International Travel with a Toddler: Not for the Faint of Heart

Murphy's Law: take your child for his 18-month well visit on Tuesday to have him declared in perfect health. (Stats: weight 26.5 lbs - 65th percentile and height 34.75 inches - 95th percentile.) Child wakes on Wednesday morning - day of international flight - with a runny nose (not the clear stuff... meaning infection) and horrible chesty cough.

And so began our travel "adventure." With inhaler medication in hand, we left for Detroit airport on Wednesday morning around 10:30 am. On the advice of Jack's pediatrician, we gave him children's Benadryl before our flight to Chicago. Many of my friends advised that we give him Benadryl to knock him out but I never seriously entertained the idea. I only give medicine if truly warranted. But when the doctor advised it - we listened.

The flight to Chicago was just fine and Jack weathered the 3-hour layover with no trouble. O'Hare airport had a great "Kids on the Fly" area which had plenty of play things and climbing pieces for Jack to use. He wore himself out and by the time our 5:30 pm flight to Manchester rolled around, Mick and I knew Jack was beyond beat and would SLEEP on the flight. We gave him an additional dose of Benadryl since it had been 8 hours since his first and he was alseep within ten minutes of takeoff. YAHTZEE! we thought! I immediately regretted packing my book in my checked luggage as I suddenly had hours during which to read.

But it was not to be.

Jack woke after about an hour of sleep and, with over seven hours remaining on the flight, was wild. I mean WILD. Apparently, while Benadryl causes extreme drowsiness in most children, it has also been known to cause extreme hyperactivity. Wonderful. So we had seven hours of wrangling a very energetic child, who was sick, and who mostly only wanted mummy. Mick had about an hour of sleep while I had none. But we made it and thought we were out of the woods.

Wrong.

Thursday night, we put Jack to bed around 7:30 pm. Granted, this is only 2:30 pm Michigan time, but Jack was beyond beat as he'd had so little sleep Wednesday and didn't sleep overnight at all. He went down like a gem and again, we were thrilled. Until he woke around 11 pm. And stayed awake - wide awake - until after 2:00 am. Mick and I muttered words of frustration to each other, reminisced on how easy travel was without a child, and threatened not returning to England until Jack is 16. But then Jack eventually fell asleep and we slept and the morning brought renewed tenacity: we wouldn't let Jack's sleep strike dictate our future travel plans! We'd be back this summer!

But then this morning we started talking about whether we should call the pediatrician back. Jack had been on his inhalers for over 48 hours and wasn't improving at all. Though his appetite and general playfulness have been good, his cough seems to be getting worse and he's been wheezing and having shortness of breath. Our pediatrician said, without hesitation, that we needed to take him into the doctor here before tomorrow morning. This was at 5 pm England time. UGH!

So, off we trekked to the local doctor (who was wonderful!) to be told that we had to pay (!!) for Jack's visit because, while he's a British citizen, his country of residence is not part of the UK. Bummer. I was impressed though with our first experience with the NHS. We called at 5:00 and by 5:30 we were in with the doctor! She said that Jack has a bit of a red (sore?) throat and a "crackly" chest - meaning chest infection. Due to his other breathing issues, he has to be on an antibiotic for the next five days. (Thank goodness for generic drugs - with our insurance not covered here, we had to pay out of pocket but the drugs were only about $7!)

The doctor wants to see Jack again on Monday morning at 8 am so we will have him rechecked then. This hasn't been easy thus far but I'm glad we're doing it (the travel, I mean.) I know some people who say they'd never travel with their kids because it would be too hard. I think about what we've done so far - with this our third international trip with Jack in 18 months - and am glad that we're not letting these hiccups get us down. Jack had some time with his great granny today and the expression on her face when she saw him -- "isn't he just lovely? he's precious!" -- was invaluable. Well worth the challenges - though we're hopeful for an easier trip home!