The comfort zone and what to do when that area is unavailable

What is a comfort zone?

This is what I call the area for which I find easiest to deal with the baby - especially if he is in a bad mood. In the truck this would be the bed where i can lay him out, pick him up, put him on his tummy, stand him up, sit him up on his pillow, etc. I can set out his bottle of formula, his bottle of water, a clean diaper, his nose plunger, his receiving blankets and have them all within reach. I can even set out the laptop in order to watch a movie with him. As I said, it really is a comfort zone.

Now, what do I do if this area is unavailable??
This is one of the more difficult situations I have found myself facing. Occasionally, especially when he is pretty tired, my husband will take a nap while we are either loading/unloading or even just stopping if we have time in order to take one - just because he really needs one. This often leaves me in a bind because that leaves me the two front seats and the floor, not exactly baby friendly places.

Setup:

First of all, I make sure that his car seat is in place in the passenger seat, with him in it, at least temporarily while I set up. I pit his bottle in the cup holders, the laptop on either the dashboard or the steering wheel and I have a diaper and changing stuff within reach so I do not have to leave the baby unsupervised on the front seat - which is incredible unsafe as you would guess. I also have a plastic box (which i keep cat crunchies in) for which I can sit on.
If he is hungry we watch a movie while i feed him.
If he is playing (usually running in his case) I place him on his back on the chair and sit on my box to make sure he doesn't roll off.

What to do when it is unavailable:

If he is wanting to sit up i hold him on my lap or move the laptop to the dashboard and seat him on the stairing wheel where he can move his head around and look outside.
Of course if nothing works and he is still being just plain cranky, I put him in the back and take him for a walk until he falls asleep or is likely to be hungry again. At one point I would rock him back and forth in the pack on the spot, but this got boring really fast and I concluded that it would be much better to actually go somewhere if I was going to be doing that much walking.
And if he is starting to fall asleep, but still wiggling and trying to play or I need something to hold him while i fix formula or food I always have the carseat in place on the passenger seat ready to hold him for me when I need it.

And when my husband wakes up, I am the first to rush to the back in the sleeper so I can have my favorite spot back.

Adjusting between on and off road

I recently heard a man on the radio say that it can take anywhere from 3 days up until 2 years to adjust to a new environment. Of course the wide range in this time period is due to a number of different factors. The type of environment (a new country and culture - 2 years or more, a new house - 3 days), whether there is a language barrier or a cultural barrier and of course the person or the people involved. It will typically take more people (families) longer to adjust because the time period takes as long as the slowest person in the group to adjust and then the group has to redefine the group roles and how each member functions in the new environment.
For my family each time we switch from on the road to off the road there is typically a three day period in which it takes us to adjust from situation to another. However, every time we switch we take into account the fact that during the time period in either situation the baby will change in some small way that will make the re-adjustment to the initial environment more interesting. For example, while I spent two weeks with my mother the baby started to become more alert and play with toys, so in coming back on the truck he prefers to sit up front where all the action is and like to have a toy to play with (usually his blanket for playing peek-a-boo). A couple of weeks after being on the truck we came off road again and he was starting to want to sit up in his horseshoe period, as a result I have had to figure out how he can do that one the truck. There are a couple of points you will need to make note of when considering these adjustments you will make at least 1-2 months:

Sleeping
I have not had an issue with this personally, however I have spoken recently with a number of ladies who have. Their babies and young children got very used to the movements and noises of the truck, and so when adjusting to an off the road situation many of them for at least a little had issues with sleeping. All I can recommend is that you try and keep a consistent schedule for the baby between both environments so that the baby is going to sleep about the same time each day. I have had some issues with getting him to sleep during the day on the truck, but i always have the fall back time period in the evening that i have mostly kept consistent. Originally it was 9pm, but recently I have brought it back to 7pm, because long term that is when I would like him to go to sleep.
I also make sure that whenever we are off the road that he sleeps in his crib as much as possible so that he understands the importance of have his own bed.

Burping
Babies for whatever reason need less burping while on the truck, I guess it must be the vibrations. Remember though if your switching to an off road environment to start burping your little one again, otherwise they will start spitting up and what-not.

