Allergic

The good news is that my little guy isn't allergic to dog dander (if he understood this, he'd be jumping for joy and asking me if we can NOW finally get a DOG???), shrimp, walnuts, egg whites, cod, wheat, soy beans, cockroaches (what? they test for that?! YUCK!), milk, or some plants that I've never heard of. The bad news is that the blood work showed an allergic reaction to cat dander and peanuts.

I suspected a peanut allergy when he broke out in hives at 11 months old after eating a smidgen of peanut butter, but hoped he'd grow out of it. He didn't have difficulty breathing or swelling so I had reason to hope. At that time, his pediatrician just said to avoid peanuts until age 2 or 3 and we'd go from there. And at his 2 year checkup, we decided to have him give some blood to verify.

I'm bummed. I should be angry with him for not listening, since the moment I found out I was pregnant I started telling "the baby" that I would not allow any sort of allergies in our little family. I reiterated the same when "the baby" was born, named and started showing interest in what I had to say. But, I suppose sometimes kids just don't listen.... so I'm pushing aside my disappointment and replacing it with plans to do as much research as possible. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to see a specialist and find out exactly how severe the allergy is. For now, I suspect it is not severe at all and in the meantime I'll learn what I can.

It did freak me out a little bit to have the doctor order a double pack of "junior" sized epi-pens, just in case he goes into anaphylactic shock. I am praying I NEVER EVER EVER have to stick one of those things into my baby boy!

It was bad enough watching them steal little vials of his blood. I had no idea they were testing for more than just a peanut allergy, but when I saw the amount of his blood they took, I was thinking they BETTER be testing for more than one! He, on the other hand, was completely calm. He did say "ouch!" when they stuck him and pulled the needle out, but just sat still and quite the rest of the time. And as we walked out, he said "Bye! Oh, and thank you for my bracelet!" - the tape stuff that they wrap around the gauze when they are done, to keep it from bleeding... that was his "bracelet". What a good sport....