I had to rush her to the doctors . . .

(this actually happened yesturday on the 19th)

Today is Donald's birthday, and he wanted to go over to the church parking lot and spend a few hours playing roller hockey, ride bikes, play baseball, etc.

{here in Mississippi we have an insect call a fire ant. these are related to the WASP family and they bite/sting and they are killer. as a matter of fact I got a fire ant bite the morning we left for our trip, and my whole foot swelled up and it ached and hurt so bad and the itch was HORRIBLE. This pain and discomfort usually lasts about a week.}

back to story: So we were over at the church and Brook and Tanner were playing by some pine trees. about 10 minutes later she came wobbling over to me like she was itchy on her foot. I roller bladed over to her and immediately took off her skirt and her shoes and made sure no ants were on her. Her feet were covered with bites, as well as several on her legs and a few on her hands. My mom quickly put some itch ointment on all the bites on her lower body. We stopped our hockey game and took a break for some drinks and snacks. about 15 minutes after Brook got attacked (those evil evil evil ants) I noticed her face getting blotchy as well as her ears being fire red. about 5 minutes later her whole body was red and blotchy and swollen. Her whole face and eyes were so badly swollen. Then she started with a weak cough. we IMMEDIATELY packed up the kids and all our stuff and sped home. I called the doctors office as soon as I got in the door. The doctors and nurses were still at lunch for another 20 minutes. I told the receptionist kinda what was going on, and she promptly spoke with someone. She said that she would advise me to go to the ER. I asked if I could just do a walk in appointment if I was there at 1:30 (which was in 20 minutes) they said they could squeeze us in as a walk in. I ran out to the car to leave, and Donald and my dad were giving her a blessing. We took off for the doctors office. Once we got there, we waited in the waiting room for about 2 minutes till we got called back. We saw a nurse right away. about 10 minutes later our doctor came in. He checked her breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. He had the nurse get her a shot of adrenalin for her allergic reaction. The doctor examined her some more, and suggested that we have her stay in the hospital overnight for observation. He was concerned about the secondary reaction that some children have that can sometimes be fatal. After talking with the doctor and weighing out our situation, we decided that we would bring her home. The only benefit the hospital would provide is she would be hooked up to an IV and if she went into shock, the nurses would be able to administer to her immediately whereas if we are here and she goes into shock, it could be fatal. So, once we decided that we would bring her home, the doctor advised us of what we could do at home and what to look for.She is now asleep in her crib and on about 4 different medications. Poor thing has been thru a lot the past few hours. We will have her sleep in our room tonight so that we can check on her every hour. If she is going to have a secondary reaction, it will manifest its self within the next 30 hours.

UPDATE: Brooklyne has been doing well and I think we are in the clear. She has definately needed her medicine regularly, but as long as we stay ontop of it, she has been doing great. We have an appointment with the allergist on the 29th.