Sunday, November 14, 2010

Not in the Routine

Sometimes I wonder, "What on Earth will I write about today?"  I'm just like you.  I go to work everyday and run kids to activities each night.  What's so exciting about that?  There's nothing to say about that.  Yesterday was one of those routine days and I started thinking about this post.  That's when something happened.  

Brenna came out of the bathroom, which isn't that unusual since she is potty training, and asked Meredith to help her open some more "gum".  Only the "gum" was Mucinex.  Roughly four of the pills were missing from the foil package and Meredith immediately took it to Cari.

Cari, unsure if any pills had been eaten, took no chances.  She called poison control and that lead to a trip to the ER.  The doctor prescribed that Brenna drink a charcoal mix.  It was black as oil and Brenna knew it wasn't juice.  After one sip on the straw she was done.

The nurse asked if we wanted to try and force feed her or continue to beg her.  I was ready for the force feed option.  There was no way anyone would willingly drink that stuff.  Cari and I held Brenna down and the nurse tried to get bit by bit into her mouth.

After a few swallows between screaming, Brenna got smarter.  She started spitting it back at us.  Some spits were more like drooling out of her mouth.  Others were more like a large spray.  Six adult hands became covered in the black liquid and as we tried to hold the baby, it spread.  The result was a black as ink baby.
Over several hours of observation the doctor said she likely didn't get much of the medicine.  She was acting normal and had no negative health symptoms.  It's also possible that she didn't have any at all.  Still better not to chance it.

After the bottle of charcoal was empty they took her to get a shower and uncovered a clean baby.
Everything is fine with the baby and the medicine cabinet above the toilet is now securely locked.

It turns out that with three young children there is no such thing as a routine day.

2 comments:

Tom said...

Scary! I'm glad to hear that she's OK.

d e v a n said...

OH! MY!
I'm glad she's alright, and wow... that picture. WOW.