48 Hours

Disclaimer: This is a long account of the last two days, some of which only the grandparents will care to read. But I'm sharing it all, even the miserable, disgusting parts. :)

Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse... they did.

But let me back up to the beginning.

Our first flight left at 5:30 in the afternoon. An easy peasy flight of 51 minutes passed quickly and we were on the ground in Dallas in no time. We'd heard rumors of a Pappadeaux in one of the terminals and we quickly located it to have some fine dining (in an airport!) for our last American meal.
Shrimp for dinner. Mac n cheese for the munchkins.

Then we set out for our gate to await our flight to San Francisco. The kids ran off some energy while driving other awaiting passengers a little bonkers. The SF flight left at 9:15 Texas time and lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes. At the end of that flight I found myself incredibly wishing that flight had been the long one. I couldn't believe we still had a 14 hour flight ahead of us still. By the time we boarded the SF flight to Hong Kong it was 3 a.m. Texas time. We'd already been up for 21 hours. I kept psyching myself up though, thinking, "All we have to do is sit there for 14 hours. How hard can it be?!"

Harder than I thought.

Salem and I were in two seats next to a window and Brandon and Eden were in the two seats directly behind us. Salem fell asleep almost instantly. Why wouldn't he? It was 3 a.m. in his world. Fortunate for the little man, he missed most of the "excitement."
About 45 minutes into the flight Brandon tapped me on the head and said, "Eden just threw up."
And it was totally our fault. We'd given her her medicine (amoxicillin) on a fairly empty stomach as soon as we got on the plane. Had I mentioned that we took her to the doctor that morning for a relentless cough? He gave her some amoxicillin and hydrocodone to help with coughing and sleeping.
Oddly enough, the hydrocodone hasn't seemed to accomplish either one of those goals.

Back to the throwing up, though. I picked her up and hurriedly took her back to the bathroom and stripped her down completely. All the while she was crying that awful, "I just threw up on my favorite Tinkerbell jammies" cry. Ah yes, the jammies. The jammies I'd been promising her she could wear once we got on the big airplane. They were now covered in vomit. So I was in tears now because not only was I physically and emotionally exhausted, mad at myself for giving her the medicine on an empty stomach, but also upset that she couldn't wear her beloved Tinkerbell jammies on top of feeling so awful.

I began to scold myself for even thinking of getting on an airplane that afternoon when she felt so awful. I began to list all the reasons we had for not being on an airplane at that moment.

And that's when God began reminding me that he's faithful. Even when the enemy was throwing vomit darts at us, God is faithful. Even in the midst of our exhaustion, He was guiding our steps. And He had been from the beginning. Thank you Lord for being there.

As I took Eden back to her seat I was thinking in my head that things couldn't possibly get any worse than Eden vomiting on an airplane.

And that's when I started feeling nauseous.

I repositioned Salem who was snuggling up next to the poor, unfortunate man sitting in our row. Took my seat and began to take deep breaths and try to shut out the feelings I had in my belly. Hoping maybe it was just Caleb shoving things around inside of me. When I felt like it was my turn to throw up, I climbed back over the poor, unfortunate man, shouted at Brandon real quick that I was headed to the bathroom to throw up.

I was confident that the oh so beautiful shrimp at Pappadeaux actually had an evil side that was coming back to haunt me.

But nothing. I was so hoping I could throw up. I know, that's disgusting. But I knew I'd feel better if I could. But nothing.

I stretched out on the flight attendant's seats for awhile, hoping to regain my composure. The combination of the shrimp, the stuffiness of the plane, Eden's previous vomit, and the smell of the airplane food was overwhelming.

Nonetheless, I headed back to my seat hoping I could just sleep. I knew I needed to sleep while Salem was sleeping.

I stretched out and got comfortable.

Next thing I know, I'm waking from passing out, am covered in vomit and have more coming out of my mouth. Brandon was leaning over me holding a bag in front of my mouth. Poor, unfortunate man was holding sleeping Salem while standing in the aisle next to three flight attendants. And Eden was screaming from behind me because Brandon was blocking her view from watching Tangled.

Horrid. Absolutely horrid.

Brandon claims I was convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Lovely. What every wife wants to put her husband through. I remember his frantic pleas with the flight attendants to get the plane turned around. He told me later that he thought at one point that I was dead.

The captain came on the intercom and paged anyone who was remotely qualified as a doctor to come and help. What do you know that an anesthesiologist who specializes in nausea and vomiting came to the rescue! There was little he could do on an airplane, but still, it was nice to speak with him. Well, Brandon spoke with him. I was busy cleaning up my foamy mouth.

The flight attendants found poor, unfortunate man another seat somewhere else on the "completely full plane," along with 2nd poor, unfortunate man that was sitting next to Brandon. Which left Brandon to sit with both Eden and Salem in the 3 seats behind me and me to stretch out on my three vomitous seats for the remainder of the flight (11 hours.) They strapped an oxygen tank on me like I'm 95 years old, and I slept for 3 hours right away.

I'm not sure who had it worse...
Me with my fainting, vomiting fit, then trying to sleep despite the nausea, and being covered in my own puke for 11 hours, while being completely incapable of helping my husband care for our kids.

Or Brandon, taking care of the kids for 11 hours, having Eden's puke on him, my puke on him, and Salem's pee (yes, leaky diaper), orange juice spilled all over his pants, Eden coughing constantly, and being completely unable to sleep a wink the entire flight.

I kinda vote for Brandon.

And now? Now, we're in Hong Kong. We had a friend who met us at the airport and personally escorted us to an apartment in the city. We decided to not continue our journey which included one last 3 hour flight. We all showered (finally!!) and tried to cope with what we'd just been through. Then that afternoon our friend took me downtown to see a doctor and have an ultrasound to be reassured that all was ok with me and Caleb. and it is. Thank you, Lord.

We've been here for a day and a half now. Resting. Relaxing. Adjusting to time change. And all feeling much better. I'm completely back to normal and Eden's cough seems MUCH better today.

It was an awful day. One that I hope to never, EVER repeat in any form or fashion.

But out of it, I've learned a few things.

I'm beyond grateful for:
- Our Lord. Our Provider. Our Protector. He is in all things and in Him all things hold together. (including my sanity.)
- My husband. What an amazing man he is. Even during the kid's screams and cries, he'd reassure me that everything was fine and that I should go back to sleep.
- Disney movies. In the midst of our misery, hearing Eden sing to Tangled and The Lion King brings this mother's heart such joy. I love that little girl's voice.
- Salem is THE best travel buddy. We've always known he's a go-with-the-flow kind of dude. That airplane flight proved it.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for us!!
We'll hopefully update soon when we reach our final destination!