Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Christmas 2008 Adventures

Beware, this could get pretty long, although I don't know yet. I'm still feeling remarkably weak after our adventure. Also, if you have a weak stomach don't read this. I tried to leave out as much bad stuff as possible but well . . .Here is the whole story:

We left Ohio at about 5:30 pm last Tuesday to travel part of the way to visit my family in Kansas. We heard that there might be a little snow/ice mix but we left anyway. Traffic was pretty bad about 15 minutes after leaving home. We thought it was just the section of road we were on and that it would clear up soon. It did, eventually and we hit Indianapolis just slightly off schedule. Then the fun began. In the 58 mile stretch between Indianapolis and Terre Haute, IN, we spent about 7 hours . . . on the Highway . . . most of it with the car in park . . . with an 11 month-old baby. Abigail really did remarkably well seeing as her bedtime had passed by many many hours. She slept part of that time on my lap, since the car was in park or we were going until 5 miles an hour!

We were finally able to pull off the highway at a small town in Indiana. The place was absolutely packed. It looked like a refuge camp (this was at 1 am). We stopped for gas, a bathroom break, and I ran into one motel to see if we could get a room. Since I could see people sleeping in the lobby, and by the pool, I don't think I need to go into detail that there was no room for us in that Inn.

We decided to just drive on. There was no point in stopping. Abigail doesn't sleep all that well in her car seat anyway, and the car was a bit too cramped for Andrew or I to do any sleeping. Since everyone had gotten off at this one exit, the roads were clear and we were able to make it another few hours. We stopped at an exit around 3 am (2 am central time) that had two hotels. We pulled up to the first one and I was told that there were NO rooms! I felt hopeless but we decided to try the second one anyway. Well, the Relax Inn did have a room, just one, and it was a smoking room but we took it anyway.

Abigail seemed to realize that we NEEDED to sleep because she proceeded to scream her brains out in our hotel room once we stopped. I did everything I could to keep her quiet. Nursing, patting, holding her hand, etc. . .none of it worked. Since we had a king sized bed, I finally brought her to bed with us and she fell asleep after a few minutes. I didn't sleep all that well, however, because every so often she would wake up with a loud scream. Very startling. I might have slept 3 or 4 hours. She woke us up at 7 am (8 am - Ohio time) and was ready to go for the day. So, instead of listening to her cry anymore, we got up and left.

The rest of that day was pretty uneventful. We actually made it in time for the Christmas Eve service (we were 15 minutes late). Abigail didn't sleep all that well for the next few nights. Travel always throws off her schedule a bit and sharing a room with us is NEVER good. She wants to be near us but when she gets near us, she wants to play! Anyway, the saga continues . . .

We had a very nice Christmas. It was wonderful to see all my family and to have them get to know Abigail better. She is at a very fun age right now! :) Then it was time for the BUG . . .

On Saturday night, we had a large meal of pizza, fruit, and veggies. Abigail woke up around 10:30 pm crying, so I nursed her and put her back to sleep. I decided to head to bed, since I was feeling very bloated and well . . . rumbly in the tummy.

Andrew stayed up to watch a movie. I could not sleep. When he came to bed around midnight, I still had not been asleep. Of course, I was using the bathroom frequently, as well. Around 12:45 pm, I heard a splat and then a cry from Abigail's crib. I rushed over to her and felt puke everywhere, so I turned on the light. Thankfully we had a blanket in her crib that caught everything. We got her cleaned up and put back to bed. About 10 minutes later, the same thing happened again. This time she was laying on her back trying to throw-up. Poor girl! It scared me to death! I thought she was going to drown herself so (after getting her cleaned up again), I rigged up a place for me to sleep next to her on the floor with lots of towels around. I laid with her on the floor until my aching body made me move into bed. She was sound asleep when I transferred her to the crib.

She proceeded to get sick for the next two hours, every 15 to 30 minutes. I let Andrew sleep through most of it because I wanted him to get some rest, in case I needed him later. She fell asleep around 3 am and was resting peacefully. That's when the adventure started for me (I'll spare you the details). Abigail did get sick one last time but was fine in the morning. She had milk and ate normally that day.

To make a long long story into just a long story, I'll just say that Andrew and I both had this "bug" for most of Sunday, complete with aches, headache, chills, and a total body cleanse.

We decided to wait a day to make our return trip. We left on Monday in the late morning. I still had a bad headache and hadn't really eaten anything, so I was a mess. We made it (by God's grace!) to a hotel in New Florence, MO to spend the night. Well, Abigail again sensed that both of her parents needed a little extra help from her because they weren't feeling well, so she proceeded to scream for 1 1/2 hours before bed, sleep for about 4 hours, be awake and cry for about 4 hours, and sleep for one more. I tried everything (again) . . . rocking, sitting by her bed, putting her in bed with us, walking the halls, nursing, etc. Nothing worked to get that child to sleep!

It was the most tortured I have ever felt in my life. I love my daughter more than anything but I was about ready to kick her out of our room that night. Rough times.

We woke up about 8 am and by the time we got done getting ready, trying to eat something, and packing, we left around 9:30 am.

Thankfully . . . the rest of the trip was uneventful.

We got back around 5:00 pm last night and went over to Andrew's Grandma's house to visit and open some gifts. She made soup that tasted so good to me! Abigail did have some trouble falling asleep and she woke up crying three times but she did sleep from 11:30 pm until 8:00 am without waking so I did manage to get some sleep.

Our newest adventure today is that Andrew's shoulder is hurting him severely. He was just laying in bed with a hot pack on it when I left and he is taking care of the baby today. We're hoping he can get into the chiropractor later on.

Here are a few things I have never done before:

  • I have never been thrown up on before. I guess that comes with motherhood. Abigail's favorite place to unload her stomach was on my shirt.
  • I have never licked a package of baby food applesauce because I'm desperate for something to eat at 3:00 am in a hotel room.

I'm still so tired. I'm sure it's a combination of motherhood with a sleepless baby and a virus that makes you wish for death (partially joking here).

I'd like any more adventures to stay away from me for a long long while . . . please!

(more pictures coming soon)

No comments: