A Vacation for Mom and Dad

My wonderful husband and I are celebrating 5 years of marriage this summer.  As a gift to us, my husband's parents (a.k.a. the world's greatest in-laws!), offered to come watch the boys for us so that we could enjoy a long weekend in the mountains.  The plans for this weekend have been in the works for quite some time, 6 months or more.  I admit that the idea of leaving LB with anyone other than us was terrifying a year ago.  He was eating every four hours and waking up several times a night.  We were tracking his food intake in notebooks to make sure he made it to within 1/3 of his average food intake for the day.   He was doing great and all, but we were, like all new metabolic families, a bit jittery...me especially.

 

As months have passed, we've gotten more comfortable with the feeding requirements associated with MCADD and the many interrupted nights of sleep.  That said, we had still never left LB with a sitter (other than his daycare provider and she only watches him during the day) up to this point and we had certainly never let him out of our sight for a meal. 

 

My husband's parents came out to visit us a couple times in the month leading up to our weekend.  During that time, they paid attention to his eating schedule and asked questions about the things they should watch for.  They understood the importance of his bedtime snack and his need for adequate hydration and rest periods while out playing in the summer heat.  They assured us that everything would be ok and I became more comfortable with the thought of leaving him not only for a meal, but for three days worth of meals in their capable hands.

 

As the vacation approached, the only thing that I remained worried about was the nighttime feedings.  LB is still waking up 3-4 nights a week expecting a bottle, which we oblige him in and he quickly snuggles back to sleep.  I was worried about my in-laws having to get up in the night with him and having their sleep disturbed possibly several nights in a row.  I mentioned this to my mother-in-law and she said the sweetest thing to calm my fears.  She said that some of her favorite times with all three of her children were during the quiet hours of the night.  She recalled that when her youngest finally started to sleep through the night, she was sad that she would no longer have that special one-on-one time with her because as a mother of three young children, her days were quite full, especially managing the two older boys (my husband included!) and she didn't get much one-on-one time with her youngest.  Not only was my mother-in-law not bothered by the thought of night feedings, she was looking forward to them.  What a relief! 

 

On the morning of our departure for our trip, I was a bit nervous, but mostly I was excited for a getaway with my husband and an opportunity for the boys to spend some special bonding time with their grandparents. I knew the boys would be more than fine with their grandparents and that they would have a lot of fun.  We also knew that if anything catastrophic happened, we would only be a couple hours away and could easily be home lickety-split.  Thankfully, nothing happened...but, in fact a whole lot happened.  The boys went to the zoo, visited several different parks in the neighborhood, went hiking, swam in the pool, etc. 

 

 

And we had a lovely vacation, complete with 3 nights in a row without a night feeding (something neither of us has had in about 16 months).  Happy Anniversary!