Waddles

As many people know, my husband and I are allergic to just about everything.  Eric, my husband, covers the inhalants, I cover the foods and we both have our seasonal allergies.  So when I became pregnant two years ago, I prayed that our allergies would cancel each other out and produce a non-allergic child.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  In fact, our son developed an allergy to something neither one of us is allergic:  Fruits. 

Odd, isn't it?  A child allergic to fruits.  Out of all the things in this world it had to be fruits.  How, you might ask, did we find out about this allergy?  Did we have to rush him to the emergency room because he wasn't breathing?  No.  Did he swell up like the little blueberry girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?  No.  

I noticed this obvious allergy by what appeared in his diaper.  (I'm sorry if this is disgusting, and I do apologize.)  One day, about a year ago, we fed him mandarin oranges from a can.  When we changed the diaper, we noticed that the oranges he ate were not exactly digesting in the right way.  Well, they weren't digested at all.  I'm pretty sure if we tried to retrieve the pieces from the diaper we might actually put the orange pieces back together.  

Shortly have this incident, we noticed that his rear end began to redden and come to the point of bleeding.  Sad thing for him.  Imagine being an infant, having to wear a non-breathable diaper all day and then you break out with a rash on your rear because you're allergic to the fruits you ate.  UGH!  I'd have a miserable day!

Today, of all the day for such things to happen, this is my first day back at school, the daycare where Luke attends calls my husband to inform him that Luke has a "runny" diaper.  In a quick diagnosis of what could be the problem, my husband tells the daycare director that Luke had a piece of apple on Sunday (it was Saturday) and that could be the problem.  Of the past year we have both noticed that if he is, in fact, allergic to a certain fruit, immediate results can be seen.  If eaten during the morning, within an hour or two you will see the results.  

Eric text messaged me during our nice little teacher's inservice and explained the situation as best he could.  I, of course, immediately start worrying that he may not have enough clothes at daycare or that he's sick and I'm going to have to take days off to stay home with him.  (I don't mind, but I do wish that I could go a month or two without taking off from work due to an illness in the family!)

Immediately following the inservice, I call the daycare and they assure me everything is okay.  I proceed to eat lunch, attend my last meeting of the day, and head to the daycare to pick him up.  

As soon as I walk in the door, the poor little chap is waddling.  Yes, WADDLING!  His teacher is in the process of changing diapers after nap time and Luke is up next, with a healthy helping on his plate, and begins to scream and cry.  For a parent, this stinks, although I have to admit I was glad she was doing the changing rather than me.  Inflicting pain upon your children does not help a parents psyche.  

Never in my life have I seen his rear end so red.  The poor baby can't walk, he can't put his legs around your waist so you can carry him on your hip, he can't even sit because of the pain.  I have never seen him in such a state.  

I would like to note here that although this is an allergy, this was a parental diagnosis.  Having had allergies, I do believe that Eric and I are highly qualified personnel.  That being said, we do not have a sufficient doctors note to verify that Luke is, in fact allergic to fruits.  So, our daycare can do nothing during the day but feed Luke fruits unless notified otherwise from a doctor.  Make no mistake, a sufficient doctor's note will be the hand of our daycare director by the end of the week.

In questioning his meals for the day, we were informed that peaches were served for breakfast, in which case resulted in a call to Eric this morning and this red rear end.  

Our daycare is great and I bless their little hearts for putting up with a cranky child who I know affectionally will call WADDLES for the duration of the week.  I wish I could post a video of Luke waddling around the house.  It's quite comical, but I'll leave your imagination to work it out.