"Ouch mommy lizard bite me..."

When you hear that statement in the from your youngest daughter you tend not to take it seriously. These days any little thing that touches her brings on some sort of pain and I usually have to kiss the (fake) pain away. But it was not so this time. This time it was not a lizard!!!! This time it was a poisonous spiked caterpillar!!!! 

At first when I looked I did not see the 'lizard' and thought she was making it up. But then when my husband took a closer look to where she was pointing, and then forced me to look at it properly... red flags immediately went off.
"Oh my God Jude!" I whispered and instantly grabbed her hand searching for the spot where she could have been stung. After seeing a red dot on the inner area between her thumb and index finger I poured the remaining of cold water I had in the water bottle. Then I sucked hard on the spot where I saw the little mark even biting her skin in the process. I was just doing what my instincts told me to do.

Jude also went into action by taking a picture of it sent it to his cousin who is a doctor and afterwards we drove straight to her home. Sydney could not stop crying and screaming. She kept saying "Bite burning... lizard bite Sydney..." 

When Jude's cousin saw it she did not act as if it was something to really worry. However she did show us it was more than one sting... because if you look at the palm of her hand where most of the swelling was happening... you saw a few red dots running in a line. Sydney obviously tried to pick it up! Jude's cousin also said, if Sydney was going to have a sever allergic reaction to it... it would have happened already. So told us to apply Bactroban cream to the swollen area and give her Panadol and Piriton to help relieve her pain.

Half an hour later Sydney had calmed down but I could still see her nursing the fingers that were swollen. She was a real trooper and showing good self control when we went to the pharmacy. She only kept saying, "Finger hurting..."

I think if anyone asks you what is your worst fear.. with this is ONE of them. Having my children come into something poisonous and inflict pain on them. You do go through a moment of helplessness when you are holding you crying baby in your arm. You go thought a feeling of complete vulnerability not being able to do anything to easy her pain. I am lucky though. She did not get an allergic reaction... and the swelling seems to be going down. CLOSE CALL.