Drama Saturday

Today's drama began at 1 a.m. Aaron woke me up because he realized when he went to go to bed that he was out of a prescription that helps him sleep. He really doesn't sleep that well when he is on the medication, and off it he doesn't sleep at all, and it's pretty much worthless the next day. Needless to say I was pretty upset that he woke me, especially since I'd gotten to bed about 45 minutes late as it was, so I'd only been asleep for an hour or so. I think he mostly wanted comfort, but I was just like, "And what do you expect me to do about it at 1 o'clock in the morning?" I know, not very supportive, but I dare you to do better in the same situation. It took me awhile to get back to sleep.

Then Alex woke me up at 4 a.m. screaming. I went to check on him and found that his whole front was wet. I changed his diaper, I changed his clothes, I got a new blanket, and replaced the sheet on his bed. Then I gave him some milk to help him calm down. Finally around 4:30 a.m., I got back in bed. It took me till about 5 to fall back asleep. And of course Alex was up by 7 a.m., so so was I.

Aaron was pretty unpleasant this morning. He said he got 4 hours of sleep; I have a feeling that was 4 hours of unrestful sleep. He's pretty much a zombie. Because the pharmacy that he gets his prescription at is closed on Saturday, and so is his doctor's office, there was no way to pick up the prescription or even get it moved. Luckily he did find a pharmacy that was willing to give him one pill (which is enough for two days since he halves it) as long as he brought his prescription bottle in showing he has one for that medication. They also expect him to move his prescription to their pharmacy on Monday. It's fine since it's only 2 blocks away (the other is like a mile away, but it's in the same building as the doctor's office, which is why we got it there). So at least he should feel better tomorrow.

Then I had the bright idea of letting Alex try peanut butter. I wanted to have another source of protein for him since all I really have is milk and meat and I think meat once a day is enough, and I don't want to overload him with dairy. Beans might be another option, but I'm not practiced with cooking with beans. Anyway, I had an inkling that he was allergic to peanuts because I tried giving it to him 4 or 5 months ago and he got a little red pock on his cheek next to his mouth, but I thought maybe I'd overreacted and misdiagnosed him.

So I gave him one bite of peanut butter today along with the rest of his lunch. Within minutes he had a hive on each cheek next to his mouth. Great. I was really hoping I was wrong. At least the reaction wasn't severe. So about a half hour later, I was getting Alex ready for his nap and he kept rubbing his eye. It started out with him playing peek-a-boo, but then he just kept rubbing both eyes constantly. I took him out of his room and to the bathroom and found his left eye was bloodshot and starting to swell up. I guess I didn't clean his hands well enough after lunch, and I remembered he'd gotten peanut butter on his left hand when he was trying to push some on his lips into his mouth (which he then rubbed onto his eye when he played peek-a-boo).

I called my pediatrician's office since they have after hours on Saturday. They said to give him 1 tsp of children's Benadryl. So I ran to the pharmacy, got the Benadryl, and came home. I took Alex and laid him in my lap. Since it's not for infants, it was just a cup rather than a dropper. Fun. He willingly took the first sip, but didn't want more (I understand. Medicine is nasty and I think this tastes worse than infant Tylenol or ibuprofen, which he actually likes). With his mouth open wailing, I dumped more in. I guess that was a mistake because he instantly puked on me. I'm still not sure if it was the Benadryl or just a latent reaction to the peanut butter that caused it. So I called the doctor's office again to see if I should give him more. They said if it's been less than 15 minutes to give him more because it hasn't been absorbed.

So I cleaned him up, got him a new outfit (glad that it mostly got on him and not both of us), and gave him more medicine. I took him in the bedroom to get him ready for his nap (now way late). Within two minutes of sitting down, he pukes again. Lovely. Thanks for waiting till you're clean again. So I cleaned that up, but I didn't know whether to give him more. It'd only been about 5 minutes, but he didn't puke up a lot, so do I give him more? I gave him half a dose. I'm crossing my fingers that that was the right thing to do.

Then I finally sat down with him in the armchair, wrapped him in a blanket, and rocked him. He almost immediately started to fall asleep. I put him in the crib and left. He was instantly asleep. So finally (hopefully) the drama is over. I'll call the doctor's office next week to have him officially tested for a peanut allergy, but I'm pretty sure it will be positive. I guess if that's the only allergy he has, he'll be lucky, but it's frustrating because it's one of those allergies that you don't often grow out of, and we'll have to be careful to make sure items aren't made at a plant that processes peanuts (I see that all the time on packages). But as long as he doesn't have a severe allergy, it will be okay (I've heard of kids who react just being in the same room as a peanut butter sandwich. Some schools have even had to ban peanuts/peanut butter).

So yeah, that was the drama for today. I'm hoping the rest of the day is better. Alex is still sleeping and I'm listening to him over the monitor, paranoid he's going to swell up and not be able to breathe. Luckily he's snoring, so I can clearly tell he's okay.