Activities
Keep an eye on the babies development within each environment. If he starts doing something in environment make sure that he can do it within the other. As I mentioned before, the last time I was off the road he started enjoying sitting up in his shoe pillow and watching tv. So this time on the truck I have done just that and once whenever he seems like he might enjoy it I prop him up in front of the laptop so he can watch some cartoons. Whenever we have been at a terminal or truckstop for a couple of hours (and are not sleeping) I take him inside and prop him up on his horseshoe pillow in front of tv also.

Remember be kind to yourself
Some of the transitions will be very hard on you. I have found that reminding myself that the baby will adjust again in a couple of days - maybe a week, has been very helpful. If you can start with a solo run or one that will give you a bit of leeway for the adjustment period. Don't be stupid like us, one time we came back on the road into a full team shift. By the end of it the three of us were overly fatigued and slept for almost 24 hours straight.

All about accidents

I am very much aware of exactly how off topic this is, but all the same there is a lot of information that I can give on the subject that will help someone out there. I believe and hope to emphasize why you should not have kids on your truck if you are in a position not to. I was in fact nearly in several accidents this last week which has reminded me off the fact. First there was a stupid dump truck who decided to perform a u turn right into the path of a moving Semi-truck. Then there were the two cases in Washington DC within 10-15 miles of each other (do you think they might be short of some brain cells up there?). One was another car parked on the highway waiting to get run over, needless to say this time i avoided the moron and called 911. The other one involved someone driving up the exit ramp and realized just in time to speed up and make it to the shoulder avoiding myself and another car.

The funny thing about the trucking world is that the majority of people that talk about accidents have no actual experience and if they do it is from after the fact. I remember sitting in an accident awareness class during my commercial drivers license training and none of what I learned in that class was applicable in the major accident I was in. The man teaching the class had never been in an accident, he only repeated the Department of Transportation general information on the subject.

Fact: The are 8 seconds of importance before an accident.

It takes the average driver 3 seconds to respond 3 seconds to make a decision and then about 2 to put into play any decision you have made. This means that if your trainer was as good as mine *looks at James* he will drill procedure into you until it is instinct. The reality is is that by forcing your body to act before you process it leaves you a little more time to make an important decision if you need to.

So what happens in an accident?
After the point of decision and the accident starts to take place a very interesting thing happens. The most accurate portrayal of an accident I have seen on television is on the show House. There is one episode where he is in a bus accident. Time does literally ground almost to a halt because everything is moving so fast. Things fly up in the air and almost seem to float about you and your world does literally seem to rotate around you. Then time speeds up again until everything grounds to a halt at the end of the whole incident. The one thing they do not teach drivers is to keep their mind clear during the period where time slows and they should. The reason being it allows the driver to prepare for when it speeds up again and  be prepared for how the vehicle will move in that time, whether it is sliding along the road, an out of control vehicle, etc.

What happens afterwards?
Well once the accident has taken place and if you are still conscious, check yourself for any major injuries. Your chair should have deflated and you should be able to remove yourself from the vehicle. If you are mostly uninjured it is your responsibility as driver on duty to check the other people in the truck and if possible get them safely removed. If there is major damage to the front of your truck get away as fast as possible, because there is a serious danger of a fire and a general hazmat threat from the chemicals in the engine. If anything in your truck is strewn across the road please note that if it is not covered in chemicals it will be thrown back within your vehicle by the wreckers. Once out of your own vehicle grab one of the witnesses and have them call 911. Don't rely on your panic button. If your vehicle has rolled then it will not go off. Then proceed to check the other vehicles, if there is no immediate fire damage then do not remove anyone that could possibly have internal bleeding (the usually look like zombies). If someone cannot be removed from their vehicles have somebody stand by with a fire extinguisher (every truck has one). Once the cops arrive your job is done. The ambulances will start to arrive shortly afterwards and will take everyone off to hospital. In the emergency room you can contact your employer and any immediate family.

