BART baby

During my one month post-partum check up on Tuesday, I took away two key pieces of information. One: I was released to do light exercise (swimming, walking, yoga), yay! Two: I very badly needed to resume physical therapy for my pudendal nerve (the reason I has a scheduled C-Section). As luck would have it, there was an opening on Thursday morning at 9 am, so I took it. Having been a weekly visitor, the office staff knows me well and said if I was feeling up to it, I should bring Lena so they could meet her. Since Mike teaches on Thursdays, I didn't really have a choice so Lena was going to visit San Francisco for the first time!

I'll admit I was nervous. Babies are unpredictable. I had visions of her getting hungry and crying for the 32 minute BART ride. Or, more realistically, her getting hungry and me breastfeeding on BART. I literally cannot listen to her cry. I have a very visceral reaction and NEED to calm her. I am 100% sure I would breastfeed her on BART just to make her happy. It's not the breastfeeding in public aspect that horrifies me here. It's the a) potential calliber of people on BART I'd be entertaining (and eliciting comments from) and b) see my blog post on the study on the cleanliness of BART seats. There would be copious amounts of antibacterial hand sanitizer added into the equation.

However, I wasn't going to let the fact that I was nervous prohibit me from bringing her. If I could just get over the first time, subsequent times would be easy. So, I made sure to give myself plenty of time and we set out. I fed Lena right before we left and as usual, the car ride to BART (even though it's only 3 min) put her to sleep. And she stayed asleep throughout the train ride. And my physical therapy appointment. I had visions of a frustrating appointment spent calming her down but she rocked it! Since it had been three hours since she ate and the doctor's office is in Union Square, I set off for the ladies lounge at Macy's to feed her. She literally woke up as we were walking into the bathroom. Our walk in Union Square lulled her back to sleep and she slept through me grabbing lunch, riding on BART, and an hour after that. Of course, she was up for six hours after that, but I won't complain. We both went to bed at 6:30 pm tonight.

Success!



Getting ready to leave with dad



Waiting on the BART platform



Sleeping on BART (and yes, after I took the picture, the screens went up!)

Sleeping through her first visit to Union Square

 

Union Square getting ready for Christmas with 200 foot creepy Brady Pitt in the background

A rare awake moment during the trip

 

Oh, I do miss BART.  Here's a guy feeding a husky on his back in the Powell station.

 

On the train ride home

Four hours later; not a nap in sight.