I am officially an overreactive parent.

I took my kid to the doctor, and she got better while we were in the waiting room.

I guess I should be thankful for that, but instead I felt stupid.

And overreactive.

The babysitter called yesterday to ask what kind of reaction Anna Marie had when she got a mosquito bite. She said Anna Marie was complaining about her legs itching, and she was putting cream on it, but that her face was starting to get white bumps on it too. Since I was already at home for lunch, and Kim's house is just around the corner, I scooted over to see what was going on.

I looked at her thighs (Anna Marie's, not Kim's) and they were COVERED in hives. Just COVERED. Her face was hiving too. We couldn't figure out what was going on, so I took her home to give her some Benadryl and "observe" her.

I was flashing back to my sophomore year of college. I'd eaten at Pizza Hut with my dad (he was bringing me back for second semester) and started hiving. I took Benadryl that night, but the next morning the reaction continued. I ended up going to the emergency room when my upper lip swelled (I looked like a duck. Jason thought it was hilarious.) We never did find out what made me do that.

I promised myself I'd give the meds half an hour. We had a little prayer. We sat down in the floor to play with her Little People, and I left her pants off so I could keep an eye on her thighs.

However, about 15 minutes after she got the medicine, her other cheek started to hive, and then her arm. I panicked and took her to the doctor. I took a picture with my phone for good measure, so that in case she got worse (or better) I'd have a point of reference. We signed in at 1:00, and waited.

Gradually, I started to notice that her hives were fading. Anna Marie was figuring out that she wasn't itching anymore, and she wanted to leave. In fact, that's the last thing she said to me, "Can't we just go?" before she fell asleep in my lap.

She hasn't done that since she was nine months old and we were at dinner in Daytona Beach while chaparoning a youth trip.

I didn't know what to do. As the song says, should I stay or should I go? What do you do when your kid gets better while you're sitting in the waiting room? Do you go mark your name off the sign-up sheet and say "my bad, guess she wasn't really sick after all" and look like an idiot? Or do you wait it out, and risk the doctor not believing you?

We finally saw Dr. Ruhl about 2:30, and by that point she was completely cured. We talked for a few minutes about what could be the cause, and then decided we couldn't pinpoint one. He told me to take her home and observe her to see if the reaction came back after the medicine wore off.

Of course, nothing else happened. I took the rest of the day off from work, did my grocery shopping, and helped her play on the computer until dinner time.

So, while I'm thankful that she's OK and not having a serious reaction, I wish I knew what the cause had been so that I could avoid it in the future. She was so miserable when she was itching.

And I still haven't figured out the correct etiquette for leaving/staying at the doctor's office when your child recovers in the waiting room.