In the Blink of an Eye

In the blink of an eye... everything can go from silly to scary.

We found ourselves in the ER last Friday afternoon with Fletcher.  If you follow me on instagram you already know what happened - Fletcher shoved a pretzel up his nose.  Ouch!!

I'm sure this story won't be super interesting to most, but I want to remember it. 

It was scary for all of us and I hope we don't see an ER for a long time.

We had a busy morning of errands, picked Olive up at school and headed home for lunch.  We ate, talked about our mornings and I was cleaning up the kitchen.  Fletcher was finishing his lunch and snacking on some Gardettos.  He loves them and has eaten them since he had enough teeth to chew them.  They've always been around our house.

He has recently been sticking food in his nose to be silly while we're eating.  He thinks it's hilarious. 

I tried to always keep a serious face when he would stick something in his nose and remind him that food goes in your MOUTH.  He kept doing it regardless of my reprimanding.  I've always been able to get the food out up until now.

So I'm doing the lunch dishes and Olive says Fletcher has a pretzel in his nose.  I turn around, tell him to take it out.  He smiles and does what I ask.  I go back to cleaning up the kitchen and he lets out a terrible scream.  Then starts yelling NOSE NOSE NOSE!!

I knew instantly that he'd shoved the pretzel stick up his nose.  So I grab him and lay him on the ground to get it out.  Much to my horror, I can barely see the end of the pretzel up his nose.  I froze and knew this was not good. 

I grabbed my phone to call Kevin.  Of course he had multiple meetings and appointments scheduled for the whole afternoon.  He didn't answer.  I called our new pediatrician.  Left a message for the nurse to call me back urgently.  Called Kevin again.  No answer.  I'm trying not to cry because Fletcher is crying, Olive is asking a million questions and I'm trying to be the adult.

I am not cut out to be a nurse.  I don't really work well in emergency situations. 

I'm holding Fletcher, trying to distract Olive and praying that someone will call me back.  Kevin finally calls and says we should probably go to an urgent care if I'm sure I can't get it out.  I sprayed some saline spray up his nose in the hopes of softening the pretzel, but it didn't work. I knew we needed help.  I pack up my backpack - snacks, drinks, favorite items, coats, etc because I had no idea how long this will take.

I started calling around to urgent cares.  No one would see us since Fletcher was under two years old and the object was no longer visible at this point.  One office said they would see us, but they'd likely have to still send us to the ER to get it out.  Another convenient care said their waiting room was packed full of people with the flu and we'd have long wait in addition to flu exposure.  There seemed to be no good options.  I was in the car with the kids loaded up and started crying.  I wasn't sure what to do next so thankfully Kevin said he'd cancelled his appointments and would meet me.

Fortunately, Fletcher was in pretty good spirits.  He had been playing at home and getting sleepy because it was his nap time.  He wouldn't let me near his nose. 

I made a game plan to meet Kevin at his office and we'd head to the ER together.  Fletch took a nap in the car and then we got checked into the ER.  Insert more sick people, people wearing masks and flu germs everywhere.  The nurse said to take Olive out of there ASAP.  We decided I'd stay with Fletcher.  The nurses laughed when we told them why we were there and how old Fletcher was.  I guess they're used to seeing lots of little kids with things stuck up their nose.  Made me feel a tiny bit better.  I headed out to the main hospital lobby instead of the ER waiting room.  My plan was to avoid as many germs as I could.  Fletcher was in his stroller so we just walked laps until it was our turn.  He was pretty somber.

I texted a few people and asked them to pray for him.  We got called back about 30 minutes later and then met the doctor about 10 minutes after that.  She came in with long tweezers and a tiny tube vacuum.  She asked me what was going on and took a look at Fletcher.  She could barely see the pretzel so she started vacuuming.  It came out in chunks and looked super painful.  I had to hold Fletcher's arms and legs down, a nurse held his head still and the doctor vacuumed.  It worked like a charm.  Four times and his nose was all clear.  He was super sweet and did much better than I expected.  He told the doctor thank you and asked for a sucker.

We were discharged about 40 minutes later.  Trying to occupy an almost 2 year old in a super germy place without touching anything was less than fun.  Thank heavens for some games on my phone, suckers, puppy and nigh night.  We hurried home and have been talking about food going in your MOUTH ever since.

All that to say... Life with kids is NEVER dull and accidents can happen in a split second even when you're right next to them.  This was a good reminder that I just need to pray for their safety and protection every day because it's impossible for me to keep them safe all on my own.

Since I'm already feeling like a stellar mom... I've been replaying Olive's visit to the ER when she was 18 months old and burned her hand.  I still feel bad about that accident.  Some of you may remember this if you've been reading my blog since our days of living in Mississippi.  So learn from me and do your best to keep your kids away from hot things.

18 month old Olive preparing to go back for surgery on her hand.  It seems like forever ago, but I still tear up when I see this picture because it was hard on all of us.

Have you been to the ER with your kids??  Please tell me I'm not alone.