Who is affected the most?
The general story is that the driver of vehicles and anyone injured are the ones most affected by an accident, and while this is true for the person majorly injured and the driver has accidentally killed someone, but not otherwise. The one affected most in a trucking accident is the person in the sleeper. In the major accident that I was in with my husband, I have remained perfectly fine after the accident. It took awhile to overcome the initial effect (white cars being scary, etc). My husband still has difficulty sleeping in the back while anyone is driving, but then you have to understand why. In the back you have no control over your situation, you are unsure of what is going to happen. There are items flying all around and most of them hit you (this is why you need to earthquake proof your truck, because at any point in time you might be in one - securing that microwave for instance?). Other minor instances that could have been serious accidents I have found myself in similar situations where I am not in control and I find that I am more affected by those than when I was driving.

What do I think needs to be changed to improve the situation?
The best thing any driver can do is earthquake proof their vehicle. Make sure everything is stuck down or secured. I would also like to see paramedics brought in on the accident awareness courses to help drivers understand what to do in an accident situation.

Showering

Allow me to warn you right now, showering will be a big drama.
First, there are all your showering items, your partners showering items, the baby's showering items, the baby's bathtub, any dishes you may want to do and of course the baby! Here are some logistics solutions that should help minimize the amount of drama involved.

1) Pick a time of day when showers are most readily available - usually between the hours of 9am and 3pm, and then 12am-4am (if you can find a parking spot). These are the times when all the single day drivers are either asleep or out driving and not clogging up the shower line.
2) Change your clothes before you head in to shower, this means that all you need in the shower bag is soap, diapers, baby's clothes, a wash cloth, etc.
3) Do all your slightly dirty dishes whenever you can, leaving the really dirty ones (bottles, cooking pans) for when you have guaranteed access to hot water in the shower.
4) Go to the counter and specify that you would like the disabled shower. Make sure you have the baby with you so they understand why. The people that work at truck stops don't really want the drama either.
5) Make sure you ask the orderly for extra towels.
6) Get everything laid out before you start the showering process.
7) The rest is all up to you on how you do things. Some babies like to hang out in their bathtubs, some like are happy to hang out in their car seat or backpack and then some are just happy with a good old fashioned towel.

Activities

In a normal situation, that is living in a house or an apartment, there are plenty of activities you can do with your baby, but what do you do when your home is an 8 X 10 box? Here is a list of ideas.

1) Sight Seeing
Tools: Baby Backpack/ stroller (if you somehow manage to fit one into your truck - i haven't)
Now you knew this was going to come up. There are various places you can go sightseeing and different ways in which to do so.

The first and easiest way to go sightseeing with you little one is to stop at rest areas whenever you have the chance. These usually have bathroom access, some historical markers for which you can read, sometimes art, sometimes a garden and usually a path to walk on.

Next are the more interesting places.
-The statue of liberty
I recently have found that you can actually get your truck right up near the statue of liberty. Located in Jersey city is Liberty Park. If you go down to the end of Theodore Conrad Drive you can park in the culdesac and there is a small park there for which you can see the statue of liberty. You can also see NYC from here.
-Niagara falls
There is a service plaza along the I-90 corridor towards Buffalo NY that runs tours up to Niagara Falls.
Dodge City
Take a moment to visit the Boot Hill museum 3 miles walk from the Flying J along US 400 in Kansas.
-St Louis Arch
Unfortunately, there is no direct truck access to this monument, but it can be seen from the I-44 bridge that crosses the mississipi between Missouri and Illinois. There is a pilot nearby from which you can take a taxi.
- The Washington Monument
Ok, so for security reasons you cannot go into DC. I'm sure you understand, however if you are headed north or south and have to take the 495 loop around, take the eastern side of it. It adds on an extra 10 minutes, but you can see about as much of DC as you will ever see in a truck.
-United States Airforce museum, Dayton, Oh
Stop at the freightliner in Dayton, oh to get your truck repaired and while doing so stay at the Suburban hotel. They have a free shuttle for truck drivers to the local meijers and the us airforce museum.
Los Angeles
This really expensive I am guessing, but the TA in Ontario off of Milliken Drive has rental cars now. So you can do your LA sightseeing. This TA also has a mall within walking distance.
The Dalles
- The Pilot located on I84 at exit 104 in Oregon has some great walking opportunities.
Troutdale
-The TA at I84 exit 17 in Oregon has a small town which is great to walk around.
Flagstaff
- Awesome place to stop. Stop at Little America on I40 exit 198. Lot of little shops to walk around and the truckstop has hotel access and huge bath tubs. Great for relaxing in.
Mt Rushmore
If your ever along I90 in Rapid City, SD you should be able to at least go past the monument. You will also have to go out if route to see it so be aware. If you take US 16 (is truck rated) south of Rapid City, SD it will split of to Us 16A (not sure if truck rated). Take this to SD 244 (not sure if truck rated) west. It should take you by the monument. If this is impossible you should be able to rent a car from the pilot in Rapid City to take you there. I would be interested to hear if any of you manage to get your truck there.

