Lexi is a dream kid – she really is – always smiling, very seldom unhappy – and if she is, it’s for good reason.
We were flying out to the UK on the evening of the 23rd March – two nights before we left, Lex developed a bad temperature. It hovered at around 38.5 through the night. With some Stopayne here and Ponstan there – her temp kept breaking but would come back as soon as the meds wore off. So we took her to our GP to get her checked out the next day – and he boldly stated – "She’s teething!" And prescribed more Ponstan, and some Flemex/Celestamine mix. The only thing that worked for a bit was the Ponstan but her temp kept coming back. At 5am on the morning we were leaving, we landed up at casualty with a very sick little person.
They confirmed she definitely wasn’t teething, and either had a virus or a bacterial infection. More Ponstan (a BIG dose, I’m talking adult size dose) – and her temp broke for a few more hours. We were also given an anti-biotic for secondary infection in case it was a virus (because we all know anti-biotics don’t kill 'em viruses).
I didn’t give it to her. And we packed our bags and headed to the airport. What I haven’t shared is that while at the pharmacy filling her prescription, I asked for something to knock her out on the flight – and was given Allergex, and an anti-histamine. I was assured it would work very quickly, no problems!
At the airport Lex started get very niggly, crying, moaning, hot again – so we decided to give her the antibiotic. Spen and I then had a very tough choice to make – should we go at all if Lex was this sick. She liked the antibiotic (taste-wise) – so I thought we’d chase it with the Allergex, as we were about to board.
1ml down and she started gagging, 1,5ml down and everything she had consumed over the past four hours came back up – all over her dad, and herself. I got off lucky. Shit – it was at this stage that I realised I had only packed one spare long sleeved outfit, and one shortie. So I changed her, cleaned her, gave her back to her dad, and voila, she was ok. OK until I smelled something, and looked down at Spen’s leg, which was now covered in poo, as was poor Lexi. So back to the bathroom I went to change her, and put her in the last of the two outfits. I’m usually really prepared for stuff like this, but somehow I dropped a few balls on this particular occasion.
I also sent Spen off to buy an extra outfit at the over-priced “Out of Africa” store – just in case we had another eruption. After I had cleaned her up for the second time – her temp was back up to 39. I had a suppository or bum-sweetie as coined by her dad – but couldn’t give it to her in the open walkway while waiting for Spen to come back from the shop. 25mins later, Spen appeared – with a bag of clothes. With gritted teeth I asked what took so long? To which he replied – “They were doing a stock take”. Unbeknown to him, and the world, I had stuck the poor kid with the bum sweetie right there, no dignity what-so-ever and an 'I-don’t-give-a-shit' expression on my face.
Me: Are we going to do this? she’s really not well?
Spen: I dont know, what do you think?
Me: Not sure, you?
See, this is our way of not making a decision in case something goes wrong, as neither of us wants to be to blame. So I said, "Let’s go, I’m sure there are doctors in the UK!" and off we went.
By now it was three hours past Lexi’s bed time, she has a horrible case of FOMO (fear of missing out) – and is refusing to sit restrained to her dad with a kid seat belt, let alone sleep.
Thank G_d it was an empty flight and we had two seats open next to us in the bulk head, the only problem with the bulk head is that the arm rests don’t lift up, and you’re in a bucket seat – VERY uncomfortable! We asked for a sky cot – which is a box, kinda like a veggie box covered in plastic, that sits on top of a tray that folds down - similar to the food tray table. An hour into the flight, she finally passed out in my arms, but as I transferred her to the ‘cot’ – she woke up, sat up and started crying. Back to square one. To cut a long story short, this went on most of the night, and in the morning Spen and I looked like we did the morning after we brought her home from the hospital. Sleep deprived and overly-stressed!
The good news is that her temp had finally broken, and she woke up chipper and top of the world. Clearly sleep deprivation didn’t affect her and she was back to her usual little self, waving and clapping at everyone, and being altogether very charming. See below.
After that part – the rest of our holiday was amazing, she was a dream kid, slept through every night except in the hotel. The trip home is another story - that for another time.
So, like I said, you may have travelled with a baby before, and found it a pinch of salt, I didn’t, it was hard and stressful, and a very different experience to travelling as a couple!
Would I do it again? sure I would, but next time I’m packing 17 extra kid outfits and a sleeping pill for me!
Keep it real
N
Aargh! At least she was okay in the end. Xxx
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