Our story, our beginning.
When the doctor confirmed that I was pregnant, I can truly say that for the first time in my life, I cried out of complete happiness. After I left his office, I immediately called my husband and told him the news, barely able to hold back my tears. We both agreed to wait until the initial twelve weeks of my pregnancy had passed before telling everyone else. Twelve seconds later, I rang my best friend to tell her the news. The excitement in her voice brought out my tears. From there, I was on the way to my in-laws to meet my husband. He gave me a look and whispered if we could tell them the news. Within an hour of finding out for ourselves, we couldn't even keep our own secret. Before the day ended, the news had spread to my mother and the rest of our families. Everyone was so happy and conversations about our baby went on for hours.
January 17th 2010: it's a healthy baby boy! Slowly, we were experiencing all the wonderful milestones. First smile. First full night of sleep. First time crawling. Everything everyone tells you about. But no one could have prepared me for what we were about to experience, and what we continue to live with every day.
Almost as soon as Sam came home from the hospital, his eczema began. His face and body were covered in it. So many creams and lotions, soaps, oils and ointments. Many months later, it slowly became less visible - after much trial and error, we finally found the right treatment for him. Reading and researching many books and websites brought an important thing to my attention: that his eczema could be a indication of something more serious in the months to come. There was much evidence to suggest that children suffering from eczema were more likely to suffer from asthma and food allergies, particularly to eggs and nuts. After reading this, I decided to hold of on introducing eggs into Sam's diet and wanted to make sure that my husband was home when I did. My gut feeling was that he was going to be allergic. At this stage, I knew absolutely nothing about allergies - I just felt that this was going to be a bad day. I purchased children's antihistamine just to be prepared.
We started with about half a teaspoon of egg, and less than five minutes later, hives we surrounding his mouth. I gave him the antihistamine just to be safe and we made our way to the closest medical clinic. Within an hour, his little body full of hives as he was vomiting and beginning to wheeze. He was going into anaphylactic shock. As the doctors administered adrenaline, he slowly began to breathe with ease. His hives were finally going down and he was beginning to look like our son again.
A month later, Sam had his first appointment with a pediatric allergy specialist. He tested positive for allergies to both egg whites and yolks, as well as peanuts and cashews. I felt like I was just stabbed in the chest. I made my way into the car and buckled my son into his chair. Though I tried to stay focused while driving home, at that moment, it felt like the car was driving on its own and everything outside was standing still. No movement, no noise. Once I told my husband and our families the doctor's findings, jaws hit the ground, heads nodded, and eyes widened. None of us could believe the news. We are a very close-knit family who spends a lot of time together in one another's houses. From that day forward, all of our pantries were cleared of nuts, and my fridge of eggs. The shelf was now replaced by a EpiPen Jr. and antihistamine.
This is where our journey begins. Today, all food is prepared by me. During every outing, I'm on guard like a hawk, screening for any potential hazards with eggs or nuts. Any visible blemish on Sam's face is analysed closely for potential changes in size. Questions arise: where has he been? What did he eat? What did I eat? Do I give him antihistamine? Oh my gosh - what if I need to use the EpiPen? Ok, take a chill pill...it's gone - it was just a bit of texter. Anyone with a child who has been diagnosed with anaphylaxis would know exactly how crazy our minds go with worry. Hopefully, we can work together in supporting and informing one another of food allergies and raising awareness.
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