Remember you are the tour guide, tell your little one about it all!

2) Watching TV
You can do this in the truckstops or in your truck. On your laptop or on your Tv if you have one.

3) Running
My little one likes to lay on his back on the bed after a couple of hours in his carseat and run. Why not join in? Get some exercise and the baby thinks your hillarious (so does your partner).

4) The interview
I like to prop my little one on a pillow and interview him and he likes to gurgle back. Do voices, be a comedian, practice your accents, pretend your awesome ;).

5) Singing

6) Lets Cook!
Tools: Baby Backpack
Put your little one in a baby backpack while your cooking. Explain it all to him/ her (even though they don't care), they will enjoy it all.

7) Tummy Time
That latest greatest fad recommended by all the experts! This can be accomplished by clearing all the blankets to one side of the bed and letting your little on wiggle on top of the sheets, Truck matresses are firm enough that he/she will be just fine.

8) Swords
When your little one can grasp at things give them a pen to hold and have a sword fight.

9) Dancing
Tools: Rattle boots (optional: can be purchased at walmart)
This is always fun. Blast your favorite music and dance. Tap the beat out for a couple of days and your little one will start to dance. They may or may not be into this. You can add some rattle boots into the mix for added fun.

10) Story time
I am told a lot of babies love storytime, although my son seems to prefer dancing (probably because I am a horrible narrator). There are plenty of books available for purchase, especially if you have an ipad or tablet.

11) Tablets
tool: tablet or ipad
open up the photos section on your tablet and place it at the end of the babies car seat. They may or may not have fun flipping through the pics.

Remember all babies are individuals so find out which activities work for you!

Space Saving Tips

 First a little explanation....

There is not a lot of space within the cab of a semi truck, especially for storage. With a baby on the truck this makes the use of that space to it's best ability essential so that you don't have clutter anywhere that could possibly cause harm to the baby. It also makes it easier to function more effectively within the truck because everything has it's own place. This is probably funny coming from me because I am or have been somewhat of a messy person.
The majority of truckers (men by themselves) do a fairly decent job at utilizing this space.  Men seem to have a fairly natural instinct in figuring out what is needed and what is not. They have one weeks worth of clothes, enough food for a week - usually something simple, some snacks, plenty of fluids, what they need as far as business paperwork and the rest of the space is used up for entertainment. What this entertainment is usually depends on the trucker. I have seen trucks with televisions, game sets, computers, etc. Also included is whatever items you have to use for cooking if you have them. (side note: with a baby you will need to be breast feeding or have access to some device for warming up formula and possibly storing it.)
Of course when you add a women into the mix suddenly the truck fills up with a lot of unnecessary items. I know because I am guilty of this myself and I have seen many other women, even those out by themselves have a lot of unnecessary items in their trucks that they don't use. These items include: An over abundance of clothes, an over abundance of food, utensils you never use, gifts, etc.

What kind of storage is there in a semi truck?

The answer to this question depends largely on the type of truck you have. I am familiar with the freightliner century and cascadia which should give an idea.

Both styles come with:

- Storage underneath the bunk.
- Side storage (for tools usually)
- A bunk bed (unless spec'd not to have one)
- Two smaller cabinets
- Two shelves
- A slide in and out desk (i have found that you can place an average size wooden cutting board on this making an excellent kitchen workspace).

