Update on Things That Don't Matter In The Long Run
Oliver's Illnesses:
Monday was Oliver's last day of antibiotics. He was on them for 10 days to fight off a strep throat and ear infection. He's acting much healthier and is sleeping better at night. We go to the pediatrician on Friday for his one year check-up and to make sure he's better.
Bedbug Situation:
It's kind of an embarrassing situation to have, but after coming clean about it to a few friends I found out that many more people have bedbugs (but keep their mouths shut) than I realized. We are living in New York after all, with people squashed together like...well, like bugs. All these people aren't clean and don't take care of themselves or their apartments as they're supposed to I'm sure, so this is what happens.
As you know, we had our first spraying of the pests two Saturdays ago. This Saturday, Mike is coming back because it's a two-treatment approach. The first spray is supposed to bring them out of hiding and knock them around a little bit. It's possible that you'll see an increase in bedbug activity after the first spraying - which we did. I continued getting bitten, but thankfully neither Doug nor Oliver felt any bites. The second spraying is to kill the little beasts and hopefully that happens on Saturday. We have to go through the whole rigamarole again - launder, Murphy's Oil Soap, clean, pull out furniture - but I keep telling myself that it will be worth it. Gosh, I'm itching just thinking about it.
Oliver's Allergies:
We went to Mount Sinai to see a Pediatric Immunologist and Allergist last Thursday. My word, was that a wonderful experience. Imagine two doctors who actually know what they're talking about take their time with you, LISTEN and offer a treatment plan. I know, I know, it's hard to imagine, but try. Glorious. Here's the latest on O's food allergies.
First off, they told me that I don't have to restrict my diet, even though I'm nursing. Done. They also said that they don't really rely on the blood test as much as the test of challenging the body with the food. Thank you! What I've been saying! They did a modified food challenge that very day with egg and wheat. (What doctor does that?!?) 2 hours after he had eaten both egg and wheat, his lip swelled up and he became very agitated. So here's what they said:
1. Nuts: We're going back to the doctor when O's 18 months. He'll do a skin prick test for nuts and shellfish. Shellfish just because Doug is also allergic. We are not to feed him any of these things just yet.
2. Dairy: Because it was such a small number on the blood test and because he didn't have a reaction when we were feeding it to him, we're giving it to him in little doses and upping it every week. Saturday we gave him a quarter size of American cheese and we'll give a little more each day. This coming Saturday it will be mozzarella cheese, next time ice cream, next time milk and the following time yogurt. If he keeps not having reactions, we can safely say that he's not allergic to dairy.
3. Eggs: He had a reaction when they did a food challenge, but remember, he was eating BOTH egg and wheat, so we're not sure which one he was allergic to. Gut reaction is that it was wheat because the reaction was very delayed for a food allergy. Wheat is apparently famous for causing delayed reactions, while egg isn't. We're on the waiting list for an egg food challenge (it could be 3-6 months), but as soon as milk is successfully back in his diet, Doug and I have talked about just doing an egg food challenge ourselves. If Oliver does turn out to be allergic, it could be that he's allergic to BOTH eggs and wheat and then we'll have to do a wheat food challenge. 80% of kids grow out of egg allergies.
4. Wheat: We're operating on the assumption that he is allergic to wheat. All's not lost, however. We'll keep him away from gluten and wheat, but now oats are not as "glutenful" (my own word) as we were originally told. He can have Cheerios! Once the milk and egg things are cleared up, the doctor said we can relax our restrictions on wheat - letting him eat things that say "made in a facility that comes into contact with wheat." At 18 months, he'll be skin tested again for wheat and at 2 years will be food challenged again. Kids mostly grow out of wheat allergies, so it'll just be a wait and see.
What sucked about the appointment was that 10 minutes before they were going to let us go, they came in, told us "it looks like he's not allergic to anything" and to start feeding him whatever he wants. Then he had this reaction. And the reaction was SCARY. Also sucky, my gut had been telling me that Oliver should continue to eat all these things in the 6 weeks between getting the test results and this appointment because a) he didn't have a reaction before and b) when they are introduced back into his system I didn't want his immune system to go apeshit and pronouce it an absolute allergy. It appears, although no one knows for sure, that this is kind of exactly what happened with the wheat.
What was great about the appointment was that we get to reintroduce dairy, we got answers and doctors who knew what the hell they were talking about. I told you this guy is well-published, right? Here he is. Oh, and here he is. And here, here, and here. I think I'm in love with you, Drs. Sicherer and Resnick.
Weaning:
Being allowed to eat whatever I want is kind of timely because Oliver is starting to wean. We've been slowing decreasing the amount of breastmilk in his daycare bottles and increasing the amount of soy milk. The little sucker didn't even notice! Monday was the first day that he's only had soy milk in his bottles, so it was also the first day that I didn't pump at work.
Let me just say that not having to pump is about the most glorious gift Oliver could have ever given me. I so abhorred pumping, but even more horrible than the tedious time-suckage was the fact that I took so much time from work doing it. I would just start a project and have to go boob a machine. Suckfest.
Last weekend and this past weekend, I didn't push the boob on Oliver and he didn't really request it. The only time he wanted it was in the morning and at night. However, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of this week, I would offer the breast in the morning and he'd take a sip and then shoot off the couch to do something else. That means that at this point, he's only taking the breast at bedtime and in the middle of the night when he wakes up and wants nothing else.
So....
That's what's happening in our house lately. Just a whole bunch of things that we have to wait and see how it ends up. Patience is definitely NOT our strong suit. But we're trying to keep in mind that all in all, these aren't important things. We'll figure it all out! God is good.
