1 Parker + 1 Dog = Allergy Tests Galore!

Some of you follow me on facebook, others on twitter, some know me personally and already know this, but I want to share with you our current situation with Parker.

Saturday (Aug. 8) Parker and I went over to my friend Chrissy's new house. She has two precious dogs - Daisy and Darby. Parker was on the floor loving on Darby and she loving on him. They stopped for a brief moment and I noticed that poor Parker was red every spot where he'd been licked. I didn't think much of it, figured, hey, he's never been around dogs really (we have a cat) so it's probably just a small irritation. In fact, Chrissy and I giggled about it! Then, Parker started to itchy really bad - then puff up, and then hives started showing up. I took him to urgent care and it was confirmed that Parker had an allergic reaction to dog saliva.

Today, Parker woke up with a fever (totally unrelated to the allergy issue) and so knowing we needed to follow up anyways and being concerned by the highness of the fever I made a sick appointment. Parker has a virus, should be gone by the end of the week at the latest.

And here's where the fun comes in - Dr. D wants Parker to have allergy tests done. So tomorrow, we are going to a lab and he will get check for allergies to - dog dander and saliva, cat dander and saliva, wheat, soy and milk! We pretty much already know about the dog saliva - which means we can't even have a hypoallergenic dog - those are dander "proof" only). There is the possibility of cat allergies - which could explain his on going eczema. And the food, that's mainly precautionary, but again, it could also explain the eczema.

So I am a bit bummed. I love cats and dogs and now, we may need to get rid of our cat and we won't be able to get a dog. I realize down the road that Parker could very likely outgrow some intolerance to dogs, but still, its a huge bummer. Also, we will probably have to be prepared for asthma testing and such too. Woohoo!

I am taking this hard. Not sure why, just am.

So if you could be praying for Parker and the tests and for me as I come to terms with it, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks

Milestones and Heart Attacks!

Well, it's been an interesting week thus far and it's what, only Wed? Wed morning none the less!

Parker has hit a milestone of sorts - he now claps his hands! (Finally!) It's really cute and doesn't produce a lot of sound, but he does it...and if I say "Yay Parker" he will clap. He also now has 7 teeth. 4 on top and 3 on bottom. He's also gotten more daring as far as climbing and standing on his own. He will let go of whatever he's holding on to and stand for, oh, 10-15 seconds. Parker had a first yesterday - his first fall causing owies.

Which leads me to the heart attack part of this post.

Yesterday I was just getting done at Mommies and Munchkins and we were heading to the car. Parker was in his stroller and I was trying to get my keys and all of sudden I hear him crying - I look and he had slid between the seat and the tray was laying underneath the stroller. I freaked - I grabbed him and sat in the grass and examined him. All I found, thankfully, was that he had scratched his arms up pretty good and had a little scratch on the back of his head. But I examined his entire body, made sure nothing was broken or anything. He was screaming, but I think it's because he was scared. I got him settled and ran one errand then headed home.

I did what I felt was right, I monitored him throughout the day, looked for signs of head issues, ect. He was pretty normal, a bit clingy, but didn't act really strange. At least until bedtime, when he started losing it. He was crying and screaming, wouldn't go down - nothing. We tried bathing him, feeding him, taking him outside. Finally, because I was worried maybe there was head trauma I didn't notice - I called the Dr. He basically said give him tylenol and that I am doing everything right and he should be ok.

But it still sucked, and I felt so bad. Once Parker finally did go down, I was talking to Drew and I just felt so guilty. I should have buckled him in, I should have been watching better. I am not a bad mom (though I felt like it). Man it was hard.

But I am over it now. I realize i am a good mom and kids get hurt. They are resilient and bounce back pretty quick!

Today, Parker is fine. He's down for a nap right now and later we are heading over to a friends to hang out, so it should be a good day!

10 Things I Wonder...

Today, I have alot on my mind - mostly things I wonder!

1. How did my baby go from this:


To this:


My baby is 11 months old today, I cannot believe it!

2. How do I not lose my mind now that my little man is crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything?

3. Why does Parker always seem to find the hardest surface to pull up on? And how many times can he fall and bump his head before the kid gets a concussion or something?

4. How afraid should I be of the swine flu?

5. Does Jack Hanna live in Columbus since he is our zoo director?

6. Should I go to the library today?

7. Is my son going to say "kitty" before he says "mama"?

8. How do I not over pack for our Tennessee Trip? I don't want to go overboard, but I also don't want to forget anything since we will be gone for a week.

9. Why did I just call my cat Parker?

10. Why do I love blogging so much?

Now What...???

Normally I wouldn't post anything on a Sunday - maybe I would do a Sunday Sabbath post with pictures, but today I am posting something. I just need to "let it out" as one would say.

We survived our first night home since our scary ordeal with the ER Saturday night. To say the first night home was hard is a complete understatement. I was scared over every little thing Parker did that wasn't normal. Drew had to explain to me on several occasions that the albuterol will make him breath faster because of it being a steroid. That would explain a lot. Thankfully, Parker is doing so well that he has only needed his puffs every 6 hours - which is much better than the once an hour that was basically happening at the hospital. PRAISE GOD!!!! I am learning the difference between wheezing and Parker excitement breathing (they are almost the same!) Which is very helpful as well.

Right now, we are keeping him confined to his bedroom. When we got home last night, the cat was automatically put in our bedroom and has been there since. She doesn't understand why, but I kept telling her, she did nothing wrong, but we have to protect her baby brother until we can find her a new place to stay or until May when her grandparents can take her back to New York! Anyways, Parker's room is the cleanest in the house and the room with the least amount of cat hair. We got home and did as best of a deep clean as we could - we did a lengthly vacuum and dusted like mad men! We plan to get a nice air purifier for his room (well for most of the house!) and do our best to keep his room the least allergen filled.

