Freak Incident or Allergic Reaction?

I didn't post about this at first because I was too freaked out. But I'm posting about it now. That way, I'll have a record about what happened in case it ever happens again.

On Tuesday afternoon after I finished teaching, I came home to watch Ben. He hadn't eaten anything that day other than my milk and Similar Alimentum, which he has been on for the last few weeks ever since we switched him from Enfamil. All I had eaten was Quaker Oats instant oatmeal with peaches for breakfast and a bunless hamburger from Wendy's for lunch with pickles plus a Coke and a small Frosty.

I hadn't tried any new lotions on him that day. It had only been Vanicream and Vaseline. The only new thing I did was rub some olive oil on his head that I got at Rite Aid.

I was sitting on the chair and holding him around 3:30 or 4 p.m. when he just started throwing up. I was so surprised. I didn't know what to do. It was all over him, and all over me. When it seemed like he was done, I decided to give him a bath, but I couldn't find his baby bathtub. (It was drying over by the window). So I took him upstairs and bathed him in the regular tub. I thought he was okay then because he laughed at the cat, but he threw up some more in the tub and some more in the hallway once I took him out.

I took him downstairs, and he fell asleep sitting up. He also may have just been tired. He had been waking up a lot the last few nights. His skin looked whiter than normal. It almost looked as if all of his eczema was all gone.

When he would wake up, his face would turn red, and he would start coughing, and then he'd go back to sleep. At 4:30, I called his doctor. They said to bring him in tomorrow if he didn't feel better and to make sure he got lots of fluids. So, I made an appointment. After a while though, he woke up and stopped coughing. It almost seemed like he had been choking on something and was trying to get it up. But I couldn't figure out what. I remembered from the Baby First Aid class that if a baby is coughing you should just let him coughing because that can mean that he is trying to clear his airway. We had taken infant CPR, and I would have done it had I needed to. I also would have called 911 if necessary but he was breathing the whole time. Even while he slept, I watched for the rise and fall of his chest, and I didn't put him down until much later once I was sure he was okay.