The First Bee Sting

On Saturday Audrey was playing on the deck while I was working in the garden and Alex was in the house. Suddenly, I heard one of those blood curdling screams that just makes your heart stop. I ran up on the deck immediately and Audrey was screaming and crying. It didn't take Alex and I long to figure out what was going on since she promptly lifted her foot to show us a bumble bee beneath it. At first it was difficult to figure out exactly where she was stung but after we calmed down and she did as well, we saw the stinger and removed it. After I pulled it out, I read on the internet that you're supposed to scrape it off with something like a credit card instead of pulling it out because you can squeeze the venom sac and increase the reaction by pulling it out. Fortunately Audrey didn't have much of a reaction to the sting and she was acting like nothing happened within 30 minutes of being stung. (gotta love kids hehe). We did put a mixture of baking soda and water paste on it for about 15 minutes and an ice pack off and on which seemed to help the pain. What is weird is that we have lots of bees around due to our garden but in the 6.5 years we've lived here, neither Alex nor I have ever been stung by any type of bee. What we finally figured out is that Audrey had picked up a vase of Peonis that I had sitting out on the deck and apparently there was a bumblebee on one of the flowers which fell on the deck and then Audrey stepped on it and it of course stung her. I hate to say it but it is actually a blessing that she had this minor bee sting because now we know she isn't allergic to bee stings and can breath a little easier if it ever happens again.