Well, Big News at the Schneider house and not the fun kind. We found out on Friday night that Josephine has a peanut allergy. I'll try to keep a long story short and just say that some miscommunication between Louie & I led to him giving Josie a bite of peanut butter to taste. As I was walking in the door, I saw a spoonful on her high chair tray and when I found out it was PB, scooped it up and as we were cleaning off the tray, she started to have a pretty severe reaction that involved raised welts on her face and hands, swollen face/eyes, coughing, and later big puffy hands and feet. We immediately knew what was happening, so Louie called 9-1-1. They instructed us to meet the EMTs in the lobby of our condo. I was actually pretty calm until I heard the sirens coming and then it hit me that we had just called 9-1-1 and they were coming to help poor little Baby Josie. Through it all, she was a little angel. She didn't cry, just rubbed and rubbed her little eyes. The EMT crew was outstanding and the woman was very relaxed and comfortable with children which I think made the whole thing better. Once it was clear that her breathing didn't appear to be in danger, they just stuck around for a bit to observe her for a while and help us decide whether or not to put her in the ambulance and take her to Children's Hospital. Taking their advice, we decided to keep her here and give her Benadryl, make sure she didn't come anywhere near peanuts over the weekend, and call the doctor on Monday to get a prescription for an Epi-pen.
The rest of Friday night was pretty scary because the whole thing happened around 7pm. Even after the Benadryl she was still really puffy and it was clear her throat was swollen because she had trouble swallowing food that is normally no problem at all (this went on into Saturday where she actually choked at my parents' house which was the 2nd scariest thing that has ever happened to us). After about 24 hours of Benadryl, she was back to her normal cheery self on Sunday although Louie & I are far from back to normal ourselves.
After a talk with the pediatrician this morning, the director of the Children's Center where we attend Josie's music class, and the allergist this afternoon - it looks like things are really going to change around here. Obviously we are willing to do whatever we have to do to keep Josephine safe. There are sure to be major changes to our diets and a lot of education for us and for anyone who comes in contact with Josie (sorry Grand-daddy, no more peanut butter anytime Josie is in the house). Louie & I have realized that we have so much to learn, too. (For example, the chips we were eating for lunch today contained peanut oil and were promptly tucked away until we do a complete food overhaul.) We have an appt with the allergist on Wednesday afternoon. He will take Josie's blood and test it for a number of allergies, prescribe us the epi-pen, and educate us on how to proceed.
Thanks to everyone in advance for your understanding, as we will all undoubtedly have to make some changes. If Josie would've had that second bite of peanut butter, it is no exaggeration that you could quite possibly be attending her funeral today instead of reading her blog. One thing is for sure in considering what's ahead, she's worth it!
