G'n'R Out West

Well, we went to Ottawa with the intention (and hope) that we would be able to welcome a new baby into the family.  Luckily for us little baby Pippi (Hippy according to Adelle) obliged.  So thoughtful, really.  Already I love her.  She didn’t specifically tell me, but I’m pretty sure she loves me too.
 

It was a beautiful birth and I am so honoured to have been there for it.  It was so beautiful to see the experience, from that perspective.  I know it was such hard work for my sister, I am in awe.  I suppose birth is just one of those things that will always amaze me.

Adelle thinks Pippi is great, but mostly she is so busy with the older kids she hasn’t had time for more than a few quick snuggles.  Simon only noticed her after 3 or 4 days.  He thought she was pretty interesting, but he was also highly distracted by the older cousins.  The older cousins just adore their baby sister.  She is really sweet.

We had the most wonderful time in Ottawa.  We stayed with my brother, his fiance Amy, and their roommate Scott (or squat, as Adelle calls him).  We’ve never stayed with my brother before so that was really fun.  They have two cats who likely will need therapy after two weeks with our kids…but my goodness did Adelle and Simon ever have a good time with them.  

Simon and Alec are best friends.  They have this really neat connection.  He could be so fussy and unsettled in my arms, then reach out for my brother and just snuggle right in and be completely at peace.  It was really beautiful to see.  Simon’s middle name is after my brother, that choice seems so fitting when you see them together.

I think Adelle was on cloud nine the entire trip.  Each morning she’d jump out of bed and beg to run in and wake up Amy and Alec.  There was nothing more fun then snuggling in bed with her uncle and aunt.  It was a great way to start each day.  Since my brother was at my sister’s birth as well, Amy actually had a sleepover with Adelle so that Al and I could be with my sister.  Adelle was over the moon to find Amy next to her when she woke up the next morning.  It is so wonderful to be around our extended family…and so hard to leave.

Adelle really looks up to Lily and loves to follow her around.

Adelle and Chi-Chi play well together…but she often thinks that she is the boss…

Our flight home was unfortunately very eventful.  Adelle reacted to something she ate and had an anaphylactic reaction.  She is ok, and there was no impact on her breathing at any time.  At first she had a stomach ache and an irritated GI tract, we went to the bathroom, and upon our return she had a VERY swollen eye.  Then two swollen eyes and finally she told me that she thought a moose bit her tongue.  Since I hadn’t seen any moose on the flight we decided it was time to page for a doctor.  Luckily there was one.  I am sure Adelle would have been fine without one, however, I needed the reassurance.  It was very scary.  To add impact to injury…Simon also completely freaked out during the event.  So basically I had two screaming kids on my lap in the airplane with a doctor trying to convince Adelle to swallow an adult benadryl.  There was some talk about landing the plane prematurely.  But soon it was clear she wasn’t getting any worse, and after not too long the swelling started to come down. 

The paramedics met us once we landed and offered to transport her to the hospital.  We decided she was ok to drive with us and forgo any additional trauma.  We had a long wait in the hospital, and Adelle was such a trooper.  However, by the time the doctor finally examined her she was sleeping…she didn’t even wake up when they pried her mouth open to see her tongue.  Poor thing, she was just exhausted.

We are now in a state of stress trying to figure out what she might have eaten and what restrictions are appropriate for her diet.  We can’t think of anything unusual she ate that day.  So frustrating.  We have a suspicion it is sesame seeds as they are a common allergen, my sister is allergic to them, and without even realizing she might have had issue with them I offered her some after she’d had the reaction and she declined.  In retrospect it makes me wonder if eating them in the first place made her sick.

Anyway, we will be checking in with our family doc in the morning, and hopefully we will start figuring this out.  In the mean time we have a little pencil case with her epi-pen and some benadryl.  Good times.