And The Research Continues

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No Peanuts for Us, Please!

As I've been doing more and more research about peanut allergies, as well as allergies in general, I've become more and more obsessive about it... I have it in my mind that the more research I do, the more safe my son is going to be and the more protected he will be from a possible reaction. His reactions in the past have been pretty bad.. Below are some pictures of his soy bean allergy. Just for your information, they rate a severity of an allergy on a scale from 1-5 (at least on this particular test we had, sometimes it's 1-6) and Grayson's soy allergy is a 1 (the lowest, but still an allergy) and his peanut allergy is a class 5 (high highest or worse..).

These allergy reactions happened with ranch dressing and.... Something else... I think barbecue sauce? Both of these contained soy bean oil, but NO NUTS. This is the reaction that happens with A CLASS 1 reaction with my son. My son has never actually EATEN a peanut, or a nut, or anything with peanuts at all. Ever. The only two times he's had a reaction to peanuts have been my fault.. Checking his mouth after him brushing his teeth (I had just eaten a PB sandwich, and I DID wash my hands) and another time, his FIRST reaction to peanuts, I had residual Reese's on my hands, and touched his face. I don't have pictures or documentation of those reactions, because honestly, I was freaking out, and driving to the ER. After showing the allergist the pictures of the reactions above, (the one on the bottom left, particularly) he said that he is having an anaphylaxis reaction to the soy bean oil, and that I was "lucky" it wasn't worse. Next time, he could go into anaphylactic shock JUST FROM THE SOY. (Because he has a rash above his neck, AND he's swollen.) Supposedly, if this were to happen now that I have the EpiPen, I would have o give it to him if he presented with this allergic reaction again. That is insane to me, and terrifying. Terrifying because that is just a class 1 allergy, and his peanut allergy is a CLASS FIVE. 0.0

After a lot of research  it seems that you can't just base the reaction levels on the blood tests alone, but you also have to base it off of past reactions, as well as a skin prick test (SPT). We have a SPT coming up at our next visit. We will see how he does with that. We also are testing him for other allergies, and we will have the results of those tests as well. We are also going to come up with our plan of action for when he's being taken care of anyone besides myself. I have been stressing too much about this lately, and honestly I've not been sleeping well just in general, and this isn't making it better. I'm awake at night reading blogs and trying to educate myself as much as I can, trying to keep my son safe and alive. Halloween is tomorrow... Ugh. God, help me stay sane! I just want to go to the house ahead of time and give them stuff to give to my son, so he's not getting Snickers and Reese's in his candy bucket.

I'm beginning to understand the isolation that adolescents with a severe food allergy feel, because I am starting to feel the same way just trying to keep my son safe now, and he's not even in school, yet. And honestly, I'm considering NEVER sending him to school. There are too many stories about kids dying at school from an accidental exposure, even though the school took all the precaution they could. 

This is scary. I'm scared. And Grayson doesn't even know what's going on. Which is even more scary.

I guess it's good that he's so into the EpiPen trainer device. "Try? Try?" Why yes, Grayson. You may try. Get familiar with it.. It's going to be your best friend for the rest of your life. =/




Much love,

Ashley

First Allergist Appointment

Well, Here We Go!

Today we had our first allergist appointment.. It was enlightening, and terrifying. My son has a severe peanut allergy, as well as a soy bean allergy. The doctor decided that since they only did a small panel of allergy tests, that we should test for a few more things.. Mostly testing for all of the rest of the nuts - or as they call them, "tree nuts" just to make sure where those level are, if there are any. According to Stanford School of Medicine, there is "a 35% chance of developing an allergy to another nut" which isn't awesome, in the slightest.. Up to this point, I've been keeping him away from all nuts.. Because they scare me with my son. However, based on the fact that my son outgrew his milk allergy and egg allergy, I assumed that he had outgrown his soy allergy, as well. Unfortunately, I've been giving him some things with soy in it - soy sauce, and ranch dressing, mostly. However, he reacts with soy quite a bit, mostly topically. However, according to the allergist, it isn't good for me to give him soy, because given sporadically, I can exacerbate the allergy and make it worse. 0.0

Awesome. -___-

So at this point, on top of his already pretty strict diet of nothing with artificial colors, preservatives, or flavors, nothing with too much sugar, and no peanuts, I now have to avoid soy as well. I don't know if you've noticed, but in processed and packaged foods, a lot of stuff has either some type of nut or soy in it.

