Boys, Boys, Boys!

It’s a boy! Exactly one week late, the newest addition of our family arrived. At 9 lbs 12 oz, he is a big bundle of joy. The big boy loves his baby brother and has adjusted to his new role as a big brother quite well. About an hour after birth, we were taken to our hospital room where a nurse walked in, introduced herself and immediately noticed my red hospital issued allergy bracelet. She looked at it, and commented “I just had a sausage with peanut butter sauce, it was delicious". Keeping in mind that I literally just delivered a baby, I was doing my best to be polite and calm. I explained to her that I am severely allergic, and that I would prefer if she not touch, or be near me considering she just ate peanut butter. She looked at me blankly, and asked when my last allergic reaction was and what exactly happens to me. I told her, and she came closer to me to check the IV. I explained that she should not take it personally, but that I would be more comfortable with a different nurse who has not eaten peanut butter. She continued to hover, and question me, and at this point I was starting to lose it. I politely explained that I would prefer to not continue this conversation. That I just had a baby, I am not comfortable with her, and that I simply want a new nurse. She returned with another nurse who introduced herself as the head nurse for the evening, and with all do respect she was just as useless. She just couldn’t understand why I would want a new nurse. For whatever reason, she was talking about the breakfast menu and how they will ensure it will accommodate my allergy. I told her I have no intention of eating any hospital food anyways, and that this has nothing to do with the food, I simply requested a new nurse because the current nurse had told me she just ate something with peanuts and I didn’t want her to touch or be near me with or without gloves. She then drilled me with allergy questions and my allergy history until I interjected and asked why my request was so difficult and could not simply reassign me to someone else. She finally agreed, and a new nurse was assigned. I was so frustrated that both these nurses just didn’t seem to “get it”. They are health care professionals, I would have assumed they would understand the severity of an allergy and be more understanding towards the situation, especially to someone who just delivered a baby. This experience was a reminder that I must always advocate for myself and be assertive when necessary. :) J.

A Reminder

As ridiculous as it may sound, people who are not allergic to nuts or peanuts may not realize that nuts can be found in foods even with the word ‘nut’ in it. Everyone knows peanut butter has peanuts in it, however, someone very close to me once had Honey Nut Cheerios in their home, and when I noticed it and commented, they honestly said they didn’t realize there were nuts in it. Another time, a mother sent her child to the daycare with bread and nutella for breakfast and I smelled it from across the room at drop off, and she too explained she didn’t realize there were nuts in nutella. And again yesterday the same story with Almond Breeze. So… this post is just a reminder to not take anything for granted and always make sure to check, double check and triple check everything.

:)

J.

Definition of a Peanut Free/Nut Free Home?

As you all know by now, I don’t eat at other people’s homes unless they are 100% peanut/nut free. We were invited to someone’s home for dinner where the hostess actually had a peanut allergy. One would assume that if you go to someone’s house where there is someone with a peanut allergy, that their home would be peanut free. Wrong!!

Before eating, I asked if everything was nut free to which she responded ‘of course’. While the evening was really nice and the food was entirely peanut/nut free, I later found out that they keep peanut butter in the home for the peanut butter loving husband. My husband gave up peanuts cold turkey, so this could lead into a whole other discussion but it won’t!!

As soon as I heard that they keep peanut butter in the home, my heart skipped a beat. I don’t know why, We were finished dinner and I was totally fine. It’s not like the peanut butter was going to jump out of the pantry onto the plate, but I have been consumed by the whole idea of how people define peanut/nut free? To me it’s easy, a kitchen completely free of all peanuts, nuts and any product that states may contain traces of peanuts or nuts. With a jar of PB in the pantry this ultimately impacts the level of control one has in a peanut/nut free home. I could not stop thinking about when he eats it? Where does he keep it? Does he use a plate? Does he eat it near his wife? What if she touches the plate after? We all make our own decisions, and we know our respective comfort zones. The allergic hostess has been living with a peanut loving husband for a few years and she’s just fine.

The big question is I am posing is what defines a peanut/nut free home in your opinion. This sounds like a simple question, but there are many answers.

:)

J.

The ants go marching one by one...

So it’s ant season in Montreal and it seems everyone I know has been dealing with an ant problem. Including myself. I was so happy to have made it to my 3rd summer in our house without a problem. My neighbour kept telling me… just wait, your turn will come, and it did last week. If you don’t know me, or if you don’t know me well I have OCD (undiagnosed by a medical professional, but diagnosed by everyone who does know me well). I don’t do well with untidiness, uncleanliness and BUGS!

I saw the first ant at about 8:45p.m, so we still had 15 minutes to make it to the store to buy ant traps and raid to cover the situation overnight until I called an exterminator in the morning. Well… it seems these little traps have peanut butter in them to attract the ants. The peanut butter is contained in the package, but of course I would not have them in the house. This begs the question, would it be possible that an ant gets some of the peanut butter, marches around with it, spits it out and somehow I touch, AND ingest it? Unlikely… but I just was not comfortable with the idea. We used a raid spray… way too much of it because we were practically suffocating from the artificial flowery smell in emitted. It did do the trick though. The following day the exterminator came and sprayed in and out. I spent a lot more than the $5 traps would have cost, but the ants are officially gone and my house is safe. (I did speak to the exterminator about the ingredients in his spray and whether it's safe in a house with a baby. O.K for both).

Note to allergic people- read labels on EVERYTHING because peanuts, peanut oil and peanut butter can be found in the strangest places.

Have a happy long weekend everyone!

:)

J.