Going to Grandma and Papa's House

Last Tuesday, Jasper's cold had gotten bad enough that I thought, "Really, before I get on a plane and find myself in Kalamazoo for 8 days, maybe I should have Jasper's doctor see him." His nose was still a snot machine. He had developed a weird cough (and yes, I am paranoid about whooping cough). And, to top it all off, he was stopping in the middle of playing and crying. This level of irritability is just not right for our son. He had been grabbing at his left ear a bit, and the drool machine had been turned on. I thought he was teething and really wanted them to listen to his chest.

At 3:05pm we got in with the nurse practitioner. She hadn't seen Jasper since he was 5 days old, but our doctor was out. We like the NP, so I was totally comfortable going to see her. Jasper was irritable and hard to control during the visit, oh and he had a "big ol' ear infection" in his left ear. Great. Did I mention we were flying to Kalamazoo? The NP was quite concerned about how the air pressure changes on the planes would hurt Jasper's ear, so she prescribed an antibiotic, gave us a prescription for medicated ear drops and eye cream - since his eye was still red and green-goopy.

On Tuesday night, the night before our flight, administering the antibiotic was less than successful. This was his first antibiotic and the first medicine of any kind we had to administer via a syringe. We had given him Tylenol and his vitamin with the medicine dropper before, but the syringe is a bit different. And truth be told, the amount we had to give (3mL) is a bit more than his vitamin (0.5mL). Drew gave him the full dose of medicine all at once which Jasper promptly rejected and forced out of his mouth. Did I mention we were flying the next morning? Normally Jasper is an excellent flier. He's never had an issue with plane air pressure on take-off or dissent. However, traveling alone with him while he was sick, I was more than nervous. I lost it at this point when it appeared that probably 90% of the medicine didn't go into his mouth. Drew was a bit shaken as well, but we recovered and gave him another half dose and prayed that would be good enough.

Whether or not the antibiotic had any effect, Jasper was an excellent flier. He slept for an hour after take-off on the first flight and played for the remainder of the time in the extra seat next to us. He ate green beans and pears nicely in his stroller while we waited during our layover in Cincy. On the short flight from Cincy to Kalamazoo we did not have an extra seat, and he did not sleep. He was a monkey boy, but he enjoyed eating Cheerios to pass the time. He slept well and Grandma and Papa's house that night. A 1-hr nap all day is not enough for him, but despite all that, he was a great kid.