PEANUT ALLERGY

Hives! Just seconds after I gave Mallory some peanut butter toast she got red blotches all over her face, neck, chest and hands. I immediately called the doctor. Within minutes she had some benadryl and was in the tub to wash lunch out of her hair and anywhere else she'd managed to get it. We're scheduled to see the doctor in an hour. My poor baby is sleeping as I write this. I *think* my heart rate has finally slowed back down to normal, but I know I won't breathe a sigh of relief anytime soon.

Update: everything went well at the doctor's. No breathing problems detected. We were prescribed some epi-pens and asked to follow up with an allergist. Dr. Brown wasn't in, so we saw Dr. Treybig (my new fav backup doctor). She said Mallory's reaction was "fairly severe" but we'd really only know *how* severe after we see the allergist. There's apparently new research that suggests kids can outgrow a peanut allergy. Hurray! Let's hope she outgrows it. I'm SO not looking forward to a lifetime of reading labels to see if peanuts are processed in the same manufacturing facility or not... or worse: starting school. So many uncontrollable variables there!