Off the ball with Sneaky Gluten
So we laid down facing each other, holding each other with the cell phone wedged in between our pillows ready to grab it the second it started to ring. They tossed & turned for what seemed like forever trying to get comfortable & finally settled snuggly between me & the wall for counter-pressures, one of my hands cupping the back of their head (that they had a vice grip on) & one lightly across their middle. They fell into a fitful sleep. Their body kept having big muscle spasms/jerks. My mind started racing at this point.
Seizure-type activity is something we've dealt with off & on, usually related to the body reacting to something ingested. Seizures haven't been diagnosed because the EEG was not conclusive at the time. The worst food that we found a direct correlation with was barley. But they've been gluten-free since 9 months old for the most part. It took us some time to discover and weed out hidden sources. With hidden sources accounted for they've probably been completely gluten-free since a year and a half old. My mind kicked into gear & the light bulb went on in one huge, very confused ah-ha. They'd gotten gluten somehow, some way. But how?
From me! I'd bought some puffed rice cereal with the thought of how awesome it would be if they could have a simple bowl of cold cereal for breakfast once in awhile to give the morning "chefs" a break! And how novel a thing as a bowl of cereal. My husband did call & thankfully I'd had the forethought to switch my phone to vibrate because they were finally asleep. Couldn't answer the phone for fear that my voice would wake them. So as soon as my husband walked in the room to see what was going on, we constructed a pillow "mommy" so that I could get up and our kiddo would have the physical boundaries to push against that the body was needing. I went straight to the kitchen to confirm my sinking suspicion.
The rice cereal was wheat free, not gluten free. And yes, that makes a huge difference. I also noticed that it was not organic like I'd thought. Double shame on me! Most of our kiddo's foods have to be organic because they react to chemicals. But, that's an entirely different story. I spent last night sleeping fitfully because I thoroughly beat myself up for missing something as basic as label reading. I cannot believe I missed that. The only solace I can give myself is that I'm human & dealing with an enormous amount of various life stresses right now. I just hate that they are the one that had to pay the price for my slip-up.