I will have a lot of food changes happening... First one being not keeping peanuts or peanut butter in the house anymore.. It's my favorite. I love it.. But it's too easy to miss a spot or have trace amounts left on my hands.. But anything to keep my son safe.


Much Love,

Ashley

Potty Training - Day 0.5

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May the Pee Be Ever in Your Favor!

I bought my son a potty today, after him showing sighs of interest a few days ago. I let him pick it out (he picked the cheapest one, smart boy, lucky mommy!) and he was so excited about it the whole time we were in the store! And the second I got it home, he wanted it unboxed, and he wanted to be naked, like the child in the picture on the box - I don't know what I'm doing, so I was like... OK!

I have heard that naked is the way to go during the first few days... Well, generally speaking, my son HATES being naked - this is not the case for potty training, I guess! He's perfectly happy sitting on his potty! We got home around 6pm and his bathtime/bedtime routine starts at 8:30. At least it did today, I've been trying to make it earlier. Any whooooo.. We had him naked, and he pointed to the potty and said "poo. pee." and I said, "Yes! That's where the poopoo and the peepee goes! You're right!"

So... He sat down for a little while, and then got up, and said, "PEE!"

He had, in fact, pee'd in the potty!

=D

I was a very proud mama. So we took the peepee to the toilet, and he got to flush while I rinsed it out. At that point, I stuck him in his new underwear. (I didn't want him to be in them, until he had already pee'd, so I can track time.) And I went and got his dinner.

Well, he decided that he wanted to sit on the potty with his dinner at one point.. Thinking he just wanted to sit on it, I told him no, and to put his plate back on the table. From there, he came back to me, (no food this time) said "potty" and I asked him if he had to go. He told me yes, so I pulled his underwear down, and TADA! He went potty AGAIN!

This happened one more time before it was bathtime, and I am one happy mama. No accidents. He seems to already know exactly what he is doing. He's 2 years and 10 months old, so maybe he does in fact know what he's doing. I'm hoping a full day of potty training goes just as smoothly as these 2.5 hours went. If so, I will be so happy!

This is the potty he picked out: 

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I got it at Target, and so far I just love it. And, it's soooo cute!


Until tomorrow....



Much Love,

Ashley

Baby Teething Relief!

Who Needs Teeth, Anyway?

Everyone goes through teething in their lives at some point or another.. But we don't remember it by the time we go through it again with our own children. When my son went through the teething process, he went through it four times.. One of these times my special boy got all eight of his molars (including his 2.5-3 year old molars) at 18 months.. That was a great time, let me tell you (not.).

My son didn't teethe as often as the average child, but when he did, he teethed HARD. So, I have here a list of remedies that I've found worked the best on Grayson, and other options that I've found or have heard about! I'm not a big fan of Tylenol or Ibuprofen for teething..... I don't even like giving them to my son when he's running a fever. So, that being said, most of these options are organic, homeopathic, and awesome. =)

1) Green Onion
     
Green onion has a natural numbing agent to it. Just let your child gnaw on it for a little bit, and it will numb their gums. If the child is too small to chew or gnaw on it, or you're just worried, you can scrape a little of the outside with your fingernail, and then rub it on their gums yourself.

2) Ice Cubes

Ice cubes have been used for teething relief for ever. I'm exaggerating, of course... But it's been a really long time! It can be messy, though. I didn't mind the messiness of it, because it's just water after all. I also had one of these things:

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These are made by Sassy, and can be purchased at Target, Walmart, and Babies R Us. I bought mine online, and I had a few of them. You can find them here and you can also get replacement mesh parts that you can find here. They are dishwasher safe, and they come with an ice pack type of device built in, which is great if you want to put frozen fruits in there, as well. (My son's favorite was frozen peaches). 

3) Humphrey's Teething Tablets

My favorite and most effective teething tablet for my son was Humphrey's Teething Pellets. They are 100% all natural, and easy to use. Just take a spoon with a few drops of water and let the pellets dissolve. Then give it to your child, making sure that it's rubbed into the gums. These also seemed to relax my son, which made him much happier. 

