Our London Adventure

Yikes, I’ve been working on this (slowly) for over a week! It has been crazy times getting ready for this move.

Moving back to the US of A just a couple of months after having a baby means… Baby needs a passport! Since we knew we would be short on time, we opted to go to the embassy in London to get an emergency passport for Gerrit.

I was nervous about the trip to London. We decided to drive to Epping and take the Tube into London instead of driving there ourselves, which would have meant paying for the congestion fee and parking. I was mostly nervous about breastfeeding whenever and wherever Gerrit would want to feed! But I also worried about having him in the Moby wrap for large amounts of time. I didn’t think he would like being confined for more than 15-20 minutes at a time.

Well, we left a little bit later than we wanted to, and when we got to Epping, the lot was full. I knew the next station was in Theydon Bois, so we drove the 5 minutes to that town. Luckily, there was one spot left in that parking lot! While Andrew paid for parking, I quickly changed Gerrit’s diaper in the backseat of the car. Then we got on the Tube and headed toward London.

It didn’t take long for Gerrit to start fussing. Based on the amount of time since his last feeding, I assumed he was hungry again. I got set up with my nursing cover and thankfully, Gerrit started nursing right away. It was a little awkward, but the train was fairly empty, so I wasn’t too uncomfortable. Then the conductor announced that we had to switch trains because the one we were on was having a problem. So I maneuvered a mostly asleep Gerrit (still nursing) to a bench outside. And he kept nursing. When the next train came, it was already pretty full. Andrew asked a woman if I could have her seat to nurse, and she very willingly gave up her seat. The man sitting next to her gave up his for Andrew to sit too, which was really nice. Would this happen in a city in the States? I don’t know! I feel like maybe English people are just more polite!

I pretty much let Gerrit nurse until we got to the stop right before the one we were waiting for. Then I got him back in the Moby wrap, which was pretty easy since he was drowsy. And he actually did pretty well while we walked around trying to find the US embassy. He is such an alert little guy, so I think he really enjoyed walking through the London streets! His eyes were big and alert, and he just quietly took it all in.

Although we had an appointment for 10am at the embassy, we didn’t get seen right away. But we didn’t have to wait terribly long either. I think we were done by 1pm at the latest. Of course, right when we got there, I heard Gerrit have a big poop, haha. Thankfully, it stayed in the diaper, which isn’t always a guarantee anymore!

Although I had nursed on the Tube, Gerrit started fussing again once we sat down to wait. I got him covered up and breastfeeding, and he started dozing off. Ten minutes later, he spit up ALL over himself and me. I mean, a LOT of spit up. I had an extra outfit for him, but nothing for myself. And I had the Moby wrap on me too, so that smelled lovely the rest of the day. I’m so glad Andrew was there to help — it would have been a challenge by myself!

After everything was squared away at the embassy, we walked to a nearby pub for lunch. And I breastfed there too, haha. What can I say, Gerrit likes to eat! We were at a table near the back, so I wasn’t too self-conscious about it. I did have to eat my lunch one-handed though since Gerrit was having lunch too. I enjoyed my last Aspall cider with my lunch too… I will miss that! Andrew thought it was “interesting” that I was drinking it while breastfeeding… but I figured drinking it at the end of a feed meant it had plenty of time to get through my system, right?

Gerrit started getting fussy on the walk back to the Tube, and he cried a bit once we were settled in our seats, but he didn’t do too badly. He even took a little nap! He was more fussy once we got to the car. Andrew had to pull over so I could nurse. But I think Gerrit just wanted to comfort nurse to fall asleep, which he couldn’t do since he had to go back in the car seat. Poor guy. He did end up going to sleep though, and we got home without any issues.

Our London adventure resulted in our little guy being ready for his first international flight!