So yes, we kicked off K’s birthday with a call to poison control. In the 12 seconds it took me to take a box of cereal out of the pantry, she managed to get a bottle of furniture polish, and when I turned around she had it covering her arms, legs, and mouth. Ahh!
I grabbed the bottle where I immediately saw the “harmful or fatal if swallowed” label. So, I very seriously told the boys that I had to call poison control, and they were able to hold it together while I talked to the very wonderful person on the other line.
Apparently, the biggest concern with that type of thing is if she had gotten it in her lungs. Since she was not coughing and did not appear distressed at all, this seemed unlikely. She reassured me that if K had not swallowed more than a teaspoonful, which I knew she had not, then she would really be fine.
I had a few tears over it, and a few minutes of feeling like the worst mother in the world for starting off my daughter’s first birthday like that, but then was just grateful it was okay.
Unfortunately, that was not the only call that I have ever made to poison control. It was my fourth. (Yikes, I am truly ashamed to admit that). Surprisingly enough, none of those calls were for wild man D. They were all 3 for Z!
The first call I can attribute to me being an overly cautious first time mom, since I think I called when he got approximately 2 drops of body soap in his mouth. Yes, I can laugh about that now, but it was very serious at the time. 🙂
The second time was when he drank a good bit of a bottle of baby Motrin. I knew he was playing with the bottle while I was changing his diaper, but I guess I got so involved in the clean up that I didn’t even realize that he got the top off of it. That taught me several huge lessons. Child proof caps are SO not child proof, and kids can manage to get into trouble with their hands even when you are holding their feet. Useful information for a first time mom!
The third time, he was really old enough to know better. He ate almost a full travel sized tube of children’s toothpaste. That time, the man who answered laughed and said, “I get this call every day of the week”. Needless to say, he was fine, and I did find it reassuring that there are lots of other mothers frantically calling about toothpaste.
When you call poison control, they take down all of your information (after they talk you through your crisis). I have never had any problem with this, but after my most recent call I started worrying. I have had to call FOUR times!! Yikes! At some point, I’m afraid that my name is going to be flagged (or maybe it already has been!). I’m hoping there won’t be a next time for me to call, but if there is, I think I better accidentally lose our connection right at that point.