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I've heard from a couple of people that they are getting harder to find.. I found mine at Walgreen's, but if you can't find this brand, Hyland's also makes a homeopathic version, as well.

4) Teething Rings

Who hasn't heard of teething rings at this point? They make some amazing ones now! My favorite by far, and my son's as well, was the vibrating berry teethers by Infantino. We had several, and they were awesome. Here is a picture of the grape one. 

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I got mine at Toys R Us, but I've seen them at Walmart an Target stores, as well.

My son did really well with teething, and a I only gave him a pain reliever one time (but it turned out he had an infection, which was the cause of the fever, not the teething.) I feel like there are so many ways to help to combat the pain, giving my child a medicated pain reliever just wasn't something that I wanted to do. That's not to say that other parents wouldn't need it for their own child, it just wasn't for us.

I hope this helps! I'm in by no means an expert... But I just wanted to write about what worked for me.


Much love,


Ashley

Home Made Ranch Dressing!

Who Doesn't Like Ranch??

To answer that question, lots of people. However, that's not the point of this post! My son started having adverse reactions to the ranch dressing that we've been using with him forever. I know, weird. But, it happens, so I roll with the punches. 

I came across this recipe earlier today, and decided to give it a try! It turned out really good! I ended up adding twice the mayo, because Grayson likes a sauce to dip in, and the way the recipe is written it's a little on the more liquidy side.

What I love about this is that I know EXACTLY what's in it! I can customize it, and even completely substitute out ingredients if I want to! It's awesome! One down side... It only lasts 3 days in the fridge.. REMEMBER THAT!!! 

In addition to using this in a ranch dressing, you can also use the seasonings in sour cream, as you would a ranch dressing packet!!! Awesome. Two dips in one for a party!!! =)



Much love,

Ashley

Having a Baby - My Experience (Part Two)

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Postpartum Regression.

I should coin that term right now! Postpartum regression. That's what it was like after delivery. See, I was around a lot of kids growing up, and being around babies was not a big deal to me. I was comfortable with them, I could change one, and feed one.. Yadda yadda.. However, the second my son was born.. BOOM! Regression. Apparently, I couldn't even remember how to feed myself (yes, that's a true story...). They gave me this baby, and somehow, I was supposed to take care of him now.. I was responsible for another human being! (Side note: Did you know someone can go have a baby and they just let you leave when you're done? With the baby. Like, in your hands.. Yours.. Your car.. It's true. I'm not lying.)

I had to ask really stupid questions. Well, I guess they weren't stupid.... I had to know how to feed him and I had to know how to burp him.. Stupid in the sense that I knew how to do these things, once upon a time. But somehow, as if by magic, BOOM, regression. It could be the fact that I was still on some meds. Or, it could be the fact that my uterus wanted to do everything but contrct back down to a normal size.. Upon learning this, and trying everything that they could to shrink it back down, they decided to induce "labor".... Again. After squeezing my belly for a day, and pushing and prodding  they were going to REINDUCE my LABOR with the BABY already out of me. 

0.0 

OK..

I don't know anyone this has happened to, so let me explain (because this is my blog, and you're still reading..).

The nurses took PITOCIN, and put it back into my body. I had "contractions" and "labor" pain all over again, only this time, they didn't give me an epidural... Obviously.. But this was such a weird experience. I believe my husband was there.. I think.. Otherwise again I had no recollection of where my baby was.. I can't imagine they would do this to me without someone else there..... Would they??..... Moving on. After a couple of hours of "labor" pain with MY SON RIGHT NEXT TO ME, they stopped the pitocin, and let me get some rest. Thank goodness, my uterus finally started to contract!

Prior to this, we just kept waiting for the uterus to contract, mostly because I was.. let's say.. releasing.. Yes. Releasing blood clots.. Out of me.. And not just any blood clots, oh no.. These were the size of HUMAN LIVERS, to which when I saw the biggest one come out when I went to sit on the toilet, I screamed to my sister-in-law, "Go get a nurse! Something came out of me! Liver!". Not the highlight of my stay, let me tell you what..

After all is said and done, my uterus does what it's supposed to do, and I stop releasing blood clots. At this point.. The worst part was still being sick, as well as having an IV in my hand the LENGTH OF A POOL NOODLE and that hand being useless.. I will be there one more day, totaling up to four days in the hospital. Haw sad.. My son was cleared from the hospital before I was!!! Always in a hurry, that little one. =)




Much love,

Ashley

Artificial Colors and Kids

Fake Stuff, Fussy Butts.

