Hives twice in one week!

It's been a tiring week and a half so far. The little man has had a bad cold and cough accompanied by a fever 3 nights in a row that would spike at 4 pm each day. He would have no fever during the day but a 4 he would get a fever ranging for 102-103.2. It hasn't been fun for anyone. Lack of sleep is getting to both me and daddy. Jim just says Mac is prepping us for the new baby. Personally I'd like the next 5 months to get as much sleep as I can.

On top of that we had 2 incidents of hives in 6 days. Keep in mind hives have never been a symptom with Cormac. We only had one food allergy reaction to peanut butter and that was bad. Swollen eyes to the size of gold balls, as well as the whites of his eye swelling over the iris's. It looked like gel. Very scary and painful for him, but no hives.

Back to the hives. While Jim and I were at the big ultrasound finding Mac is going to have a little brother, he was at a play date. We totally trust the two moms (and still do), that were watching him. Both are well informed about his allergies and know what to do if something happens. Yeah for good friends!

Apparently the dog licked him around his eye. His eyes then got watery, red and itchy, and one or two hives appeared on his for head. They called us and told us what was happening. They wanted to give him benedryl like our action plan says to, but they weren't in a panic. Since Cormac has been around this dog and many others without incident, we weren't in a panic either but concerned. By the time we go there the benedryl cleared it all up and if they didn't call us we never would of know about it.

We talked about what he ate while there, and determined it wasn't the cause. So this led us to believe he's either allergic to the dog, or something the dog ate. I'm leaning toward the dog food, since he has been around this dog many times and never had an issue. But we aren't 100% on that.

Five days later we had two neighborhood parties to go to. Lets just say St. Patrick's day is HUGE here. Our little town boasts that we have the second largest St. paddy's Day parade in NY, just after the NYC parade. So there are parties everywhere. Both parties we were invited to are at houses we frequent and allergy aware.

At party #1, we knew ahead of time that the chicken nuggets were safe as well as some of the cupcakes made by another neighbor. She had called me the day before to tell me she made Mac safe cupcakes for both parties. As usual she told me what she used to make them. All safe.

Needless to say we let him have both. After about 10 minuets of him eating the cupcake his little face broke out in hives. My sister in-laws brought it to my attention as we were saying good by to out hosts. So this time I got a little panicked. I still haven't had this happen to him while I was there. Hives covered his chin and cheeks. One of the moms who was at the play date earlier in the week, was there and said this was much worse than what happened at the play date.

We gave him bebedryl, and in 10 minutes it cleared right up. Now there with a few other kids at the party that have peanut and tree nut allergies and didn't have a problem, with the cupcakes. Plus I know they were peanut and tree nut free. So for the last week I have been racking my brain as to what could have cause it. He only ate the frosting not even the cake. Since we feel so comfortable at this house, and were outside most of the time, I think both me and the hubby let our guard down. They were many people there who deal with his allergies often, and I think we took that for granted. There were many kids there and of course food everywhere. Maybe he got his sticky little hands on something when we weren't looking. I feel so bad. It could have been so much worse. Lesson learned. But at the same time, the unknown cause was still nagging me.

So this whole week I've been a bit obsessed. I called my cupcake making friend and asked her about the frosting ingredients again. The only thing I can question now is the egg whites. (which is not on his list of no no foods). Our friend is very diligent when it comes to Cormacs allergies, so I'm 100% sure it wasn't nuts or peanuts. He's always been able to eat things with eggs baked in it. We did have to stay way from straight eggs for a while because he would get splotchy, but he seemed to grow out of it, and we got the OK from the allergist to go ahead and bring them back. He hasn't had any issues with them since.

We never made it to the 2nd party, but managed to make it to the parade. I'm still very frustrated about not being able to pinpoint the cause of his hives. Like everything else with food allergies, I'm left with unanswered questions.

Hives twice in one week!

Halloween & What Not

The hubby and I just got back from our short little getaway to Newport. We had an amazing time. Cormac had a wonderful time with his grandparents here at home. I can't believe what a difference traveling without him is. Specifically the food issue. It's become such a part of our every day lives that it was hard to turn off the worry when eating out, but we managed. I have to say I am so guilty. Every chance I had, I ate something with nuts or peanuts in it. It was almost comical. I really enjoyed a chocolate chip pie that had walnuts in it. Since it's been so long since I had them, I had asked the waitress after finishing the dessert if they were indeed walnuts. Her face turned as white as a ghost! Poor thing, she thought I had an allergy and started to panic. I quickly assured her there was nothing to worry about, and that I was just so happy to have the nuts. I know sounds crazy.

When we got home we had to get right back into the swing of things. One of those things on my to do list was, to make a treat for Cormac's first school Halloween party. We go to a Mommy & Me class once a week. It's more like a pre preschool. We do a craft, have story time, and play games. All the kids are within 2 months of age with each other. The other moms are really nice too. When the sign up sheet went up for who would bring what to the parties I jumped on the snack assignment, and my good friend signed up for the next party snack. What a relief that was. That's 2 parties where he gets to have the same snack as the other kids. Though I think the other moms in this class understand. They ask me lots of questions about his allergy.

Ok so I made cup cakes. These are my first Halloween cupcakes. They aren't the best, but I think they came out ok. I have a feeling over the years I will get better at them.

I used all Betty Crocker products since I only had to worry about the peanut and tree nut allergy. Mac is the only one in the class with food allergies. The kids loved them, and the moms seemed to like them too. FYI when you use black frosting it leaves a mess on their face. I didn't get a good photo of Mac without the other kids so I can't post it. But take my word for it, because their faces were all covered in black icing.

We are gearing up for more Halloween festivities. There will be 2 days of trick or treating in my town. Tomorrow the town hosts a trick or treat event in downtown where all the kids get dressed up and go from store to store. We are going to attend with friends but may skip the store to store part and just hang out. Then of course is Halloween day trick or treating. We are going to attempt that too. This is our first time, but I don't think it's going to be a big deal since he's still little. I will carry some safe candy so if he get the urge to eat something, I'll be prepared with candy in the "safe" bag.

The candy we give out will be safe for Mac. I bought 2 bags of tootsie pop and rolls candy. I was going to try and get some fun little plastic toys or glow sticks to give out instead, but haven't had the chance to get them. I may also give some safe candy to the neighbors to give him so he can still have something. Here is a link to a list of safe peanut and tree nut free candy (and remember to still check the ingredients before eating or giving to a food allergic person). A few people sent me this specific link (thanks guys). Just google and you can find all kinds of safe candy lists. When he gets older my plan is to weed out the bad candy and trade it for a toy or something. Fortunately this year we won't have to do that. Jim and I will just bring it to work.

Since this is a hot topic right now there are tons of blog posts out there with tips for an allergy safe Halloween. Check out some of them that I have listed on the right of this post.

I hope you all enjoy and have a Happy & Safe Halloween!

Halloween & What Not