March 9, 2011: Austin

Hola, All! Yesterday Kim called me about 5:30pm to say that she and baby Austin were headed to the emergency room! Kim had taken Austin to John's work to eat lunch with John, a 45 minute drive on a good day. When they got home after 3pm, she decided to feed him formula, which he's never had; she had not pumped yet and didn't have any breastmilk for him. After feeding him about 2 oz, he started making a really weird noise, like he had something in his throat. He was gagging, crying really weird, and throwing up mucus! She stopped feeding him, and made a bottle of breatmilk (her freezer is full of bags of breastmilk) but he wouldn't drink it. She tried to use the aspirator in his throat but she couldn't get anything out. Then she notices that he is covered in hives, and he is as red as a tomato! Panic sets in! Kim calls her neighbor, Olivia (in school to become a pediatric nurse) who tells her that Austin has had an allergic reaction. It's after 4:30pm when she calls her doctor who told her to take the baby to the emergency room. At the ER the triage nurse tells her that Austin is having anaphylaxis; they give him epipen, benadryl and steroids! And, the nurse says that alot of times when a person has an allergic reaction to something, they have another one in 6-8 hours. The dr hooks the baby up to all kinds of machines, checking his breathing, bp, etc. After 10 minutes his skin color started returning to a more normal color, and he was breathing easier. By the time John made it to the ER, Austin was 80% better. Since John rides the train home, and Kim had the car, it took him awhile to get to the hospital. The baby was not released until 9:30pm, when they thankfully took him home. He is fine now but Kim was given a long list of things that she and the baby can't eat. This is going to change her life more than it changes Austin's life, I think. I am proud of Kim for listening to her gut and taking him to the ER, even though a couple of her neighbors thought Austin was out of danger and didn't need to go. Tomorrow they have an appointment with a pediatric allergist; maybe we can get to the bottom of what he can eat/drink and what he can't.
Praying for Kim and Austin,
Dawnie