Benton's First Trip Outside of the DMV!

Morning Snuggle

June marked the first time we had ventured further afield than the immediate DC metro area (otherwise known as the DMV - DC Maryland and Virginia).  One of my best friends, Lauren, was getting married in Benton Harbor, Michigan and we took that as a sign from God and the universe that we should get out of town and bring Benton to the wedding.  In addition, Michigan is where Joe is from and he has lots of family there.  So we would be able to combine a wedding with a family visit.  Yay!

We packed our small VW Jetta to the gills with pack n plays, oxygen, concentrators, nebulizer machines, medicines, feeding tube supplies and pump, formula and food, toys, games, and just about everything beside the kitchen sink.   Until you try to take your special needs child on an 11 hour car trip you never truly realize just how small your car truly is.  Needless to say we made it work, but thank god Joe's parents drove separately and took the dogs!  It would have been physically impossible to make the trip with 5 people and 2 dogs in that little car with all our gear.  The trip really got us thinking about how we needed a bigger car....but more on that later :)

Pictures at the rest stops on the way to Michigan

Now back to the main story our trip to Michigan.  The day before we left for Michigan we had noticed that Benton had a small red rash around his eyes, but had brushed it off as an allergic reaction because we had just introduced strawberries to him.  We started our trip and Benton was amazing considering he was stuck in the car for 11 hours.  He watched videos, played peek-a-boo, read books, chewed on his various animals and napped.  Once we arrived in Michigan we spent time at Joe's parents house where Benton got to meet some of our close family friends, the Erlachers.

First meeting with "Uncle" Brandon our close family friend

The next day, we continued our drive from Adrian, MI to Benton Harbor, MI site of the wedding.  When we got to the hotel we let Benton try out the pool which he was NOT a fan of.  The second he touched the water he started uncontrollably sobbing and clutching momma for dear life.  Needless to say it was a pretty short pool excursion.  Then we got ready for the requisite rehearsal dinner and wedding festivities.  The day of the wedding, Benton was able to meet many of his second cousins and great-aunts which was very special.  He sat in awe of his older cousins and then warmed up to them and started crawling all over the place.

Benton was not so keen on his first time in the pool 

Since we were in Benton Harbor, MI we found the best sign we could find and took a picture with Benton before we headed back to Adrian to see more family.

Benton with the Benton Harbor, MI sign!!!!

Arriving back in Adrian, MI all of the family came to the grandparents' house for food and family fun.  Some of the relatives had still never met Benton and Benton had not yet met his cousin, Caleb.  It was quite a special moment.  Benton got to meet his Aunt Jessica, Uncle Albert and cousin Caleb as well as see his Uncle Rob and Aunt Amber.  Seeing the cousins together was incredibly fun.  They played mainly side by side rather than fully interacting but they did watch a couple of videos together.

Cousins hugging it out!

Cutie patooties watching videos

Bertram Family Photo

On our last night in Michigan Benton began coughing and crying through much of the night.  He had also felt warm earlier in the week but hadn't registered a temperature.  We figured he may have caught a slight cold or was just out of sorts being in so many new environments.  However, when the coughing continued the following day, as we started the long drive home to DC, we became more concerned.  We took Benton to the doctor the first day we were home and they said it didn't seem like a cold.  It was probably extra fluid on his lungs and we should just give him a dose of lasix.

A couple days later Benton had not improved and his breath had started to smell terrible.  In addition, that rash around his eyes had intensified even after we stopped giving him strawberries.  We took him back to the doctor and they check him for rhinosinusitis, pneumonia and strep throat.  His throat culture was positive - he had strep throat!  That rash was actually a strep rash indicative of scarlet fever.  This means the poor kid had had strep the entire time we were in Michigan!!  We never knew he had strep because he never truly had a fever and hadn't been very fussy.  We felt terrible that we had overlooked some of his symptoms, but the doctor said most kids have fevers with strep and even the doctors had thought it was something else.

Luckily a little amoxicilin did the trick and Benton was a good as new within 24 hours.  Thank god this strep infection didn't have complications or affect his breathing.  We thank god every day that Benton was able to make it through this illness without a trip to the hospital.

At the hospital after his chest x-ray