Just your usual afternoon, except that we’re both super tired because one of us had sore gums last night so cried for a few hours in the middle of the night. Home from work and day care, I put bubba down to play in the lounge room while I prepare dinner for the fuzzy loves.

I’d been out of the room for less than a minute when a blood curdling scream pierced the air. Followed by a brief silence then more blood curdling screaming. I flew back into the loungeroom to my inconsolable bubba.

What’s wrong bubba? What happened?

Scream, scream, tears, face rubbing, scream. I looked around her and couldn’t see anything. She was rubbing her mouth. She hadn’t fallen and from what I could tell, she’d been playing with a toy phone. Maybe she bumped her head with it? That couldn’t have hurt enough to cause this reaction though.

Scream. SCREAM. SCREAM. SCREAM. Eyes pleading through tears to fix whatever was wrong. If only I knew.

Maybe she bit her tongue? With two little bottom teeth and a top tooth threatening to break through any day, she’s probably likely to bit her tongue soon. That must be it. I cradled her in my arms and pried her hands away from her face – only to see her top lip swelling before my eyes. With a dark spot in the middle of it. Was that blood? No, it was really dark.

It’s a left over body part from something that has bitten my bubba. Something has bitten my bubba.

Do not panic. Repeat: do NOT panic.

Get the foreign object out of her lip. Pronto. Easier said than done, but there was no way that thing was staying in my Love Bug’s lip a second longer. Now that it’s out, what is it? What did it belong to? A spider? *Shudder* Another type of insect? Will she react? What if she’s allergic? What if I lose my bubba?

Get a grip. You are panicking.

Then, out of the corner of my eye I see it. The body of a bee. A bee? Inside? On a cold wet day? What the heck?

At least now I know what I’m dealing with. I’m dialling our doctor. Bring her straight in. Lucky the time from the first blood curdling scream to the moment we walk into the doctor’s surgery is only about 10 minutes.

It feels like about 3 days though.

Dr Greg gives her anti histamene and paracetemol. She’s still screaming, but every so often slows to a sob. Dr Greg explains that allergic reactions don’t happen until the second sting – at the first sting, the body creates anti bodies. Phew. But not. The second sting? Please no!

I had so many things on my to do list for the evening – we’re 2 nights out from family Christmas dinner after all – but all I can do when we get home is hold my beautiful baby and thank my guardian angel that she’s okay. The dogs are both by our side and don’t want to leave. Every so often one of them puts their snout really close to her face to check her lip. That’s love.

Bubba cries and looks at me intermittently through heavier and heavier eyelids, and eventually after a couple of hours, she falls asleep in my arms.

That Christmas pizza in our pj’s is looking more and more likely. I better put the Champagne in the fridge …