Home.

[rivka]

We're home from Memphis and very tired. The holiday wasn't at all relaxing, but I am so very glad that we went. Michael's father was delighted to see Alex. I had been afraid that her noise and activity would be too much for him, but instead he seemed strengthened and energized by our visit. He held Alex on his lap a lot, bouncing her and talking nonsense. In turn, she seemed fascinated by him and would follow him around the room with her eyes. Every time he coughed - which, unfortunately, was very frequently - she stopped whatever she was doing to turn around and look at him.

She stayed sick and stayed sick, and it's only today that I'm convinced she's a hundred percent better. We wound up switching her to a lactose-free formula. Lactose intolerance is clearly not what was behind this entire illness - she continued to have a lot of problems even when we put her on nothing but Pedialyte, early on. But apparently some babies develop transient lactose intolerance when they have a stomach virus. (I hope it's transient.) The lactose-free formula helped quite a bit, and since late yesterday afternoon things have been completely normal.

Her illness didn't prevent her from enjoying the visit or charming everyone in sight. Understandably enough, for a while there she reacted like she was being tortured every time she needed a diaper change - but as long as she was fully dressed she was usually happy and interactive. She was much clingier than usual - during Thanksgiving dinner she played quietly on a blanket spread out near the table, and was fine, but that was the only time she was able to get by without a lot of adult attention. That was okay, though, because there were plenty of adults who wanted to pay attention to her. I was very relieved that she was mostly willing to un-cling from me and go to Poppy or Nana.

All I will say about the food is that I hope my mother is planning to serve a turkey dinner at Christmas.

Thank you all for your support during Alex's illness, and your advice last Wednesday. It helped.

Comments

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Welcome home, you. Congratulations on getting through it.

-J

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

glad to see you home! glad to hear you all made it, and that alex was able to go cling to someone else. *hug*

[saoba.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it went, from the sound of it, about as well as it could given the fact the baby was ill and all y'all were under some stress. And I'm so glad that Michael's dad was well enough to enjoy seeing her and interact with her.

The fact that he was going to see Alex for Thanksgiving was actually on my personal 'things I'm thankful for' on Thursday, because I knew how much it would mean to all of you. (And because I met him and I like him, you know?)

You said all you needed to about the food.

Gentle hugs to you three. Hope you all get some rest.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that it seems to have gone much better than it could have!

[wcg.livejournal.com]

It's good to know you're home safely and things are mostly well.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear that it went relatively well. The plane ride must not have been too much of a disaster either?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

The plane rides were mixed. On the direct flight to Memphis, she napped for a much shorter time than I had hoped and then needed to be entertained the rest of the way. It wasn't much of a problem, though.

The way back was much more... colorful. She slept almost the entire way from Memphis to Cincinnati, where we changed planes. On the second flight she was cheerful and wired - she kept trying to peek over my seat at the person behind me, whereupon she laughed very loudly. She kept shrieking happily, despite all our efforts to keep her quiet.

Then we discovered that her pants were wet and her diaper was dirty. I hauled her back to the bathroom at the back of the plane, only to discover that our plane was too old to have a changing table. At that moment, we hit turbulence and the "fasten seatbelts" light came on. I don't know how I managed to get her back to the seats without dropping her, and I wish I didn't know how we eventually wound up changing her on Michael's tray table, without her cooperation. The poor guy sitting next to us was very nice about it, but he deserves a medal.

Fun with babies.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

I don't know how I managed to get her back to the seats without dropping her, and I wish I didn't know how we eventually wound up changing her on Michael's tray table, without her cooperation.

Ohmygodyoualldeserveamedal!

Eep!

[going-not-gone.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you were able to go, and that it went reasonably well, especially in terms of Alex and her grandfather getting some quality interaction. I'm also glad she's feeling better!

the formula thing

[(Anonymous)]

When Sarah had stomach flu one time we took her off milk at a friend's suggestion and put her on soy milk. The doctor said that the intolerance to milk wears off after a while when the stomach improves. You might try a regular bottle in a day or two. Glad to hear that Michael's father got to spend time with Alex, that child could brighten anyone's day!

Cathy Doyle

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you went, and that it was a good time!

Keep washing her little butt with lots and lots of nice clear warm water. She'll be fine. :-)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Her butt improved dramatically after the first twelve diarrhea-free hours. She's almost completely healed now.