Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Anna's Milk Challenge

This morning Anna had her milk challenge test at Bethesda at 8:00. Anna, Caleb, and I rolled out of here at 6:45 because we weren't sure how traffic would be on the Beltway. There were no accidents, and we made it there at 7:30. Drives like that make me think I should have had Grace at Bethesda--but then I'll hear about some accident tying up the Beltway for hours, and I know I'll again be so glad I didn't bother with it, LOL.

Anna drank her first bit of milk at 8:00, followed by increasingly more milk every 15 minutes until 9:30. I was worried that she wouldn't like the taste of regular milk, since she's never had it, but she did just fine. After her last drink, we still had to wait in the same little room until 10:30, just to make sure she wouldn't have a delayed reaction. Over the course of the morning, we watched 1 1/2 hours of the Wiggles (more than any person should have to watch at one time, LOL!), as well as a half hour of Blue's Clues, and then finally a half hour of blessed quiet where I read them books. Funny how techs never believe that really, it's fine to not have the TV on; we can entertain ourselves! We also had some fruit snacks, graham crackers, and laffy taffy. Pretty special! Nothing every happened to Anna, so at 10:30, we were allowed to walk around the hospital for another hour, just to make SURE sure that she wasn't having a delayed reaction. This was where Caleb came in. (Were you wondering why he was tagging along at such an ungodly hour?!)

When I talked to the allergist at Anna's appointment a few weeks ago, we also talked about Caleb. The allergist looked him up and decided he wanted a few blood tests run on him--blood tests that would have to be done at the lab at Bethesda because he didn't think the lab at the little Fairfax Clinic would be able to do them. I didn't want to drag everyone up there a different time to go to the lab, so I decided Caleb would just come with Anna and me and get it done then. And he could help me entertain Anna!

Caleb was not thrilled with the idea of having his blood srawn, but he was very brave and only cried softly a little bit. Afterward he and Anna both got a lollipop, which made both of them very happy. Aftr waiting just a little bit more, we were cleared to go home a little after 11:30--with only one child with milk allergies. I still can't believe it!

While we were at Bethesda, Bob was holding down the fort back home with everyone else. Nathan and Luke were very motivated to finish their schoolwork in a timely manner, since Bob said they would play Phase 10 after they finished. The best news was that Grace took breast milk in a sippy cup! I was so happy to hear that! Obviously things went just fine without me here at home, and I must be totally honest and say that I enjoyed the break from Gracie, who has just been so needy since she's been sick! And I LOVED having the break from nursing, LOL.

3 comments:

ElizabethB said...

Yay! I'm happy for her, and for you. I know how hard it is to make special food.

I've done my first 3 allergy shots now, hopefully I'll be able to have some milk myself when I'm done. Actually, I don't want milk, I want ice cream. It's the only thing I really miss. I am, however, very happy that I can have chocolate (albeit only special chocolate chips that are twice as expensive as regular chips--they're by enjoy life, by the way, although you can probably find some regular chocolate for Caleb since he's not allergic to soy.) I also had a nice cup of coffee today with some oat milk--I can have coffee once every 4 or 5 days.

Beverly said...

That's great!

I guess I'm on a permanent "break" from nursing...until/unless God sends us another child! Kenna is done, and I'm fine with that. I would have liked to go longer, but...well, if she were my only one, maybe we could be making it work! At any rate, there are definite advantages to the bottle/sippy cup!

Dy said...

*whew* You did a great job getting that all lined up and taken care of. I'm glad Anna's appt. went well, and give that sweet boy a hug for me. What a trooper! When will you get the results from his test?