There are some things that throw me for a loop and one of those things are skin reactions. They seem so pressing because they are so visible and can look much more aggressive than they really are.

Just after lunch Khéna came up to me and said that he had red spots on his leg, I looked down and his whole leg from the knee down was swollen, warm to the touch and basically looked like on big hive. On his other leg there were spots and on his back there were a few also.

Of course, I took out my camera…

Leg that had one big hive…  swollen and warm… 

Smaller hives on his back

I then called Annie. (check out her amazing blog if you don’t know her!) Annie and I have been close, and would even say best friends, for 6 years now. We started to talk when we were both pregnant and preparing for an unassisted birth. She is the perfect type of friend to talk to when things are happening because we are on the same wave length, she won’t panic and won’t send me into a panic and she is the perfect person to brainstorm with and get ideas. Oatmeal bath? Tea with herbs that might help? what could it be from?

As I was talking to her I was watching Khéna and the hives kept spreading and he has a large welt starting on his face… I decided that Benadryl would best to stop the reaction. Of course, the unopened bottle Benadryl that I had on hand expired nearly 3 years ago.

I left the older boys at home, went to the pharmacy with the two younger ones and got a new bottle and gave the first dose to Khéna before even heading home. 3o min later the slightest signs and bit of residual itchiness were all that remained.

I still don’t know what caused them and I am not sure if I will figure that out soon but it did teach me something… coughs, fevers (except in Mina), throwing up, falling down (except for Mina jumping from the bunk bed… oh I forgot to talk about that!) are things that don’t really phase me… but when big blotches start appearing on the skin I go into a sort of panicky mode.

edit to add… the hives came back later in the evening just before bed and they are all over his body (leg, torso, arms) except for the leg that they were initially on…  we’ll see what tomorrow brings…