So instead of my 37 week update I was going to do this week, here it is, the most bizarre day I have endured…

Wednesday morning I woke up wanting to do something fun with Sebastian just him and I, and decided to take him down to the Glazer Children’s Museum in downtown Tampa. We got down there at around 9:45 AM and as I’m walking up to it I notice it’s closed and then quickly found out for maintenance. Of course this would happen, right? I decide then to walk down Tampa’s Riverwalk for a little bit because it wasn’t to hot out yet, and then found a park near the water for my son to play at.

As we are getting near the end of our time at the park, my son decides to push the stroller up into the grass. I start videoing him because it’s so funny he wanted to get it up this hill so bad. I then run up after him so it doesn’t tip over on him and help him push it back to the sidewalk. Next thing I know I feel these stings on my feet and I immediately throw my shoes off (I was wearing my Birkenstocks). I see a bunch of little tiny ants running around on my feet and I try wiping them off fast but then started thinking of my son and took his shoes off and ran off to wipe his feet.

At this point I’m like okay it’s definitely time to go now. I start walking back to the car and my cheeks start to feel warm and I just kind ignore it because it was also starting to get super hot. Once we start driving home I notice I’m itching my arms and then under my neck and behind my ears. By the time I get home my legs start to get super itchy. I go to the drawer to grab anti itch relief cream for my foot and my son’s when I start to think what if the ants are still on me. So I throw my clothes off and jump in a cool shower. When I get out I notice all these red bumps all over my abdomen, butt, armpits, neck, chest, literally all over my body. My son seemed fine, but I just couldn’t stop itching and had no idea what was going on.

I then call my husband in a frantic panic attack and uncontrollable cry because everything was itching so bad and not going away. He tells me to call my OB, so I do. They tell me that it’s a non pregnancy related issue and it sounds like I’m having an allergic reaction. The nurse tells me I need to either go to a clinic and get an IV treatment or the ER. I then start thinking of people nearby that can watch my son and then end up calling my dad, still a hysterical mess, and he tells me to take Benadryl (I think I’ve only taken it like once in my lifetime). After we get off the phone I start Googling Urgent Cares. I find one close by and they inform me they don’t do IV treatments and that I need to go to a MedClinic. So, I call a MedClinic closest to me and ask for the wait time and they said not to long, so I rush over there (I also told them I was pregnant). Once I arrive, with my son, they asses me right away. They then inform me that they don’t have one of the medicines I need and that they don’t do IV treatments for patients who are over 25 weeks pregnant. They then call my OB and decided I need to go to the ER closest by.

So, I’m back in the car again, on the phone with my husband telling him to meet me at the hospital ER as soon as possible to grab our son. On the five minute drive over my throat starts to feel funny when I swallow, but the itching is kind of subsiding probably from the Benadryl I took. We are nearing two o’clock now. I get to the ER and wait a little bit before they take me back and they tell me what they’re going to give me etc. I then start getting an IV put in and blood drawn, and that’s when my hubby shows up, thank God because my son started crying. I get some drugs pumped in me right away. I then stay there for about an hour or so longer to be supervised before I’m released back home at around 4/4:30 with prescriptions of Benadryl and a steroid.

This was definitely not the day my husband or I had pictured for ourselves, but at least I was able to get the medical attention I needed. At this point my rash that had literally started traveling down my arms, started to go away and I was starting to feel better, but just exhausted. My feet were so swollen too I could barely walk on them it hurt! I have roughly seven fire ant bites on my feet, and apparently I’m allergic to their venom. The nurse in the ER said that the next time this happens it’ll be severely worse so I really need to get checked out and have some testing done.

I posted on my Instagram, youryoungmom, about this incident the day it happened. I got many responses, but one that really stuck out to me was from a friend of mine who also said that this happened to her when she was eight months pregnant. She was in the hospital being treated for a few days! I couldn’t believe it!

I also started to think back to about a year and a half ago, when I was outside in my backyard at our old place, barefoot (stupid MI girl), and I had gotten stung by what I thought was a wasp of some sort. I knew I wasn’t allergic to Bees because I had gotten stung before, but this incident put me in the hospital for 3 days. I ended up getting a staff infection from the stinger because it had staff on it from the ground. Another bizarre and day my husband and I didn’t expect. He was supposed to start his first day at his current job now the following day! My mom had to come over and watch my son while I was in the hospital. It was just such a crazy experience. (GRAPHIC PIC BELOW)

I looked up red fire ant bites yesterday because I wanted to know if I should take the pimple like top off and get rid of the puss (TMI, sorry). While I was reading peoples responses (you shouldn’t), I came across a comment that someone from Texas wrote saying that red ants also have stingers like wasps! So now I truly think that a year and a half ago I was stung by not a scorpion, wasp, or spider, but in fact a red fire ant! These ants were so small though, I can’t believe the damage they’ve done to my feet and body.

My feet still itch and are still swollen and red. The baby hasn’t been affected by this or by my medications I’m on, but I just wish this never happened because now I really can’t sleep at night. I need all the rest I can get before babe is born.

I hope my story helps someone else in this situation especially if you are pregnant! Don’t ignore the signs. I truly have never had an allergic reaction like that before so I had no idea what was going on…

Sincerely,

YYM