Tales from the Beltway

After a busy Thanksgiving week, I'd promised Mimi some one-on-one Mom time to do something special.  We had to drive my brother to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport for his trip back to Boston, so Mimi and I decided that we'd visit one of our favorite shopping destinations: IKEA. 

We hit the Beltway fairly early, before there was too much Thanksgiving-end-of-weekend traffic.  The three of us chatted sporadically, with Mimi telling Uncle Chris about school and her friends and her Christmas list and other things of great interest to a five year old and one of her beloved uncles.  But about 20 minutes or so south of BWI, Mimi suddenly got quiet.

"Momma, my tummy's hurting," she whined.  I checked her out in the mirror.  She did indeed look pretty pale.

Now, Mimi has a sporadic history of car sickness.  What's frustrating is that it's truly sporadic -- during 5 out of 6 long drives to North Carolina she was fine, but on that other trip she threw up all over herself, her car seat, and my dad's car.  Certainly not the kind of event you like to see repeated.

So I kicked up the precautionary measures: rolled down the windows and cranked up the A/C to keep her cool (she tends to get sick when she's too warm).  Rolled through the McDonald's drive through at the next exit to grab a small cup of Sprite.  Handed Mimi the cup of Sprite and we were back on the road in less than 5 minutes.

Mimi took one sip of Sprite and smiled.  "How does that taste?  Good for your tummy?" I called back.

"Yes, better!" she said enthusiastically.  But suddenly her face crumpled and she began to retch.

While Uncle Chris and I talked soothingly to our now wailing Mimi, I drove to the rest area (which conveniently materialized less than a mile down the road).  Uncle Chris, who HATES vomit and anything associated with it, did an upstanding job getting Mimi calmed down while I scrubbed and sanitized the car seats and floor mats with baby wipes and a couple of bottles of water.  Fortunately, my girl had the presence of mind to lean over while she threw up, so her outfit was salvageable.  Unlike the floorboards of J's beloved Prius...

Back in the car (with J's emergency towel under Mimi just in case), and back on the road.  With the windows down and A/C cranked to keep Mimi comfortable.  I kept my good eye on her as we drove the last several miles to the airport -- she was hanging in there, and I figured we were out of the woods.  We said our goodbyes to Uncle Chris, and turned around to head to IKEA.  Mimi insisted she still wanted to go, that she was feeling better.

Unfortunately, less than a mile from the airport, I heard that now too-familiar retching sound followed by the inevitable wail.  Pulled into a gas station, used up about a gazillion more baby wipes, bought Mimi a ginger ale and saltines.  Less than 5 minutes out of the car and she was feeling chipper again, but I decided we should hang out for 20 minutes or so just to be safe.  (If you're ever in Elkridge, Maryland, there's a lovely gas station just off of Route One.  Tell the proprietor I sent ya.)

You know the drill by now, I'm sure.  Mimi buckled in, car started, windows down, ginger ale in place. 

We made it half a mile this time.

By now we're probably 20 minutes from IKEA and close to an hour from home.  I'm starting to wonder if we're ever actually going to get out of Elkridge.  After yet another Prius carpet scrub session and a brief cell consultation with Daddy, we decided to spend some time shopping at the friendly neighborhood Super Fresh grocery store. 

We were there probably an hour while Mimi's stomach continued to settle.  And even though we had a whole range of sodas at our disposal, this time we eschewed the fizzy drinks in favor of the serious stuff: Children's Pepto Bismol, bubble gum flavor.  (Mimi refused the Dramamine.) 

Thankfully, the long break and Pepto seemed to do the trick.  We made it to the IKEA in College Park without further incidents.  Mimi found the most beautiful lamps for her room ("Pink flowers, momma!!"), we got a little something for Rosie, and best of all -- I was able to get my Swedish design fix.   Complete with a side of meatballs and lingonberry sauce.

Poor J, though.  All he got out of the deal was a kind of smelly car.  And now he needs a new emergency towel.

(We did make it home from IKEA without further vomit incidents, although Mimi was looking a bit green for the last few minutes of the journey.  I'm thinking that cross-country car trip I'm jonesing for is not gonna happen anytime soon.)

Comments

[Suzanne]

Poor girl! I am so impressed that you had wipes and bottled water at the ready. I'd be totally unprepared for such an emergency.

(So good to hear from you, Nancy!)

[mamasutra]

Oh man...we were just discussing the possibility of driving somewhere over Christmas holidays with the kidlets...re-thinking that!!

[LawyerMama]

Oh, poor MIMI! I feel her pain though. I suffer from pretty horrible motion sickness too. You could also try having her suck on sour lemon or citrus flavored candies. (You know the same stuff you do for morning sickness.) That works for me most of the time when I'm about to throw up.

[PunditMom]

So not fun. Poor Mimi. Glad you are back, tho!

[Mrs. Chicky]

Wow, you two are brave to soldier on like that. But it was for Ikea.

Glad you're back!

[slouching mom]

Hey! Hello!

And poor Mimi.

But ANYTHING for Ikea. At least that's my mantra.

[ali]

yours is like the 6th blog i've read today about puke. tis the season, i guess.
unfortunately. :)

[wordgirl]

I'm feeling a little under the weather after reading this. Too bad so many motion sickness drugs cause drowsiness. I mean...who wants to sleep through a trip to IKEA?

[Julie]

Ugh. I'm always amazed by how resilient kids are when they puke. One go-round is enough to wipe me out for the next several hours, but kids can bounce back immediately.

Glad she's feeling better and that you did make it to IKEA.

[jozet at Halushki]

I have a car puker, too.

Cold air works, sometimes lollipops work. I try to remember to keep a air-sickness bag in the car, but the day I forget is invariably the day we have pukage.

But yes, IKEA and a new pink lamp will make all right with the world.

[Stimey]

Yeah, that totally sucks. My poor car has been thrown up in so many times. I've had to resort to pulling our under-the-carseat towel out to mop up puke more than once. But IKEA, oh how I love IKEA!

[mayberry]

Poor girl; poor Prius! I'm impressed you were able to eat Swedish meatballs after all that...

most of all just happy to see you back.

[mamasgotmoxie]

awwwwwwwwww... the poor baby!!

[motherofbun]

Seth does the same thing! Sporadic and only when he's tired and a bit too warm.

We don't call our CRV the "Vomit Comet" for nothin'.

Course he's thrown up in the other vehicle as well.

They outgrow that eventually, right? RIGHT?!?

[Amy]

Nan! I'm so glad to see you posting again, girl- I've been checking in daily to see when you'd be back. Sorry about the vomit- Dean's car was never quite the same after Vi threw up bacon and eggs all over the backseat on the way to the hospital as Ave was being born. And of course, Dean missed the birth. Doh!