is so special. She makes my heart skip a beat when she wakes up all cuddled between her papa and I.
She also brings about more tension and tears because she is so curious and wants to be so big and is one of those people who ends up finding things out the hard way.
This morning, I was lying in bed nursing Maggie and Mo woke up. Christian went and made sure she was ok then he gave her her reward for staying put in bed all night...one piece of coveted candy. When she had all but finished she came into our room and showed me her candy fingers and shared with me the good news, that she had stayed in her bed "All da night, mama!" I said, "Good job, Momo...now, can you go find a wash cloth and wipe your fingers clean?" So she pranced off in her precious three year old way and a few minutes later I heard the most awful sounds a mother could hear. I almost didn't believe my ears because I couldn't process what she could've been doing this on.
It was the sound of my baby girl choking.
I don't even think I unlatched Maggie, I just lept from bed and shouted, "Oh my God, she's choking!" and ran to her. She was gagging and drooling and crying. I scooped her up and ran to the bathroom hoping something would register in my pee brain before it was too late. By the time we got there enough of it had melted that she could breathe a little and talk to me. I asked her what she was choking on and she couldn't tell me so we came out to the kitchen. Christian asked her again, "hunny, what did you eat?"
We saw one of the kitchen table chairs pulled up to the cupboard. Christian went to the cupboard and opened it up. One of the bottles of medicine had been tampered with.
He asked her if she ate any of these and she cried and said "yes."
I got the phone and called Poison Control 1-800-222-1222.
I was put on hold for other emergencies...
We kept asking her questions as we were waiting and they weren't coming back.
The bottle she had gotten into was my bottle of stool softeners from after Maggie was born! Great! I don't know what the crap is in those things but what ever it is it can't be good for a three year old!
The nurse asked me how she got into where the medicine was. I told her she pulled a chair over to the counter and climbed up, opened the cupboard door and searched for some "candy."
We tried to find out how many she had taken.
"Tree". Everything is in threes because SHE'S three!
I couldn't wait any longer so I hung up and called back.
I said I couldn't wait b/c my three year old just ingested some medicine and I don't know how much and I don't know what to do.
She told us to have her drink some liquids then walked us through what the medicine was, MGs, how many were gone before, could we see any that were spat out, etc.
Then while we were talking, Christian was investigating to make sure none of the other medicines up there had been tampered with. He found another bottle that wasn't child-proof: Bear Aspirin. He showed it to me and Momo said, "I ate some of those too." I told the nurse on the line and she said, "Huh, ok, how many do you think she ate?" My best guess was between 1 and 7. They were the 325 MG ones too, not the baby aspirin.
He pulled out the children's gummy vitamins and asked her about that and she said she didn't eat any of those because she couldn't open the bottle!
The nurse was concerned about the aspirin.
I started to cry. I had held it together until then but lost it when I learned she had eaten aspirin. The nurse also said she was concerned about that.
We concluded the conversation with our best guess that she had probably only eaten one since they would taste so bad and children chew pills b/c they think it's candy, they don't swallow them like grown-ups. I did not know that. That was the best news I had heard all day!
She drank some water and I made her breakfast. Things were calming down when I heard Gretchen wake up. I was turning off the water and wiping my hands dry to go get her and heard the next worse sound a mother can hear. An enormous THUD! then silence. Then a shrill scream by my baby girl! I ran into her room to find her flat on her back on the ground.
She's only 18 months old.
Mo didn't try climbing out of her crib until she was two.
The only reason Gretta could do that was because I finally threw the crib tent I'd had since Mo was two away because I walked in on Gretta almost hanging herself in the giant hole she had made worse by dangling from it when she'd first wake up!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
So,
1. We are moving all medicines to a box and putting them on TOP of the cupboard because Mo knows how to get our door locks open, and continue to drill into her that medicine is only to be given by grown ups and only when you're sick;
and
2. we'll be getting another tent because Gretch is no where near ready for a big girl bed, and mama can not take one more event like this morning.
P.S.
The whole time Maggie was just quietly waiting for me to come back and get her.
I don't remember what Christian was doing or where he was. I'm sure he was right there but it's all so fuzzy.
See, this is Mo. She's 3 1/2. That's how she fell asleep after she woke up from her impromptu nap on the couch this afternoon.
I can't believe this was you three years ago.
