Thanks Wayne

My boss called a meeting in New York for right after the New Year.. I was planning to tell him that I couldn't go, that it was too soon. Natasha would be 9 months old (not brand-new, but still single digits..) and she still eats 3 times a night, and I just wasn't ready. To make matters worse, Natasha's babysitter was out of town that week, so it was already going to be a stressful week. A neighbor was going to watch her part of the time, and I was going to take a couple days off to take care of her.

It really was important for me to be at the meeting though, and there were other meetings I'd been putting off, so Dan and I decided I should go (that was a much easier sentence to type than it was a decision to make.. Lots more anguish in the decision). A good friend filled in the other days, and we found someone to come at night too so Dan (who had a big week at work too) could get a little sleep.

We still had a bunch of milk in the freezer, so I wasn't worried about Natasha getting food, but I was worried about all the milk I'd be pumping while I was gone. Four days of milk is a lot, and I couldn't see just dumping it, especially after wiping out our freezer stash. A friend had mentioned once she'd brought milk with her on a plane, but that was in the pre-terrorist world where you could take more than 3ozs of liquid on board. I found some posts online, and then the TSA's guidelines which basically said I could bring more than 3ozs onboard if I had a baby with me, but more than that would have to be checked if I didn't. (If I had a baby with me, I wouldn't need to carry all that milk!!) I called Jetblue to confirm, and they said the same thing, so I threw the pump, a pack of storage bags, and a soft-sided cooler in my bag and headed off (again, skipping the anguish part.. Still waiting for that to wear off)

When I checked in, I asked the baggage person about checking the milk, and she gave me a new piece of information: I couldn't check ice, only dry ice.

Meeting went really well, Natasha was fine, Dan got a little sleep and so did Natasha.. (more on that later, this post is about milk.) So before, after, and when I had a break from meetings I went back to my room and pumped, and loaded up my little minibar fridge. While pumping, I called local places that people had suggested, or that had turned up in searches as selling dry ice - with no luck. I'd asked a couple people who work at the hotel, with various suggestions that didn't work out.

But Wayne made it happen.

He asked around in the kitchen and with the caterers, checked to see if the fish delivery had come with any, and ultimately drove out and bought me some! I had a message in my room that there was dry ice for me sitting in the hotel's freezer

When I checked out I found the hotel manager and told him how much I appreciated Wayne's effort, and why. Wayne had never even asked what it was for! I might've teared up a little as I explained that it meant that I could bring a big bag of food home for my baby. Turned out to be Wayne's son's first birthday, so I tried to get the manager to give him the rest of the day off, but I don't think he went for it.

So I lugged my cooler of milk around Manhattan for my meetings today, then headed to the airport. The chunk of ice had dwindled quite a bit, but it was enough to keep thinks cold, and in the air the baggage area is cold enough that I wasn't really worried about it. When we landed and the cooler came out (of course one of the very last bags!) all the milk was still frozen!

All's well that ends well, but if it's ok, I'd like to never leave again.