After our horrid experience with Dr. Itsallyourfault, I was desperate to speak with a medical professional who could look me in the eyes and talk to me about my daughter's allergies with compassion. I found a Naturopath who specializes in women and children and called for an appointment.
In the meantime, Ella and I went to a picnic at my bff's while Hubby was away for the weekend. I cut up some strawberries for the salad that I brought, quickly rinsed off the knife and set to work cutting up some green beans and a veggie burger for Ella. I set her up in her travel high chair, made sure bff was keeping an eye on her and went to fill up a plate for myself. Two minutes later I hear my bff yelling for me, "Becky! Becky! Her face is all red!" I drop my plate and run over, thinking she's choking and prepared to do the heimlich on her. When I get to her side, my little angel baby looks up at me. Only she doesn't look anything like my angel baby. Her cheeks, her eyes, her nose, her lips... everything is swelling up! Luckily, when I packed the diaper bag that morning, I had packed the EpiPen and a couple Benadryl pre-filled single use spoons. My hands were shaking so badly, I couldn't rip the damn thing open! Note to self: wright a letter to the company asking them to make these easier to open. Luckily, bff saved the day and ripped the package open, twisted off the top and squeezed 1/2 the dose into Ella's mouth. Within seconds, we see the swelling go down and redness fade. Holy hell my heart can't take much more of this!
Later that week, I went for a walk with a friend, her two boys and their sweet doe-eyed black lab. Before we left the driveway, the dog gave Ella a nice ol' kiss on the cheek which left her squealing and shrieking in excitement. I've never seen a baby love dogs as much as this one does! Half way through our walk, I notice a rash on Ella's cheek. I chalked it up to the sunscreen mixed with the intense amount of drool pouring from her mouth. When we got back to her house, we went inside where Ella proceeded to shove every toy within reach into her mouth. As I tried to play interference and bat the toys out of her mouth, she started chomping on the edge of the leather couch. Oy vey, child! Oy vey! When I noticed that the rash had spread to both cheeks and all around her mouth, I decided it was time to go. A phone call with my friend later revealed that her boys had eaten eggs for breakfast and the dog had licked their plates clean. Gahhh!
Showing posts with label Benadryl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benadryl. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Save the drama for yo mamma
When Ella was about 8 months old, I decided to try giving her a little yogurt. I was getting bored of the same ol' fruit & veggie purees and wanted to try something new. During my next trip to the grocery store, I bought a giant container of Stonyfield Farms Organic Whole Milk Plain yogurt, waited 'till the weekend when I knew hubby would be home and counted down the minutes 'till lunchtime.
I put a teaspoon of the yogurt into a little dish, mixed in a big glop of homemade pureed pears and excitedly spooned a tiny bit into her mouth. She made a face as if to say "what the heck are you feeding me NOW?!" and opened her mouth for another bite. No sooner had I put the spoon in her mouth than she immediately started to cry. In general, our kid's not a crier; if she's crying, there's a damn good reason. I put the spoon down and started to pick her up. She was in a full on scream by this point.
As I sat down with her on my lap, she started coughing and gagging. I was trying my best to soothe her while my heart pounded. I had no idea what to do. Hubby was outside mowing the lawn and I knew he'd never hear me if I called for him. As I stood up to run outside with her, she coughed once more and threw up. Her cries were instantly less intense and she'd stopped gagging. I carried her to the sink to strip off her clothes and wipe her off and with another minute of cuddling and soothing words, a sip of water and a kiss, she was fine. The yogurt incident was over as fast as it had started.
A month later, I thought I might try giving her some cottage cheese. She was working very hard on her palmer & pincer grasps and I had read somewhere that cottage cheese was a good finger food. I put a teaspoon of the white stuff on her tray and sat down to watch. She enthusiastically dove in with both hands, shoveling it into her mouth. After a couple minutes, I noticed her face was getting a little red and blotchy. She started to fuss and scratch and pull on her ear, wipe her hands through her hair and rub her eyes. I grabbed a washcloth and as I started to clean her off, I noticed tiny red bumps behind her ears, down her neck, all over her arms and around her mouth. I wanted to cry. I was home alone.
