Tomorrow, I head to Philly to speak at the Type-A Parent Advanced conference. While I’m excited to sit around and geek out about professional blogging, I’m completely freaking out about taking baby D on his first flight.
I’ve been reading a few articles that have been helpful.
This one from Parenting Starts Here. And this one from Flying with a Baby, which is especially helpful for International flights.
There’s just one thing that every single advice column I read left out. One very small but very important thing.
A copy of your child’s birth certificate.
Seems easy, right? Logical, even? Except I didn’t think of this until today – the day before our flight. FAIL.
Even worse is that some time during the whole birthing process, as I was laying in my hospital bed, recovering from my c-section and trying to mentally process the fact that I was now a mom, and also that my baby was currently in the NICU and OMG when is my effing milk going to come in – I didn’t really pay attention when the nurse went over the whole birth certificate, social security card thing. I remember filling out some forms and hearing that things would come in the mail, but that’s about it. Hadn’t thought about it since. Fast forward to today and I found myself wondering where in the world that birth certificate could be. Did we get it in the mail? I don’t remember getting it. Turns out, the state of Missouri doesn’t send you a copy of your child’s birth certificate. If you want a copy, you have to pay for it. What a fucking racket that is! At the advice of a fellow mom, I found out I could get a copy of his birth certificate instantly if I just took my happy ass down to City Hall.
So I did just that. In the middle of a rainstorm. And when I got there, I was told “Cash only.”
IT’S 20-EFFING-13!! Figure out how to accept plastic, state of Missouri!
Obviously, I didn’t have enough cash on me so I had to go back out in the monsoon to my car, find my debit card, and walk to the other side of the building to use their on-site ATM (and pay a nice little fee). THEN I was finally able to get a copy of baby D’s birth certificate. And they gave it to me with a nice white envelope that was too small to hold it, so I had to shield this precious piece of paper with my body to keep it from getting destroyed on the way back to my car. Lovely.
Ok, so back to the point of this post. If you’re planning a flight with baby at any point in your life, get your damn birth certificate. Preferably not during a major thunderstorm, and don’t forget – bring plenty of CASH.
I’ll share more flying with baby tips once I actually figure out what the hell I’m doing.
But... Will There Be Cake? 
Umm…don’t throw anything at me but you can also take a copy of their immunization records for the flight…
Good to know! It doesn’t say that in SWA’s policy – just birth certificate. So maybe it varies by airline? Not sure.
I have flown with my twins quite a bit. It was only when they got to that questionable are they over 2 so we can charge them stage that anyone asked for their birth certificatae. It is great to have it with you though. My only tip with babies is to make sure they are suckling during landing/takeoff to avoid ear pain. Have a great trip!
Yep, Southwest allows immunization record OR birth certificate. Once they are over two, you don’t need anything.
Don’t hit me, but we’ve flown with Lilly twice now and have never taken anything like that with us. They don’t ask for it. Perhaps that will change when they’re old enough for people to question whether we should have paid for them? Eeeek hope your flight went well!
Oh wow! Sounds like something I would have gone through. It is always trying when traveling with kids…especially for the first time on a plane. But you made it! You did it! AND you have the birth certificate.