Hey!
I'm Julien, the Miracle Baby
Boy do I have a lot to catch you up on!
| Hi friends! Boy do I have a lot to catch you up on! “Never a dull moment in this house,” as mommy and daddy always say! Just when my parents were finally starting to breathe a sigh of relief I had to go and stir things up a bit….haha. Apparently I’m a “big boy” now, which means that I have started eating “grown up food,” sort of. I get to try different grown up foods all smashed and smooshed up, which is pretty cool except when mommy and daddy try to “hide” things in there like vitamin drops, chicken, etc. I always know and I’m TOTALLY onto them, btw. We started with the basics: avocado, carrots, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, bananas and apples. Mommy makes everything from scratch and then freezes portions into these cute little “food-grade” ice cube trays. Two weeks ago, mommy decided to change it up and wanted me to try beans…so she mashed up some black beans and blended them with breastmilk. She gave me a spoonful and EEEEEEKKKKK. I hated the taste of it and I made a “fatchy” face over it (a “fatchy” face is a squinched up, pissy, pouty face). Mommy tried one more time to give me a little and I wasn’t having it. I started scratching my knee….no big deal…..people scratch their knees sometimes, right? Then I felt itchy on my shoulder….then on my chest…..by then mommy noticed that I had hives starting to appear all over my body and my scalp. Her and daddy put me in a cool bath with oatmeal to try and calm things down but it didn’t help. Mommy took me to the changing table to put my diaper on and I threw up…….and it spewed 2 feet across the room. Mommy got really scared, called daddy in the room and I threw up again. By now I had raised white bumps ALL over my body. The next thing I knew, I was in my car seat and we were rushing to the children’s hospital in Atlanta. They assessed the situation and got us back into a room very quickly. They took my rectal temperature (how rude!), hooked me up to a bunch of wires and monitored me. They also gave me Benadryl and watched me for over 5 hours. The ER doctor told my parents that they needed to bring me to an allergy specialist because an allergy to black beans can be linked to a peanut allergy since they are both in the “legume” family. Five hours later, they let us go home and I was so happy to leave. Two days later, mommy was able to get me in to see Dr. Chacko, a pediatric allergy doctor. He did a skin scrape on my back (OW!) and I tested positive for a peanut allergy. He recommended that we go back down to CHOA (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta) to see the allergy specialist there for a 2nd opinion. I saw Dr. V and Dr. Patel and they did another skin scrape for peanut (Ow again!!!) and he added a test for egg as well. I tested positive for both….sigh. One of my godmothers was there with me and helped to keep me entertained and calm during the testing. They decided to do a “food challenge” while I was there where they gave me a tiny bit of liquified peanut butter and watched me carefully to see the severity of the reaction. After 5 minutes, I had a red chin and that was it. They gave me Benadryl and then I took a 45 minute nap on mommy. The doctors discharged us and asked us to go downstairs to draw my blood. They wanted to test it to determine which part of the peanut and egg I am allergic to. Mommy and I got downstairs to the lab and mommy noticed something. I started scratching the back of my head…..then the back of my neck, then my chest. She pulled my clothes away from my skin and saw they were back!!!!! Those scary, itchy hives were taking over my body again:( She rushed me back upstairs to the allergy clinic and told them I was having a severe allergic reaction. They immediately rushed us to the back again and they had to give me an epi pen injection, steroids and hydrocortisone cream. The hives were EVERYWHERE and one of my ears even swelled up to look double the size!!!! (clearly I wasn’t going to get a “date” that day). Apparently I had a delayed reaction since I was already given Benadryl and it was very scary . Daddy was at the office and when we did FaceTime, he felt terrible that I was not feeling well. An hour and a half later, they said the coast was clear and we could go home. I was really tired from all the action of the day but I got to see my grandma Jane and her friend Clyde for the weekend so I was very happy. I worked everyone in the house for extra cuddles…..and my plan succeeded:) My blood results came back yesterday and apparently my peanut allergy is VERY severe……so my parents have to keep Epi pens close by. This has made my parents worried all over again….but if I can beat a brain injury, then I can tackle a PEANUT!!! Maybe I shouldn’t do that…..but you get the idea:) In other news, I turned 7 months old on February 14th AND I am definitely feeling like a big boy. So much so, that I decided to pull up onto my knees in my crib so that I could look over the top. The last thing I remember is mommy looking excited and terrified at the same time and then daddy lowered my mattress down when he got home from work……NOW HOW AM I GOING TO REACH THE TOP???? Now I need to re-evaluate my crib-escape plan…..hmmmmm. Sara, my physical therapist, is very proud of me and has been watching the high “tone” in my legs and feet. I wear special braces on my legs each day when I am sitting up and this helps to keep my legs straight so that I can work on increasing my trunk strength and sit up on my own for longer periods of time without toppling over (even though that is pretty fun!) Well, hopefully that’s it for now. I think I’ve successfully panicked my parents enough for 1 month……. Baby Julien, signing OUT |
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