(This one is for the mommas who understand Reflux)
When you have a child that cries bloody murder almost every car ride for almost 12 months you really never truly get used to it. Other moms I have come in contact with that have been through this all say the same thing. You avoid going anywhere you don’t have to. Sometimes, it’s easier to be a hermit. But, you can’t avoid doctor’s appointments and other necessary things. You learn to clump all errands together because you want to limit your time in the car as much as possible. On the day that my son went downtown to see the Endocrinologist is a morning I will never forget. We got stuck in traffic and it took 55 minutes to get there. My son screamed the whole drive. The things I yelled at other drivers were ugly to say the least. I never thought I would have survived that ride. When we arrived downtown it was pouring rain. I grabbed my son so fast from his seat to relieve him. Hearing his pain cry hurts my heart in a way nothing else can. His reflux is horrible in the car. I hadn’t noticed he vomited so bad that now that I was holding him we were both covered in vomit. We were already 5 minutes late for the appointment that I just went with it and ran inside. We were covered in vomit as I am wiping him and getting in the elevator to the 12th floor. There had to have been somewhere in the ballpark of 10-12 people on that ride up. As soon as I walked on I looked at all their faces. I fessed up right away to my fellow riders and said. “Hey, I am sorry. My son threw up on the ride down. That is why we smell. He puked”. It was the ride of shame that stopped on every floor up. I was so grateful to arrive at that appointment and to the nice nurses that helped get us cleaned up. It wasn’t until a few weeks later when we went to the fire station to get his cars seat checked, that I realized how much he truly threw up that day. When the fireman removed the seat there was thick vomit coating that I literally had to scrub, peal and pry off the leather seat. While I was extremely embarrassed in that elevator ride and in front of that fireman, it was just life at that time. Only some people truly will read this and know what it is like to truly experience reflux car rides. The second my son was able to get out of his infant carrier helped the reflux a bit but the screaming car rides continued on for quite some time.