Ahhhhhh Nuts!

Well, it's official, Peter is dangerously allergic to tree nuts. Sigh. You know what? Something I never foresaw about being a parent is how stressful it is to be the steward over your children. It's a huge responsibility! And sometimes it is very, very scary.

I promised to share the adventures of the first month after Jonathan joined us. It just felt like whatever could go wrong...did. Now, I don't want this to be a downer post. In many ways, looking back on it, it all seems downright laughable how many things went wrong that first month!

Well, let's see...

I've already told about how Peter broke his leg a week before my due date to deliver Jonathan and how I went into labor on my exact due date...and of course, that happened to be the day we were scheduled to put Peter's cast on him. I was having some pretty strong contractions while I was holding Peter down as his cast was being put on him. I drove him home, got him lunch (in the midst of some crazy strong contractions), called Jeremiah and my mom, and headed off to the hospital once they both arrived.

Now, for the story of the aftermath that followed the hospital...

Jonathan was born on February 23rd and I remained in the hospital until February 25th (I had to stay a minimum of two days because I tested positive for Strep B--as I had with Peter's pregnancy too).

As it happened, Jeremiah got a pretty bad kidney stone the very evening of the day that I delivered Jonathan. Jeremiah didn't want me to worry about it, so he didn't tell me until the following evening. By that time, the kidney stone still hadn't passed. Jeremiah has quite the history of kidney stones...so he still had some painkillers from the last kidney stone. However, it was so bad that he checked himself into the emergency room the day I was scheduled to check out of the hospital. I actually had to wait for Jeremiah before Jonathan and I could check out (and for the record, Jeremiah's kidney stone/emergency room visit ended up costing more than my delivery/anesthesia! In addition to Peter's broken leg costs, and Jonathan's portion of the medical bill, we've had a lot of fun medical payments/bills lately! Whoohoo!).

The last day at the hospital, they informed me that Jonathan's weight was great and he didn't have jaundice (two problems that Peter had that prompted extra doctor's visits) so I wouldn't have to go to the doctor until the two week visit. With Peter, I had to go back to the doctor the first two or three days that I was home as a new mom. That was pretty stressful and overwhelming to me (especially since I was struggling with breastfeeding and it was a pretty daunting task to get Peter fed, dressed, and out of the house to get to the doctor on time when he was eating every two hours). I was so relieved that I wouldn't have to make those doctor's visits with Jonathan.

We arrived home to welcome Jonathan and get Peter accustomed to having a new family member and seriously within about ten minutes of our arrival, Peter sneezed and I had to wipe a runny nose. I turned to my Mom with concern in my eyes and said "What was that?" She, equally concerned, said "I don't know...that's the first time it happened!" That's right. If there is any kind of cold or flu to be caught, Peter will somehow catch it. I know exactly where he caught it from too (because he hadn't been anywhere else or around anyone else for about two weeks). He caught it from the waiting room at the doctor's office where he got the cast put on him. I was too concerned with being in labor to keep him away from certain germ-infested toys in the waiting room at the time.

I hoped and I prayed that Peter wouldn't pass that cold/flu on to Jonathan (I'm still not sure what it was...Peter was feverish--which would indicate a flu, but other than that, all of the symptoms pointed to a really bad cold). However, no such luck. About five days after Peter showed his first symptoms, Jonathan showed his. At that point, he was only one week old. And I don't know about you, but it is scary to have a newborn get sick. Especially since it can mean that your baby might have to go back to the hospital. Peter had it bad...so I wasn't surprised when Jonathan got it bad too. Jeremiah was still not back to feeling himself after his kidney stone. Plus, Jeremiah and I both caught the cold too (though I got the most mild version of it and I was basically only inconvenienced--but everyone else got it pretty bad). Pretty miserable stuff. I was super worried that it was RSV because Primary Children's is like the den of RSV during this time of year. But, luckily, it wasn't.

