Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Plane trip from hell


So, every once in awhile there is a moment when all you can do is survive. And you almost don't think you can, but somehow you do, and even in that horrid moment when you feel like nothing will ever be right again, it eventually does end. And here we are 3 days in the aftermath of our trip home from Colorado and I'm almost smiling...almost.

I took Dylan and Noah out to visit their new cousin, baby Evan, my sister's new baby, only 9 days old. I was dying to see my new nephew and I decided whatever the trip might bring, I had to do it. The trip there was a breeze and both kids behaved remarkably well for the craziness that was a flight with 2 children under the age of 2...well, actually Dylan turned 2 on the day we flew out there. And the pilot even invited her up to the cockpit and let her sit in his chair. We took a pic which I will pass along soon. But this is not why I'm writing...

I got a violent case of the stomach flu while we were out there and ended up in the ER with dehydration on Saturday morning before our return home. Semi-recovered, I decided to still go ahead and travel, as both kids seemed to be OK. WRONG. As we were ready to shut the doors and pull away from the gate, Dylan threw up. EVERYWHERE. She was terrified, bawling and I was helpless. I had Noah on my lap and was trying to catch the vomit in my hands so it wouldn't spill over onto the poor woman in the seat next to her. Her clothes were soaked and I didn't have an extra set. The flight attendants did the best they could to help, but asked me if I would be getting off the flight...Off? I don't have anywhere to go! Denver is not my home, and my sister and brother in law live an hour away with 2 little kids, I'm sure as heck not calling them. I have to go home! So they closed the cabin doors and we took off into the sky with one very sick (naked) child and one almost psychotic mother. I won't go into the rest of the details on how many more times she threw up, or how she cried most of the trip as I tried to impersonate Zoe and Elmo characters to keep her mind off of her bellyache. Needless to say, it sucked.

We're all recovered by now and everyone is happy and healthy. I just needed to write this down so when I'm having a bad day, I can go back and read this...which I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.