At 9:00 Max went down for his nap. He had a few coughs while he was napping but I kept looking at the monitor to check on him and he was still sleeping so I let him sleep. Around 10:00 he was awake and crying (he usually wakes up happy from his morning nap) so I ran up to get him. We cuddled as usual and he waved at all the dogs (Josh and Sarah's dogs are here too). I noticed his right ear was really red and thought "oh no, an ear infection". I thought he might just be warm so I changed him out of his wet diaper and pajamas and into a clean one and a onesie. He cried the entire time. He calmed down when I picked him back up and we went downstairs to go for our morning walk. He was sneezing with snot coming out, coughing a little, and pulling at his ears and he did not want to be put down. I did what any girl would do; I called my mom at work to tell her the symptoms (I needed her to tell me that I was not crazy if I called the doctor). She heard his croupy cough and said to call the doctor. I calmly told the nurse what was happening and she said that Dr. Szabo (not our usual doctor, but one we saw when Max had his cold) was available to see him at 10:50. It was 10:20 so I said that was perfect. She was calm, I was calm; just thought I had a sick baby on my hands. We were in the car by 10:30 and on our way. Max started to have trouble breathing as I was driving; he could not keep his paci in because of this. He was acting really relaxed, not moving around much or making much noise (not a typical car ride; usually playing and talking) so I was starting to become a little concerned. He was still having lots of drool, snot, coughing, and sneezing as we drove. I just held on to his foot and rubbed his leg as I drove. He was a little upset but not much. He was so quiet most of the time that I kept turning around to make sure he was still breathing and reassure him that we were almost there and he was going to be okay. He started to get red all over his face when we were arriving at the doctor's office. We signed in at 10:50 and the receptionist said "oh" with some concern when she saw him, that made me concerned too. Immediately a nurse came out and called his name (that never happens so quickly at a well baby check-up) and said "what did you eat" when she saw him. I told the nurse this same story along with what he had eaten that morning for breakfast and anything the day before that was a newly introduced food (the only things I could think of that could possibly have caused a reaction were the whole wheat toast (that morning at 8) and edamame (15 hours earlier). After asking some family/baby history the nurse wasted no time and went to get the doctor. Dr. Szabo came in a minute later not even bothering to close the door. I don't even think he checked Max out other than looking at him and listening to him; I held him in my arms the entire time. He asked some more of the same questions and started telling the nurse to get epinephrine (epi pen) immediately. They went back and forth mostly just shouting to one another through open doors trying to locate the trauma bag (they weren't sure if they had and epi pen for a 9 month old in the office so it was back and forth discussing this with more nurses coming in to the conversation all in a matter of seconds). Max now had a red rash over his entire little body, was wheezing, sneezing, coughing, and could barely take a breath. Dr. Szabo said very seriously that Max was having a very severe (life-threatening) allergic reaction and we needed to take immediate action(no time to get to a hospital I assumed). I began to cry for the 1st time that day. Dr. Szabo reassured me that everything was going to be okay. He excused himself for a moment to assist the nurses so I took a moment to call Scott to let him know what was happening. Dr. Szabo came back in and said we needed to go to a different room and to follow him. We were led to a room in the back of the office that seemed more equipped for emergency situations. One nurse came in and checked Max's pulse/listened to his heartbeat (he was too small to get a good read with whatever they put on his foot), while another nurse began to give him a full dose of steroids (with licks of lollipop in between because of the awful taste). As soon as they got a read of his vitals and steroids were down a third nurse shot the epi pen into his thigh (all I heard was a soft moan from my poor baby), and then a fourth nurse began to give him a full dose of benadryl. After all this they immediately began a breathing treatment. Dr. Szabo never left the room during this time and I heard him say, "Please call my next three appointments and ask them to reschedule, I am not leaving this room." Max was so brave the entire time and I just kissed him gently and held on to him as tightly as I could (thankfully that is exactly what the nurses wanted me to do). Dr. Szabo then asked a nurse to call Scottish Rite (which I knew was Children's Healthcare of Atlanta) and get an ambulance to their office immediately. He looked at me and said, "An ambulance is on it's way. Max needs to go to the ER to continue the treatments and be monitored for some time." I began to cry for the 2nd time that day. Dr. Szabo again reassured me that everything was going to be fine. A nurse came back and said that an ambulance couldn't be there for another hour but a helicopter could come now. Dr Szabo calmly said "We don't have anywhere for a helicopter to land. Please call the local ambulance now." Dr. Szabo asked what time it was, grabbed the nearest pen, and began writing on the paper attached to the patient table where Max was now crying/wheezing (which Dr. Szabo said was a good thing because it would actually require him to take in more of the oxygen if he was upset) while he received the breathing treatment. All the nurses were hands-on so I checked my watch and told Dr. Szabo it was 11:08. I then realized what all had happened in less than 20 minutes of our arrival. Dr. Szabo wrote down the times everything had been administered, double checked what the nurses had given Max, and told me what would happen next. The atmosphere was quite calm and very reassuring. I have never seen so many women attending to one tiny baby with the kindest voices while also talking to me with the same worry. A fifth nurse came in and asked me if she could call someone for me and I asked her to call Scott and tell him to meet us. She wrote his number on her hand and went to call him. One of the nurses asked where my keys were so she could go get the car seat out of my car for the ambulance ride. The nurse who had called Scott gave Max another breathing treatment all the while singing The Wheels On The Bus to him. He just stared at her, didn't even cry. Everything was being taken care of for us. The ambulance arrived and we all walked outside together. I thanked them all and they strapped the car seat to the stretcher. Dr. Szabo said Max looked and sounded much better and that everything was going to be okay. We buckled Max and me in and took off. Max talked, waved, and played the whole way to the ER. I just held that sweet little hand. When we arrived at Scottish Rite it was more of the same treatment (kind nurses, caring doctor, everyone adoring my beautiful baby boy). They hooked him up to some machines to check his vitals, he broke out in a rash again when he started to cry (the doctor at the hospital said this might happen for a few days), but for the most part he remained calm and I held him. Scott arrived soon after that and we were both thankful to have him there with us. Max was tired and hungry but he wasn't allowed to eat anything. We had to stay to be monitored for a couple of hours they told us. Max fell asleep in my arms. Nana and Pop arrived to be there for all of us. Max woke and I asked to nurse him, they said I could. He felt a little better after that. Around 3:00 they told us we could go with a prescription for steroids for 5 days, and epi pen (for emergencies in the future), and to continue with benadryl. We got home around 4 and Max seemed back to normal. He ate pretty much an entire sweet potato and an entire banana. Nana and Pop came over to be with us some more. We will go back to see Dr. Szabo on Tuesday (he just wants to see Max) and we will become more educated on this type of very severe allergic reaction; just in case. He will call an allergist and we will go from there. They don't seem to think that any of the foods Max had eaten would have caused such a severe reaction for many different reasons we discussed at length but I will not bore you with anymore details. So, today, I am so thankful for Max's life and for being the person who gets to be his mommy. I CANNOT IMAGINE my life without him in it! I cannot even begin to imagine how the mommies of chronically or terminally ill children do this day all the time. I hope I never have to again! Thank you Teri and Jerry for just waiting with us! Thank you Mom, Dad, Jac, Josh, and Sarah for being there when I needed you most! Jarrod, I know you would have been too if you weren't so far away in Tokyo today! Thank you to everyone else who heard the news and called to check on Max. We love you all so much!
Mom and Dad: Thank you for being the kind of parents who care just as much about Max as you do about me and making sure I was okay too. That means the world to me on a day like today when I wanted to break down but needed to be strong!
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