One thing I was really surprised about was how awesome I felt--even the very next day after delivering. Not only did I feel great physically (it never even felt like I'd had a baby), but I felt great emotionally too. I'm so grateful...it was definitely a tender mercy...because I needed that extra energy taking care of my three little sickies. I called them "My Three Sons" even though technically one of them was my husband and not my son. Have you ever seen the "man cold" commercial? If you have, you know what I'm talking about when I refer to "my three sons." If you haven't seen the man cold commercial, click here. It is a universal truth that if a whole family is sick, everyone can stay in bed and be served, except the mother, who must continue to serve others--even if she is as sick (or sicker) than those she is serving. I think it just comes with the territory of being a mom. From the moment I returned home from the hospital, I was on my feet taking care of my family.

I did have a few small breakdowns (understandably so) when I realized that I would need to make extra visits to the doctor due to Jonathan's cold and the fact that his appetite seemed to have decreased since he came home from the hospital. I had a home scale and he hadn't gained the way he should have and he was eating less than he had while we were in the hospital (it later turned out that Jonathan just didn't like the kind of bottle we were giving him...once we changed the bottle, he started to eat much more again). After visiting the doctor, he advised me to monitor Jonathan very closely. I had to feed him every two hours (day and night) and keep a log of his wet and poopy diapers, his milk intake (amount in ml and ounces), weigh him once a day, and take his temperature multiple times throughout the day. All while taking care of Peter and Jeremiah (who was still in a great deal of pain from the kidney stone, in addition to having caught that blasted cold). As I mentioned, it's scary to have a sick newborn. If they have a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher, it is an automatic trip to the emergency room and most likely a stay in the hospital for the baby. Jonathan was a little feverish and even got as high as 100.1 degrees at one point...but his fever broke very soon after and he never reached 100.4 degrees. It was pretty stressful!

To compound matters, my Mom (who was planning to help me out during this time) caught a cold too and didn't want to get the boys even sicker. So, she didn't come over as much as she initially planned. But as I said, the Lord blessed me and I had the strength necessary to take care of my guys. My Mom (bless her heart) helped me a great deal in spite of being sick (by doing all of my laundry--geez, you have to do a lot of laundry with new babies...they spit up at least 2-4 seconds after you put a new outfit on them). She also babysat Pete for me while I took Jonathan to the doctor.

In addition to those doctor's appointments, there was the appointment to get Peter's cast taken off when Jonathan was three weeks old.

Then, there was the two week doctor's appointment for Jonathan as well as an appointment with a urologist at Primary Children's to check out an issue with Jonathan's circumcision (that appointment was only a day before Pete was scheduled to get his cast removed). Blah! Jeremiah, bless his heart, took Peter to get his cast taken off because after the appointment about Jonathan's circumcision (where basically the doctor told me to just "wait and see" meaning that it was completely pointless for me to have gone to that appointment at all, I would just have to watch to see if the condition cleared up, and there was a good chance that I would have to make another trip to the urology office at Primary Children's to get it fixed in the near future anyway), I told Jeremiah that I was going to have a breakdown if I had to go to Primary Children's or St. Mark's one more time before Jonathan's two month appointment.

Did I speak too soon? I think so.

Because when Jonathan was about a month old, on a nice, fun, relaxing Sunday, Peter had a terrible allergic reaction to some cashews he ate while visiting his Papa upstairs with Jeremiah. Peter had one cashew and thought it was pretty tasty and then he filled his whole mouth with cashews. But then he freaked out and spit them out. He wouldn't calm down, so Jeremiah brought him down to me. I washed his mouth out and cuddled him only to realize that he had a poopy diaper. While I was changing him, I noticed that his chest and neck were flushed and that he was itching like crazy and developing hives. I told Jeremiah who came to see and we both realized that Peter was having an allergic reaction. Jeremiah rushed off to Shopko where he talked to the pharmacists there (he knows them pretty well) to ask for some advice. They advised him to get children's Benedryl and a few other allergy medications. Jeremiah returned home with the medicine and we gave it to Peter. He seemed to calm down a little and I put him in the tub to relax him.

