Food Allergies

When Boop was born, I was concerned because he had a dairy allergy. If he ate cheese or drank milk he would break out in hives. It never got any worse then that. It is my understanding, though, it does aggravate the preexisting condition of eczema.

He has grown out of it for the most part. He still gets soy milk and can have a little bit of ice cream. Out of necessity, because they don't sell soy yogurt at our grocer any more, he eats "the girls" yogurt and so far so good. I do notice his nose runs a little bit more.

So, when EG was born, I was a little more cautious about her diet. If only because of Boop. Well, it turns out she has some kind of food allergy. We are not exactly sure what all she is allergic to. She has had hives on a number of occasions but we haven't been able to pin it down from exactly what though. She has had eggs and the next day woke up looking like a balloon. Face and hands and feet SWOLLEN. If she eats cantaloupe her little bottom gets blisters. And, now, she is allergic to Honey Nut Cheerios.

She has eaten nuts that the kids have dropped on the floor before. So, this morning, when I noticed we were out of regular Cheerios and I gave her Honey Nut, I was really more concerned about the honey thing than the nut thing. But, about 15 minutes later her little hands (and feet) were red, a little swollen and itchy. She came up to me, showed me her hands and was rubbing them together.

Having been through this a time or two before, I immediately gave her Benadryl. But, as I was giving it to her daddy said "Gee, that looks like an awful lot." I was giving her Boop's dose! Anyway, daddy told me to call the doc just to see if everything would be OK. Just out of an abundance of caution.

So, I call the doc and explain what is going on. She tells me I am OK with the Benadryl but that I really need to take her to the ER because if the reaction were to get worse it would happen very quickly. We called family and friends we knew we could get advice from. Because, honestly, I did not want to wait in the ER with a toddler with all of those sick people and germs.

Thankfully and oddly enough daddy came home sick this morning. A blessing, because then, at least, the big kids could stay home with him if we did decide she needed to go to the ER.

After chatting with others who are more knowledgeable then us, we decided not to go to the ER. But, I just had a nagging feeling. Not that anything was wrong, but I just wasn't restful, wasn't so sure like I normally am when we come to a decision. So, I decided to call the ER to find out a wait time and explained my situation. The nurse on the phone said "if it were me with a toddler and a food allergy I would definitely bring her in." Then she proceeded to tell me there was no one in the waiting room and EG would be triaged in 20 minutes. That did it for me.

What could it hurt just to go in and be sure. Just to get a doc to listen to her heart and check her airway. I just needed that extra reassurance. I just kept thinking what if this time were different and we made the wrong call.

I don't run to the doc for everything. I believe that God gave me pretty good maternal instincts. And I always defer to daddy in these situations, just to be safe. And it all just kind of seemed to work out that I should take her. So now it is lunch time, we have been to the ER and back and I know EG is OK. Daddy is still in the bed not feeling well. But oddly enough that was a blessing.

God is good. All the time. And usually when I don't even know it . . .