Love you all.
Monday was Oliver's last day of antibiotics. He was on them for 10 days to fight off a strep throat and ear infection. He's acting much healthier and is sleeping better at night. We go to the pediatrician on Friday for his one year check-up and to make sure he's better.
Bedbug Situation:
It's kind of an embarrassing situation to have, but after coming clean about it to a few friends I found out that many more people have bedbugs (but keep their mouths shut) than I realized. We are living in New York after all, with people squashed together like...well, like bugs. All these people aren't clean and don't take care of themselves or their apartments as they're supposed to I'm sure, so this is what happens.
As you know, we had our first spraying of the pests two Saturdays ago. This Saturday, Mike is coming back because it's a two-treatment approach. The first spray is supposed to bring them out of hiding and knock them around a little bit. It's possible that you'll see an increase in bedbug activity after the first spraying - which we did. I continued getting bitten, but thankfully neither Doug nor Oliver felt any bites. The second spraying is to kill the little beasts and hopefully that happens on Saturday. We have to go through the whole rigamarole again - launder, Murphy's Oil Soap, clean, pull out furniture - but I keep telling myself that it will be worth it. Gosh, I'm itching just thinking about it.
Oliver's Allergies:
We went to Mount Sinai to see a Pediatric Immunologist and Allergist last Thursday. My word, was that a wonderful experience. Imagine two doctors who actually know what they're talking about take their time with you, LISTEN and offer a treatment plan. I know, I know, it's hard to imagine, but try. Glorious. Here's the latest on O's food allergies.
First off, they told me that I don't have to restrict my diet, even though I'm nursing. Done. They also said that they don't really rely on the blood test as much as the test of challenging the body with the food. Thank you! What I've been saying! They did a modified food challenge that very day with egg and wheat. (What doctor does that?!?) 2 hours after he had eaten both egg and wheat, his lip swelled up and he became very agitated. So here's what they said:
1. Nuts: We're going back to the doctor when O's 18 months. He'll do a skin prick test for nuts and shellfish. Shellfish just because Doug is also allergic. We are not to feed him any of these things just yet.
2. Dairy: Because it was such a small number on the blood test and because he didn't have a reaction when we were feeding it to him, we're giving it to him in little doses and upping it every week. Saturday we gave him a quarter size of American cheese and we'll give a little more each day. This coming Saturday it will be mozzarella cheese, next time ice cream, next time milk and the following time yogurt. If he keeps not having reactions, we can safely say that he's not allergic to dairy.
3. Eggs: He had a reaction when they did a food challenge, but remember, he was eating BOTH egg and wheat, so we're not sure which one he was allergic to. Gut reaction is that it was wheat because the reaction was very delayed for a food allergy. Wheat is apparently famous for causing delayed reactions, while egg isn't. We're on the waiting list for an egg food challenge (it could be 3-6 months), but as soon as milk is successfully back in his diet, Doug and I have talked about just doing an egg food challenge ourselves. If Oliver does turn out to be allergic, it could be that he's allergic to BOTH eggs and wheat and then we'll have to do a wheat food challenge. 80% of kids grow out of egg allergies.
4. Wheat: We're operating on the assumption that he is allergic to wheat. All's not lost, however. We'll keep him away from gluten and wheat, but now oats are not as "glutenful" (my own word) as we were originally told. He can have Cheerios! Once the milk and egg things are cleared up, the doctor said we can relax our restrictions on wheat - letting him eat things that say "made in a facility that comes into contact with wheat." At 18 months, he'll be skin tested again for wheat and at 2 years will be food challenged again. Kids mostly grow out of wheat allergies, so it'll just be a wait and see.
What sucked about the appointment was that 10 minutes before they were going to let us go, they came in, told us "it looks like he's not allergic to anything" and to start feeding him whatever he wants. Then he had this reaction. And the reaction was SCARY. Also sucky, my gut had been telling me that Oliver should continue to eat all these things in the 6 weeks between getting the test results and this appointment because a) he didn't have a reaction before and b) when they are introduced back into his system I didn't want his immune system to go apeshit and pronouce it an absolute allergy. It appears, although no one knows for sure, that this is kind of exactly what happened with the wheat.
What was great about the appointment was that we get to reintroduce dairy, we got answers and doctors who knew what the hell they were talking about. I told you this guy is well-published, right? Here he is. Oh, and here he is. And here, here, and here. I think I'm in love with you, Drs. Sicherer and Resnick.
Weaning:
Being allowed to eat whatever I want is kind of timely because Oliver is starting to wean. We've been slowing decreasing the amount of breastmilk in his daycare bottles and increasing the amount of soy milk. The little sucker didn't even notice! Monday was the first day that he's only had soy milk in his bottles, so it was also the first day that I didn't pump at work.
Let me just say that not having to pump is about the most glorious gift Oliver could have ever given me. I so abhorred pumping, but even more horrible than the tedious time-suckage was the fact that I took so much time from work doing it. I would just start a project and have to go boob a machine. Suckfest.
Last weekend and this past weekend, I didn't push the boob on Oliver and he didn't really request it. The only time he wanted it was in the morning and at night. However, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of this week, I would offer the breast in the morning and he'd take a sip and then shoot off the couch to do something else. That means that at this point, he's only taking the breast at bedtime and in the middle of the night when he wakes up and wants nothing else.
So....
That's what's happening in our house lately. Just a whole bunch of things that we have to wait and see how it ends up. Patience is definitely NOT our strong suit. But we're trying to keep in mind that all in all, these aren't important things. We'll figure it all out! God is good.
Love you all.
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