Within the last year, I've seen Grayson developmentally grow like crazy. He's a problem solver, a builder, and artist, and every other thing that obsessed parents swear that their kids are. Along with these amazing things, I noticed he was also getting more moody, and challenging behaviorally. He was throwing more tantrums.. Crying a lot.. Hyperactive in every sense of the word. Ok, I understand he's a toddler, and toddlers are naughty.. I know. But, this was weird, and not bad every day like you would think it to be. I started doing research and found a lot out about artificial colors! Giving children artificial colors, which are in A LOT of things, may be linked to childhood ADHD and other behavioral issues! Here are some articles, if you're interested:

This one is from WebMD
This one is from a fellow blogger who has references
Here is a cool video with a transcript from a doctor

Any ways, after doing my research, I conducted my own experiment... I took all of the artificial colors out of his diet for a little while.. Needless to say, there was a DRASTIC improvement! He listened better, he acted better, and he just seemed... Happier. Now, he was never drinking sodas or anything.. But he used to have sugar free Jello (he doesn't get sugar free anything anymore, for reasons I will post about later..) and Kraft Mac and Cheese, and other things like that which are packed with artificial colors... I am a firm believer in taking artificial colors away from kids, at least mine, because I've witnessed it work first hand in my own life. I suggest if your child is hyper, or seems to be more naughty than nice, try changing his diet before thinking about taking him to the doctor and medicating them.. Just my two cents. =)


Much love,

Ashley

Peanut Allergies and Me

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Peanuts suck.

I found out my son was allergic to peanuts when he was 6 months old. Obviously he had never had peanuts before, so when his blood test came back as him having a class III/IV peanut allergy, it wasn't such a big deal for us.. We would just avoid it. On that same test we found out that he had several other allergies as well, such as a class III milk allergy, a class II soy allergy, and a class III egg whites allergy. My son was formula fed because of difficulties with me producing my own milk, so the formulas were all milk or soy based, so it was hard on my son. Fast forward to his first birthday, and he had pretty much outgrown all of his allergies, just on introducing it little by little into his diet through desensitization. Sometimes he still has an issue with soy, but it's not a bad reaction. However, peanuts still terrify me.

A few days ago we went into the doctor's office to follow up on his blood tests he had for his physical, as well as an added test I had done for my own peace of mind, an allergy panel. All of his allergies came back great! Lots of class I and II, but those aren't very concerning levels, seeing as he's exposed to all of these things every day. However, the doctor recommended that I go and see an allergist, and put a RUSHED referral into my insurance for us to go see one.. I concerned me because I had gotten the referral a few days prior to the visit, and it was never discussed, which freaked me out! Turns out, his peanut allergy level was alarming to the doctor... Which is understandable! His levels came back as a class V/VI peanut allergy. o.o What? His numbers had risen dramatically, instead of going down as I had hoped. Up to this point, he has still never ingested a peanut, or peanut product. A topically he's had some pretty bad reactions just from contact after I've eaten a peanut butter sandwich or coming across some peanut M&Ms. (I know, we are crazy for having this around, but supposedly he was supposed to get BETTER >.<)

A while ago my husband and I had decided that we want to homeschool our son. For me, this is a no brainer.. I'm TERRIFIED of leaving him with anyone unless it's one-on-one because of things that could happen. What happens when I send him to school, where there is one teacher and 35 kids? One of those kids could have some type of peanut product, and easily cross contaminate.. Having a child going into anaphylactic shock in their classroom is not something I'd ever want to put a teacher through.. Also, if it ended terribly, I would never want that child to feel badly about it, the teacher, or the parents of the child that had the products. I just feel that since I'm able to do so for the time being, I'm going to go ahead and handle his schooling until I feel confident in his ability to understand his issues and his own body, as well as how to treat himself if accidentally exposed.

I've researched a lot about kids and peanut allergies, and feel passionately about educating people on the severity of this allergy. As I find useful information, I will write a post. I know I don't get very much traffic, but I hope the people who really want to learn about this issue can, as well as me being able to educate the people I love in my and my son's life all in one place. =)


Much love,

Ashley =)