We had some excitement last week. Anya had her first visit to the ER after eating mangoes and yogurt. She has had mangoes several times in the past so we still are not sure what triggered the reaction. Basically she was eating and got very cranky. She had pureed mangoes and some cut up fresh mangoes. After finishing that we decided to try some Yo baby yogurt. After the first spoonful she began violently vomiting and did not stop until ALL contents were out of her little tummy. This in itself was frightening because witnessing your baby puke is scary and you feel very helpless. After the initial incident subsided we noticed hives breaking out on her face and neck. At this point we decided it was time to pack her up, head toward the ER and call the doctor.
As a child I had a severe allergic reaction to a soft cooked egg and remained allergic to eggs for most of my childhood. I was concerned that Anya was having a similar reaction and I did not want her to go into anaphlaxsis (your mouth and throat swell making it impossible to breathe). Once we arrived near the hospital the doctor on call had called us back as we sat in the Whole Foods parking lot debating whether or not to actually go to the ER. At this point Anya's hives had subsided and she was babbling and breathing normal. The doctor listened to our explanation of the incident and advised us to go to the ER just to be sure her lunges were functioning fine and to ease our mind.
So into Overlake ER we go and have a great experience. We are in and out in one hour and of course Anya was perfectly fine with just a red rash left on her face. She was cooing and talking to all the nurses and doctors making us look like foolish first time parents rushing a perfectly healthy child to the ER. Had the doctor not instructed us to go into the ER we would have returned home and felt better, but since we had been basically told to go we felt we should obey.
We have avoided mangoes fearing this was the main cause of her reaction. Just to try again we gave Anya a very small amount of Yo baby this week during the day (when the doctors office is open) and with Benadryl on hand. She did not want to eat it which was the first sign for us that perhaps this was the perpetrator. She ate one or two very small bites, then smeared it on her hand and rubbed her face. About 5 minutes later everywhere the yogurt had come into contact with her skin she had red spots and a few hives. So obviously there is something in the yogurt that doesn't agree with her but the hives are mainly topical and don't seem to be anywhere else then where the yogurt has physically touched. We are baffled and will most likely see an allergist to determine whether she is indeed allergic to dairy (god we hope not!)
After the traumatic evening we spent a relaxing Saturday at Oma and Opa's in Gig Harbor. Later in the evening we celebrated Myles's 31st birthday with his parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in law, nieces and nephew, and my folks. It was a great dinner and Anya had a blast with her cousins once again.
