Warning!!! Don't Touch!

So we had an eventful Friday last week. It began when Aubrey stood up by my leg screaming like she was hurt or really mad. I thought she was just really tired so I was getting ready to lay her down for her nap, but she kept acting really upset. I even took off her socks thinking one of her toes got bent funny or something. Anyway, I tried nursing her to sleep but she was too upset to even eat. She does this sometimes when she's over tired so I decided to just lay her down in her crib to see if she'd fall asleep on her own which she usually does, but after about 10 mintues she was still crying uncontrollably, so I went to pick her up. At this point I started to freak out because her lips looked swollen to me. I didn't know if it was just her face from crying so much and for so long but everytime I looked at her, it looked swollen. After talking to my sister-in-law who asked if her tongue was swollen I really started to freak thinking if her tongue and/or throat started to swell that would be very very bad. So I called her doctor and took her right in.

Long story somewhat shorter, the doctor gave her benadryl but we didn't really decide on a reason (and it was just one part of her upper lip that seemed affected.) However, while waiting for the doctor I also noticed that her thumb and first finger looked red and swollen as well. Weird, but it's the thumb she normally sucks so I didn't know if whatever it was started at the lip and went to the thumb when she tried sucking it or vice versa. So we're thinking some kind of allergic reaction like maybe she found some random piece of food she shouldn't have and tried eating it because she's all about picking up stuff off the floor and putting it right in her mouth. But I couldn't think of anything the girls or I had eaten that would do this (ie peanuts or the like). However that's all the doctor and I could think of: maybe she found some random peanut butter or something.

Anyway, so after the benadryl kicked in Aubrey finally fell asleep and after she was asleep and calm you could finally see what was really red and not just from her crying. It was the entire section of her upper lip under her nose and a small bit under her bottom lip, but you could totally see the redness. It was crazy. Now as I write this I wish I had a picture, but at the time, taking a picture was the least of my worries.

So after getting home I went straight to the living room where she first started freaking out thinking I'd maybe find some remnant of some crumb or something but guess what I found! One of these, all curled up like someone had rolled it up between her fingers:

That's right! A caterpillar. And not just any caterpillar, a stinging caterpillar. I'm pretty sure Aubrey found it, tried to pick it up, and probably tried to eat it until it stung her and she started crying. These caterpillars are all over my porch and I've wondered about them for months (what they are and stuff). So after this, I finally did the research and found out.

The southern flannel moth caterpillar,

aka the puss caterpillar. Here's one from bugguide.net.

Every site I found about them had the same warning: don't touch, they sting! Thanks for that a little too late; my poor baby! And after reading other people's experiences with stings from this monster, we're very lucky it was such a minor reaction on Aubrey. But they seriously cover my entire front door frame, porch, and bushes. It's crazy. I'm very relieved that none of my girls or I have ever stepped on one because we used to go outside all the time with bare feet. As soon as Tyler got home and saw Aubrey and the research I had done, he went outside and sprayed every caterpillar he saw with our outside bug spray. The first picture I used was of a dead one that was left over on our porch after the spraying. Here's a picture of our bush that they cover. In this picture alone there's like at least 7 either in cocoon form or empty already. Every khaki blob in the picture is one of them!So, just so you know, if you see a fuzzy caterpillar of any kind - don't touch it! It more likely than not will sting you. Oh, and don't let your infant try to eat one either! We're just glad she's okay and now I have a nice big stock of benadryl on hand just in case.