NO PEANUTS!!!

We had a scary Friday afternoon.

Let me give some background info first. When Grace was around a year she was having some constipation issues and the doctor thought it might be food related so we allergy tested her for the big ones... wheat, corn, milk, peanuts, etc. We found out that she though this allergy test that she was allergic to peanuts. So we have never given her peanuts.

Well yesterday morning, I dropped off Grace with a friend for 2 hours while I ran down to the hospital to sign some papers and get her pre-registered for her eye surgery on the 1st. Grace had already eaten breakfast and I knew I would be back before lunch so I only packed some Cheese-its for a snack. Well as things would have it, my friends kids got hungry and she fed them some peanut butter crackers and cheese sticks. And you know how kids are... if one of the has something they all want it. She actually didn't know that Grace was allergic to peanuts... I just never thought to tell her and this was the first time she has watched Grace for me without me there. Anyway, she thinks Grace only ate maybe one cracker because she was more interested in the cheese (she LOVES cheese!).

When I picked her up she seemed like her normal little self so I brought her home fed her lunch (just spaghetti that she has had a good hundred times) and laid her down for a nap.

After about 1.5 hours she got up screaming. She is normally my pro napper, sleeping for 2-3 hours most days and usually wakes up happy. I went into her room I noticed that her ears were really red and looked a bit swollen. Then I realized within seconds that she was scratching her tummy like she had just been bitten by 10,000 ants! I pulled up her and shirt to see huge welts... a VERY bad rash! I pulled her out of crib and inspected her body to realize she had bumps and redness everywhere... her arms, back, tummy, diaper area, legs! (It looked very similar to the rash she had when we found out she was allergic to penicillin.) I immediately called the doctor and they told me to give her Benadryl and come in immediately.

I loaded her up and drove to the doctors office (30 minutes away). By the time I got there she had stopped itching, but was still very red and her poor ears looked so big! (I wish I had taken a picture, but I was so scared that was pretty far from my mind).

I knew the doctor would want to know what she ate, but everything I fed her she has had many times before... oatmeal and a banana for breakfast and spaghetti for lunch. Then I thought maybe my friend fed her something, so I called her on the way and she told me about the crackers. I knew that was probably our culprit. He thought for sure that was it and gave her a steroid shot and a prescription for some other stuff to help her skin clear up. Which today looks so much better!!!

He also gave us a prescription for EpiPens. An EpiPen is just a shot that we push into her thigh if was having a severe allergic reaction... like is she was having a hard time breathing or swallowing.... give her the shot then get to the emergency room b/c it is only temporary. He wants us to have one on hand at all times in case of an emergency. He said since she reacted like that to such a small dose of peanuts he just wants us to be safe in case. Especially as she gets older.

So moral of the story... tell everyone that my child is allergic to peanuts!!

Oh and my friend feels terrible. She called at least 3 times yesterday to make sure she was better.