I've been away from this board for a while, mostly because I haven't needed to fly. My last round trip was back in November and it went pretty smoothly. It helped that my husband was with me.
Now I've got two round-trips coming up, one to DC, which is pretty short (on Delta MD-88s, but by and large I trust Delta) and one to Vancouver, which will require at least one stop and probably some time on a regional jet. Any reason why I should avoid Skywest, Compass, or Horizon Air?
But the big change since last I was getting help here was having my first child back in June. Since then my anxiety has definitely increased -- not just about flying but about random disaster. An acquaintance of mine, who was supposed to give birth the same day I was, lost her baby two days before. Not a day goes by when I don't find myself considering how lucky I am to be healthy with a healthy child. (I would disagree with you that the hyperanxiety-causing hormones subside shortly after delivery!)
Captain Tom, your most recent email about parenting (and attachment parenting, which I am consciously trying to practice) really spoke to me. I know, from discussions with my mother, that my parents let me cry it out as a baby -- not that they didn't love me, but that was what they thought they had to do at the time -- and looking back I suspect a lot of the messages I got, whether they intended it or not, were about conditional praise: i.e., be a good girl and we'll love you more. I plan to print out a bunch of your writings before going on my flights; what else would you recommend specific to becoming a parent and rethinking one's own childhood as a result?



