On the Road with a Retching Kid: Moms Talk

Moms Talk is a new Wednesday feature on Shorewood-il.Patch.com to reach out to moms and families.

You are invited to participate by asking questions and making comments in the section below each story. This will be an ongoing dialogue for parents and grandparents just like you. Be sure to check back regularly to read how other Wise Council moms have responded to your ideas.

This week's topic starts with a personal story about a really ugly car scene.

My husband, toddler and I were driving back from a holiday visit in Kansas when our 14-month-old got sick. Ordinarily, he is a pretty easy going kid, so we didn't notice any symptoms that he wasn't feeling well. Then all of a sudden, as we were trying to pay our bill at a restaurant in Iowa City, he started projectile vomiting. He didn't cry, he didn't fuss. He just threw up and was done.

Or so we thought.

After a mop and apologies to the wait staff, we all piled back into the car for the remaining three hours back to Illinois. Our poor little guy didn't make it so far as the next exit before he was sick again. We cleaned him up, he got sick. We changed his clothes, he got sick again. We wiped down the car seat, and again he hurled.

We kept thinking it was over, and he just keep spewing ropes.

Like the little boy with his finger in the dam, we were trying to manage the situation. Should we try to find a hotel for the night? Or should we hurry home and get him in his own bed? Did he need to see a doctor? Or did he just need something from a pharmacy?

Thirty minutes and three costume changes later, we were on the phone with our Shorewood Pediatrician, Dr. Spomenka Jercinovic. Although this was our first parenting experience with a vomiting child, it certainly wasn't hers.

Dr. Spomenka patiently tried to hear my story as my cell was fading in and out of service.

"Iowa," I kept repeating louder and louder.

We made a body armor-like bib out of a plastic garbage bag that my husband bought at the gas station we rushed into. While he was driving, trying to get us home quick, I was turned around in the shotgun seat holding  napkins under the baby's chin in his car seat behind me. While my husband and I were juggling the issues of a puking kid, fighting the smell and our own urges to puke, we couldn't even tell the doctor where we were in order to call in a prescription! Somewhere along I-80 really wasn't enough information for her.

Here is the brilliance of this story. Spomenka offered this idea. She said she would call in a prescription to Walgreen's and we could have it transferred to wherever we landed.

Angels sang. Heavens opened. There was a solution! And it was sooo easy!
Next, we read the name of the upcoming town on the highway sign. I dialed information and asked for the Walgreen's there. We were approaching the Quad Cities, so it wasn't hard to find a store.

When I got the pharmacist on the line, she heard my story and gave me directions to the next location. She also gave me their number. I was able to call ahead to get the prescription transferred.

One dose and a half-a-bottle of Pedialyte later, our wee son was asleep. We made it home in record time. Put the boy to bed in his own crib. By morning, the whole thing was over.

So the lesson learned is that if your children get unexpectedly sick while traveling, have your pediatrician call a chain pharmacy that transfers scripts to other states. Say a prayer that the person you get on the phone has a sense of direction and a willingness to help. Having those phone numbers programmed into  your cell phone is also a good thing.

Oh, and don't forget the map.