Rain In The Forecast? Maybe In Her Dreams.

This is how little Miss chose to fall asleep tonight. She put her purple rain boots on to go to bed. (Does she know something I don't know?!) 😙

Her first REALLY fat lip.

Poor Brynlee fell out of her camping chair on the concrete yesterday. And she got tangled up and couldn't catch herself...so she hit her poor, cute little face. She put her teeth partially through her upper lip. And road rashed her left side of her face. There was a lot of blood...and a lot of tears...but we got through it. In fact, she was fine less than 15 minutes later (despite her huge fat lip!). She's a tough girl!

 

Rough Day

Today, Brynlee had to go to the allergy specialist to have her blood drawn. They poke you in the arm and draw blood as a toddler, just like they would an adult. They had me lay on my side...pin her one arm under my side...pin her legs between my legs...and hold her other shoulder down, while a nurse held her arm down...another poked her...and another nurse hooked up the test tubes to catch the blood. As soon as Brynlee started getting pinned down, she got scared and started crying softly. I think it hurt my heart as much as it hurt her arm! (Okay, probably not. But, it was hard for me.) After they were done, she snuggled right into me and quit crying. What a champ!!

The nurses were super nice and great. They even spoiled Brynlee after her draw by giving her bubbles, a mini stuffed animal, and a bouncy ball. 

The blood draw is supposed to give us an accurate count of how bad/severe her egg allergy is.  We'll find out next week sometime.  If her count isn't too high, she might get to have a bite of cookie or cake occasionally...and her allergy could go away sooner! Fingers crossed for low numbers!!!!

Not So Eggs-cellent News

We have been suspicious of Brynlee having a food allergy for quite some time now.  We could never get our pediatrician in Arizona to give us a referral for the specialist ("Why pay for something that you already know?!"  Really!!!). So, we patiently waited, knowing we would be moving to Idaho and could stick with the same specialist once we got here.
Last week Brynlee underwent food allergy testing.  Yep...all those miserable little pokes on the back (I think there were 8 total).  She was not a happy girl, I'll tell ya that!  But, within just minutes, it was confirmed that she has a definite food allergy!  Funny though...it's not what we suspected it to be!  It's not milk (although the doctor did confirm she has an obvious sensitivity/intolerance to milk).  But, it's just as bad...because it's in almost everything too!

LITTLE MISS BRYNLEE IS ALLERGIC TO EGGS!!!

And her Eczema is so bad on her skin that she can have a reaction to eggs through her skin as well! Not just ingestion!

Brynlee is also more likely to develop other food allergies because she already has one.  So the doctor has advised us to be cautious w/ peanuts, peanut butter, etc. as well.  If we make a peanut butter sandwich or eat trail mix, we have to wash before touching Brynlee...and no food sharing!

Because she is so young, she could also outgrow her allergy!  Fingers crossed!!!

What does this mean for Brynlee and our family?!  It means that Brynlee is not allowed to eat many foods...including:  eggs, pasta, bread, muffins, cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, mayonnaise, marshmallows, and many, many more things.  (She cannot have things w/ egg or albumin (also spelled albumen) in them.)  We have to be extremely cautious w/ sharing foods w/ her!
It also means that anyone that comes in contact w/ eggs (preparing, touching, etc.) has to wash their hands before touching Brynlee or she'll have an allergic reaction through her skin as well!  

An egg allergy typically won't be severe enough to cause anaphylactic shock, but it's still possible.   Brynlee will most likely experience hives, coughing, swelling, vomiting, trouble breathing or other symptoms.  Because it can still be severe, we are now the proud owners of EpiPens!  And we will want anyone that will be watching Brynlee w/out our supervision to learn how to use one properly.  :)

Here's to learning all about food allergies!  And an egg-free future!