It was just another normal Saturday morning. We love to take it easy on Saturday mornings, no school work to do, no plans until later in the morning. Isabella was busy planning what costume --read princess dress-- she was going to wear to the trunk-or-treat event that we were going to later that morning.
As 9:30 rolled around we headed out so that I would be able to get the decorations up and ready to go before all the trick-or-treaters arrived. I had planned a game themed 'trunk' in the back of our van. I had a tic-tac-toe game, a spider target game and a pumpkin bean bag toss game for the kids to interact with while making their rounds.
The only problem with my plan was that I did not account for the amount of wind that would be blowing while we were outside. As you can see in the photos the wind caused all the games to blow around so much that we were not able to play them. The wind also caused what would have been a chilly day to be a freezing cold day! No matter, kids are resilient and they will do anything for candy! :) Both my kids ended up having a great time even though we had to pack it up about an hour early due to a sleet storm rolling in and crashing the party.
As we got on our way home the kids of course wanted to have a piece of candy. They each got to choose one piece to have on the drive home and both of them chose a lollipop. The drive home was pretty peaceful with two kids sucking lollipops the whole way. A little too peaceful....Conner fell asleep with the lollipop in his mouth.
Isabella asked a few more times if she could have another piece of candy from here bucket and I told her each time that she had to wait until we got home so that I could look through the candy and take out all of the things that had peanuts in them. Isabella knows that she has a peanut allergy and is very aware that she has to make sure what she eats does not have peanuts. She understood that she had to wait until we got home.
Once we got home I got started unloading everything from the car starting with a sleeping Conner. Isabella took her things inside and I told her one more time to wait for me to sort through her candy before she ate anymore. As I was heading back down from putting sticky finger/mouth Conner down in his crib I hear Isabella say, "Look, Mommy, I opened it all on my own!" To which I reflexively said, "Good job, sweetie, I'm almost done with the car and I'll come back in and help you." And continue walking out to the van. Then I hear Isabella ask from the kitchen, "Mommy can I eat this one?" I yell back so she can hear me, "I need to check and see if it has peanuts first!" To which she comes running out to me holding up the bag of PEANUT BUTTER M&Ms and says, "Do these have peanuts?"
You guys my heart dropped in that moment. All I could say was, "YES, did you eat one?" The fear in her eyes was so evident. She shook her head yes and opened her mouth wide. "Spit it out!" I said and asked if that was the only one she'd eaten. She was able to spit most of it out so I decided to keep a close eye on her for any reaction. For about 10 minutes she was just a little scared/nervous because she had eaten something that she always heard she was allergic to and it would make her sick but she didn't complain of anything hurting. Then came the "my tummy hurts" complaints. Benadryl it was! I gave her the Benadryl about 15 minutes after she had eaten 1 of the M&Ms. Then we went into her bedroom to lay down and try and relax. About 15 minutes later came the puke. You guys, if you never have to deal with projectile vomit from a preschooler, you are one of the lucky ones! It was not pretty. All over me, her, the bed, the pillow, I think some even got on the wall. It was time to go to the ER.
I made a couple calls, I had to find someone to stay with Conner while I took Isabella to the Emergency Room. Since Matthew is gone I have to be willing to reach out for help (one of my many flaws) and this was a time when it was crucial that I reach out. And you guys, I had some wonderful people come to my rescue! One friend called her daughter for me and had her come over until I was able to come home but she would be able to get to the house for 20 minutes. Another friend literally rushed her kids to the car without coats and high tailed it over here from down the street in just 5 minutes after I called her! What a blessing to have a community that is willing to jump in and help when the time comes. I was/am still so thankful for their sacrifice!
We got to the ER and by this time it was about 45 minutes after Isabella had ingested the peanut product. The ER staff we amazing and took us back right away. They had Isabella monitored and set her up to watch her favorite movie (Frozen) within a couple minutes. Isabella by this time was acting like her normal self again. The nurses even gave her a popsicle to ease her nervousness about the finger monitor they had to put on her. They gave her a couple more meds just incase the Benadryl had left her system during the puking incident. But really they believe that her body got rid of it the only way it knew how and that she was fine because of it. The doctor told me that I'd handled the situation perfectly and Isabella was to have a dose of Benadryl every 6 hours for 24 hours just incase any other symptoms were to show up. We spent a total of 1.5 hours in the ER (enough time to watch the whole movie) and Isabella walked out of there like nothing happened.
It is seriously an allergy mom's worst nightmare but I am so thankful that I was able to stay clear headed and do what needed to be done. That was our first official allergy scare since we found out that Isabella had a peanut allergy so we can now say that it is confirmed. When about half of a peanut butter M&M does that to her, I am even more wary of what a large dose could do. Now I know, and now I will be holding all future halloween candy buckets hostage until everything is vetted!
The rest of the night went as it always does except for the fact that I now had a whole lot of extra laundry and cleaning to do! Conner slept through the whole thing!
