The early years

Having a 6 month old baby diagnosed with a deadly food allergy can be devastating. Isolating. Life-changing. It is something you never think about before having kids, something you don't think would happen. Imagine our surprise finding out our 6 month old has an allergy to wheat. Wheat?! Like, wheat that is in almost everything?! Yes. That wheat. Mason had eczema, asthma and this wheat allergy. The trifecta his doctor called it. The eczema wasn't even terrible but it was enough for his pediatrician to send us to an allergist for testing. Allergist thought it was odd to test a baby so young but he did and his numbers were off the charts. They would stay off the charts until around age 7. In allergy-speak, this means over 100. Ok, so this kiddo would be gluten free.

If you've never experienced anaphylaxis yourself, or witnessed it, or even had to save someone with an epi-pen, I hope you never have to. This became an area of expertise for me. Mason's first reaction happened on his 1st birthday, well the day of his 1st birthday party. He had gotten into some bread crust in the garbage, played with it and then sucked his thumb. We were just trying to make cute little chicken sandwich triangles. We are in the south after all. Next thing we know, our baby couldn't breathe and was turning blue, grasping for air. This would be the first of 5 instances in these almost 9 years of his life, that I would administer the epi-pen into his thigh. If you haven't experienced this, I can't put into words what those immediate moments following feel like, as you stare at your child's face waiting for relief. Luckily, it happens almost immediately.
What came of his birthday party you ask? All the people we were expecting? We went ahead with it a few hours later. So in all of his pictures from that day, his face looks a little swollen. Rest assured, he was fine at that point, just recovering. He slept plenty before and after the party,  and enjoyed gluten free cake during. We will never forget this day. The top 2 pics are normal, bottom is the swollen birthday boy.

Swollen after epi