Trip to the ped’s office…

As I’m sure most parents know, the proud parent exclamation of “Oh my god, she’s crawling!” is almost always quickly followed by, “Oh my god, what is that in your mouth?!”

Yep, as soon as babies crawl, they explore and when they explore, they explore with their hands, eyes and of course, their mouths. Because chewing on something is the best way to get to know what it’s all about, apparently. The Little Empress has been fascinated with chewing just about anything and everything her little hands can bring to her mouth.

I try to be vigilant but every now and then, something other than food finds its way to The Little Empress’ mouth. She is, of course, fascinated by anything that is taboo. Because anything off limits HAS to be cool. She is especially fond of cords. I have caught her mid-crawl to the lamp where she likes to try to play with the lamp cord. It is actually quite funny — she will crawl towards the lamp, cast a furtive glance back at me to see if I’m looking before continuing on.

This morning, however, was not so funny. We were in her nursery. I’d placed her on the floor while I attended to something else in the room. Not even a minute later, I glanced down, to find that she was at my feet. To my horror, I saw a piece of black plastic sticking out of her mouth! I immediately picked her up and fished it out — she had the piece of plastic in her mouth and a piece of paper in her hand. I’d thought the floor was clear; I hadn’t seen them.

She seemed fine — though angry that I’d taken her prize from her — but I was worried sick. I recognized the plastic part as one of those packaging pieces, you know those things that they use to hold toys to cardboard when packaged neatly in a box? I was afraid that she’d swallowed a twistie tie when I wasn’t looking. She wasn’t gagging or anything but after a few minutes of anguished debate, I called the doctor who said to come on in.

So I whisked her off to the doctor’s office. She was looked over and given an x-ray just in case. The doctor just called back with the x-ray results — she’s fine.  Can’t see any metal part or any foreign objects but I should still keep an eye out on her for the next few days for anything unusual.

The Little Empress is sleeping right now — she was unfazed by her chewing on plastic incident but more traumatized by the fact that she was prodded and held down by strangers. That stressed her out more than anything else!

I’m so relieved she’s okay… and pretty angry at myself for letting this happen. I know, I know… Mommy can’t always keep her from putting random crap into her mouth and to be realistic, this probably isn’t the last time this will happen. But still, nothing can scare a Mommy so much as thinking her little one might be hurt and worse, that it is Mommy’s fault!! There’s a lot of “I should have…” or “I could have…” that I’m thinking about right now.

I thought that I’d baby proofed the room thoroughly but I guess not. Back to Babies R Us again for more safety equipment, including one of those baby super yards. I hate to do it but I’m NOT taking any more chances that she’ll find more interesting things to shove into her mouth.

Oh such a stressful day already! But the bottom line is that The Little Empress is fine and healthy — only Mommy’s nerves are worse for the wear!

Be Sociable, Share!

•