On the Road with Expecting Mom at Home

[Bandit_Driver]

This question goes out to all the guys that are flying for the airlines. I am wondering how you guys worked it when your wife got close to her due date?

I am concerned about being several hundred miles away and getting the call at midnight with no flights out until 6am...

Anyone have any tips or suggestions?

[TheWife]

We haven't had to face that yet but the plan is a scheduled induction as close to the due date as possible, if there is no way to arrange for him to be home around that time. Of course we do still risk if the baby came early on it's on, that he wouldn't be there.

[flyguy]

Obviosly having senority is going to be your friend in this case, but I'd say do your best to bid on vacation, family leave, days off, and trips that put you nearer to home with a shorter commute, when the due date comes near. May be easier said than done, but look at the situation do your best. Remember you are entitled to faimily leave, same as women. You could start taking that leave a time before the due date, and if the baby still does not come, you could induce as mentioned above. I don't think there's any way to guarentee you'd be able to be there, but that's true even if you are in town. Who knows, you could get stuck in traffic, stuck in an elevator, stuck under something heavy, etc. Just do your best and with a little bit of luck, things will work out.

[C650CPT]

I gotta tell ya this one,
I was scheduled for my very first international trip with the C-12 ( going to Honduras) and my wife was 8 months pregnant. We weighed the pros and cons and felt since it was only a 3 day trip that I really wanted to do, that I should go ahead. So off I blast on this exciting trip with a RON planned down in Key West on both sides of the trip to Honduras.
I get to our first refuel stop and we no sooner land than I get a text message from my wife saying her water broke and that she was on her way to the hospital. I freaked and told my commander that we had to turn around. He told me no, that I was on a mission and the mission took priority over my family matters. He really dug in saying there were no other pilots available and that I had to "suck it up" Of course then he tells me that women have been giving birth for along time without the men being there. So what would you guys do about now?
I was on the line, swallowed the hook sinker and all ... They let me sweat for about 10 min. before letting on it was a joke, a sick demented twisted yet beautifully played out joke.
You see what I forgot to remember was the excellent practical joke that I had played on another Unit pilot just the previous week and this was an orchrestrated pay back, even my wife was in on it. I was punked big time. My adversary had learned the art of get backs quite well. I did the trip and we didn't have the little one for another 3 weeks.


Jim

[Captain_Bob]

Oh my goodness Jim! That was a great story! Although, one wonders just what you did to the offending party the previous week to deserve that.

Bob

[MQAAord]

Ahhh, been-there-done-that!

Here's a post I made on Krisite's site about the very same subject:

[ QUOTE ]

We induced.

It probably meant we had a longer labor time than I would have otherwise, and I had to stay in the bed all day. We'd talked it over with our doctor pretty early on, and he said he understood our situation and he'd be very willing to work with us once it got a little closer. We didn't actually get our date set until about a week prior, but this let the doc make sure baby was 'cooked' enough. My due date was 21 July, we induced on 10 July. I was 38 weeks, I'd had a complication-free pregnancy, and there were no other medical issues involved.

We'll see if we have to induce again this time, Bill's got vacation (bid long before expecting baby) in March, and we will probably just let it go unless it looks like his vacation is nearing being over and no sign of baby's arrival has happened.

But should his vacation time dwindle, we'll induce again in a heartbeat in order to have him there. I DO NOT want him to have to do the cross-country-scramble to *maybe* arrive in time! When I was working I saw it several times, poor guys looking so anxious, knowing their baby is being born and they're not there, flight doesn't leave for an hour..... Then throw in heavy loads or weather and it becomes a horribly stressful situation for everyone.


[/ QUOTE ]

Really it all comes down to what works for you in your situation. Keep in mind also that babies don't always go by their due dates! Even with a scheduled induction, that little guy/gal can decide to make an early apperance! I myself was two weeks late, much to my poor mother's consternation.

[Bandit_Driver]

Sorry for the late reply. I've been quite busy. Thanks for all the advice. Jim, that was a great story. I have to ask, just what did you do to the other guy to deserve such a pay back.

My vacation is all set and I have the FMLA paper in hand. Hopefully, the little one will make on "on time arrival".

[JC1188]

I love the avatar Bob