E.R. (not the tv show)

This was taken yesterday morning just before Iain took Gianna to Sam Houston.

He told me when they returned that that the mosquitoes were bad, so they cut their trip short.  We noticed several bites on her.  They were red and swollen.  We suspected that she's allergic to mosquito bites.  She's only gotten a few over the last two years (which is pretty amazing in SW Louisiana) but they've all been red and swollen.

Amazing what a tiny little mosquito can do.

One tiny little mosquito, bit our tiny little girl on her tiny little face and left her with a not-so-tiny little bite.  As yesterday went on, it seems to get more swollen.  Last night at about 2:00am, I happened to go into Gianna's room to check on her (which I almost NEVER do because she is an extremely light sleeper.)  Sure enough, she popped her little head up saying, "Hi Mommy!"  I picked her up and rocked her for a minute before I got a glimpse of her left eye. I turned the light on and was surprised by how swollen it had become. 

I brought her into our bedroom to show Iain.  We gave her some Benadryl and after a hilarious little slumber party, put her back to bed in her room.  I went it in to get her this morning at 7am...and her eye had complete swollen shut. UGH!

My poor little prize fighter.

We called Iain's brother who's a pediatrician in FL, but he wasn't available, so decided to just bring her to the E.R.

We may have well taken her to Disney Land. 

 Everything is an adventure for her.

She was an entertaining little patient for the staff...asking them to listen to her heart and look in her ears.

Checking her heart rate.

Playing with their equipment.

The doctor came in (same doc that saw Iain during his "episode" earlier in the year who told me, "Hmm....that's puzzling. I'm going to go ahead and release him but if you can't wake him up again...just bring him in.")

This time he said,

"Oh wow. Yeah....well I guess she's allergic to mosquito bites."

I can't wait to find out just how much we'll be paying for that diagnosis.

"Not much you can do about that, except avoid getting bit."

Oh, okay Doctor. That ought to be a real cinch in Louisiana.

He suggested Benadryl - which we'd been using with no success.

He gave her a steroid med. and a script so we're awaiting promising results, but so far, 3 hours later - it still looks pretty bad.  She still looks cute though.  The nurse said not many people could pull that look off - but she made it work for her. :)

Oh, and while we were waiting for the doctor to come in, Iain's phone alerted him to an email from our insurance company that a claim had been made for Gianna.  The doctor hadn't even SEEN her yet.  How funny is that?  They're on the ball in the billing department!

I'm so glad that my sweet girl's first visit to the E.R. was minor, positive and drama-free. I just keep on thinking of parents who live in the E.R. and hospital for heart-wrenching illnesses and injuries.  I'm am counting our blessings for our healthy child.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for bug repellent for kids that is deet-free and doesn't smell like they're wearing bug repellent?  Does Avon's Skin So Soft still work in that regard?