Tuesday, April 19, 2011

We are so not in Kansas anymore...

So, yesterday I promised you a story.

WARNING - do not read further if you have a weak stomach... ;)

We had a GREAT trip - until Sunday morning when we came home. Little Miss woke up fine, then suddenly started coughing and gagging on the flim/congestion in her throat. She threw up but it was just the congestion, nothing from her stomach. I thought, okay...not too bad. Probably a one time thing of getting choked and having a drip for a few days.

No problem, right?

Well I took her to potty before we hit the road, and...diarrhea. I will spare you any further details. Let's just say I was beginning to think the two issues were connected. With much fear and trembling, we loaded up, said goodbye, took an old beach towel Lori graciously donated from her linen closet for "just in case", and hit the road. Little Miss was very sleepy by now, yet gagged up another round before we even got on the highway. Still, I wasn't too worried. It was much smaller than before, and was still just the drip, and so far no more issues from other end.

No problem, right?

We made some progress on the road. I sat in the back with Little Miss just in case, and we stopped and got her some gaterade since she was used to drinking that and I figured water would be too hard on her stomach. She drank several sips (I made her go slowly) and turned down the offer of Saltines. She napped, woke up, ate 5 saltines, drank a cup of juice, and seemed much more like her old self. Relieved, we stopped for lunch at McDonalds, having been on the road about 4 hours by now. I really hoped she'd eat and prove she was better so I could stop worrying like all mommies do.

Little Miss not only refused to eat, she refused to even let me ORDER her a kids meal. I did anyway, and it sat 100% untouched on the table. She wanted to potty, so we did, with no incident. Then she laid in my lap on the Mcdonald's bench while I ate. Then had to potty again. This time, again I will spare the details, it was a lot but not as sickly, and I thought surely she'd feel better now.

No problem, right?

By this time, we were leaving, she still refused to eat or even take a sip of Sprite, and fell asleep within 40 seconds of getting in the car. I moved to the front seat, spread out, breathed a sigh of relief, enjoyed the mountain Arkansas scenery whizzing by my weekend, and about 15 minutes later...

Little Miss woke up. Coughed, and... threw up.

Repeatedly.

Continually. It was a fountain of blue gaterade. I still despise the color blue at this moment, and I hope that changes because I used to enjoy the color. We had time (from the first glimpse of her throwing up) to pull over on the side of the mountain, jump out, get in the backseat with the towel, and it was still coming. All liquid, but OH MY GOSH. All over Little Miss, the car seat, her best friend giraffe Gigi, her favorite beloved blankie...

OH MY GOSH.

Seriously, if hubby hadn't been with me, I think me and Little Miss would STILL at this moment be sitting on the side of the mountain just crying.

I don't like blue.

Hubby sprang to action. Caught the 2nd half of the blue gaterade fountain in the towel, then threw the towel outside. Got her out of carseat, stripped her down, stood barefoot on hot mountain rocks himself while letting Little Miss stand on his flip flops while he changed her. I shook off the blanket (ew), then got in the trunk and got her new clothes and the only trashbag we had brought (grocery sized, for car-trash during trip) We shoved her dirty clothes in there, Hubby cleaned her up with the TWO wipes we had in the diaper bag. Which was obviously not sufficient by any stretch. I wanted to cry, then remembered we had an entire unopened package of WetWipes antibacterial wipes in my purse. (THANK YOU, TARGET DOLLAR BINS)

There was now a light in my tunnel. Cleanliness was once again possible. Hubby used those wipes to really clean her, then Little Miss sat in the front seat all gimpy while Hubby cleaned the car seat. I found the potty seat we had carried with us for the trip, and used the trash bag I'd wrapped it in for her dirty blanket and that disgusting towel. That went back in the trunk. Then Gigi got a roadside, Figi-water/antibacterial wipe bath while Little Miss looked on from the front seat longingly.

I don't like blue.

Finally, the two were reunited, buckled back in, and we hit the road again. Guess who stayed in the backseat with an entire roll of paper towels this time? Yeah, me. So much for reading and writing on the 10 hour trip. The drive home became survival-mode, Hubby pushing the speed limit, no stops, just roadroadroad, homehomehome.

Little Miss ended up sleeping the entire rest of the way or watching movies the few minutes she was awake. No more episodes, thankfully. She came home and finally asked for a popsicle, then started eating, then drinking, and as of Monday night, no more issues, just a lowgrade temp. Apparently she caught some kind of virus or bug last minute. I'm glad it didn't happen sooner in the trip but oy, carseats and viruses DO NOT mix.

Did I mention I am so NOT a fan of the color blue?

PS - I married a hero.

4 comments:

Dionna said...

Oh, I'm so sorry she got sick! I understand what you're saying about "blue" though. When I was a kid, I got sick after eating Blueberry cereal. It took me until last year before I'd really start eating blueberries! Let's see - that's a good 25 years.

Anne said...

Haha don't good husbands make all the difference in a moment like this? :)

Preslaysa said...

So sorry to hear about your little one. Bummer! My one year old got sick for the first time last week. I was freaking out. So I totally understand!

WomenGrowingInChrist said...

Poor baby! But it's nice when the hubby puts on the superman cape :)