After a week of illness and packing we boarded our plane late Friday night. We got through security with loads of gear, bags, computers and children. After tying back on the shoes, balancing car seats on the stroller we headed toward the gate. Our first flight as a family of five!!
Savannah was beside herself with excitement. She enjoyed watching all of the planes from the gate while the girls were less than excited to wait to board. Finally, the call for parents with children. Alex took Savannah, three car seats and a bag on board while I walked the girls back and forth in their stroller for the next 45 minutes. Once on the plane we buckled in Lila Grace and Savannah in the window seats and Alex and I took turns holding Adeline. We said a little prayer, held hands and were up and away.
Once in the air, I gave Lila Grace her bottle and she was asleep before we knew it. Luckily, she slept the entire flight!! I have never met a better sleeper. Not a peep, just sound asleep the whole way. Savannah found it hard to get comfortable and was distracted by the meals, drinks and snacks she was continually offered. (We flew First Class which seems to be the only option when flying on miles). She was a superstar and never complained before she passed out for the last two hours of the flight.
Adeline was a completely different story. We had her hooked up to the pulse oximeter and were pleased with her sats going into the air. She was fidgety and finally became fussy. I decided to feed her in hopes that she would fall asleep in my arms. No such luck! Once hitting 15,000 feet we noticed that her sats were dropping into the low 90's. I was shocked but knew that it wasn't a crisis. We hooked her into a car seat that we carried on in case we got lucky with an empty seat nearby (which we did thank goodness) and gave her nebs. She hasn't had them in so long that they upset her terribly which causes her to cry during the entire treatment. This lead to a gag which resulted in four rounds of projectile puke. First Class was loving by this point. Did I carry on extra clothes? Of course not. I brought everything else but never thought to pack clothes in our already bulging carry on. So poor Miss Belle flew naked from that point on. She cried her self out and was pretty spent after her puking episode. She finally fell asleep. Usually, her sats even out when she is asleep and I figured they would go up a little due to her being relaxed. Well, I was very wrong. They dropped to 86! The stewardess asked if we wanted supplemental oxygen but had made it clear that it would be followed by an emergency landing. She was very supportive of us and our decision and never once made us feel as if we didn't have the right to land the plane. We, on the other hand, knew that Adeline was far from emergent due to her level heart rate and comfortable sleep. We played with her positioning and ended up holding her in an upright position which raised her sats up to 90. Holding a sleeping child for a couple hours is less than comfortable so I give Adeline tons of props for sleeping the last 4 hours of the flight while being held. It was interesting watching the plane descend because once we broke 15,000 ft. her sats shot up and she has been pretty good ever since.
We got to Alex's parents house at 2:00 a.m. (5:00 a.m. our time) and put the girls down. Adeline's sats were fine all night and the girls were amazing sleepers in an unfamiliar place. I am pretty sure we could have laid them on the kitchen table at that point and they would have rolled over until morning. We were all exhausted.
Miss Belle has continued to struggle with puking episodes which makes it hard to keep the meds down. However, last night she was satting 100 with the lowest heart rate I have seen on her. I guess that means she is better or, at least on her way there.
We have a long flight back and aren't allowed to take O2 on board. Clearly, our little girl isn't meant to be in the friendly skies but we must return home. I am confident she will sat better on the way home if we can get her healthy. It looks like she close.
Nothing like keeping life interesting for us Miss Bellie Belle.
