The baby who’s helping me type this…

Is apparently deathly allergic to something.

Actually?  Apparently, my ass.  I watched his face swell up and the hives break out myownself.  Ain’t nothing apparent about it.

So Friday night Jay was cooking dinner and feeding bits of this and that to a most impatient Henry.  None of it was anything he hadn’t had before, scraps of cheese, bits of pancake, and he had some of those ubiquitous baby puffs on his tray (on which he perfected the pincer grasp...the boy was totally self-feeding at 6 and a half months, the little overly-coordinated genius).  He started crying and I headed in there to see what was wrong...he was more red than he should have been, but I put him back down and went to the bathroom.  When I came out, the whole right side of his face had swollen up.  There was no benadryl handy and just in the time we were looking for it his eye swelled totally shut.  So it was a 911 call and mom and baby got their first ambulance rides.  (This being Mayberry Middleboro, they were here in about a minute and a half and ridiculously nice about the whole thing.)

It was clearly something he ate or was trying to eat.  Wheat in the puffs and the pancakes, or dairy in the cheese or the pancake, or eggs in the pancake or on daddy’s hands.  Or possibly corn, since he’d put corn flour in the pancakes.

In any case, we got there, got him hooked up with all kids of cool drugs, and the nicest doctor in the history of mankind soothed mom back down to earth.  A couple of hours to make sure he was ok and we were on the way home.  Did you know that an epipen will set you back 86 bucks if you pay for it outright?  (Also, that thanks to Mitt Romney we will be compelled to sign up for medicaid now?  Oh, yay.  Not that we don’t *need* to, but still.  I was informed that I would be called Monday morning to sort it out.  I think I signed a thing saying that was ok, but I have no idea.  I’d have sold my own grandmother by that point.  Sorry, grandma.)

Anyway, we’ve got to figure out now what it is that he’s allergic to.  Ought to be interesting.  We also need to see our own doc before the insurance thing gets straightened out, which ought to be even more interesting.  And I’m eating no eggs/wheat/dairy, just in case, and he’s eating nothing but breastmilk and a little oatmeal.  I’m expecting a fascinating barrage of conflicting advice.

I’ve got to eat lunch before all three of ‘em lose it.  More later.

1. Yikes - glad it all turned out ok!  Allergies are tough.  They can do blood tests for very specific food allergies to find out exactly what he’s allergic to - we do them on kids fairly regularly at our lab, even his age. 

   Good luck with all of it.

   Posted by Beth  on  03/16  at  12:09 PM  from 

2. As someone with childhood allergies, plus various medical nightmares, all I can say is ignore everyone, follow the Mommy Instincts.

   And hey, didn’t you have allergies as a kid?  I remember a dairy issue?  A lot of allergies are hereditary…

   I hope he gets better soon!!

   Posted by  on  03/16  at  12:56 PM  from 

3. Oh Deb so sorry for YOU and the little guy.  I cant imagine.

   Glad you got through it.

   Posted by  on  03/16  at  05:39 PM  from  mass

4. Oh man - I am so sorry to read about this. Olivia was diagnosed with dairy, egg, nut/peanut, fish and shellfish at 6 months old. Now - at age 8 - she has outgrown the fish and shellfish and it looks like we will get back egg and dairy eventually. Be careful with cross contaminations - dairy and egg are in SO much stuff. For a lot of helpful info - check out http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org and http://www.foodallergy.org. Email me anytime for anything!! Let me know if you want to chat on the phone too!!  {{{hugs}}} to you all. Allergic reactions are so scary..

   Posted by Kate  on  03/18  at  08:18 PM  from  NJ
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