Allergist update

I do not remember how much of this I posted last time and due to lack of time I will make this short and sweet....

Back in April we were referred to an allergist due to the girls having horrible allergies and respiratory issues constantly.  He did feel B had asthma (we pretty much already knew that) and wanted to allergy test P.  He also suggested a medicine regimen we were not comfortable with and we decided to seek out a second opinion before we took any action.  In May, P came down with pneumonia (again) and we continued breathing treatments for both girls (ugh!).  We decided to take the next step and seek help from TCH through a pediatric allergist (which we were mad we did not do from the start....the problem was the wait was incredibly long and we wanted to be seen ASAP).  Through the whole referral process (which we started in May), etc. we finally were able to make an appt. but not until Aug. 12 (OMG! really?!?!).  The girls were home with me for the summer (2 months) and were as healthy as they could possibly be!  We packed up the breathing machine on their last day of daycare and to this day have not used it since.  (hhmmmm)  We did not need to visit the Dr. once during the summer nor did we have a single cough, runny nose, or drop of medicine.  WOW!  I know they were not around kids as much but we were still out and about all summer.

Anyways when the appt. rolled around I contemplated canceling it since I felt services were no longer needed.  (side note:  we have also made a switch in our child care routine praying for healthier babies since I now feel the day-care environment was way too old, dirty, etc. and that is what was making their allergies crazy.  This week will mark one month in our home day care attendance and they have been happy and healthy and mom and dad have been too!)  I am glad I went ahead and kept the appt. as we found out alot of info.

We had appts. for both girls at 9:30 in Houston at TCH.  The Dr. looked at pics I brought to show different skin issues we have dealt with since birth, how bites affected them, how P looked when eating eggs (when we found out she was allergic), how B looked when I gave her a bite of ice cream on vacation, etc.  We discussed culprits, discussed their respiratory issues, etc.

When we found out P was allergic to eggs at 9 months they told me to avoid eggs with her until she was 2 and then try again.  Since we were headed to the allergist the next morning and she was almost 2, the morning before the appt. I made her eggs to see what would happen.  She seemed to not have a reaction and this saved her from having to undergo the allergy test. :)  The Dr. did diagnose her with some name basically meaning she has extremely sensitive skin and reacts to everything (which we have already known since birth)....really no harm just looks bad on her.

They decided to allergy test B because of P's egg allergy, how she reacted to ice cream, and since I am still so worried about how much she still spits up at 9 months.  After an excruciating 20 minutes of the pricking and the waiting (since nothing can touch her back for 15 minutes) they came in and immediately saw she reacted to something.  After entering all the levels it was determined it was milk. (They tested her for milk, eggs, soy, and wheat).

They came up with a plan for us and then a dietician came in to see us.  Since I am still breast-feeding her we don't have to worry about different kinds of formula, BUT it did mean some changes for my diet.  We also discussed food for her to eat since we are working our way into solid foods & what she will drink once breast milk is gone.  Soy is NOT an option in our house due to it's non-nutritive properties and horrible effects especially on children (which is what they suggest) so we are looking into alternatives.  Right now we are using coconut milk in foods we will be serving her or I am eating.  The other issue is getting her calcium once she is no longer nursing since calcium comes from dairy in a milk.  I am trying to get her diet accustomed to things like broccoli, spinach, kale, etc. so she will eat more of those since they are so high in calcium.

I can continue to eat dairy as long as it is in a cooked form.  I cannot have any raw or plain cheese, milk, butter, cream, etc.  I also have an ENTIRE freezer full of frozen breast milk that she will be using when I stop pumping which will be in the near future.  We discussed that and they feel that since she has already been consuming dairy through me for the past 9 months and I have worked sooo hard to have that milk for her that I can still let her have it since the dairy already passed through me, has been frozen, etc.  Thank you Jesus!! Alot of blood, sweat, tears, and time have gone into getting that milk for her! LOL!! :)

The hardest part right now is figuring out what to feed her now that we are moving onto solids.  Paislyn never drank milk (which is totally okay by us) so we are very creative in her meals in making sure she gets all of her calcium.  She pretty much eats cheese and yogurt with every meal.  B will not be able to have either of those.  Any kind of soups we make we top with cheese and greek yogurt for her as well.  I make her greek yogurt popsicles, etc. for snacks.  She started eating grilled cheese, etc. very young.  NOW it is a struggle to find something healthy and without dairy for B to eat.  We are still learning as we got a ton of paperwork and the list of "other names" dairy can be listed as it quite long.

We then had to do the whole epi-pen training and have to carry it on her at all times.  The fear is not of someone out right feeding her dairy if they are aware, but more like her taking another kids sippy cup,etc. and having an allergic reaction that way.  (Now we are even more thankful P does not drink milk as she has started sharing her drinks with B, or leaves a cup laying around and B goes to town on it!)

We ended up leaving the Dr. office 3 hours later with 2 completely exhausted over tired kids from being confined in a Dr. office for 3 hours. N and I were pretty whooped ourselves!

We are slowly learning and getting creative with food for her.  It is def. not easy and way more time consuming to prepare her food but you do what you gotta do for a happy healthy baby!

We go back in November to check on everything again and see what else we need to do.  Until then, we just pray we can avoid dairy and pray we never experience her having a bad reaction or having to use the epi-pen.  We are also thankful we caught this and did not have to find out the really hard way.