Driving Home With Baby
“So, we were driving up Ontario to get onto the expressway and all of a sudden we heard a ton of honking. I kept turning around, wondering what was going on, thinking these people were crazy. Yeah, turns out they were honking at us. Anthony must have been driving like 20 miles per hour.”
It was the answer to one of the first questions I asked one of my best, oldest friends Kari after she got home with her new baby girl: “How was the drive home from the hospital?”
The first drive with your sweet, precious cargo. You pack them tightly into their carrier, clip them into the base (which has been installed and approved by a professional at the police department or hospital), and head out into the unknown, dangerous streets full of speeders, swervers, and slowpokes.
Our first drive was two years ago, headed north on Lake Shore Drive, riding in the right lane, complaining about the cars flying by us, shocked at the reckless behavior of all the non-baby appreciating drivers around us. How dare they? Don’t they realize what we have in the backseat? Isn’t this the drive we’ve been thinking about for nine months? How dare they?
Now that I’m living in the burbs I’ve grown accustomed to seeing the signs for student drivers in sedans driving slowly around my neighborhood. And it’s made me think: Where are the signs for the first time parent drivers? I bet a little sign in the back window would have taken care of all of those honks my friend heard as they were slowly making their way to the Kennedy.
Think of your own first ride home, of all the stories you’ve heard of slow, defensive first time parent drives… How much more confident would parents be knowing that all the maniacs around them are aware of the precious cargo in the car? It might make other drivers slow down, smile to themselves, even give a knowing nod. It might not. But, knowing that it’s there can only help in your goal of getting that sweet bundle home safely.
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I don’t remember driving slowly, but I do clearly remember the hospital staff coming out to make sure our car seats were properly installed. There was clear, diapproving tone in the nurse’s voice that we didn’t buy the most expensive car seats possible for our twins. We were so nervous at the time that we just ignored her, but now I wish I had said something.
We were the same way… driving super slow. Letting cars honk/ pass us by. We were too scared at making a wrong turn. Too scared to get home and change the house of two to three forever.
We still giggle about it.
Oooo, what a great idea! Yellow signs for “Newborn Baby Heading Home”!! Or maybe we could start decorating the first-ride-home cars like we do for honeymooners! Tissue paper flowers and shaving cream on the door panels that reads “Congrats and Drive Carefully!” “Precious Cargo!” “Shh! No Honking! Baby’s Sleeping and Mom’s a Mess!” (Maybe that’s a lot to write in shaving cream…)
You should have seen my twins on their first ride home. Both were well under five pounds and we had to roll and stuff blankets all around them to keep them propped in the car seat. Twins, oxygen tanks, diaper bags — getting in and out of the car was a real treat! I was so terrified that someone would bumps us and the 02 tanks would explode.
My sign would have covered the whole car and read: Preemies on board with dangerous gasses — bump us at your own risk!
Of course, that “dangerous gasses” thing might have been misinterpreted.
i just remember feeling like every car was going to come crashing into us. plus, we had bundled our baby up so much only to find out it was one of the hottest days on record in may, we started to worry she would die of heat stroke before we could get her home!