I grabbed my cell phone and dialed the pediatrician's phone number. Of course they were on lunch break! I'm sure the answering service operator could sense the panic in my voice as she told me she'd have someone call me right back. Was it my imagination or were her lips starting to swell? Oh sweet Jesus. Why isn't the doctor calling me back?! After what seemed like an eternity but was probably, in reality, only a matter of minutes, the nurse finally called me back, asked a ton of questions and said to give her 1/2 a tsp. of Children's Benadryl. Of course I didn't have any in the house! Why would I? It says right on the box "Not for children under age 2." She was 9 months old!
I grabbed my wallet & car keys, loaded Ella into her carseat, jumped in the car and called my neighbor who (thankfully) works from home. My neighbor sat in the backseat, assuring me the whole twelve minute drive to CVS that Ella was, in fact, still breathing and no, the hives did not seem to be getting worse. When we got to the pharmacy, I ran to the Benadryl and ripped open the box. Gaahh!! It comes with a cup?! How was I going to get my 9 month old to drink from a cup? The kind pharmacist offered me a syringe and I quickly gave Ella a dose of the bubble gum flavored antihistamine. (If I wasn't completely panicked, I might have hesitated over giving my infant something that tasted like bubble gum but ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.) Almost immediately, her lips seemed less puffy. On our way home, my neighbor reassured me that she was looking better already. By the time we arrived back at our house, the hives were almost completely gone and I had a voicemail from the pediatrician asking me to set up an appointment with an allergist.
Le sigh.
I put a teaspoon of the yogurt into a little dish, mixed in a big glop of homemade pureed pears and excitedly spooned a tiny bit into her mouth. She made a face as if to say "what the heck are you feeding me NOW?!" and opened her mouth for another bite. No sooner had I put the spoon in her mouth than she immediately started to cry. In general, our kid's not a crier; if she's crying, there's a damn good reason. I put the spoon down and started to pick her up. She was in a full on scream by this point.
As I sat down with her on my lap, she started coughing and gagging. I was trying my best to soothe her while my heart pounded. I had no idea what to do. Hubby was outside mowing the lawn and I knew he'd never hear me if I called for him. As I stood up to run outside with her, she coughed once more and threw up. Her cries were instantly less intense and she'd stopped gagging. I carried her to the sink to strip off her clothes and wipe her off and with another minute of cuddling and soothing words, a sip of water and a kiss, she was fine. The yogurt incident was over as fast as it had started.
A month later, I thought I might try giving her some cottage cheese. She was working very hard on her palmer & pincer grasps and I had read somewhere that cottage cheese was a good finger food. I put a teaspoon of the white stuff on her tray and sat down to watch. She enthusiastically dove in with both hands, shoveling it into her mouth. After a couple minutes, I noticed her face was getting a little red and blotchy. She started to fuss and scratch and pull on her ear, wipe her hands through her hair and rub her eyes. I grabbed a washcloth and as I started to clean her off, I noticed tiny red bumps behind her ears, down her neck, all over her arms and around her mouth. I wanted to cry. I was home alone.
I grabbed my cell phone and dialed the pediatrician's phone number. Of course they were on lunch break! I'm sure the answering service operator could sense the panic in my voice as she told me she'd have someone call me right back. Was it my imagination or were her lips starting to swell? Oh sweet Jesus. Why isn't the doctor calling me back?! After what seemed like an eternity but was probably, in reality, only a matter of minutes, the nurse finally called me back, asked a ton of questions and said to give her 1/2 a tsp. of Children's Benadryl. Of course I didn't have any in the house! Why would I? It says right on the box "Not for children under age 2." She was 9 months old!
I grabbed my wallet & car keys, loaded Ella into her carseat, jumped in the car and called my neighbor who (thankfully) works from home. My neighbor sat in the backseat, assuring me the whole twelve minute drive to CVS that Ella was, in fact, still breathing and no, the hives did not seem to be getting worse. When we got to the pharmacy, I ran to the Benadryl and ripped open the box. Gaahh!! It comes with a cup?! How was I going to get my 9 month old to drink from a cup? The kind pharmacist offered me a syringe and I quickly gave Ella a dose of the bubble gum flavored antihistamine. (If I wasn't completely panicked, I might have hesitated over giving my infant something that tasted like bubble gum but ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.) Almost immediately, her lips seemed less puffy. On our way home, my neighbor reassured me that she was looking better already. By the time we arrived back at our house, the hives were almost completely gone and I had a voicemail from the pediatrician asking me to set up an appointment with an allergist.
Le sigh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
