Aw, nuts.

Saturday night was quite possibly the scariest night of my life.

Around 4:30pm, Nick, Todd and I were hanging around the coffee table, playing with some of Nick's toys and munching on a little chex mix, when Nick pointed to the bowl of peanut m&m's on the end table and made the sign for "please".  So we thought "eh, sure, why not" and gave him one yellow peanut m&m.

As soon as he ate it, I said to Todd "yikes...we probably shouldn't have let him have that - I hope he doesn't have a reaction".

5 minutes later, Nick was scratching and grabbing at his neck and throat.  I tried to just assume it was coincidence and maybe the zipper on his hoodie was bothering his neck. But he just kept itching and grabbing his throat.

About 5 more minutes passed and Nick got very fussy and irritable.  He kept demanding "Dora!" so Todd hoisted him up on the couch onto his lap, and was about to turn on Dora when Nick got a funny look on his face and proceeded to vomit ALL over Todd.  Everything he had eaten all day went spewing out onto Todd.  Panicked that it might get on my parents couch (I know...can't believe this was my first thought), I dove in and caught as much as I could with my bare hands.  Dad came running in with a bowl.

After Nick finished vomiting, we all decided that explained why he was so fussy -- he didn't feel well.

So we scooped him up and ran him up to the bathtub to get cleaned up.  But no sooner had I plopped him in the tub, than I noticed the entire right side of Nick's face - from forehead to neck, cheek, even his eye - started to swell up and turn red and blotchy.  His left ear started to puff up as well.  And his neck, and belly were covered in hives.

Panic ensued.  On my part, that is.  Everyone else remained pretty calm - including Nick, who wanted nothing more than to play with the bath toys, even as his face continued to swell and turn redder and redder.

At this point, I was so panicked that my dad decided to call one of their new neighbors who happened to be working on his medical residency (keep in mind, we were at my parents Lake House, so we knew little to nothing about the area - particularly the medical facilities in the area).  The neighbor said "don't even mess around with urgent care - call 911 right now".  So Dad hung up, called 911, and within 5 minutes, an ambulance and fire & rescue squad were on the front porch.

By this point, the swelling on Nick's face had started to go down a bit, but the paramedics didn't want to take any chances, and decided that he needed to be transported to the hospital immediately.

So Nick and I hopped in the ambulance - a first for BOTH of us - and headed off to Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville.  Todd, Mom and Dad followed close behind.

Naturally, after vomiting and having so much excitement take place, Nick couldn't stay awake any longer and fell asleep in the ambulance. 

By the time we got to the hospital, Nick looked almost 100% better, and slept through the initial exam.

And about 30 minutes after arriving, Nick woke up and was back to his normal, giggly, rambunctious self.

The doctor at the hospital said it was most likely a peanut allergy.  I also got a nice little scolding (in the nicest of ways) on how a not-quite-two year old shouldn't be eating small, hard objects like peanut m&m's anyway due to choking hazard.  Man, I felt awful.

Talk about terrifying.

Fortunately, Nick is fine now.  My first priority this week is to call the pediatrician's office and set up a blood test with an allergist.  I want to know all the facts and find out if there are any other things that Nick might be allergic to, so that we don't have another incident like Saturday night.

I literally felt my world crashing down, worrying about my baby as everything unfolded.  Even just re-thinking about the whole event as I type it here makes my stomach and heart ache. 

I know there will be many, many moments of mommy mistakes over the coming years...things I won't have any control over, and things that I'll think back on and wonder "why did I let that even happen?"  Right now, this tops the list.

My poor, sweet, innocent baby was subjected to that horrible reaction because of my poor judgment.  I can't beat myself up over it, because I'm sure eventually we would have found out one way or another.  I just feel so incredibly fortunate that Nick is OK.

God was certainly watching out for my baby on Saturday night.  Talk about blessed.