It's never nice to have a sick child. I have been blessed in that it has hardly ever happened. Recently, though, I experienced a combination of sick child and really bad timing. It went something like this.
Several days before our scheduled trip to visit my new nephew (as mentioned in "The Possessive Vibe" blog earlier), Rascal had a temperature. She was quite miserable and clingy with about 39.1 temp. She only wanted me, not Nanna or Papa who were there to come on the trip too. She had never been this ill, so it was sad in itself but in the back of my mind, I was hoping it was nothing serious that could impact our trip. I had been looking forward to this trip for months. Ever since my sister-in-law had told us she was pregnant, I knew I just had to trek over to the other side of Australia to see this little addition to our family. And when he was born, well it was a given! I had to go and see them! So I was horrified that this may turn out to be something that would stop us from travelling. One of my friend's little children had just come down with Chicken Pox so I knew it was a possibility Rascal could have it too. So we played the waiting game.
Several days before our scheduled trip to visit my new nephew (as mentioned in "The Possessive Vibe" blog earlier), Rascal had a temperature. She was quite miserable and clingy with about 39.1 temp. She only wanted me, not Nanna or Papa who were there to come on the trip too. She had never been this ill, so it was sad in itself but in the back of my mind, I was hoping it was nothing serious that could impact our trip. I had been looking forward to this trip for months. Ever since my sister-in-law had told us she was pregnant, I knew I just had to trek over to the other side of Australia to see this little addition to our family. And when he was born, well it was a given! I had to go and see them! So I was horrified that this may turn out to be something that would stop us from travelling. One of my friend's little children had just come down with Chicken Pox so I knew it was a possibility Rascal could have it too. So we played the waiting game.
"I knew something was wrong but nothing prepared me for what happened next."
The next day Rascal had little or no temperature. She was still not herself but was a bit better. We decided to draw a line in the sand and if we woke up on the day of travel and she had spots, we wouldn't go. If she didn't, we would. The day arrived. She woke up. I peeked under her singlet. No spots anywhere. Good. Ok. Trip's on. But she still wasn't 100%. So we left. Took the first flight (of three), a short 45 minute flight. She slept the whole way and was fine. We landed at our destination and about 20 minutes later, she vomited on Nanna. Luckily it was mostly all over herself. We cleaned that up and changed her clothes and went to wait for our second flight. She had a small amount of lunch. At this stage we couldn't tell if she was simply air-sick or if she was vomiting in relation to her temperature and an illness of some kind.
The second flight was about 4 hours. She slept for over half of it. Then went to sit with Nanna while I got some space (she'd been sitting/sleeping on me for the whole day by this stage). About 5 minutes later she was sooky and wanted to come back to my knee. So I snuggled her in. This is where the day got more interesting. She sat up on my lap and looked at me. I knew something was wrong but nothing prepared me for what happened next. She started to be sick. Vomit was billowing up out of her. She cried after the first bout and then vomited again. Everything she had eaten in the last 24 hours came up in one incredible food fountain.
It was everywhere. It was all over her. It was all over me. It was all over Nanna. It was all over the plane seat and down in between the seats. For one stunned second after it had finished, my mum and I looked at each other. Thoughts surged through my head. "I will never recover from this! It is not possible to clean this up!" Then we switched into gear and started wiping and stripping clothes off. We called for assistance from the air hostesses and they brought us wet towels and wipes and dry paper towels. We wiped and wiped and washed until all was as good as it could get. But it didn't take away the cloud of funk hanging around us. It stunk! Poor little Rascal was so upset. She almost looked apologetic. It was as if she understood that it was a real hassle for everyone else. I had to remove the outer layer of my clothing. (For the sake of the other passengers in the plane, I didn't remove any more, though they too were fountain-affected). We put a comfortable onesie on Rascal and she laid down and slept again.
We counted the seconds until we could get off the stinky plane. Finally it was over and we were able to get to our hotel and clean everyone up. Rascal travelled well the next day on the final flight. She was off her food for several days but is almost back to normal now. I am relieved that I somehow survived a food fountain at 32,000 feet! It's not an experience I hope to ever repeat though, so I'm hoping for a settled stomach on the trip home!
Meanwhile I am enjoying my gorgeous nephew and might just have to pay some excess luggage to sneak him home with me!
Libby :)
The second flight was about 4 hours. She slept for over half of it. Then went to sit with Nanna while I got some space (she'd been sitting/sleeping on me for the whole day by this stage). About 5 minutes later she was sooky and wanted to come back to my knee. So I snuggled her in. This is where the day got more interesting. She sat up on my lap and looked at me. I knew something was wrong but nothing prepared me for what happened next. She started to be sick. Vomit was billowing up out of her. She cried after the first bout and then vomited again. Everything she had eaten in the last 24 hours came up in one incredible food fountain.
It was everywhere. It was all over her. It was all over me. It was all over Nanna. It was all over the plane seat and down in between the seats. For one stunned second after it had finished, my mum and I looked at each other. Thoughts surged through my head. "I will never recover from this! It is not possible to clean this up!" Then we switched into gear and started wiping and stripping clothes off. We called for assistance from the air hostesses and they brought us wet towels and wipes and dry paper towels. We wiped and wiped and washed until all was as good as it could get. But it didn't take away the cloud of funk hanging around us. It stunk! Poor little Rascal was so upset. She almost looked apologetic. It was as if she understood that it was a real hassle for everyone else. I had to remove the outer layer of my clothing. (For the sake of the other passengers in the plane, I didn't remove any more, though they too were fountain-affected). We put a comfortable onesie on Rascal and she laid down and slept again.
We counted the seconds until we could get off the stinky plane. Finally it was over and we were able to get to our hotel and clean everyone up. Rascal travelled well the next day on the final flight. She was off her food for several days but is almost back to normal now. I am relieved that I somehow survived a food fountain at 32,000 feet! It's not an experience I hope to ever repeat though, so I'm hoping for a settled stomach on the trip home!
Meanwhile I am enjoying my gorgeous nephew and might just have to pay some excess luggage to sneak him home with me!
Libby :)
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