Just say no to... Eggs?

Just in time for Easter, we have without a shadow of a doubt that Lila is sadly, allergic to eggs.

She had what we thought was a little reaction to eggs a couple of months ago, but with Benadryl she was fine. At the time we weren't totally sure it was egg that did it, but after ruling out other things she'd had that day we figured she had a mild intolerance... possibly. I have avoided giving her eggs since, but really just figured she didn't like them and maybe had a slight sensitivity. She eats things with eggs in it, like cake, muffins, pancakes, etc. with no problems that we've noticed.

Well, Wednesday morning I made myself an egg white omelet. I used the whites in a carton which I buy sometimes because its quicker and easier than cracking and separating eggs in the morning. I gave Lila two or three small bites of the omelet. She seemed to like it okay, but then started coughing a bit so I gave her some water. She wasn't interested in eating more. A few minutes later I noticed she had a small rash around her mouth and chin.

I watched her closely as I continued to get ready, but she was acting normal. She was happy and playing and the rash faded by the time I dropped her off at Amanda's. Well pretty much as soon as I got to work Amanda called me to say that Lila had thrown up everywhere during her nap and that it was probably the eggs that did it. I told her to give her Benadryl and call me back if it got worse. Well I got a call a few minutes later from a very concerned Amanda that she had hives everywhere, was not breathing normally and her feet and hands looked kind of purple. With that I dashed to my car and my 40 minute drive to her house was about 25 minutes. During that time I called my pediatrician and Neil and my mom and tried not to speed too much or cry while I was driving.

Luckily when I got there she looked much better and the Benadryl was doing its job. Most of her hives were gone but you could see some on her back. As soon as I got to Lila I just cried. It's so hard to be away from your child when she needs you. Both times when Lila has had reactions like this I have not been there. On one hand its good, because I'm not sure how I'd do in that situation, seeing Lila like that and obviously Amanda did a great job handling it. But on the other hand, I was not there to help my daughter when she needed me!! I was 40 minutes away at work! Cue Mommy guilt x100! It was terrible.

I was going to take her right to the ER, but I decided to just observe her for a little bit before I put her through anything else. I'd talked a nurse at the pediatrician's office and a friend with a child with a peanut allergy and they both said if the Benadryl is working they won't be able to do much more at the hospital. So I went to Walmart with her to buy more Benadryl (just in case I didn't have it at home) and to just kind of watch her.

Luckily, she did fine the rest of the day. I wiped her down with a wipe when I got home, as I was told that a bath could exacerbate hives, and just looked at her body and she really did seem okay. She took a 3 hour afternoon nap and I cleaned, made brownies and sat outside and read Catching Fire while she napped. She got better as the day went on, thank goodness.

So, no eggs for Lila. Since I've heard that subsequent exposure to eggs can cause worsening reactions, we are going to be extra cautious and really avoid all egg products and anything that has eggs in it. Hopefully by avoiding eggs all together she will not have any more reactions and will eventually outgrow it.

My poor Lila. I'm just glad she recovered pretty fast and that Amanda reacted so expertly and quickly. I'm also thankful that I was able to leave work and go be with her for the rest of the day. So no hardboiled eggs or deviled eggs for my girl this Easter. No eggs at all... not for a long, long time.