Booyah Vacation!

So I had this whole post thought out in my head (a crazy place to be) called HELMIES IN THE SKY! or FLAT HEADS ON A PLANE! and it would feature adorable smiling pictures of Ella looking out the window of the airplane, while her parents were relaxed and calm and enjoying their vacation. The reality of it was she was still spiking a fever, she was crabby, and breaking out in a rash. Lovely not only for her parents, who were stressed out travelling with a sick baby, but lovely for our fellow travellers as well.

Travelling with a baby! Easy! Let me just pack up the whole house, struggle with a car seat, stroller, carrier, extra pacifiers, toys, food, carry on, passports and jauntily board the plane!

Taking the ferry across to Toronto Island Airport.

The plane ride there resulted in mostly crying, crabbing, a 30 minute nap on Steve and I, and a lot of squirming while I tried to hold her in my lap because the damn seat beat sign was on and the stewardess shook her finger at me every time I tried to get up and walk around with her. She also kicked us out of the bulkhead seating row (THAT WASN'T BESIDE THE EXIT) because we were "too close to an exit in the case of a crash". So we squashed ourselves back into the steerage seats, while our neighbours gave us sympathetic looks.

Steve loves flying with a baby!

We arrived and I couldn't wait to take Ella to the beach. If ANYTHING IN THE WORLD was to cheer my little crab bucket up, it was going to be her first trip to the beach, Mama's favourite place the in the whole world. I got her all suited up (and sunscreened, and hatt-ed) and off we went to enjoy her first time playing in the sand.

 Hmm. The beach is nice I guess...

 I don't want to appear to love it TOO much.

 This sand is interesting...

Ooooh windy!

Luckily she started feeling better a few days later, with some help from her favourite cousins, aunt and uncle, Nanny and Poppy and Aunt Deb, we managed to relax and enjoy our first family vacation. The rash cleared, we were back to night-time and nap helmet wearing, and we had a blast.

 Hi Auntie Lis!

 Oooh, I'm not sure about this ride? 

(Note: She didn't actually ride this drop zone ride. I just sat here there for a picture to tease my husband, who tends to be a 'tad' overprotective of Ella going on Kiddie Rides. Needless to say, he didn't love the joke as much as my sister and I did!)

 I love stroller rides!

 Oh hi, Hailey.

Our final morning in Myrtle Beach was absolutely stunning. We were sad to go, but know we'll be back next year, travelling with an almost two year old. And we thought this year was challenging? Ha! Lord knows what next year will bring. :) 

T-minus one week, 2 days, and counting! 

An Unexpected Helmet Break

So last Thursday (two days before we were scheduled to leave for our first family vacation in Myrtle Beach), Ella was not herself. During breakfast, she put her head down on her high chair tray to rest and was generally not herself. She had TWO 2 hour naps that day, and she has never done that in her life. (I can't say I minded that part too much though!).

Not feeling myself, Mama. I'll just rest here. This rice cereal is wearing me out.

TEETH! I thought. Like every mother in the world, anytime Ella is off (CRANKY! NOT SLEEPING! MAD! SHAKING HER FIST AT LIFE!) I blamed her teeth. Poor teeth get a bad rap. Don't get me wrong, teething is horrible and comes with a plethora of unforeseen complications and generally make our poor babies feel horrid, but it is certainly not the only thing that could be wrong?

That afternoon, after her second nap, she ran a fever of 38.5C axillary (101.3F). Again, still blaming teething at this point I gave her some frozen foods and some Advil to bring down the fever. She wasn't herself that night, but she went to sleep easily.

Next clue that something was wrong, was when I awoke at 7:15am and Ella was not up yet. Ella is a lover of all things crack of dawn related. A 'sleep in' for her is sleeping til sometime when there is a 6 as the first number on the clock. When she finally awoke at 7:45am, and I picked her up. She was burning up. Her fever was 39.5 (103.1F), and this was axillary as well, so in actuality it was higher than that. She was lethargic, droopy and generally feeling horrid.

