Another 'first'

Corinne managed to make it 16 1/2 months without a visit to the Emergency room. Her first official visit was on Friday, March 26, 2010. Not exactly a celebratory moment, but a milestone nonetheless. First, let me assure you that she is fine - happy & healthy!

C spends Fridays with my mom (thanks, mom!) and I go over to visit for a while after work before heading home. My brother was holding C and I noticed raised spots on either side of her lower back, just above her jeans. She was scratching at the spots and I figured she had been bitten by some type of insect. Since we live so close I quickly ran home to grab a tube of hydrocortizone cream to relieve the itching. When I got back I stripped her from the waist down so that I could apply the cream and change her diaper at the same time. As soon as I removed her jeans I saw that the swelling wrapped around both of her hips, down her thighs and ended at her knees. I yelled for my mom and ripped her shirt off to see if it was affecting her upper body - sure enough her upper arms were red & swollen down to her elbows. The raised areas were warm but C didn't appear to be in any discomfort or pain.
I called her pediatricians office only to find that they were closed, so I left a message for the doctor on call, packed up the diaper bag and headed to Children's Hospital. My mom drove and I called Brett from the car, he left work and met us at the hospital. On the way I realized that I forgot to grab my purse which contained my insurance card and ID, Scott & Hayley very kindly brought it to the hospital for me (thanks!).
By the time we arrived at the emergency room her swelling was receding and there were bright red marks along the outline of where the swelling had been. I don't mess around with swelling so I still wanted her to be examined. We were seen by the nurse with-in 10 minutes for vitals and preliminary screening and then sent back out to the waiting area. C hates medical professionals, she screamed throughout the entire screening and they were unable to get an accurate blood pressure because she was so wiggly. After about 45 minutes we headed back to a room and C was seen by a resident and an attending (screaming the whole time) who concluded that she had an ear infection and that the swelling could be a secondary symptom of the infection. We were given a prescription for amoxicillin and headed home.
When we left the hospital my cell phone service returned and a new voicemail came in from the doctor on-call at the pediatrician's office. She suggested that what I had described in my message sounded like urticaria - not life threatening and fairly common. Go ahead & look it up, search for some pictures so you have an idea of what my baby looked like. Are you back? Do you understand why I was so worried? The pediatrician suggested that, if we were facing a long wait time at the hospital, we just head home and bring C in to the pediatrician's Saturday morning office hours.
The next morning we did just that and although C's ears were a little red (she was screaming) the doctor didn't think that it warranted starting a 10-day course of antibiotics. We administered Motrin or Tylenol as needed for C's discomfort on Saturday (she slept horribly). Then on Sunday C was continuously seeping thick, neon green fluid from both eyes. As soon as it was wiped away, new fluid would form. Eiw! Something was definitely going on inside her little body so we filled the prescription for amoxicillin and after about 2 days she was back to a healthy version of herself.

So, what really happened? The honest answer is that we don't know for sure. But, after doing lots of research we have come to the conclusion that the uticaria was likely an environmental reaction from significant changes in temperature...it was cold on Friday and C went on a stroller ride. Something as simple as that. The green eye goop was probably some kind of virus that we knocked out with the antibiotics.