Hiya.

I’ve been having some rough days lately. Very busy with work. Very busy at home. Kids getting sick because of the changing weather, etc. I just wrote about children not having enough outdoor life in the UAE – I took them to an event last Saturday where there are plenty of green spaces and a bouncy castle.

The bouncy castle – the black hole that sucks children and then you won’t see them unless you peel them off from there and drag them home.

While the weather here is really great and sometimes I can even use the word ‘cold’, even if you have to shiver at the thought of Dubai as cold – when the sun is out, it’s definitely not cold at all.

Benjamin played too much under the sun and I should have known there’s something hidden in that very behaved and proper behavior on the way home in his car seat. And his reddish cheeks should’ve told me there is something more to it. He slept at 7:30 pm (actually, we all slept that early, too tired) and was ok the next morning.

After breakfast, he threw up.

Now, throwing up is alien territory to me. Pristine has never done that before and Benjamin is a pretty healthy little guy who rarely gets sick and has never vomited too. Nothing like your child vomiting can make you feel like an incapable mother. That’s what I felt.

I gave him warm milk to soothe his empty tummy and he was fine a bit…but the next 10 minutes, projectile vomiting! Fast as a flash, I dressed up and decided to go to the hospital.

We went to the emergency unit of Latifa Hospital (formerly Al Wasl Hospital). A little tidbit about this government hospital: if you have a government health card and taken in you won’t have to pay anything if you’re assessed as an emergency case.

The doctor suspected mild dehydration so prescribed Motillum to stop the vomiting, oral rehydration salt and  lots of other liquids. Benjamin was already feeling fine at the hospital, playing around.

But his eyes looked tired and he didn’t have any appetite except for crackers – these are one of those moments when I wish I was still breastfeeding. He did not throw up again after that.

Then this morning, I got a call from the nanny: “Benjamin has broken out in hives, eyes swollen shut, itching and in pain.” She didn’t need to tell me he’s crying. I can hear his cries in the background.

He ate something with nuts which he is allergic of. I ran back home like a Kenyan sprinter and prayed the anti-histamine would work, and work fast. It took a bit of time but I’m glad it did. We just had a trip to the emergency yesterday, who wants a repeat performance of that?!