However, while Peter was in the tub, it didn't look like he was getting better to me. In fact, I thought he looked like he was getting a little worse. His eyes looked puffy and his lips looked swollen to me. I asked Jeremiah to look at him and see if he had improved. Jeremiah and I decided that he didn't look much better. Jeremiah took Peter upstairs to ask his mom for advice and I called the doctor on call at our pediatrician's office to see what they thought. On the advice of the doctor on call (who luckily turned out to be our pediatrician), Jeremiah took Peter to an instacare office nearby. By that time, Peter's hives were covering his back, but his breathing had improved. It turned out that the Benedryl had finally kicked in (oh, and by the way, Benedryl doesn't knock Peter out...it does the opposite and makes him really energetic and hyper). They gave us a prescription for an epi pen and told us to set up an appointment with an allergist. Sigh.

So, we finally had the appointment with the allergist today. We'll have to meet with her again in a year to get more final results, but at this point in time, we need to consider Peter being allergic to all tree nuts--and especially cashews and pistachios. She also gave us a prescription for an epi pen and gave some further instructions and warnings. Peter's allergy (at least to cashews and pistachios) is so severe that it could be fatal if it isn't cared for properly. Also, we will need to get Jonathan checked when he is about a year old because it is pretty common for siblings to have similar allergies. Scary stuff. For now, I have to avoid all tree nuts (cashews, pistachios, pecans, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pine nuts, etc.). In a year, we might find that some of those allergies are less severe and not much to worry about. However, the doctor seemed pretty positive that cashews and pistachios would always be a problem. Though you never know what might happen with medical advancements. They may come up with a pill or a shot that would allow Peter to tolerate them and remove him from any danger they might pose.

So, again, thank goodness for the day and age that we live in and for the medical advancements and technology that we have at our fingertips. But I'm going to have to study up and be really educated about this so that I can protect my sweet Pete.

As I said before, it's a scary thing to be the steward over another human being. I'm going to have to be careful and watchful over my sweet little guy.

But I learned something else...I learned that a person's capacity grows when it is tested. My capacity really has expanded. I think it has to. But I have seen quite a change in myself in becoming the mother of two sons. As a mother of one son (who is VERY busy), I honestly didn't know how I would be able to accomplish certain tasks or responsibilities. But I have been blessed to do so. I'm not exactly sure how it happened...it just did. I've been able to accomplish and overcome. And I have been faced with a lot more during the past two months than I thought I would have to deal with...that's for sure!

Oh, and sorry Laurie and Emily--Peter is also quite allergic to cats and dogs.

Oh, and here's something interesting: Peter isn't allergic to peanuts (they are a legume, not a tree nut). But I have to give him peanuts in some form at least 3 or 4 times a week, otherwise he could develop an allergy to them. Who would have thought? The human body is a complex thing, that's for sure!

As for pollen and other animals, the doctor felt that it would be best to wait until next year's appointment to test for them at that time. Peter is still too little and things can still change. At that point, it might only be cashews and pistachios that are a concern and other tree nuts might be okay then. We'll just have to wait and see.

But seriously, can you believe the couple of months I have had? Can anything else go wrong? Of course it can, so I'd better shut up and not say anything else, or something WILL go wrong! That's just the luck I've had lately! Oh, and this blog hasn't even touched on the whole situation we had with getting Peter used to having a new baby brother. Talk about jealousy! And anger! Dangerous situations for both me and Jonathan with dodging objects thrown by Peter and other such similar adventures! Jonathan is barely two months old and Peter has finally gotten used to him (he even sometimes likes him!).

There was a BYU devotional entitled "The Spiritual Gems of Life" by Jordan J. Cox. In that talk, he gave an analogy of how bridges are built. He taught that bridges are built to withstand the elements that they are placed in. Wind speed, weight placed on the bridge, weather, etc. are all taken into account before a bridge is built. He compared us to bridges. He stated that the Lord has fashioned us knowing full well what kinds of conditions we would be placed in...and that the Lord built us to succeed. I know this is true. I know that the Lord knew every situation I would be placed in and that He gave me the skills, talents, knowledge, resources, people around me, and the ability to learn and grow more in order to survive to storms and stresses of my life.

Many adventures lie ahead, let me tell you! It's a good thing I am up to the challenge.