Once we get our state tax return - we are getting a Dyson!!!! We also plan to, like I said, get air purifiers, some good cleaning solutions, lots of hand sanitizer and really step up in our effort to be more cleanly. Now, we are by no means dirty people, but our house isn't immaculate either!

I know it sounds like we are going crazy - but if these actions can help make things less hard on his little body, I am all for them! I don't want a repeat of what happened Saturday night...It was super scary and emotionally and physically draining! I don't wish it on anyone. I am thankful we got him to the ER when we did...it could have been much worse, but I also don't want to put him at risk for anything getting more severe.

Emotionally....I am so drained. I haven't cried so much in a long time. Every breathing treatment pretty much inspired streams of tears, especially the first few at the hospital when he would scream and look into your eyes as if to say, why are you doing this. I barely slept at all while there. I was too into helping Parker. and when I did sleep, it was either in a recliner, a hard chair or the floor. To go from one day everything being ok and now, having to be careful with allergens and hand washing and cleaning things is so hard. I don't know that I right now can even completely comprehend what happened. I know I repeated my questions alot to the nurses - who, by the way, wanted to steal Parker (he's a charmer even when sick). The nurses we had in the observation unit were so nice and understanding. Praise God for them.

I have to say though...I realize just how much I love my baby boy. I mean, I knew I loved him deeply and unlimitedly, but with everything he went through in the hospital...my love is just gonna burst. I would do anything to help him, make him comfortable and make him not struggle like he was.

**I should note that he also had a virus, which made this all the much worse!**

Anyways, so now I have to learn a new normal. I feel like I did back in August when I first brought Parker home - like I have to learn how to be normal again. I am scared I will miss him needing his treatment. I am scared of a lot, I am scared I can't trust my own instincts...SCARED SCARED SCARED! Somehow though, I know we will be ok. Things will become normal and everyday again. God will protect him. I will learn and life will return to a better place.

Please keep us in your prayers - we have a rather long-ish road ahead of learning how to live and take care of an asthmatic child.

Ok, off to try to rest - I skipped church because 1) I am not ready to have parker out and about quite yet and 2) I am so dang tired!

Questions & Answers

Ok, so this solid food thing....loving it, but I am confused.

1) What do you do when your child will not touch cereal?
- Parker just does not want cereal...does he REALLY need it? I have attempted to mix things in with it, applesauce, sweet potatoes, bananas...and he gives me that look like, "Mother, don't even trick me!"

2) I got the book Super Baby Food and I plan to start making my own. For those of you who have/had make your own baby food how did that work for you? I got a really nice blender rather than processor (since I know that I will use the blender a lot more than a processor) anyways...can you just give me examples of what you did, how you stored it, thawed it, measured it, and how about can I used can veggies, or do I always need to get fresh and then steam them and puree them? Just share some of your tips if you don't mind.

3) How did you know when your little one was ready for a cup? How did you introduce that? (I am thinking Parker isn't there yet, just kind of preparing.

4) What are so things you have learned from being a mommy and some tips you can share...I am attempting to make my life easier!

Thanks!

Oh and Parker is breathing just fine now. He has gotten horrible congested in the past few days and so we are going nuts sucking his nose out and using saline and such. I just feel like Parker has been sick like every day for the past like 3 months. It's one thing after another after another. I mean, it's all stuff that isn't serious and goes away quickly, but I feel like I should keep him in a bubble for a while! I am a bit frustrated!

Over protective Mommy???

I am convinced that having a preemie has made me freaked out about everything. Maybe it's the "be careful..." speech I got before Parker left the NICU. Or the "watch out for..." or "make sure you don't..." speeches. Or maybe it's the evil RSV - three letters that, normally, would be no big deal. Today I took Parker with my to my play date groups lunch at Panera. We decided to walk afterwards and I was worried, my "cancer of the worry" (as Drew calls it) flared up. 

- Does he have enough layers on?

- Should I put a coat on him? (Never mind that we don't have one!)

- Is it too windy?

- Should I take my coat off and put it over him as an extra blanket (which he had one he was covered with.

- His hat almost fell off?

- Oh now, what about cold germs?

And this wasn't even all the questions that went through my head. I realized, I need to trust my instincts, they haven't let me down before. Then I realized, he will be ok, yes, his immune system is a little immature, but I can't put him in a bubble. It's a learning process and I need to be able to enjoy myself  and enjoy him too. Obviously it all turned out well! 

 - Side story - 

So I am on my way home and coming to a stop light. I need to turn left so I get ready to go into that lane, make sure the bus in front of me isn't going over. He stopped in the straight lane so I proceed to get into the turn lane, then all of sudden, mr bus driver decides, had I am going to turn. Starts to merge over...I have no where to go other than across the double yellow line into on coming traffic. I book it and get around him (thankfully no one was coming!) He then pulls up behind me and honks at me throwing his hands up and yelling what I am sure is curse words at me. Um, excuse me, but I checked, I waited and you weren't merging, so I went around. It isn't my fault that you decided to get over. So don't go honking at me. I mean, maybe he thought I hadn't but I had. And the only reason I sped up was to not get hit! He proceeded to tailgate me the rest of the way home. Oh well...so sorry mr bus driver man.

So back to being over protective. I wonder sometimes if I am more over protected and worried because Parker is a preemie. Sometimes I wish I could stick him back in the NICU until he is more "normal." Well not normal, just that I wish I didn't feel like I had to worry about him and his health and if I am doing things right or good enough for him. 

I just love my son and really don't want him back in the hospital...spending 69 days there was hard enough for the first couple of months, I really am not sure I could do it again! Although something tells me if God gave me the strength to do it this summer, he would do it again, and for that, I am thankful!!!