At the start of our trip, before even flying, the Babe indicated she wanted to go home. She had been looking forward to seeing Papa and Gram for weeks, if not months, before our trip. I don't know if she knew what was ahead, but even while having fun throughout her visit, she kept asking to go home. Our trip has been extended for the reasons below. Now its my turn to say it... I want to go home! We have re-confirmed, there is no such thing as a vacation with our Allergy Babe.
We had a lovely first part to our trip, spending time at my in-laws. The Babe had tons of fun with her grandparents, the toys that are at their house, and going swimming. We have minimal concerns regarding her allergies while with them. However, cue soundtrack of doom- dun, dun, dun- we went somewhere else from there. OK, that's not how we approached the second tail of our trip. We were continuing on to south Florida to spend time at the beach in Fort Lauderdale (or the nice pool at the hotel), and visit my husband's grandparents. Our hotel was gorgeous, and the Babe enjoyed the pool there, as well as visiting her great-grandparents. However, on day 1 of our stay, after spending several hours with family (including dinner prepared by my husband and myself), we found ourselves almost in an ER. We left their building, got the Babe in the car, and I gave her a sippy cup she had been using earlier in the day. Due to lack of communication, my husband thought she was done with it and put it on a plastic grocery bag in the car. There was some liquid left in it, so I gave it to her, not realizing that the bags were in his grandparents fridge and may have touched something unsafe for the Babe. Within a minute of being in the car, she started to cough. I thought it was the heavy humidity since it had rained earlier. My husband thought she was having a problem. By the time we got to the main road leaving their development (another minute), her coughing had progressively gotten worse. We pulled into a lot across the street, gave her Benadryl and her inhaler, and waited. Within minutes she was fine. Signs of a reaction. Lets just say the rest of the night I could have used a strong drink, but she was fine and we averted a worse situation.
However, while we avoided a full blown response, we did wind up in the ER two days later. The Babe developed a cold overnight with a bronchial cough. We made it through the first day just fine, treating her with her inhaler and children's Tylenol. However, as with all colds and children, it worsened over the next night, such that she was breathing more rapidly. Just before 7 a.m., we decided to take her to the hospital. The Babe agreed, wanting to see a doctor, a sure sign she was sick. So off we went to Broward General Hospital in Fort Lauderdale. For all the negative press Florida hospitals get, we can only say good things about our experience. This particular hospital actually has a children's ER. That was a very pleasant surprise. The ER physician was spectacular. He clearly is in the right field, and is wonderful with children. While the treatment was familiar to us (breathing treatment + steroid), the Babe was not too happy. Even worse was that at the outset, the physician indicated there was a 50-50 chance she would be admitted because of the extent of her respiratory distress. Thankfully, she responded well to the course of treatment, and after a few hours we got to leave. Later that night, back at my in-laws, we attempted to give her more steroids as prescribed. My husband got his first experience of being puked on by a child.
The brighter side of all this....let me think a moment....the Babe slept most of the night, and seems to be better. We get a few more days with my in-laws. We can attempt a do-over regarding our vacation. Ok, strike that last part. We will not use that word. We will attempt to relax and enjoy the moment. And now, time to wake up the Babe and start over.
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