Fun Trip to Mexico - 1

After having enjoyed the baby phase down and under, S and I were eyeing on a little holiday….a tiny break from the routine, especially with my birthday around the corner. But the thought of taking the baby out of comfort zone, exposing him to the big dangerous world of germs out there was holding us back. Adding to it, I also had the difficult task of packing baby stuff.

Bearing all of this in mind, our plans started with a simple 2/3 day outing, somewhere closer. Since it was winter, we had limited options. In fact, just one option….indoor water parks with lodging. Really??? Pity on us parents with infants. The options are cut down drastically! It was definitely not like before…when we could just hop off randomly without having to worry about food, accommodation with kitchen, weather, infant-friendly and stroller-friendly locations, clean washrooms with diaper changing facilities, abundant time blahh …hell, yeah. It donned upon us that we were past the golden phase of easy travelling. It never was going to be the same. But, our spirits were the same….we were not to give up so easily.

I had to look for a place where we could relax, have plenty of time on hands to take care of the baby and see the places around. That’s when I bumped upon the all-inclusive packages in one of the travel sites. All-inclusive….the name itself was appealing and that too at Mexico, where the weather was moderate. Half my problems were solved. After weighing all the options, I finally narrowed down to a 5-star resort for a 7-day vacation. The resort was in Cancun, by the beach. It had plenty of swimming pools and indoor entertainment. The food, beverages were all free 24/7. I read the reviews and double checked if it was infant-friendly. It was all too good to be true! We went ahead and booked it without a second thought.

I started packing way ahead to avoid last minute rush. The little one’s stuff filled up 1 big suitcase! I wasn’t taking any chances…I packed up everything right from baby medicines, plenty of baby food, swim diapers to dishwashing liquid, microwaveable containers, flask etc etc. The list goes on and on. S was saying, “why don’t we just carry our home there?” :D It all came down to 2 big check-in bags, 1 cabin bag, a stroller along with the car seat and the baby, of course :D Oops...we also had the rock-heavy diaper bag!

Because it was New Year’s eve, the airport was bustling with people. We would have almost missed the flight, thanks to the long line for check-in.  It was a 4 hr flight and so, there were no bassinets for babies. We had to settle for regular seats with baby on lap. It was Bunty's first flight trip and we were pretty nervous about him crying during take-off and landing. But he surprised us like he always does. He not just enjoyed the flight, but had fun watching out of the window. During take-off and landing, I put him to sleep and he was alright. The journey was much better than expected.

After we got off the flight, we waited for a while at the airport for the hotel transport to pick us up. No sooner, we were on our way to the Cancun Strip and were dropped off outside the resort.

The moment we entered the resort, we were blown away by the interiors. The christmas decorations were still fresh. The lobby was huge. The interior decor was modern and chic. There was a coffee bar towards the end of the lobby overlooking the beach through glass walls. We could see the blue waters and white sand. It was like a dreamland!

The resort staff were very polite and friendly. They upgraded our package and gave us a villa accommodation! We were given a grey band. We were to wear it on our wrists all the time to avail the premium facilities at the resort. Our vacation had started with a bang!

Days at NICU - 2

As the days progressed, the little peanut started showing signs of improvement. He was latching better and had started bottlefeeds once/twice in a day. At around 2 weeks, the nurses were confident that he would go home soon.

The NICU bustled with new borns, caring nurses and new mommies! By now, we had become familiar to the environment. Bunty's immediate neighbours were twin boys on one side and a little girl on the other side. One baby would start crying and wake up all the other babies! Sometimes, the babies would pull off the nodes and set the monitors to beep.  Bunty once pulled the feeding tube out of his nose and startled us!
I had mastered the art of disconnecting all the nodes from the baby, feeding him, changing his diapers, dress, putting him to sleep and connecting back all the nodes.

At around Day 18, Bunty baby was off the tube feeds completely. He had switched to bottle/breast feeds. He had passed his first test yayy!

The next test was he had to stay in his car seat for 90 minutes after a feed without any discomfort. His stats had to be normal a;; the while. He was so tiny when we tucked him up with all the belts in the carseat...like a doll. We left him to sleep and left to home. Called back later to find out that he passed the carseat test too :)

So, the final test was for us basically. On the night of Day 19, we had to stay overnight at the hospital with the baby. We had to take care of him without any help from the nurses. We were given a family room with all amenities. Of course, now it feels it was so easy to carry off. But we were real nervous that day! We were on the spotlight and we were on our own to take care of the baby. So, it was a big thing then. S and I took turns and woke up every 3 hours to tend to the baby. Little Bunty didn't trouble us much. The nurse checked on us a couple of times to see if we were doing okay. Next morning, we got a big thumbs up from NICU to take Bunty baby home!!! We almost jumped in joy!

On Day 20, we dressed up Bunty in a cute red welcome home dress. Took pictures with the nurses. Left them a Thank you card and treats. Afterall, we couldn't have done it without them.

And so, we were on our way home :) S and the grandparents had decorated our home for the baby's welcome!

The moment was so heart warming to have our little bundle of joy enter our abode. Little Bunty was finally HOME!