Cascadias:

- cabinets have doors
-An extra large cabinet with shelves
-An extra smaller cabinet

Century:

- cabinets have netting
- the two shelves have a larger height

Flat bed trucks:

-Have extra side tool boxes (can be used as a refrigerator in the winter)

Side Note: In this example I am using a Freightliner Cascadia, box truck style (no tool boxes), with minimal under the bed storage (because of an generator and inverter) and half the cabinets torn out and replaced with a fridge freezer and microwave. The cabinets we do have are the two small cabinets, the in and out desk, on bed side table and the large cabinet (used for short term dry food storage). We also have a minimal amount of top bunk storage, because it is largely taken up by a large litter box for our cats, an oven and the baby bath tub. Therefore, you should have plenty of room left over.

How can I best use that storage?

The number one important principle to follow in any truck is:

***What do I absolutely need in one week?***

Within that week you should have time to do laundry once, make a shopping trip to walmart and grab a shower at least every 2-3 days. So there are a number of things that you can think about in order to reduce clutter.

Clothes

-How to make your selection
While at your home base wear one weeks worth of your favorite and most practical clothes. Whatever is in you laundry basket at the end of that week, plus a few extra pairs of socks, underwear and a sweater if you don't have on already is what you will need. Avoid knitted shirts and whites because doing seperate loads at a truck stop is expensive and their machines are old, over-used and not gentle with clothes. Also make sure you dress for the season.

-Storing them

When storing your clothes in the truck, assign a smaller cubbyhole for each person. Put underwear and socks in seperate bags so that they don't get lost. If you are in a cascadia with doors instead of netting you can turn the cubbyholes into drawers by using office crates from walmart. Depending on the time of year they run between $3 and $9. This allows for easy transport of your clothes, easy access to those clothes and makes it a lot easier and quicker when folding laundry.
Hang any jackets or sweater over the backs of chairs.
You should only need one pair of shoes - a pair of comfy tennis shoes or hiking boots (good for wet weather). Two should be the most you would want. I have tried various ways of storing an extra pair of shoes and found that the best spot is up by the front seats.

Food

Plan your meals.
There is no way around it and it is difficult. I would start your planning around the utensils you have. What meals can you make with them? I would refer to my earlier post of Finding food for more info. Next, work down in this order when planning my shopping list. Water, other liquids, frozen foods(if you have a freezer), refrigerated foods(if you have a fridge) and then move onto your dry foods. Keep ingredients that can be used for more than one meal. For example, don't buy a huge head of broccoli unless you use it for more than one meal. It will go rotten and wastes a lot of space.

 Gifts

If you really have to keep them small. Don't buy a huge teddy bear for a niece.

Baby

The Essentials


-Clothes
Likewise with your own clothes. Have him/her wear one weeks worth of practical clothes add in an extra 2-3 pieces for emergencies. If they are close to going up a size add in 2-3 larger sizes. Dress for the season, because you never know when that generator will go out
-Diapers
Think about how many diapers they go through in a week and plan accordingly.
-Formula
Even if your breast feeding you will always want to keep a supply with you just in case. If your using formula keep an extra can. 
 - Bottles
4-5. You really only need 2-3, but if you are unable to get to a spot to clean them an extra 2 become important. Bottle brushes can come in handy with really dirty bottles, but if you rinse them out after each use, they remain fresh for a day.
-Transportable changing mat
Great for all occasions
-Diaper bag
Good for outings, even better for clothing storage.
-Burp cloths
4-5. Useful for more than just burping
-Bedding
Refer to my earlier post sleeping positions to giver yourself an idea. I currentlyhave an extra pillow, 2 blankets and a quilt.
-Bathing
A bath with a holder, 4 cloths, baby soap (the fully closeable kind or it WILL leak everywhere).
-Baby back pack
For those awesome times when you are needing to transport your child, or just multi-task.
-Car Seat
Every moving vehicle needs one, and yes because your truck does not have an air bag you are able to put it safely in the front seat.
-Toys
Depends on the babies age. Car seat mobiles are the best.

Where does his/ her stuff fit in?

 I have found that the best side table is best for the food, bottles and diaper changing stuff. I store burp cloths, bathing cloths, diapers and our shower bag in the bath tub. Except for two outfits which I keep on the bed side table I store the rest in the diaper bag underneath the bed. Our backpack and carseat tend to move around depending on whats being used at the time. An open shoe box is good for storing bottles so they don't roll everywhere.


As always, I'm open for more suggestions. Safe driving!

