Paul and I made thanksgiving plans over two months ago. We booked a Virgin America red-eye flight from LAX to JFK, hoping that we could get Ben to sleep through the flight if it was at night. We chose the flight because:
a) It was a red-eye flight to the East Coast
b) It was less expensive than other flights for the airline price-gouge festival that is Thanksgiving
c) We like Virgin America. A lot.
Of course, any money we saved on the flight was eaten up by the ridiculous price of renting a car in New York. But we had a flight that we thought would work for our tiny family. We would take the red-eye and drive to meet Paul’s family in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
This was what we planned for Thanksgiving…right up until Ben started throwing up yesterday afternoon, three hours before departure. He woke up from a late afternoon nap, had some milk, and then vomited – not spit up – all over Paul. He didn’t have a fever, so we didn’t think he was sick, and thought, maybe he just ate something that didn’t agree with him. And so, the boys took a bath while I continued packing, and Ben seemed to be perking up and smiling again…until he threw up on me.
That’s when we shut the trip down. Ben kept throwing up after that, gagging and spitting up what little was left in him, every twenty minutes for the next two hours. He would cough and then start saying “no, no, no” as he started gagging. It was heartbreaking to see him so miserable, especially since he still doesn’t really speak enough English for me to explain to him what’s wrong.
I started making calls while Paul shouldered Ben, trying to get him to go to sleep. Actually, by “making calls”, I mean, “rocking the Internet”. In ten minutes, I had unchecked us in from our flight, and cancelled rental cars and hotels as applicable…and then I started re-booking. We decided to try to fly out the next morning, and actually ended up with a better flight schedule through Dulles Airport in Washington DC. A few clicks of the keyboard later, and we had our entire trip rebooked…well, a few clicks plus one phone call to the shuttle service we chose to get to the airport with.
Ben woke up at midnight hungry and thirsty, so we gave him a bottle…of canomile tea, not formula. Then we let him get up for an hour to play, before giving him a snack of formula laced with probiotic bacteria (I mixed in the powder from a capsule) and putting him back down. This morning, he woke up in a fine mood…grinning, cheerful, and not a trace of nausea or vomiting. And with him all better, we were able to finish packing and make our way to LAX…with our usual luggage complement of two giant suitcases, two diaper bags (one just with toys and clothes for the trip), my laptop bag and purse, one stroller and one carseat.
It actually worked out for the better that we had to change the flights, for the following reasons:
1) We can take a late flight back on Monday, instead of having to wait until Tuesday morning, because Virgin America added a new later flight from Dulles last month
2) We got to upgrade to Main Cabin Select, which I consider highly beneficial for travelling with a toddler. Extra space rules.
3) We don’t have to deal with JFK airport. Yay
BTW, for Ben’s vomiting? I blame the trayf they feed him at daycare. I found big ol’ chunks of hot dog in said vomit. Ew.
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