Expect the Unexpected

Well. We didn't really think we would be eating our supper (take-out pizza at that) on the patio yesterday, with half our furniture outside to keep us company. But, things didn't go quite as planned, and while Neil worked hard all day we still have lots to do when it comes to painting.

I had planned the day out so nicely. Plan was:

• Everybody wakes up at around 7am, we're all well rested as Ina slept through the night.


• 8:15am: Ina is picked up by her dad for their twice weekly visit.


• 8:30am: Finn and Lily arrive at their Kindergarten (preschool) just in time for morning circle.


• 8:35am: Claudia back from preschool, with joint forces (Neil took a day off) the painting begins and is mostly finished by the time all the kids come home.

Reality went like this:

• We all wake up, but not all that rested. Finn crawled in bed with me around 2am, Lily joined me after she woke up to wet sheets, Neil left our bed at one point to help a fussing Ina go back to sleep. I later find him fast asleep in Lily's bed, lights on, and a half stripped damp sheet in his hand. Sleep deprivation, anyone? ☺


• 7:30-8:00 breakfast. Finn eats plain yogurt mixed with vanilla yogurt (first time he tries the vanilla yogurt, and he likes it).


• 8:15: Ina is picked up by her daddy.


• 8:30: Finn and Lily arrive at preschool, Finn complains of a tummy ache. I tell him it is probably because he ate nothing but that yogurt and suggest he eats his sandwich soon. I leave when the class is getting ready for morning circle.


• 8:40: Finn, a child with no known allergies (and who was extensively tested for them because of his asthma) goes into anaphylactic shock during morning circle.

Only, we didn't know right away what it was. They do their morning circle standing, and suddenly Finn cried that he could only "see blue". The teachers sat him down immediately, his face went a ghostly mask of green and white, his hands went numb and he broke out in a cold sweat. They placed him on a bed as he was beginning to faint and tried to keep him "with them". The teacher phoned me and I went right back over. He had mostly regained his vision when I came, but I was SHOCKED by the way his face looked (and they said he already looked better!). Purple circles around his eyes, the rest of his face just gray. He told me he had a bad tummy ache and I managed to put him on the toilet before he had a huge bout of diarrhea. I was thinking tummy bug but was worried that it came on so quickly and by his loss of vision and feeling in his hands, the cold sticky sweat etc. I carried Finn home, he was still hurting (tummy) and his ears, which were beginning to turn red, were bothering him. I phoned the doctor and was told to come in. Neil noticed some yogurt on Finn's face, wiped it off and remarked that the skin underneath was red. That remark stayed with me, and in the car I began putting two and two together. The yogurt! Finn seemed very groggy and like he wanted to go to sleep, but he managed to stay awake for the 8 min drive.

Our pediatrician is not in on Thursdays, but the general practicioner who works there too, is. She knows Finn and saw to him right away. When she lifted his shirt we could see that the skin from his belly down to his thighs was red and covered with hives and some white welts. His ears were bright red and itchy by now, and he was still in pain. His blood pressure was low. They administered a cortisone suppository and anti allergy medicine, and Finn recovered after a while. We went home after they were sure he was okay, emergency meds in hand. At night he complained of a headache and a tummy ache, but this morning he was fine, just his eyes were a bit swollen.

So, that's why we didn't get as much done as we had planned on. But, we are SO SO grateful that Finn is all right!

Neil hard at work yesterday:

The kiddos this morning:

I took Ina to the pediatrician this morning because she has a cough that is getting worse and refuses to take cough syrup. She has spastic bronchitis, something I seem to "specialize in", as the pedi put it. So now she HAS to take medicine, plus do some inhaling. Oh joy. The pedi already knew about Finn and we talked about the issue for quite a while today. On Monday Finn will have blood drawn to check for allergies again. It is baffling, because the only addititives in that organic yogurt are starch, sugar, bourbon vanilla and natural vanilla flavor. Other than that he had nothing but a few sips of milk yesterday morning. For now I got some emergency meds to take to preschool for him, and I will carry the same set in my purse. The pedi is not taking this lightly, as the next anaphylactic shock could even be worse and lead to heart failure as a worst case scenario. Ugh - I can't even think about this.

So, I'm off to preschool with my little bag. Finn sure scared the living daylights out of his teachers yesterday. Not to speak of us. Please pray that this won't happen again!

Oh, and I didn't even remember to ask Neil about his foot until late at night. Well, it still hurts, but Neil just dealt with it and cancelled his appointment. Maybe he can get around to taking care of himself when Norma and Kurt are here. Heck, maybe he even gets to SLEEP! Wouldn't that be something. :)