Lifes little nightmares

By the fall of 2007 the divorce was final and the kids and myself had moved back to good old Colorado.

One fall day that started off like any other normal day....IT happened, the reaction that nightmares are made of. We were visiting my parents house and my almost 2 year old Liv opened the fridge. She looked up and saw the eggs at the top of the door, wondering what they were she kept pointing to them...I looked over and panicked . As I ran over and grabbed her, she shook the door til an egg fell to the ground. I'm pretty sure that my heart stopped at this point. The egg didn't break and Liv was in the clear...phew! Nope, probably shouldn't underestimate the temper of a toddler, I was just about to pick her up from where she stood when she did it....she STOMPED her bare little foot on the egg. I'm pretty sure my heart ACTUALLY stopped at this point. What came next is something I would not believe had I not seen it with my very own eyes. Within seconds she had hives on her foot and quickly working their way up her legs/back. I screamed for my mom to come help me clean her up (in hopes this would help). As my mom tossed her in the sink I gave Liv her Benadryl. The washing nor the Benadryl did any good. I strapped Liv into her car seat and high tailed it to the ER that was closest. It took about four minutes to get her there during which time I did my best to keep her talking to me. As I turned into the parking lot, she stopped responding....I looked in my mirror and caught the panic in her eyes. I parked my car right there (in the entryway of the er...on the sidewalk), grabbed my baby and RAN like her life depended on it....it did depend on it.

There was no wait in the waiting room...I suppose when a mom comes running in holding a child that is not breathing, you bypass the line. She was taken from my arms by one of the nurses that came running to meet me. At this point, Liv was in full blown anayphylaxis...if you've never witnessed this, it's unlike anything you'll ever see. The Dr checked her O2 sats which of course were not good, he checked her breathing which was also, not good. At this point a second nurse was running in our direction with an Epinephrine injection. Liv was given the shot which caused a whole new set of problems. While Liv started breathing, she also started screaming at the top of her lungs. She began vomiting (either from being so worked up, or the reaction)...violently. There I was standing next to my baby and could do nothing for her, but try with all my might to stay calm and get her calmed. Like I said, this is what nightmares are made up of. Eventually, she did stop vomiting and she did calm down. She lay limp and vomit covered in my arms. I'm honestly not sure I even minded at that point. It took me a few minutes to realize I wasn't alone in the room with her, there was a nurse with me. Up to this point, none of the staff had even spoken to me (other than to find out the basics of what happened). She rubbed my shoulder, handed me a cup of ice water and said, "good job, mom." Nothing too profound, nothing emotional, just the "good job, mom", and I cried. This nurse brought a hospital gown for Liv and myself. She explained that she'd never seen anything like this in her life. I found no comfort in that, but I loved that nurse. I loved her for not speaking to me and only concerning herself with Liv when it mattered. I loved her for trying to comfort me in the end. I loved her for her part in saving my child's life.

Liv wasn't admitted into the hospital, she was discharged from the ER several hours later with a steroid prescription and an Epi Pen. She still had hives for a few days, but that's to be expected and pretty normal.

I could go on about this incident, but I'm emotionally drained from re-visiting this moment in time.

Oh, her name is Gina...the nurse. We went back the next week to return the hospital gowns we were allowed to leave wearing, and we left a thank you card with a gift card to Chili's for all the staff that helped Liv that day. Gina got her own card, because she truly cared...for both of us.