April 2009 Episode 15 Bebe & BB have babies n stuff

[PuzzleRocks]

Ta da

I need Eli? No idea who he is but I do need help!!! And a new phone!

You know... I kinda like it when dh is not here tbh because we all seem to sleep better... plus the house doesn't get as messy because I clean as I go.
He wants us to come visit him...but I cannot imagine trying to settle both Moo and Gwen in a hotel room...

As for the chewing, I have no idea really. I remind Moo abt these things... Moo please take that out of your mouth, remember: we only put food in our mouths. If she destroys things I tell her that when things get broken/destroyed it makes me sad and upset. She tends to respond to that, but I know it's in part her personality and absentminded-ness that things end up in there.
Glad you're all getting on :) it sounds like this weekend will be great fun. :)

God yes, Eli is awesome.

I know what you mean. Having DH here doesn't actually lighten my load but it just knowing he is about and having someone to talk to in the evening.

Niece was 8lb 9oz and her name is Molly Rose. So Grandpa Gee has Holly and Molly which is very cute. Her bis sister is Matilda. We saw a pic last night and DH got seriously broody.

:) Molly is so cute :)

Hello people,

I had to get very strident in Orange and I have started a thread about it. If you could quickly post one or two opinions I would be very grateful. They have relieved my DS of £18 of our English pounds and he is very distressed.

I thank you.

Here

Well hello everybody. Been a long time! Hope everyone is doing well. The news in the Schulte house is that H has potty trained herself, DD1 had croup a few days ago at the grand old age of 4 1/2 when I thought she would have grown out of it and now we're waiting for H to get it really and the annual trip to A&E. H has also been diagnosed with a peanut allergy and now carries several epipens, which is bad news as I am not sure what it means for all the future play dates, school dinners, birthday parties etc. Right now I am trying to decide whether I can risk sending her to ski kindergarten in Austria when we go skiing and whether I trust them to keep her safe.

Oh well.

Off to read what everybody's been up to...

Oh god Schulte, I don't really know what to say. School shouldn't be a problem though as most have a blanket policy now. Certainly every school round here does. My sister used to be a classroom assistant and one year she was assigned solely to look after a young boy with severe allergies; schools are very good these days.

Yes I think school worries me less than things like play dates. I will be the annoying mum who always sends a list of written instructions plus the emergency box with the epipen along. I found someone on the allergy board who said she used to sit outside in the car for the duration of a birthday party, epipen at the ready so as not to impose the responsibility on the parents of the birthday child! Crazy but I can imagine doing the same.

How's Puzzle getting along at school? Loved the pics of her in her uniform!

If other parents find that annoying then they are twats.

She loves it. She was a bit disappointed that she has to have a week off. And what about F?

TBH I wouldn't bat an eyelid at an Epipen and would just be pleased the parents trusted me.

Schulte at Addenbrookes they have a desensitisation programme for peanut allergy. Mr Nassar is your guy, if I remember correctly.

FWIW I have a life threatening allergy to birch trees, of all things, work on a campus full of the buggers, and manage really well with comparatively few drugs thanks to the ministrations of this fine gentleman.

I didn't know you could have such a bad allergy to birch trees I am allergic to them too but not as badly!

Yes I have heard about the programme but not sure how to get onto it? To start with we're avoiding peanuts (as we have done anyway) and she'll get retested in 2 years time. Who knows, she may grow out of it - apparently 20% of children do and I hope that may happen at the same time as growing out of her egg allergy.

What I am really worried about is when she starts going boozing and then for curries with her friends.... Thai and Indian food not a good idea for people with peanut allergies, I think!

It only started in 2009. I had been sitting under the birch tree in the garden when my face swelled up and my throat started to close. Being me I assumed it was my imagination and went for a bit of a lie down. My throat then got worse and my eye started to disappear in the puffiness and I thought, "Oh shit, not a good situation" so I went to the Out of Hours service. They took one look at me, let me bypass all the other patients, and gave me pink medicine and hooked me up to some sort of inhaler, stabilised me and then sent me down to A and E. Hospital ushered me through straight away as well and kept an eye on me for about 4 hours. Then they referred me to the allergy clinic for two weeks time (you have to wait that long for the steroids to get out of your system). I was super cynical and reluctant to be there, but the allergy clinic tested me for everything under the sun and the only thing that showed up was birch trees, which was a massive white swelling on my arm around the prick test. Then my throat started to go again and they gave me more steroids. They were apparently delighted as the full scale reactions are rarer than you think, and they said if it happened again, to let them know so they could have a good look at my case . However the advice was to take two Zirtek when near birch trees or at the first sign of allergy, and follow all the normal hayfever prevention advice. This works brilliantly so I have been spared the Epipen up until now. I have to carry Zirtek with me all the time though, even out of season.

Get a referral to Mr Nassar?

Programme here

That's weird that you are allergic to birch pollen but not the related fruits and nuts... my hazelnut allergy apparently is related to my birch allergy... they call it Kreuzallergie in German (cross allergy?). Must have been properly scary!

Just popping on to say - sorru to hear about the peanut allergy Schulte. I know what you mean about being the annoying parent. I constantly have to either bring our own food for ds1, or look at every packet at toddler groups etc. I hav started taking a photo with me of what he looks like when he has a reaction as often people dont seem to take it seriously - a woman at church gave him a chocolate biscuit cause she felt sorry for him, never getting chocolate. (He's allergic to eggs, peanuts, dairy and shellfish). Luckily he took it to me first as he knew he cant have chocolate, but if an adult insists its ok for him to have, and I'm not there, he may be persuaded - guess I just have to keep teaching him to stand up for himself though.

