An eventful weekend.. ..an Emergency and a Special Birthday

An eventful weekend.. ..an emergency and a Special Birthday

This past weekend started off on a scary note. Friday evening, we were out doing some household shopping when my 2 year old daughter(will be referred to as Sweetie pie from now on) and hubby both got hungry. There was a Mediterranean restaurant nearby so we decided to stop by and get a bite. Sweetie pie is allergic to nuts so whenever we go out to eat we make sure that we do not order anything with nuts/nut oil etc. The restaurant had a dinner buffet so after inquiring about the nut contents of the items we decided that sweetie pie could eat chicken kabobs, pita bread and hummus. Sweetie pie always enjoys her meals at restaurants (yes there is no running around, screaming or throwing food on the floor) so we can usually let her work on her food and enjoy a peaceful dinner. She finished her chicken happily so I encouraged her to try the pita bread and hummus. She tried a little and decided that she didn’t want to eat anymore. Over the next few minutes, our usually peaceful toddler started getting cranky. I picked her up and put her on my lap thinking that she must be sleepy. The next thing I know her eyes start swelling. It was very similar to reaction that she had a few months ago when we first discovered that she was allergic to nuts. So we immediately rushed to the nearest emergency room. After a brief argument with the receptionist who acted like she worked at the post office and not the emergency room, we were able to see a nurse , then another nurse and then finally a doctor. By this time sweetie pie’s eyes were so swollen that she could not open them. Thankfully she was very sleepy so she was just content to rest her head on mom’s shoulder and sleep while everyone around her was fussing about her allergies. After examining her, the doctor had this bright idea of giving her an oral dose of the medication. Try feeding medicine to a sleepy two-year-old. The first attempt resulted in a lot of crying. On top of it, the medicine came right back out (along with the food that had made its way into her stomach) and landed all over mom’s clothes. Mom couldn’t care less. Desperate parents pleaded to the doctor an nurse to inject the medication but the they wanted to try one more time! The second time it stayed in but the swelling did not subside even after an hour. The only thing keeping the parents sane was the monitor that showed that sweetie’s heart rate and oxygen levels were perfectly normal. After an hour, the doctor injected a stronger medication, which seemed to help. After observing sweetie for a couple more hours the doctor told us we could take her home but needed to watch her for signs of heavy breathing. We reached home around 2.00 am, extremely sleepy and tired but too afraid to sleep. We did manage to take turns and catch a couple of hours of sleep. Around 6.30 am a refreshed baby woke up, smiled at mommy and said “Hello mommy!”.
“Hi honey, go back to sleep”.
“Wake up mommy!”
And so another day began.. with a toddler having no recollection of the previous night’s incidents and parents too guilty to feel frustrated about an energetic toddler waking them up at 6.30 am! Now mom and dad have to be the sleuths and find what the culprit was!

On another note, we attended 1st birthday party for a special baby this Sunday. There are plenty of birthday parties to attend all the time but this one was special because the baby was extra special. A couple of years ago, a neighbor lost a 6 year old only son in a horrific accident. The parents were devastated. The mom took it especially hard and was extremely depressed. Last year they had another baby boy. The gave him the same name as the son they lost. When I went to visit the new baby, I realized the baby had failed to lift mom’s spirits. In the hour and half that I spent at their home, mom mentioned the new baby only once or twice. The entire conversation was about the son she lost. There were a lot of tears. It was extremely heart breaking. The baby turned one recently and the parents had hosted a party this Sunday. The baby was healthy and happy and seemed to have spread that happiness to the entire household. It was extremely satisfying to see both the parents happy and smiling.