Although we had a wonderful time road trippin’ to the beach, we encountered a few hiccups. The night before we left, Paisley decided to wake up for almost two hours in the EARLY morning hours. She hadn’t woken up at all for weeks so it figures that she would the night before our trip. So, we slept in and got out of town late.
Once out of town, we realized that we had forgotten a bottle, which was no big deal, because we were in the Target parking lot when we discovered our oversight.
Paisley was great in the car, and slept most of the time. Besides my normal stress about if we had everything, how much sun the girl was getting, where we should go next (is her diaper clean?), we had fun.
Until dinner. See now, Paisley has a severe egg allergy that we have to be very careful of in restaurants because of the risk of exposure. After asking about the macaroni containing eggs, we got an all clear and chowed down. So, the smart parents in us gave her plenty of pulled pork, macaroni, and CORNBREAD. Yeah, eggs, duh. It was soft and doughy cornbread too, which meant eggs not fully cooked. Which also meant EMERGENCY STATUS ALLERGIC REACTION IN 10 MINUTES. Okay, not like anaphylaxis, but definitely redness, sneezing, hives, and the really bad one- swelling of the lips and eyes. We did not have Benadryl with us. Greaaat.
We quickly paid our bill, got in the car and started driving looking for anyplace that might have Benadryl while we had a panic attack. Once we happened upon a CVS pharmacy, we pulled right in. To the busiest parking lot I’ve ever seen. They even had a security guard directing traffic. Of course. So I tore the baby out of her carseat and ran into the store while Andrew parked. Upon approaching the store, I noticed that there was produce. CVS doesn’t have produce?! I realized it was NOT what I was looking for. I did not see any signs anywhere so I just stand on the sidewalk and yell “does anyone know where CVS is?!!” [baby still in arms puffing up like a blowfish, husband still lost in a sea of cars]. Someone points me about 3 buildings down. Oh shit. I run.
Once inside I’m tearing up and down the aisles “excuse me, excuse me”. I spot it and open the package while people stare. Once I start shoving it down Pea’s throat, she starts screaming and we are like a live freak show. I’m taking up a good quarter of the aisle with my shoes, my ringing phone, the packaging from the medication, her screaming body, and people are starting to ask if I need help, if everything is ok, etc. One person brings me paper towels and a water bottle, one concerned mom asks if she can help and says “it’s ok sweetie” to Paisley as she walks by. Unfortunately, Pea’s got the smarts about the medicine now, so she had zipped her lips closed. I searched for a syringe dispenser in the aisle and could not find one. I even opened another package that I thought might have it. No luck. So I grab her up (she has only had about a drop of the meds by now; most is in her hair, her neck rolls, and on me) and run over to the pharmacy counter where I cut in front of everyone and declare my urgent need for a syringe. They hand it over and .BAM. I shoot the meds down my baby’s throat. Within minutes she was less red, puffy, and was crawling down the aisle knocking over all the medicines on the shelf. I cleaned up, Andrew came in, and we paid and thanked.
We got her into her car seat to head home, and she was asleep before we got out of the parking lot (of death). Ah, now for a quiet ride home…
Halfway home: my girl wakes from a dead sleep and projectile vomits the entire contents of her stomach on the car, herself, and all her blankets and car seat. Queue allergies again. The food all over her got her all sneezy and red again. Damn. What else? We got her cleaned up (as much as we could) and she (thankfully) drank a bottle and went right back to sleep. We got home and then worked another half hour cleaning and beach sand off everything. Sunscreen and regurgitated pork and cornbread do NOT make a good car air freshener. Just in case you were interested.
Lessons learned:
Carry Benadryl. Duh.
Pea doesn’t get to eat out. (too high risk for contamination at this point)
When going out of town, bring an extra, extra outfit.
Be thankful for CVS on Lincoln Blvd, even though they have the worst parking lot e.v.e.r.
My baby girl loves her “da-da”. She just beams when she sees him, always looks for him in the room, and just about everything he does is funny. Daddys do all sorts of fun things that mommys don’t. Like making HUGE waves in the bathtub that results in a lake on the bathroom floor (I’ve been wondering why our scale stopped working).
