Thursday, September 10, 2009

Hives!

We had such a busy day yesterday! School in the morning, then ballet in the afternoon, then we came home and I cleaned like a crazy person - I got about 8 and a half things on my list accomplished. Not bad, considering that trying to clean with kids in the house is like trying to nail Jello to the wall. My uncle Doug was in town for an extremely boring seminar, but he ended his day on a high note by coming over to play with the pretty babies and joining us for dinner at Noodles. Dad stopped by for a bit, too. We got home from dinner just after 8:00, so we took the kids upstairs for bed.

That's when things got weird.

Mary Grace wanted her back scratched, instead of rubbed like she normally wants. After our usual 5 minutes, we went in our room and put away the seven loads of laundry I mentioned yesterday. Well, maybe 5 and a half, because I couldn't put the kids' clothes away with them in their room. Mary Grace was still up at 10 pm, so I gave her a melatonin (doctor approved, haters, so don't talk to me about drugging my kid!). She came out at 10:30 (!!! That never happens - melatonin usually knocks her out in 15 - 20 minutes!) and said that she was itchy. That's when we noticed the hives all over her body.

I called my friend Casey right away because her daughter is in MG's class, and she had an itchy rash yesterday. I made sure that Casey was sure that Christine's spots were bites (which she was - Casey suspects a particularly bitey spider) because I thought, for a minute, that it might be something contagious (chicken pox? I don't know... But two itchy kids in a class of 20, it made me suspicious! Fortunately I knew Casey would still be up, because she's a night owl like me. She answered by saying, "What are you doing up?")

Mary Grace didn't eat anything weird or new yesterday. I have no idea what could possibly have caused her hives. I did buy Wisk detergent, instead of my usual All Free & Clear, because I had a coupon. I suppose she could be reacting to the change in detergent. I guess I won't put all the clothes I washed yesterday away, until I see whether or not today's clothes break her out. I'll just have to wash them all over again in our usual detergent if that happens.

We gave her a hit of Benadryl and put Benadryl cream on the itchiest spots. It still took her until about 11 pm to fall asleep, though, poor kid.

This morning we had school, but I didn't want to wake her up early after such a rough night. Instead I let her sleep, and she got up at 9 on her own. I asked her if she wanted to go to school, but she said no. It's probably a good thing, because her behavior has been pretty crummy so far this morning. There has been a lot of fighting, so I'm sure she would've been delightful at school.

She's just exhausted. At least the hives are gone (knock wood).

5 comments:

Cate said...

Hives are hell! Sorry for MG. Good thing the Benadryl worked...it's very possible it was the laundry detergent, but then when I went to the allergist after my insane hives episode and tested not-allergic-to-anything, he said that sometimes instead of a runny nose and fever, hives are a way that the body reacts to a virus. I really do feel like that was my issue, now almost a year later with no repeat occurrence. So, you may never know, but hopefully it won't happen again. Poor thing. Aklung. (same thing in Yup'ik)

morganna said...

I know this is a couple days late, but she didn't have anything different at the restaurant, did she? Even something small? Like a piece of an appetizer? Or taste someone else's dinner? If my daughter gets even a little bit of a trigger, she reacts (vomiting, not hives -- I don't know which is worse).

Amy said...

Cate - that's interesting! I didn't know that a virus could cause hives.

Morganna - we ate at Noodles, and we eat there all the time, and she had the mac and cheese that she always gets. She won't touch anything else there!

She doesn't have any food allergies that we know of. The only allergy she has (so far - knock on wood) is amoxicillin. I sure HOPE that wasn't in her mac and cheese!

Anonymous said...

Careful with the oral Benadryl combined with the topical - the label on the topical says not to use it WITH the oral!!

Amy said...

Anon - no kidding? I scanned the label on the cream and didn't see it. I'll admit that I didn't read it too carefully. I'll have to check again. Thanks!

(She's fine - bullet dodged.)