9 minutes

It took 9 minutes for first responders to get to our house.

Tonight (Thursday) was quite the night. It was a normal day for everyone and since it was Valentine's Day, we decided to go out to eat. We went to a local place that we've been to 100 other times, Si Señor. We ordered our food and ordered Pacen a sliced up avocado, with a new, clean knife/surface to prevent cross contamination. Pacen has had avocado hundreds of times, and was one of the first foods he tried. He only ate a couple bites and was ready to be on the move. We didn't think anything of it, he's 15 months old, that's what kids do. We headed home and skyped with aunt Liz for a few minutes at 745. The boys got fidgety so we got Jammie's on and ready for bed. Merik wanted to watch a show, so Levi got that ready for him and I put Pacen to bed.

At 730 Pacen was crying to I went in to check on him, and he had vomited all over his bed. I am pretty sure that he didn't digest anything he had eaten for dinner. I hollered for Levi to come help me out. He took Pacen in for a bath and I cleaned up the vomit. A few minutes later, Levi hollered for me to come see what Pacen was doing. He was sitting in the bath tub and Levi was holding him up, he wouldn't sit up. As I walked into the bathroom I asked Levi to lift him up so I could see his face, it was completely grey and his eyes were rolling. I told Levi to get pace out of the tub and I ran to get his Epi pen from the diaper bag by the front door. In the 5 seconds it took for me to run and get it, Levi was talking to Pacen, saying his name and snapping fingers. He wasn't responding, he was completely out of it. I handed Levi my phone on the keypad screen and said 'call 911' as I injected the pen into his leg.

One... Two... Three... Four... Five.... Six... Seven.. Eight... Nine... Ten. Pacen started crying half way through the injection and vomiting again, he was coughing, crying and vomiting out of control. I looked at my phone to see what time Levi had made the call, it was at 8:40. The time was then 8:49 and merik came into the bathroom and told me the am-you-lanz was here. Two first responders came into the house to check him out, made sure he had clear breath sounds and the ambulance crew came in.

Pacen and I rode in the ambulance to the hospital. He passed out and woke up a few times on the way there but was still pretty grey. We got to the ER and we were checked out right away with all of the 'what happened,' 'past medical history' and all of that good stuff. He was given a dose of oral steroid and then his eczema started to flare up all over. We got released 2 hours later after his heart rate stabilized (it kept going up to 150. Normal is 115-125ish per the ambulance guy) Levi and merik came to pick us up and Pacen was discharged to go home. The doctor and nurse said we did the right thing by injecting him and then calling. I'm really thankful that they were here quickly, although it was probably the longest 9 minutes of my life, and I may have gotten a few grey hairs just from this incident alone. We are so thankful that Pacen is ok.

Food allergies are serious shiz, people, seriously. Educate yourselves on anaphylactic reaction symptoms, you may be able to help someone someday. Although we don't know for sure if he reacted to the avocado or if it was cross contamination. We will be heading to Albuquerque Friday and seeing the allergist on Monday. As for now, my three Valentine's are tucked into bed ready to take on a new day.