I don't think I've talked about this here but our doctor advised us not to give Chase peanuts until 2 years of age. We have no family history of peanut allergies but we trust our doctor and peanuts aren't a food that a child "needs".
I gave Chase peanut butter for the first time this morning. I had benadryl ready to go but figured everything would be fine. I took pictures. He said yum. Then he started acting weird.
I couldn't tell if he was just acting weird because it is a new texture. It was a little like watching a dog eating peanut butter. I got nervous and called my dad. I told him I was freaked out and Chase was kind of acting weird. Chase stopped eating the peanut butter and kind of made his mama I'm not feeling good sound. My dad reassured me that he was probably fine.
Chase acted like he wanted to go outside but I was still nervous. He sneezed and acted like his nose was itchy. Then the hives appeared. I tried to call my mom but my stupid phone deleted a lot of my contacts. I think I called my dad and said he had hives and my dad said give him the benadryl and call the advice nurse. I gave Chase benadryl and called my mom some how.
Chase seemed a lot better after I gave him the benadryl. I called the advice nurse and she seemed a little freaked out. She was glad I had the benadryl and told me to give him more so he got the full dose for his weight. She said watch him and made an appointment for 4:45.
My friend was already on her way over for a playdate while all this was going on. I of course meet her in the driveway in tears. Luckily her hubby is a doctor and she's amazing and totally understands. So Chase and his friend played and we chatted and then I could tell he wasn't feeling well. Then he threw up. So my sweet friend got on the phone to the pediatrician and said my friend needs to be seen sooner. Got us an 11:15 appointment! My dad came over to go with us to the appointment.
The appointment was kind of uneventful. Chase was totally at this point. But we were prescribed an epi pen and sent to the lab for a nut panel. I had no idea what to expect. They draw the child's blood. Of course we got the trainee that couldn't do it right the first time but Chase was so tough got pricked twice and didn't cry. We will find out the results next week hopefully.
I'm totally blaming myself for all of this. I wish I hadn't listened to my doctor and we had given Chase peanut butter earlier. I'm praying it was a fluke and that he won't have to sit at the nut table at school.
What I need from you all is support. I am going to have to face people that are going to blame me. It took me about a year to gain enough confidence in my parenting to stop taking rude comments personally. I still let the stupid hair person tell me to hold my son down while she used clippers on him that I had asked her not to. I always think someone else is the expert. Someone else is older and knows more than me.