Yup I am that mom......"Hey Lyss, can I give Jax ice cream, or this or that?", my answer is almost always no. I have always been extremely cautious about not giving Jaxson things before the recommended time and sometimes even after (i.e. peanut butter & eggs, never had them). I did everything I could to breast feed him to a year and beyond. I felt like if I did those things, there would be no way my baby would get food allergies. Unfortunately I was wrong. On his first birthday we discovered he had a milk intolerance which included throwing up & hives when any kind of dairy was consumed. After he had that reaction I was even more careful about what he ate, which usually only included fruits, veggies, proteins with occasional bread. Around this same time my little niece was diagnosed with a few different food allergies and my sister encouraged me to get Jaxson tested because of my extreme caution and hesitation in giving him new foods. After a couple of weeks we met with a great allergist, Dr. Matheson in Provo. Based on my concerns he decided to test for pediatric food allergies including corn, wheat, soy, milk, eggs & peanuts. The nurse administered the prick test on his back. He was such a champ, he didn't cry, whimper, nothing. After she was done, we had to wait 15 minutes and during that time there were tears because he wanted to scratch his back so badly but unfortunately he wasn't allowed to. During those 15 minutes, I watched his poor little back welt up at so many of the prick points and my heart just sank. After the 15 minutes, the nurse brought him back the exam room, wiped off his back, measured the welts and kept saying wow under her breath. Then we met with Dr. Matheson again. He was silent for a minute or two and then the first thing out of his mouth was that Jaxson had a severe, if not deadly allergy to peanuts. At that point I had to remind myself to breath. He then told me Jax also had a mild to moderate allergy to milk, soy & eggs with a very, very mild allergy to corn. He said that on a scale from one to one hundred, his peanut allergy is like a 90 (and will probably never out grow it) where his other allergies were more like a 5 to 10 (& more than likely out grow). He was very sweet to answer all my questions and concerns (there were A LOT) and then prescribed Jaxon epi-pens. I drove to Jon's work and told him what we had found out and I could tell it took him back....it sank in that our child has a deadly allergy. But I am grateful to know. I am grateful that now I can work to do my best at protecting my child. I am grateful that something inside me as a mother protested giving him foods that could have hurt him. I am just grateful. But there is another part of me, a sad part. I am sad that Jax will probably have this severe allergy for the rest of his life. But like I told Jon I will do everything in my power to make sure he doesn't feel whatever sting there is of being different because like we tell him being different just makes you special in an awesome way.
He was NOT in the mood to take pictures.
This was within just a couple of minutes! :(
Pretty sure he couldn't get closer to the TV but he wasn't trying to scratch so it was not a battle I was willing to fight! :)
Oh yay! VHS!!!!! :)
03/14/13: Now one more confession.....I am not going to lie, going to the grocery store now gives me anxiety. I stand there and read every label meticulously and I give myself a little reminder to breath. When his allergist says you can't even buy things that state they may be manufactured in the same factory where there are peanuts because his allergy is that high, you become that much more CRAZY about things. So these days when prepare to meet the world with his allergy, sometimes we just have to remind ourselves to breath, and we do and life goes on. :)
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