Bill: " I'm sure she can have strawberry shortcake at the strawberry festival." Me: "No. It must be cake. And it must be chocolate cake." I think he was simultaneously amused and confused. I explained that it was really important and I knew he didn't really understand but that was ok:)
Then it was off to Mom's house to take her to the strawberry festival in Watsonville.
Callie ready for her strawberry day!The festival has definitely grown! We went a few years ago and it covered maybe a block. Not anymore! We walked around. Luckily there were lots of strollers around so we didn't have to worry too much about it being a big deal. We got our chocolate dipped strawberries, strawberry fresca and Bill pretty much went ballistic over the mexican food offerings. I must admit the tacos he picked up were pretty damn awesome. While we were walking around we spied this tent.
At first I just thought to myself: "How funny and clever!" I honestly thought they were just selling tshirts or something. But it was actually a child care tent with a quiet place to nurse and diaper changing facilities. It was awesome! When I walked up with my screaming girl, the volunteer calmly said: "Table for two, no wait!" Comfy chairs, nice temperature and snacks to boot! The volunteer gave me the whole back story on the group. The owner, Nonie, had been at an outdoor festival in Louisiana when she needed a cool place to feed her little one. It was really hot and crowded so she walked back to her car and had a canopy. She set up the canopy and the festival organizer came over and told her that she had "an unauthorized booth" and that just wasn't kosher. They told her if she didn't remove it she would be escorted out by police. She refused and tried to explain that she just needed a cooler place (it was realllly hot) to feed her kid. But they went and got the police anyway. That is when she set up Mom's Breastarant. She said one of the best things people can do to support them is to go to their facebook page and become a supporter since a lot of times they point festival organizers towards their page to show them that it is a needed/wanted service at outdoor events.
We finished up at the festival and drove back home. Mom was having dinner with my brother and we joined them. We had a lovely meal at La Paloma. Callie was so into my brother's voice! She was just totally hypnotized! She did great.
She is even starting to get really good with her hands!We were hanging out outside the restaurant when I felt something in my hair. I thought it was just a leaf so I went to brush it out of my hair. But it was not a leaf. ooooh no. Not a leaf at all. Something poked me, so I pulled my hand away and noticed something in my finger. Uh oh. For a minute we weren't sure exactly what it was, but it hurt. I turned to Bill and said is this a stinger from a bee? We still weren't sure. Mom checked my head and didn't see anything in my hair, but we looked on the ground and saw the honeybee that had obviously just stung me. And...panic. I am VERY allergic to stings. The last time I got stung I swelled up like crazy and the doctor said that the next time I got stung I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. I had an epipen but we weren't sure how bad it was yet so we held off. We all kind of fumbled around with what to do with Callie. Finally I just told Bill, let's just all go. So we did. In the meantime, Bill had gotten the stinger out with a credit card, so the stinger was gone. My finger started going numb and hurt pretty good. It was starting to swell up as well. Although not nearly as bad as I had in the past, so I thought there was a chance it might be ok. We drove to O'Connor hospital and got checked in. None of the employees seemed in any particular hurry with any of the patients in the waiting room. I mumbled to Bill "I'm glad I wasn't bleeding to death." We had to wait in line for a good 5 minutes while the receptionist was typing in some obviously very important paper work. No hurry, just freaking out here in line. No don't stop typing, its fine. Finally she gestures to come forward and we explain that I am very allergic to stings and I've just been stung. Again, not concerned. More concerned with our insurance card. We give her our information and we are asked to sit down. They call us up and I think:"Ok! We are going inside." Oh no. Meet with nurse to take my height and weight and seemingly useless questions: "How old are you? When was your last period?" I almost laughed out loud. I told her I had just had a baby. To which she responded: "Are you using birth control?" And what does this have to do with my damn finger? Anyway, we finish with the nurse. In the meantime my mom has brought Callie in who is starting to get hungry. We are asked to sit and wait again. We wait probably 15 minutes when we decided to ask a nurse if it was safe to breastfeed Callie with venom in my system. To which she says"You know, I just don't know. Hmmm. That is an interesting question." No shit. That's why I asked. She is still just fumbling with what an interesting question I have just asked when I asked her if there was someone she could ask for the answer. "I'll go ask one of the doctors." Fantastic. She comes back and says it should be fine. Hooray. So we were able to make Callie happy in the meantime. Finally they call us in. My finger had stopped throbbing and swelling. The doctor told us to use benadryl. I told him that I was nursing. He gave me an somewhat annoyed look and said "Well if you have a reaction you are just going to have to stop breastfeeding." Awesome, thanks. So we spent our $150 deductible on "try some over the counter antihistimine that could possibly dry up my milk supply."
Anyway, after all this time in the waiting room we all figured that I was just fine but we got another prescription for an epipen while we were there. He said he would write it and then promptly forgot all about it, twice. The discharge guy came by with our paperwork to sign. Bill mentioned that we were waiting on the prescription. Discharge guy looked very confused. So he tracked down the doctor and reminded him about the epipen. Finally we were out the door.
We finally got to go back to mom's and have the chocolate cake. It was so nice to relax. Callie was happy and fed and Jack the dog was soooo happy to have Callie to lick all over. Apparently, she tastes delicious! Mom explained the importance of birthday cake in her family and I think Bill now understands what the big deal is.
So you might say we had a very "interesting" day!
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