Definitely agree the future with drunk nights etc could be scary, but either they could have grown out of them by then, or medical knowledge could have found cures (like the de-sensitising that Boffin knows about). So few specialists just now - bound to increase in time.

Anyway, hope you regulars dont mind the random drop in - I do drop by to see how you all are but domt often post. Fergus is as big a guzzler as his big brothers so keeping me busy .

Schulte a friend of mine has a son who is very allergic to nuts, also chickpeas and various other things. As BoffinMum says, I am always honoured that she trusts me to look after him and am ultra vigilant with him, so other parents might be more accommodating than you think.

The first time she dropped him off she gave me his epipen - I decided to read the instructions on the box to find out how to use it just in case, only to find that the pharmacist had put the sticker over the crucial diagram on the side of the box! I could see the pictures about how to get the darn thing out of the box and how to arm it, but the one that showed you where and how to stab the afflicted child was completely covered. Thank goodness we didn't need it.....

what to do?

eek peanut allergies :( not nice. I think I'd be a hovering parent type too tbh. I'd only have a few close friends or people I'd probably be able to trust. Let's hope she grows out of it, but surely by the type drunken nights come about she'll know and be responsible enough to take care.

Love hearing abt the lo's enjoying school, may it never end

Hi Conker :) Gald your lo is thriving :)

Bebe - it's a tough one but jem seems to have been struggling a little bit for a while. My advice is COMPLETELY ignore DH's opinion, (after all he seems to be ignoring you about the company stuff ) and do what is right for you. I express one bottle a day and the girls have their pre-bed milk in a bottle because they seem to take more and then sleep a bit longer (Ede will take 8oz the little piglet - and she's the thin one whereas chunky monkey Ayse will take about 5oz!!). There is nothing wrong with expressing or indeed moving over to formula if that is what is going to settle jem and allow her to take i the milk, reduce wind and therefor help you all be a happier household! Why not try EBF or FF for a day or so and express off any excess that you have and see if that helps, you can always go back as long as you are expressing as your supply will still be there.

Shultes poor DD, she is really suffering hey. If she doesn't grow out of it (which hopefully she will), then she will have only ever know a life where she has to be careful about nuts and that won't change when she has had a drink, she will still be very aware of what she can and can't have so don't worry about that. Until that time you will always be the overprotective mother (as you should) and there will be some parties you sit outside on red alert but others you will trust the parents enough to let her go it alone. Hope you are all ok xx

I had not realised that, Schulte, about Kreuzallergie. Funnily enough, thinking back, I did get a wierd reaction to Kentish cob nuts last season - my mouth starting swelling and prickling a bit - and I think I may have taken my Zirtek at the time to be on the safe side. but I had forgotten about it until you mentioned it. I avoided them this year. But tbh I am rather in denial about the allergy thing as one bit of me is so busy with having SPD related problems I am reluctant to have anything else to deal with! I nearly didn't go to the allergy clinic but the hospital were very firm about it, so I acquiesced. Many of the people in the clinic were muttering about being intolerant to wheat and dairy, etc, and had been on the waiting list for ages, but it seems anaphylaxis is something else altogether and they take it quite seriously. As they should.

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words. It's good to hear from the 'other' side and I am glad you say you wouldn't mind the epipen malarky. Hopefully H's friends' mums will feel the same about it. I wonder how the grandparents will take it, as they don't believe in allergies - I don't think DH has told them yet [hhmm]

I am still in my nightie [hblush] aren't school holidays nice!

Schulte - We are all still in pj's. They are cutting and glueing Halloween puppets so at least I don't have to worry about their clothes.

We are all up and dressed (only as we had drs at 8!) but we may be getting back into pjs soon .

Schultes I've had an allergic reaction to something this week and am covered top to toe in itchy hives that I can do bugger all about because I'm bfing - I could take a picture and send to the grandparents if you would like to show them allergies really exist! . Glad you feel a bit better about it x

So girls and me had six week check this morning and Ayse-Rose has a heart murmur I burst into tears when he told me not because of that as much - it's fixable or manageable at least - but the poor girl cannot catch a break. She's 5 weeks and 2 days old and has an umbilical hernia, has been hospitalised with viral infection, had a horrendous cold and nappy rash and now this. (She also had a really bad night and refused to sleep and i got really grumpy with her at the time). And the poor lamb is going bald as her hair falls out (compared to her mildly thinning sister) so looks like an old man with alapetia! (sp?) so anyway she'll be monitored by gp for next six weeks and if it's still there in six weeks time she'll be referred to peads at the hospital for more tests.

Ooh Halloween puppets. Hope you'll be posting pictures!!! We are baking cupcakes at the moment for the kids to decorate with green and orange slime (butter cream) tomorrow and making a mummy cake. We've made bug jellies and will be making jelly lanterns later. Tomorrow will be making home-made spooky pizzas for lunch, chocolate Halloween apples and decorating the cakes. The three kids big enough to eat all this stuff are going to be high as kites on sugar x

BB3 Sam was diagnosed with a murmur at his 6 week check too - very feint - few hospital checks later and they decided it is not a problem. He is now a healthy 2.6 year old and runs round with the best of them. Hope it all works out for you and Ayse-Rose - I remember what it felt like.