Finding Food

How does it work?
As in my last post, let me explain a few things for you guys who aren't truckers:

Food has always been an issue for truck drivers.

You can just see the lack of nutrition that most truck drivers get and that is without running team and without a baby on the truck. Fast food and restaurants are so easy and convenient that the majority of truck drivers do not even take a second lot and this is understandable as many of them this is their life and this how they live it.
However, for those of you interested in keeping slightly better health on the truck and slightly more money in your wallet, it can be very simple to install a few things in your cab to enable you to cook.
For the less mechanically minded a microwave can be easily secured with some industrial strength velcro to one of the cabinet tables in your truck. Many truck stops also sell crock pots - these are crap. They don't heat very well and be realistic. You don't have time to slow cook a meal when you need to be driving. They also sell small ovens which do work, but you cannot cook very much in them other than pizza or toast. Then there's the toastie pie maker (grilled cheese sandwich maker) and the small electric sauce pan; these are awesome and fairly cheap. The biggest appliance that comes to mind is are the large coolers that run off the cigarette lighters. We used one for awhile, but they don't last long and they fail miserably in the Arizona heat. After awhile you will find your self loading it up with ice just to keep it working.
Now, if you are slightly mechanically minded and you want to invest a little bit of money in improving your living conditions you can quite easily install a refrigerator and an oven in your truck (best decision we ever made). First off all your truck must have an APU or generator. These pull fuel from your engine to run itself and does so more efficiently than idling (running your truck in park mode). Next you will need the largest inverter you can find, take a look at the wattage that it has rated on it and be aware that while your fridge/oven and microwave might only use a certain amount in general use they will draw substantially more when starting up or getting to a certain temperature. The inverter itself will need to be installed by a mechanic (not a truck stop mechanic) and then you can quite easily remove one of the cabinets in your truck and use some metal hinging from a home depot to bolt the fridge in place into the wall. A microwave can then be velcroed onto the top of it. However, if you want an oven you will need to sacrifice the top bunk as an oven cannot be safely velcoed. In order to plug all the devices in I recommend a large size power strip that can be velcroed to the size of the cabinet and that in turn can be plugged directly into the Inverter. Of course if you work for a company like my husband's then your truck would come with an 8 cubic foot fridge/freezer and a microwave bolted into the wall so all the hard work is done for you. Be aware that doing this sacrifices a lot of storage space, but is very worth it.

On to other things: Team Truck Survival
When running in a team truck and cooking your own food the best way to find food is to do a weekly run at Walmart and then stop for a period of 3-4 hours each day in order to cook something. If you are cooking with a microwave, box dinners and tv dinners are awesome. If you don't have access to a fridge you can get access to milk and butter from the truck stop restaurants. Of course if you have an oven you can be even more creative.

But what about the baby?
Now with a baby on the truck things become even more difficult, especially if you are using the scheduling system I mentioned in my last post. Those 3-4 hours that you originally used for cooking as a team are now used for sleeping, so you may suddenly find yourself eating out or eating whatever you can cook or make real quick (because face it that baby is probably hungry too).
While at the moment I am currently happy eating sandwiches and cereal I know that this is not something I nor my husband want to do forever so I am looking into a couple of various solutions.

Solution One:
Cook up a bunch of meat and freeze it whenever you have a day off. According to my own research the meat should be good for about a month and a half. Store it in smaller freezer bags so that you have enough in each for one day. That Way whenever you use the amount in the freezer bag in the fridge then you replace it with the next.

Solution Two:
Whenever one of the team members has time off. By this I mean is unloading and everyone else in the truck is asleep this is the best time for housework. Clean the truck, fold the laundry and make damn sure you have something cooking in either the microwave or the oven while doing so. As soon as it is cool put in a storage container and  store it in the fridge. Now you have a decent meal for you and your partner.

Solution Three:
Also, whenever you have free time, try and prep some cool meals that will give you nutrition. These include salads (potato/pasta/couscous/etc..), salads and hmm....salads. Oh, and if you can handle it refrigerated sandwiches. And if you don't like your sandwiches refrigerated like myself then slice and dice and prep your filling.

That's pretty much all I've come up with. I am open to more suggestions.
Safe Driving!