As 9:30 rolled around we headed out so that I would be able to get the decorations up and ready to go before all the trick-or-treaters arrived. I had planned a game themed 'trunk' in the back of our van. I had a tic-tac-toe game, a spider target game and a pumpkin bean bag toss game for the kids to interact with while making their rounds.
The only problem with my plan was that I did not account for the amount of wind that would be blowing while we were outside. As you can see in the photos the wind caused all the games to blow around so much that we were not able to play them. The wind also caused what would have been a chilly day to be a freezing cold day! No matter, kids are resilient and they will do anything for candy! :) Both my kids ended up having a great time even though we had to pack it up about an hour early due to a sleet storm rolling in and crashing the party.
As we got on our way home the kids of course wanted to have a piece of candy. They each got to choose one piece to have on the drive home and both of them chose a lollipop. The drive home was pretty peaceful with two kids sucking lollipops the whole way. A little too peaceful....Conner fell asleep with the lollipop in his mouth.
Isabella asked a few more times if she could have another piece of candy from here bucket and I told her each time that she had to wait until we got home so that I could look through the candy and take out all of the things that had peanuts in them. Isabella knows that she has a peanut allergy and is very aware that she has to make sure what she eats does not have peanuts. She understood that she had to wait until we got home.
Once we got home I got started unloading everything from the car starting with a sleeping Conner. Isabella took her things inside and I told her one more time to wait for me to sort through her candy before she ate anymore. As I was heading back down from putting sticky finger/mouth Conner down in his crib I hear Isabella say, "Look, Mommy, I opened it all on my own!" To which I reflexively said, "Good job, sweetie, I'm almost done with the car and I'll come back in and help you." And continue walking out to the van. Then I hear Isabella ask from the kitchen, "Mommy can I eat this one?" I yell back so she can hear me, "I need to check and see if it has peanuts first!" To which she comes running out to me holding up the bag of PEANUT BUTTER M&Ms and says, "Do these have peanuts?"
You guys my heart dropped in that moment. All I could say was, "YES, did you eat one?" The fear in her eyes was so evident. She shook her head yes and opened her mouth wide. "Spit it out!" I said and asked if that was the only one she'd eaten. She was able to spit most of it out so I decided to keep a close eye on her for any reaction. For about 10 minutes she was just a little scared/nervous because she had eaten something that she always heard she was allergic to and it would make her sick but she didn't complain of anything hurting. Then came the "my tummy hurts" complaints. Benadryl it was! I gave her the Benadryl about 15 minutes after she had eaten 1 of the M&Ms. Then we went into her bedroom to lay down and try and relax. About 15 minutes later came the puke. You guys, if you never have to deal with projectile vomit from a preschooler, you are one of the lucky ones! It was not pretty. All over me, her, the bed, the pillow, I think some even got on the wall. It was time to go to the ER.
I made a couple calls, I had to find someone to stay with Conner while I took Isabella to the Emergency Room. Since Matthew is gone I have to be willing to reach out for help (one of my many flaws) and this was a time when it was crucial that I reach out. And you guys, I had some wonderful people come to my rescue! One friend called her daughter for me and had her come over until I was able to come home but she would be able to get to the house for 20 minutes. Another friend literally rushed her kids to the car without coats and high tailed it over here from down the street in just 5 minutes after I called her! What a blessing to have a community that is willing to jump in and help when the time comes. I was/am still so thankful for their sacrifice!
We got to the ER and by this time it was about 45 minutes after Isabella had ingested the peanut product. The ER staff we amazing and took us back right away. They had Isabella monitored and set her up to watch her favorite movie (Frozen) within a couple minutes. Isabella by this time was acting like her normal self again. The nurses even gave her a popsicle to ease her nervousness about the finger monitor they had to put on her. They gave her a couple more meds just incase the Benadryl had left her system during the puking incident. But really they believe that her body got rid of it the only way it knew how and that she was fine because of it. The doctor told me that I'd handled the situation perfectly and Isabella was to have a dose of Benadryl every 6 hours for 24 hours just incase any other symptoms were to show up. We spent a total of 1.5 hours in the ER (enough time to watch the whole movie) and Isabella walked out of there like nothing happened.
When I asked what animal she wanted to bring to the hospital with her to help her she said her rainbow teddy bear. This is the sweetest thing because this is the bear that she and Matthew made before his deployment and it has Daddy's voice inside. So it is like she wanted that comfort of Daddy being there too.
It is seriously an allergy mom's worst nightmare but I am so thankful that I was able to stay clear headed and do what needed to be done. That was our first official allergy scare since we found out that Isabella had a peanut allergy so we can now say that it is confirmed. When about half of a peanut butter M&M does that to her, I am even more wary of what a large dose could do. Now I know, and now I will be holding all future halloween candy buckets hostage until everything is vetted!
The rest of the night went as it always does except for the fact that I now had a whole lot of extra laundry and cleaning to do! Conner slept through the whole thing!
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