Rowan and I had an amazing day. He slept in, we had breakfast at a nearby cafe (those sweet potato biscuits are amazing). Then we came home and went for a beautiful bike ride to a lake we hadn't visited before. We played and played, saw horses, waved at passers-by, ate a banana on the bridge, and then I pedaled us home while Rowan slept. We had a fun lunch, played even more, and then we loaded into the car to run a few errands. It was snack time so I passed Rowan a few Cheerios. After eating them he started coughing, so I gave him some juice, but he just gave it back (which he never does). Within a few minutes he was crying and obviously in distress; when we stopped and I went back to get him, it was obvious he was wheezing and having trouble breathing. I was certain this had nothing to do with the Cheerios.
We went back home immediately where I gave him the inhaled medication he was prescribed over the winter when he would wheeze often with viruses. Although the symptoms were the same (noisy, labored, fast breathing), the onset was completely different: he had no fever and had not been sick at all. This came on suddenly and left suddenly: after the inhaler his breathing went back pretty much to normal. The only thing is he has hives! I called the pediatrician who agreed it's almost certainly an allergic reaction to something. We don't know what, but to me there were a several candidates: the first, pollen, seemed unlikely because we had spent so much time outside with no trouble earlier in the day. The second, peanut butter, had really been bothering me because I let Rowan taste some today for the very first time. I considered it a very low-risk thing to do since the pediatrician gave the all-clear a few months ago for Rowan to eat peanuts and shellfish and everything, and Tom and I don't have any food allergies. Because the peanut butter was over two hours prior to the reaction, though, it too seems an unlikely culprit. The final theory, and in my opinion the most plausible one, is that Rowan got bitten by an insect that caused this allergic reaction.
Anyway, the good news is that he was playing like normal almost immediately after the inhaler treatment and the rest of the evening was without incident. As you might imagine, though, I am not the most at-ease Mom in the world tonight! Still, it is quite late now, especially for me, and I must find a way to get some sleep. I think I'll be able to rest since the volume on Rowan's baby monitor is ridiculously high, so I'll hear it if he even rolls over loudly! If he makes any really loud sounds, I hope I don't wet the bed... ;-)
P.S., whaddya' think of that American Idol result, huh? I said I wouldn't be surprised either way, but then when Seacrest announced it I said to Tom, "Wow, I'm shocked!" Go figure.
