Not the way we expected to ring in the New Year...

What's less desirable than spending your anniversary flying cross-country? How about... following up that full day of travel by spending the night -- New Year's Eve, by the way -- at the Emergency Room?

Unfortunately, that was our lot last night. Before I go any further, you should know everyone is fine (now). Here's how yesterday went down:

6:15 a.m. ET -- Bethany wakes up to get ready for the flight. (Jeff wakes up 15 minutes later.)

8 a.m. ET -- We leave for the Miami airport, making record time.

10:50 a.m. ET -- Our flight leaves MIA headed for DFW, basically on time.

1:05 p.m. CT -- We arrive at DFW. As he was on the way to Miami, BabyBear is great -- this time, he slept most of the flight.

1:30 p.m. CT -- We get to the gate where our flight to Waco is supposed to depart at 4:30. The previous flight to Waco, scheduled for 1:30, still hasn't left (rescheduled for 2 p.m.), but we're told it's too close to take-off for us to get on the plane with our bags, so we'll have to wait for our flight. No problem; we go have a nice anniversary lunch at TGI Fridays, with frozen yogurt for dessert.

3 p.m. CT -- We get back to our gate to learn that the earlier Waco flight had only just left; had we hung around, we probably could have gotten on it. Sigh. Still, no big deal -- our flight boards in an hour.

5 p.m. CT -- Our flight leaves DFW a half hour late; had to wait on the stewardess to arrive on another flight.

5:45 p.m. CT -- We land in Waco. BabyBear was fine on the short flight, our bags are there, all is well.

7 p.m. CT -- We put BabyBear down to sleep at home. He's a little fussy, but we figure it's just the long day and adjusting back to home.

10:15 p.m. CT -- After a couple of hours of unpacking, Bethany and I are in bed reading, probably two minutes away from turning out the light, when BabyBear starts screaming bloody murder. He's arching his back and kicking his legs, so we figure it's gas -- maybe from the frozen yogurt. We give him gas drops and spend half an hour trying to burp him, with little luck and with no changes in his screaming. Second idea: maybe he's hungry; his eating schedule was off for the day due to traveling. So, we feed him a bottle -- he downs it, then starts screaming again a few minutes after finishing. Finally, about 11:15, Bethany is able to get him back to sleep. We return to bed.

12:15 a.m. CT -- BabyBear wakes up screaming again. Bethany tries to rock him back to sleep, getting him calmed for a bit before he starts screaming even more. At this point, we call the 24-hour nurse; she asks a bunch of questions and recommends that we take him to the ER. While on the phone with the nurse, BabyBear actually falls back asleep, but the nurse says to go to the hospital anyway. So, we quickly pack up and head out.

1:30 a.m. CT -- Check in at the ER.

2:30 a.m. CT -- Get called back for initial weigh-in, that sort of thing, then sent back to the waiting room.

3:30 a.m. CT -- Finally brought back to see the doctor.

4 a.m. CT -- Doctor finally comes into our room. Over the next 2.5 hours, a couple of doctors and a nurse come in and out. They diagnose infections in both ears, plus a bad diaper rash. The diaper rash is no shock -- he's had it before, and this one was probably caused by infrequent changes while traveling all day. The ear infections are a surprise, however, given that he hadn't complained at all on either flight earlier in the day. But, he's given some pain-killing eardrops, which immediately calm him down, and he eventually fell asleep on the table there (that's the picture here).



6:30 a.m. CT -- 25 hours after waking up, we get back home and get BabyBear to sleep.

So, that's our fun little New Year's saga. The ear drops seem to be helping, and the diaper rash is also clearing up some already. He was also given an antibiotic that we just got, so hopefully that will help, too. He still cries when you pick him up if you're not careful about how you support his rear end, but will hopefully be on the mend soon. Poor BabyBear!!