To Avy Dear…

April 21, 2010 at 6:37 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Allergy related, Naugthy Avy

I never ever thought in a million years that I would start a blog. I always kept asking my hubby to start one, as I am just a sucker for his writing :):). But a big thing happened to me, I became a Mom. Avyukt Sudarshan Ajit, came into this world on September 8, 2008 and nothing was ever the same again. The first six months were filled with milestones, the smiles, the ‘rolling’ over, the sitting. I , just like every other mom spent these months obsessing over the fact that Avyu was a day late to roll over or to smile. But as time went by these thoughts started to vanish. June of 2009 changed my life forever. You may wonder what more can happen. Avyu has been going to the daycare since he was 4 months old. So by the time he was 9 months old he was a veteran at it. He loved his teachers and they adored him. One fine day when I went to pick him up, it looked like he had been crying. This was not unusual for him to have cried a little bit, but the mommy hunch in me kicked in. As we were driving home, I felt his coos and sounds were starting to be muffled (had a rear facing car seat then, so couldn’t just look back). I pulled over and to my horror, the poor kids face and eyes and lips were fully swollen. I had to think on my feet and as I was very close to his doctor’s office I started driving there, while calling them on the phone. I then called his daycare to figure out what he ate last.  I reached in time and they gave him a shot to reduce his reaction.  He had consumed 3 new products in day care that he had not had before. This is the beginning of a long journey that we are still on. At that point of time I thought this was an isolated incident, a week passed by and we wanted to switch Avyu to formula from breast milk and when we tried to, he broke out into rashes.  That was the point I realized it was bigger than isolated incidents. his pediatrician recommended we show him to an allergist. The first blood test, a horrible experience by itself, poking a 9 month old in the arm to draw blood, revealed he has class 4 allergies to milk, class 3 to soy, egg and peanuts and class 2 to oatmeal and peas. At that moment I got the news I was not prepared for…an elimination diet. A diet free of all the above mentioned ingredients for both him and me, as I was still breastfeeding. The world started spinning around me as I had no clue where to start. This was followed by weeks of obsessive online research, shopping labels research, bouts of extreme sadness and anger ( I guess the hungry me was going through withdrawal symptoms to a milk free diet). There was also a feeling that this was never going to end. But we survived!! It is going to be a year this June. The last year has been filled with thoughts about food, cooking, allergies and I have gained a lot of knowledge in this area. I felt it was time to share what I have. This is a blog that is going to share my experience as a mom to a kid filled with allergies in the hope that it will raise awareness and help someone else going through the same.  I hope in subsequent posts I can kind of recap my journey in the last year and I intend to share new information, new recipes and just moral support for anyone who needs it.

Parenting is a hard thing, but you love your kid so much that it hardly matters. I never thought I am capable of unconditional love , but Avyu had proved me wrong. Making him comfortable, changing every version of our accepted foods to be ‘Avy’ friendly is my pasttime  now and it is so interesting that everyone is my house now eats that way.  Online reading, to vegerterian magazines to food network and baby magazines ideas are everywhere, and I love consolidating them to present to you this blog!

Being allergic is a long-term condition and as a mom the most important thing in the world to me is keeping my kid happy and I hope as years go by he will grow out of some of them. But I intend to raise him in a way he can take care of himself, even if he never outgrows these allergies. Last year has been so wonderful, with smiles, words, talks and also moments when I have to whisk him away form the room so that other people can have a kaju katli . I have reazlied that once acceptance sets in you can still be very happy no matter what life throws at you and there is a solution to everything. I love you Avyu! This Blog is for you!