the amazing pilots and crew who were with us that day and all service members that serve us everyday!

I LOVE MY AIRMAN! 

Happy times!

With the oxygen mask on..yes we had time to take photos:-)

This was happening in the cargo area! 

Safely on the ground!

Road to Recovery

What a week! I can't believe Rex is a week old already! The first night i was by myself with Rex in the hospital and thats always tough. He did really well but you never get any sleep in the hospital!  Luckily we were able to go home the next day! Lots of transitioning and learning all over again! My mother in law(Carol) was here and she was a huge help.  Nate & Carol stayed up with Rex to let me sleep! It was so nice to get a good nights sleep. Although they had their hands full because Claudia didn't sleep well and for the next few nights she didn't:-( But i think we are finally back on track!
 Sunday i woke up with engorgement and it was awful. Once again it got to the point were it hurt to pick up my baby boy! I was an emotional wreck that day. I cried and really all i wanted was my mom! Its amazing how much you want your mom to hold you when something is wrong! Its true, a mothers love is like no other! I thought by not breastfeeding this time i wouldn't get engorgement(or at least as bad), boy was i wrong! I guess I'm a mass milk producer! So far no signs of mastitis(which landed me in the hospital for 4 days with Claudia. MISERABLE!) and i think i'm headed in the right direction of "drying up"
 Its amazing how different already he is from Claudia! He seems so much more mellow. He cries when he's hungry or has a dirty diaper, no fussiness! So unlike Claudia.  And I'm slowly getting use to the diaper changing, lets just say i'm usually changing his outfit too! He is dangerous! During bath was my first experience and i think my scream scared him! I think I'm going to have to invest in those pee pee teepees! Its just so different! He's a great eater and we are slowly getting a schedule of sleeping 4 hours, some nights are better than others.
  To my friends who are having babies,plan on babies or just never heard this before, WARNING DONT READ if you can't handle the truth!......  this information was passed onto me from another friend and it worked with Claudia! No one tells you how swollen you get and how extremely painful it is to sometimes just sit.  The key to help the swelling is HONEY! put honey on a pad and its a natural way to help the swelling! It sounds awful and sticky but its not and its amazing how quickly the swelling goes down! Its become so well known here that my midwife brought in honey packets! But i already packed mine!:-) So next kiddo try it you will be pleasantly surprised! Also i recommend depends! Pack them in your hospital bag! Yes its embarrassing buying them but it beats those awful hospital underwear that are uncomfortable, don't fit  and doesn't hold a pad plus it holds an ice pack much better!! Just tell your hubbies that this is what it'll be like when we grow old together! Its a good laugh and they work! Those are just two helpful pieces of advice that was given to me and i'm not afraid to share no matter how gross or TMI it is...how are we suppose to help if we don't share! And my biggest thing that bothers me is no one told me my belly would still look like i was pregnant! I don't know what i thought would happen but it sucks and everyone has it after birth. It took 9+months to create another human so its going to take time to get back to "normal".
   Honestly if new mommies have any questions i'm not afraid to tell you the truth and I'm always open for new tips from other mommies.....who knows when/if Call number 3 will come along:-)

He's so worth the pain...

and he knows it!