Amee, you are describing sounds like a pretty normal local reaction.

I know for me, the redness and itching from a sting gets less and less each
time over the course of the summer, eventually you won't have the itching.
The first of the summer, I got several stings on the back of my left hand,
it again had slight swelling and a couple days of itching.  Subsequently
this hasn't happened even though I have had a couple more stings on the same
hand.  However, the sting always hurts, always will.

I think for some reason new beekeepers are given the impression that
seasoned beekeepers don't even feel a bee sting or that somehow their bees
don't ever sting them.  In reality we all get stung, we learn in time how to
work the bees to get stung less.  Over time, our bodies learn to recognize
the sting's antigen and don't release histamine.  I think knowing what's
normal is what is important.  Too many people have gotten the initial sting
( and a little local reaction ), got a couple subsequent stings and then a
larger local reaction, at which point they quit keeping bees "because they
became allergic"

Not a doc, don't play one on TV, either, so take it for what its worth from
someone who just also gets stung.

Dave