Life lesson of the day...

We were out working in the yard. Mom had her shovel and rake, Caleb had his shovel and rake. I love when Caleb wants to help out. It always brings the biggest smile to my face to watch him be like Mommy and Daddy. And so we worked. Little did Caleb know that his desired work area happened to be located on top the dwelling of many busy little ants... fire ants.

At first I didn't understand what was happening. I saw Caleb bending down touching his feet saying "No! No! No! ... Ow!" When I saw all the ants crawling in between his toes (why did I let him wear his slippers [i.e. flip flops] to work in the yard), I picked him up and brushed him off. We came inside to put on some socks and shoes, but Caleb decided he'd had enough of the outdoors and wanted to stay inside to enjoy a movie. I went to get him a drink so he could get settled and I could continue with my work. As I turned to hand him his juice I noticed his face looked bright red as if he'd been screaming and throwing the tantrums of all tantrums, but I had been right there the whole time and hadn't heard a peep out of him until now. I heard the distressed whimpers as he scratched at his neck furiously. It took me a couple of seconds before I put everything together. I slipped his shirt off. Hives up and down his back. I stripped his pants off. Hives up and down his legs. My poor baby. I called Darren who advised me to call the pediatrician. As I did so I gave Caleb a bit of Children's Benadryl and ran him a cool bath. When Caleb saw the medicine he firmly insisted against it. Firmly. I kept telling him that it will make him feel better. It wasn't long before he got to the point where he could no longer bear the pain, and snatched the medicine from my hand, desperate for relief. We proceeded to the bath as I talked with our pediatrician's office. I told Caleb to poor water wherever it felt itchy. My poor baby. Bright red. Large white bumps everywhere. Swollen face. The doctor said we should bring him in to get checked out. I wasn't really worried until then. I thought they'd tell me to just keep doing what I was doing and the hives should go away, but I was supposed to bring him in.

The doctor's office is only 15 minutes away (thankgoodness), but his appointment wasn't for another 30 minutes. I decided to pack up and head to the doctor's right away in case things got worse. I'd rather be at the doctor's than at home if something were to happen, plus the hospital is only 5 minutes away from the doctor's (just in case it got to that point). So the doctor's is 15 minutes away, I think I got there in 10. I was a little anxious. Especially because Caleb kept coughing on the drive over. I kept asking him if he was okay and he kept telling me yes, but I was concerned that he was having a hard time breathing from all the swelling. We met Darren at the doctor's. At that time he was looking a little better. The red had started to fade. The bumps were starting to smooth out. He was still pretty swollen, but overall you could tell his condition was improving. Between the waiting room and having the nurse check him out, by the time the doctor came in he was looking much better. He still looked bad, but compared to what it first was, he looked much better.

Everything turned out fine. The doctor did prescribe us some medicine to use in addition to the Children's Benadryl, and we did schedule an appointment with the allergist. But Caleb is feeling much better. I always know he's in a good mood when he jumps on the couch and sings "Monkeys Jumping on the Bed."

Now I know. As much as I love the convenience of slippers, we'll have to start wearing socks and shoes more often. Especially when there could be situations where we could accidentally stumble across an ant hill. The doctor said his symptoms could get worse with each allergic reaction. I'm anxious to get to the allergist to find out more of what happened and how to prepare for future incidents.