Friday, August 28, 2009

Oh, be-hives

So, on Tuesday night Finn mowed the grass with daddy. We noticed a couple of bumps on him and assume that they're bug bites, since it's been muggy and mosquitoes have been frolicking in our yard lately. Cut to Wednesday night. He has blotchy bumps on his legs and feet. I call Nana to see if he had been in the woods by their house at all over the weekend. This of course sends Nana into a panic, which leads to her calling me back every five minute with a new possible diagnosis from her coworkers. All I wanted to know is if he had contacted any poison ivy. Geesh. So, after eliminating poison ivy (by looking at copious photos online, which lead to a verrrry long bath afterwards. Just looking at those made me itch like crazy), we slathered him in calamine to help de-puff the bumps and tucked him in for the night, planning on calling the doctor in the morning. Thursday morning, he wakes up bump free. Happy as a clam. He goes to dance rehearsal with me and has a blast. After some grocery shopping, we come home and I put him down for a nap. He wakes up an hour later screaming. He's completely inconsolable. And he's got huge clusters of bumps on his thigh and on the tops of his feet. Ugh. So I slather them in calamine (do you have any idea how hard it is to get a toddler to leave calamine alone so it can dry?) and strip his bed, clean the mattress top and remake it with fresh linens. Obviously it must be something in his bed, right? So, he finally calms down, Daddy gets home and we have dinner. Finn's a little cranky and tired, but otherwise fine. We think we have the bump-causing culprit safely under wraps in the hamper. Then just as I'm getting ready to leave for the dance studio, I look at him and he has a huge cluster of grossness on his little tummy. When I get home later he's in bed and has the worst night of sleep he's had in a while. He's so uncomfortable and does not want to be left alone. I end up camping on the floor. This morning he woke me up and we went into snuggle with Daddy in the big bed. We see several spots on his legs. I plan on calling the doctor as soon as they open. Finn and Steve go and play in the living room while I enjoy my bed for a half hour. By the time I go out and join them, his legs are plastered with spots and welts. He looks like a leper. By the time we get to the doctor's office he has them on his little hands and arms, and a couple on his face. Sigh. Poor little man. Apparently he's allergic to something, but I'll be damned if we know what it is. The only new things we've given him are a new brand of cereal (same kind of cereal that he's been eating, just a new brand name), and we switched toddler wash last week. I've cut those out now, and hopefully one of them is the culprit. He's had his first doses of benedryl and some kind of steroid, but his spots actually seem to have gotten worse. We give it til Monday and if there's no improvement he's going to an allergist.
I guess we should be thankful that, besides at bedtime, they don't seem to be bothering him. But man, they sure do look yucky.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awwww :( Your poor little man! I hope you're able to figure it out soon. Allergies in toddlers are no fun (clearly). Many hugs to you and Finn.

Jess said...

I hope that you guys can figure out what is causing them! Dont forget that allergies can develop to things he's been in contact with and never had a reaction to before. My nephew began having a reaction to eggs and milk right around Finn's age and he had been eating both for quite a while before that with no problems

MamaShark said...

He's been hive free for two days now. We were terrified that it was tomatoes causing his reaction, he had some last night and today and no hives (thank goodness too. The idea of no being able to serve pasta with marinara was awful). So far we haven't come across a food culprit, so maybe it was indeed something outside. We do have lots of allergen-laden plants in our yard right now.