We’ve found out the hard way that William is severely allergic to eggs after he went into anaphylactic shock within minutes of eating scrambled eggs on Sunday night.
I’d made them to give him something new and different, not thinking anything of it. Within about 5 minutes of starting to feed him he began to choke, so I picked him up and tried to thump him on the back to remove what I thought was a bit of the egg. When I looked at him though, his whole face looked as though he’d been rolling in nettles – covered in white spots surrounded by an angry red surround. I called Eddie in who took Will and again tried to see if he had something in his throat. By this time we were really worried, Will was having difficulty breathing and was crying in a really hoarse voice. We called 999 and within 10 minutes an ambulance was with us.
By this time Will was still distressed, but calmer and he seemed better after some oxygen and nebuliser. We set off for Basingstoke Hospital with Eddie following and eventually he went to sleep. Then, about 5 minutes before we arrived, he opened his eyes and projectile vomited egg EVERYWHERE. The poor little mite was absolutely beside himself now, and the rash came back with a vengeance, covering his entire body in hives.
We were taken through to A&E and 3 very nervous looking girls gave him some adrenaline, which proceeded to drop his heartrate to such an extent that they then had to call the crash team. By this time, Eddie and I were in bits – I was in tears and we both wanted to tell them to leave the baby alone. They utterly failed to get a drip into his arm as well and poor Will was screaming and screaming. Eventually help arrived in the shape of a consultant and paediatrician and after some Piriton and Steroids he stabilised and we were able to take him up to a room on the ward.
Everything had kicked off at 5.00pm and it was now 8.30pm and Will could hardly keep his eyes open. We managed to get him into a very quick bath to wash off the awful egg smell and he took a little bit of milk before conking out. I stayed with him on a fold away bed and Eddie was an angel and went home for our things, coming back at 10.00pm to say goodnight.
Fortunately Will managed to make it through to 5.30am before waking up for food, and seemed much, much better. We were finally allowed to take him home yesterday morning at 4.00pm.
It almost seems unreal now we look at him and he’s fine. Next step is to get him properly tested by an allergy consultant, and in the meantime, NO MORE EGG.
William's First Year 