Our new friend epipen jr

Well, this past weekend I made a lovely meal of lemon butter shrimp and scallops. Absolutely delicious! I cut up 2 shrimp into small pieces and placed them on Bella's plate with her other food.

A couple of minutes later I heard a funny little coughing noise coming from Bella and checked on her to find big, puffy, red lips and a red rash making its way all around her mouth. I think her throat must have been itchy or swelling which caused her to make the coughing noise. Of course, I knew immediately she was having a bad allergic reaction to the shrimp. I quickly gave her benadryl and watched her carefully for any signs that her breathing was impaired. Luckily, she had only taken a very small bite of the shrimp and the benadryl eventually helped to resolve the swelling and rash.

Of course my mind wanders to what in the world would have happened if she had eaten more of the shrimp before I noticed. She reacted so quickly and severly to such a small amt of shrimp that her pediatrician called in some epipens in case she is exposed again. And also we don't know what else she may be allergic to and how she will react. So from now on I will be keeping one of these in her diaper bag and one at home.

The below picture was taken well after the benadryl was given and I could tell she was getting better. I wanted to take a picture to show her pediatrician so I snapped the one below.

I feel bad for her that she will never be able to enjoy shrimp. It's one of my favorite foods. And I know I will hardly ever eat it anymore because I won't want to risk her getting any. But I am thankful that we now know that she has the allergy and that I was there and caught it before it became life threatening. Anyone else have a child with severe food allergies??