Travel to Chicago- was hell.

July 6, 2007 Friday

I was tired, Kai was tired. I went to work in the morning, I could not afford to ditch my patients as we closed the clinic for the July 4th holiday. So I had to help them (after all they were in pain) and I just could not see Kai tolerating even an hour at daycare with all the kids running around there. Kai had hit 102.8 fever yesterday and was still feverish this morning. So Greg had a "bring your child to work" day.
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I sorta hoped that his decreasing fever would keep him subdued, but no luck. He broke fever and it had also been a long 4-hour flight (without Greg traveling with us), with Kai wanting to touch everything. I had to throw him in my backpack/baby carrier just to keep him satisfied while we waited for our flight. He seems to like the view from up higher. During the flight, I could not even walk 2 steps down the aisle before he would cling to my leg voicing his disagreement. He then took to using me as a climbing wall (walking up my leg, trunk, and chest while holding unto my hands) then embrace me, slide down, and then start all over again whilst standing in the aisle.

When that game stopped, he would demand to be nursed-putting his hand down my shirt. I felt sorry for the man sitting next to us, when I gave-up and gave-in to Kai's needs. Then to top off, Kai popped out from under the blanket and tried to grab the man's paper, highlighter and drink. Then he'd run off to play peek-a-boo with the little boy sitting up front or try to convince this 3-year old curly blonde haired girl to give him a few kisses. And when she wasn't looking his way, he'd put his foot up on her armrest.

You see, he has his way with girls-the sandals he wore make his feet stink. And he probably thought that was the best way to get her attention.

Finally arriving at Midway Airport, it was a pleasure to be greeted by my mom and niece Adira. For a split second I didn't recognize 10-yr. old Adira- she had grown to look like a teenager since last Xmas and my mother had also picked up some weight from a frail 96-pounds to a healthier 120-pounds. This was great relief, since mom had completed chemotherapy treatments for colon cancer. She was apparantly more energetic and I could hug her without feeling I would snap her in two. My fireman of a brother Derek, who was waiting in the car, took me by surprise by his size (he loves to drink beer to give you an idea) but when he raised his arms to give me a hug I was a bit intimidated by his biceps. They appeared to have doubled in size, he could probably crush a walnut there.

Kai freaked out when Adira tried to buckle him in the child seat by biting her forearm. And continued to shriek when he thought I would leave him with them. He also cried the majority of the way home, and it didn't help when his Godfather Derek would grab his leg, google his eyes, and scare him by pressing his face against the car window. Poor Adira sat there with her hands pressed over her ears. Mom kept laughing. I shoved a french fry in his mouth, which helped to mute him.

We reach my sisters house and mom has this strong desire to feed me...and makes a terrific dish of a sausage stir-fry in oyster sauce over white rice. I push the chicken nuggets away (they always make me feel like crap anyway) and devour this homemade dish. YUM!

Then I peeped in to meet Hope, the newest addition to my sister's family...
There she was snoring. And she looked so white! Really white! against her white Winnie the Pooh bedding. I saw her poor little hands and feet, and the deformity of her little head. But I just had to pick her up - how could I not? I've worked with people with all sorts of disabilities, and although I was inexperienced with APERT syndrome it shouldn't make anything different than how a baby should be handled...so I picked her up.

I thought she looked big for 3-months, she was a feather-weight. Kai looked at her indifferently and smiled. He just hung around in the room and brought a book for me to read (to him or Hope, I'm not sure). And all I could think was poor Hope- so fragile, so innocent- how unfair...I will have to get more aquainted with her tomorrow.

It must have been at least 2am Chicago time before I got to bed. I awoke at 4am startled by wetness around my midsection. Either I had urinated on myself or someone had done the "cold water wake-up call" on me. I then realized I had fallen asleep holding unto a soda. I cleaned up and passed out again...