What Would You Do?

After having Jonah home for the last 2 months we have learned quite a bit about his cry....you know, the cry that post-Norwood babies with HLHS aren't supposed to do? :) A hungry cry. An overtired cry. A dirty diaper cry. And then there is the the-car-has-stopped-moving cry. I have to say that the last is the worst! Being behind the wheel with Jonah upset in the back seat is more than nerve-racking. The first time this happened to Rob and I, we went into major panic mode because we were stuck in some good old-fashioned Chicago suburb traffic on a Friday night. Since then, we have become more comfortable with Jonah's cry and know his limits. Our panic switch doesn't get flipped that often anymore.

Yesterday, I went out to run a few errands and was on the way to my last stop when I merged on to a pretty busy road in town and came to a screaming halt immediately. As I entered traffic, all I could see before me was a parking lot. Mind you...it is 2:00 in the afternoon. As soon as the car slowed down, Jonah woke up from a little snooze and was in no way happy that we weren't moving. I tried talking to him, singing to him, I rolled down a window to give him some fresh air. I was even able to reach far enough back to offer him his pacifier. But he just wasn't having it. He was fired up! So.....I did what I had to do. I slowly got out of traffic and very carefully drove down the shoulder to get off at the nearest exit. Now, I have to say that I am still getting to know our new community and really wasn't sure when or where that next exit would be. Turns out, it didn't matter anyway. I got pulled over immediately! Jonah is still raging in the back seat when the police officer approaches the car. License-check. Insurance card-check. Then I try to explain to this seemingly cold-hearted cop why I was doing what I was doing. Well, he didn't even take 2 seconds to hear me out before walking away. While he was likely running my info and working on slapping me with a ticket, I got in the backseat to try to calm Jonah down. When the police officer returned, Jonah is still crying and I again try to explain that it is harmful for my son to cry so hard for so long. Then, he hit me with it...a $120 traffic violation and a "have a nice day". That was it. He was walking away again as I spoke. After all that, I still had to get back in gridlock traffic to get home.

Needless to say, this was beyond frustrating. I realize I was taking a risk, but I know that I was still driving safely. Trust me, we have all seen wild-abandoned, reckless drivers with no cops in sight. But here I was, getting a ticket after attempting to de-stress my fragile baby. Go figure. Honestly, I have to say that I would do the exact same thing again if I had to. Is that so wrong?