This is not my sassy, go get em' baby girl. :(

I made an appointment with our MD because the fever was so high. He said it was a virus. Push fluids, alternate Tylenol and Advil and we were safe to travel on Sunday. He commented on how sick Ella looked, and how sad, as she is usually quite chipper to see him, even though he gives her shots on many visits! (I don't think she correlates the two.)

We spent much of the day cuddling, and Ella was so lethargic she didn't really want to do anything but nap and cuddle with Mama. Her fever came down a bit to 38.0, so I figured it was a virus that was on the way out and she would start feeling better soon.

I was wrong.

I put Ella in her high chair for dinner. I knew something was seriously wrong when I offered her watermelon and she refused to eat it. She could probably eat a whole one on her own, she loves them that much. Her eyes were swollen, and it was obvious her temperature was climbing again.

I am giving you a mini smile but I feel like cr@p, Mama.

When I took Ella out of her high chair and put her in her jammies, her lips turned blue and she started shaking and convulsing. I was HORRIFIED. She was having a febrile seizure from the temperature, and there was nothing I could do to stop it, except hug her and hope it passed quickly. It stopped, and I put her down for a second to grab my purse so we could run to the hospital. She looked at me in a daze and fell over. Ella is 10.5months and has been sitting independently since she was 5.5 months old. :( I scooped her up and rushed to the ER (living in the country means that it is faster to DRIVE to the ER then to call 911 and wait for the ambulance).

I was so upset when I got there, all I could say was "Baby! Blue Lips! Convulsions! Fever!" They took her temperature again and it was 39.5 axillary, so up over 40C rectally. We were brought back in the ER with diagnosis of "Uncontrolled Fever in Infant". 

My poor baby girl. :(

Now as an aside here, with Steve's new job, he almost never has to work overtime and is home 99.9% of the time by 4pm. This day, he was executing a warrant, and was actually LEGALLY not allowed to leave work until he heard back from the judge. So during all of this, while I'm at home panicking alone, Steve is at work panicking and trapped and not able to join us. My friend Laura, lives two minutes from the hospital, and joined me as soon as I texted her. Thank God for good friends, because I was a horrible mess by the time she got there. :(

The stripped her down to her diaper, and kept giving her doses of Tylenol and Advil. It took four hours to get her temperature under control. The doctor asked me how much Tylenol and Advil I had been giving her at home. When I mentioned the doses (as per the boxes instructions) she laughed and basically said that I was giving her "half doses" and told me how to calculate it based on her weight and the maximum she was "really" allowed. THANK YOU TYLENOL AND ADVIL FOR NOT MENTIONING THAT ON YOUR PRODUCT ANYWHERE. Where were you when I really needed you?

We pushed fluids while we were there to try and get a urine sample (which ended up being clean). Ella spent most of the time trying to play with the water instead of drinking it. In my haste to get to the ER, I forgot her sippy cup, so we ended up syringe-ing it into her, or trying to get her to drink from the cup.

In the end, we were discharged that night. Her fever was down and they suspected a virus still. They basically said we were still safe to travel on Sunday but they gave us a prescription of antibiotics to administer if her fever wasn't down by Monday. Her fever broke on Sunday, and she broke out in a rash that day. She ended up with Roseola, which basically manifests itself as a very high sudden fever for 3-5 days, then a rash over the trunk that spreads to the face and extremities. 15% of babies will have a febrile seizure because of the severity of the temperature and the speed at which it comes on. Ella was one of that 15%.

Because of the fever, and the rash that ended up spreading all over her forehead, we ended up helmet free for 6 days. That is by far the longest we've ever gone without it. I can tell you, it was very difficult to put it back on after such a long break. Regardless, we persevered, enjoyed our vacation (that's a whole other blog post, stay tuned!) and we are back in the helmet for 10 more days! Almost there.

Thanks for the helmet break, Mama! 10 days to go! Let's git er done! BOOYAH!

And that is the story of Ella's first real 'illness', our first significant helmet break, our first ER visit, and how we almost (but didn't!) miss our flight to Myrtle Beach. Exciting times over here at the Fryer household. A little too exciting if you ask me.

