My kids woke me up this morning, because I forgot to set my alarm. I had a really hard time actually getting out of bed (sleeping for the next four months sounded much more attractive). I finally rolled out of bed, and convinced them to go upstairs, and wait for me.
Once upstairs I made Kiddo her chocolate milk, and started to make my own breakfast, all while trying to convince Babs I was not playing dolls with her yet. As my eggs cooked, I listened to Kiddo sniff and cough a bit, and determined that today was the day she would go back on her allergy medicine. She's been trying to convince me for a few days now, but I didn't agree that her symptoms warranted it (I assumed she wanted some yummy grape tablets). I called her to kitchen to get it.
As she stuck it in her mouth I thought to myself, 'I'm really glad I'm giving this to her, she has circles under her eyes.' Then I thought, 'And she's splotchy.' Then my brain caught up, and I called her back to me so I could really look at her. Her eyes, nose, and mouth were all splotchy; she had hives. Oh great.
I called my mom, who said, there's not much you can do except Benedryl. Then I texted my sister-in-law who said wait to see what the Claritin does, then try Benedryl, see how the hives react. Somewhere admidst all this communication I had Kiddo check the rest of her body, she had hives all over her trunk, arms, and legs.
Around mid-morning, with two antihistimines in her system, and zero improvement, plus the knowledge that she had a big preschool event tomorrow morning goaded me into action. We went to the doctor.
Most of the time, the reason for hives cannot be identified. But occasionally it can, like when they're caused by strep, which Kiddo has.
I feel really lucky that we got to see the nurse practitioner, who's grown son has had hives on and off his whole life. So it's something she's really familiar with, and all the possible causes. She was not expecting the strep test to come back positive, but sometimes it does. And Kiddo is one of those cases. Now we can fix it. She will not be attending grandparents day tomorrow, much to her dismay.
"What are the chances this will be heading through my whole family, like her little sister, or her pregnant mom?" I asked the NP. She said to not be surprised if Babs gets it, but if I'm careful I should be fine. So careful I will be. (If Babs gets strep next week, that will really get in the way of my plans to potty train her...)
