Rice

“Same old slippers, Same old rice, Same old glimpse of paradise.” -William James Lampton 

Maeve is allergic to the least allergenic food there is: rice.  You may recall that she broke out in hives all over after we gave her the first solid food she'd ever had: rice cereal.  We called a nurse who told us to give her a bath, take pictures of the hives, make sure she didn't have any difficulty breathing or staying conscious, and bring her in as soon as our clinic opened.

At the time, my pediatrician seemed a bit doubtful that Maeve had an allergic reaction to rice.  She questioned me thoroughly about the hives, and seemed to imply that I was making a mountain out of a molehill.  She insisted we could give Maeve rice cereal again in a month.

Well, I didn't, because I had a feeling she was allergic, and didn't want to risk her having another reaction.  Then two months went by, and I started to think maybe the pediatrician was right and I was wrong.  After all, she's got the medical degree and all.  So I fed Maeve a few bites of chicken soup broth that had rice cooked in it.

Face rash.

So I brought her in to see the doctor yesterday, but it was not my usual pediatrician.  She said it looked like Maeve has a rice allergy.  That's Momma -1, Pediatrician -0.  I'm trying to remind myself that just because I haven't done this before doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing.  Mommas know stuff.

The worst part of yesterday was they had to do a blood draw, and I had to hold the poor girl still for needles.  The best part was vindication, and making an appointment with the allergist for next week when my Mom will be in town and can come with me.  But in the meantime, no rice for lil' Maeve!  I guess we'll have to stop feeding her Chinese takeout!

Poor sweetie!