Before you judge us, know that we still feel incredibly blessed and fortunate to have been able to travel to Prague. We did get to enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas. We savored some of the best street food we have ever had in all of our adventures abroad: potato dumplings fried with cabbage and bacon, pork knuckle, kielbasa sausages, trdelniks, Old Prague ham, hot apple cider, and freshly fried potato chips. And we strolled across the Charles Bridge and around the Prague castle. Also, we learned from our mistake in Barcelona: We made sure to book a hotel that was more centrally located so that our endeavors into town, around Aliyah's nap times, would be uncomplicated. In fact, our hotel was located just a few minutes away from the largest of the Christmas markets in Prague (a huge blessing).
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| Old Town Square |
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| Walking across the Charles Bridge to the castle |
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| At Prague Castle |
Overall, we planned the perfect Christmas vacation...but a number of things happened (mostly tied to health) which made us eager for our return back home to Casablanca. The timing just wasn't right.
The day that we left Casablanca, Aliyah suddenly acquired an aversion to eating all of her favorite foods. She refused everything except for bread and water. This had happened once before, when she was sprouting her ninth tooth. We knew that her tenth tooth (that darn left molar) was on its way up, so we attributed her lack of appetite to this fact. Indeed, tooth number ten did cut through the gums toward the end of the vacation; however, we discovered that this wasn't the root of her problems.
We tried desperately to get Aliyah to eat anything that wasn't bread for a few days. At one restaurant, we even scattered her tray with one of her favorites (green beans) in hopes that she would regain an interest in food if she was in control of feeding herself. This merely led to her dropping a few beans on the floor...which, in turn, led to our waitress handing us a broom while remarking, "I'm a waitress not your slave, so you can clean up your own mess". Our discouragement over Aliyah's lack of appetite was suddenly compounded by us feeling completely insulted. Perhaps we only thought that her mess was minimal because we were either too jet-lagged or too preoccupied with our daughter's health to see clearly. Or perhaps we really are oblivious to restaurant etiquette when it comes to kids. Or perhaps, most likely, this waitress was just a horrible person. Whatever the reason, this single incident tainted our entire vacation. We felt as though we were walking on egg shells while eating at any restaurant from that point forward, just waiting for dirty looks or remarks to come our way.
The very next day, we could tell that something was seriously wrong. Aliyah "woke up" after sleeping for twelve straight hours through the night. The diaper rash that we had been treating with an antibiotic cream for a week was significantly worsening, she had a high fever, and she would not consume bread or water. After just a few minutes of being awake, she drifted back into a sound sleep. Her level of lethargy coupled with the fact that she was now feverish and refusing all foods/liquids led us to inquire where the nearest children's hospital was.
We eventually found our way to Klinika Detskeho, where we could only communicate with a few individuals. After stumbling through some Czech paperwork, we were allowed to see an English-speaking doctor. We had to wake Aliyah up (she was going on nearly twenty hours of non-stop sleep) so that they could examine her and do blood work. Ultimately, we were advised to spend the night in the hospital in order to monitor her raspy breathing and to rehydrate her via an IV. We consented to this as well as a chest x-ray in order to rule out pneumonia. We also somehow managed to "break the rules" by convincing the doctors to let Dave spend the night under the condition that would share the one twin-sized bed and leave the other bed vacant for a potential new patient arrival (they initially said that only Nicole would be allowed to stay with Aliyah). Aliyah's official diagnosis was a bad case of bronchiolitis. She remained hooked up to an IV overnight, and her fever lingered around 103 degrees Fahrenheit for the entire day. She was given a new antibiotic cream for the diaper rash as well as an antibiotic for the bronchiolitis. While reluctant at first, we were allowed to "Czech out" on Christmas Eve, with the promise to return if her symptoms worsened.
Aliyah's recovery commenced slowly with an appetite for croissants and overpriced blueberries (nothing else). Simultaneously, Dave developed a feverish sinus infection of his own. In Morocco, it is not always necessary to visit a doctor because all antibiotics can be purchased without a prescription. We understand that this is abnormal, so we were not surprised to find that we could not buy any sort of over-the-counter antibiotic at the pharmacy for Dave without a doctors prescription. We had already spent one night in a Czech hospital and were not eager to return to one. As a result, we barely left the hotel during our last few days in Prague... we just anxiously waited until we could "Czech out" and return home.
We're still thankful for Prague. We needed this vacation. It was a break from work and from Morocco, and we were able to rejuvenate our bodies with good pork. Prague was also a valuable learning experience for us. We learned (and are still learning) that traveling will never be the same as it used to be now that we have a baby. We learned that it probably wasn't worth it to book the cheapest flight, with a horrible airline, that entailed two overnight layovers in Brussels (even if it was $500 cheaper). We learned that we still need to lower our expectations for vacation with a baby in tow. And we learned that everything we do, including our restaurant outings, needs to be kid-friendly.
We are still not 100% recovered health-wise, but we are getting closer. It's a new year...and it's good to be home.
-David, Nicole, and Aliyah
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