The AntiClimax

As I was approaching this appointment, it was apparent one of two things would happen. One, we would be DONE FOREVER! or two, we would be back to Sick Kids in another month and then we would be DONE. In my head, in the first scenario, there would people waving flags that would say "GO ELLA!" or "LOOK AT THE NOGGIN'!" or "BOOYAH for ROUND HEADS!" Perhaps there would be a graduation ceremony of sorts, where they would replace the helmet with a graduation cap and present her with a diploma of round-headed-ness.

What happened, was neither of these options.

As usual we walked the complicated system of the underground maze of the Hospital for Sick Children. Ella chewed her shoe to pass the time.

Ella was very contemplative about this appointment and her helmet fate.

I am thinking very hard about either my helmet, or whether or not Mama brought enough puffs for the ride home.

As we waited, Ella showed off her newest skill. Giving kisses! Steve was loving this. What's sweeter is she has learnt to add the "MWAH" noise, so she'll make it even if her lips aren't in contact with your cheek.

MWAH!

As soon as our orthotist walked in, the theatrics started. He didn't even need to touch her helmet this time before the screaming started.

This is the WORST thing to happen to a baby EVER! 

 No wait! This is!

From there came the worst part of the whole appointment. The sock heading. This month was no different from months past.

Ella calming down post sock heading with some Mama cuddles and good thumb sucking. (Note, I look like I was hit by a bus because SOMEONE was up for the day at 4:45am this morning. I wonder who that was.)

What we learnt from this appointment was that Ella's head didn't increase in circumference last month. Her growth is slowing down. This is normal for all growing babies. The problem is, these helmets work based on a passive system of growth. As her head grows, it grows into the perfect shape. When her head isn't growing, alas, it is not changing shape at all. From last month to this month, we have seen no change in her head shape.

What that means for us in the long term is that the helmet has pretty much reached its maximum level of effectiveness. Her head looks pretty much perfect to me, and there is one small section that is still a wee bit flat. Its very minor, and probably not noticeable to anyone but their head obsessed mother. What we need to do is to wear the helmet for four more weeks. At this time, we are done with the helmet and no follow up is required. That's basically as good as it gets. 

This is bittersweet. Like all mums with helmeted babes, we are hoping for someone to declare their PERFECTION. This head is now PERFECT! It is perfect because you struggled for weeks with this helmet and because all you wanted was to do what was best for your child. And a specialist declaring this fact makes you feel like everything that you did was worth it and the right decision and all wrapped up in a pretty box of fairy tale happiness.  Life doesn't work that way. What I realized today, is that Ella's head was perfect before, as wonky as it was, and its perfect now because it is ELLA's. And that lesson, as hard as it was to learn, is what makes me so lucky to have gone through this whole process. (Well, that and the fact now Ella can shave her head with pride and be able to fit into a regular bike helmet).

 We said our good byes to the wonderful staff of the Orthotics Department at the Hospital for Sick Children.

 Myself, Ella, and Arthur, photographer of sock heads and rounder of melons. Thank you Arthur!

The lovely and talented Ms. Jana, receptionist extraordinaire, and a big fan of Molding a Melon!

From then, we hit the road home. What is usually an hour drive took us TWO AND A HALF HOURS (15 minutes longer than our upcoming flight to Myrtle Beach if you can believe that. I can either get across the City of Toronto or FLY TO ANOTHER COUNTRY).

Playing with a Starbucks straw bought us fifteen minutes of entertainment.

This is fun for now, Mama, but if you think this will entertain me for 2.5 hours you have another thing coming!

Two episodes of Baby Einstein later, we resorted to playing with the In the Night Garden App. If I hear that Upsy Daisy singing song again I might gouge my eyes out. What a creepy creepy show.

Hmmm, I'll just get this app all set up here....

What'chu lookin' at Mama? I'm iPadding!

So alas, 4 more weeks of sweaty helmet headed baby and corn starch foreheads. Stay tuned lovely blog readers! Our journey isn't over just yet.