Natalie's blood draw

Before we went on vacation, I decided to make a doctor's appointment to request allergy testing for Natalie because of her eczema. I'm thinking it's an environmental allergy vs. a food allergy, but just want to make sure if there is a food allergy, I know about it so I can try to help make her eczema more tolerable, poor thing!

Natalie's stats at almost 2 1/2 years:

Weight: 28.5lb
Height: 3 feet

We saw the nurse practitioner, who we have seen the last couple of times. Last time, she mentioned she didn't usually recommend allergy testing because typically kids outgrow whatever allergies they have. However, today she was more on board with me and admitted she got her son allergy tested when he was young too. She also mentioned how her son had a constant runny nose, was sick often, etc and how he had to get his tonsils removed (as did she) which helped with both of their allergies. I asked her if her son snored and she said yes, and when I told her Natalie does too, she took a closer look at her tonsils too. According to her, Natalie's tonsils are large for her age as well, but said we would just keep an eye on them and that she should grow into them...so we'll see!  I'm guessing a tonsillectomy is in Natalie's future, but don't know when.

The NP wrote an order for RAST testing which required Natalie to go to the lab to get her blood drawn. She was quite the trooper and very brave for the 1st arm. She got to sit on my lap, while one tech took her blood and the other held her arm. She didn't flinch or cry, just watched the whole thing during the 1st arm, but her vein gave out and they still needed more blood (they took almost THREE vials...geez!), so the crying began when they stuck her other arm. However, even though she cried, she sat still for the whole thing. I was so proud of her!

So, now, we wait for the results. We go back to the doctor next Friday to review the results. If everything comes back negative, then we go to a dermatologist for them to scrape her eczema to confirm that it is for sure eczema and then go from there under the dermatologist's care. If something from her blood draw comes back positive, we head to Indy (because of the larger number of doctor's available) to have the prick test on her back I believe to determine what exactly she is allergic to. So more to this story after we get the results.

Later today, we went outside to play in the pool and it was HOT!  The girls were having fun until Natalie accidentally stabbed Aubrey on the bridge of her nose with her fingernail and drew blood!  Everything was well and good once I rocked Aubrey and then she got into the swing. When Bobby got home from work we were back in the pool and Natalie really wanted him to sit next to her in the pool, but he kept telling her he couldn't sit in the water because he didn't have his swimsuit on. A little later, Natalie says "Be right back. Natalie get Daddy's swimsuit." She then walked over to the porch, picked up an imaginary swimsuit and brought it back to Bobby. It was the cutest, funniest thing!  How could Bobby not get into the pool with her after that :) What a good sport!

The water was like bath water, so Aubrey enjoyed it more than usual!

 

 

Aubrey getting Natalie...so fun!

Aubrey likes putting her face in the water

Bobby had a softball game tonight and Natalie very much enjoyed playing in the dirt!  Oh my! She rode home without anything on but a diaper and immediately went into the bath!  She also took a tumble and got a nice scape on the side of her face.

 

A picture from Sunday: