A Number I Never Thought I'd Call...

I went to a relief society sister's house on Friday.  Luke was being an absolute pill.  He had just woken up from a nap, so I thought he'd be in a good mood, but NO.  He screamed and fussed no matter what I or he did.  When we got to her house, Luke's one and only object was to go up and down the stairs.  When I wouldn't let him, he threw another fit.  Finally, he found joy in opening and closing the bathroom cabinets.  I was trying to keep an eye on him while keeping myself firmly planted in front of the stairs so he couldn't dart down.  And what did Luke find under the cabinet?  Comet with Bleach!  I grabbed it away from him, but not before he put his mouth on the top of the can.  His lips were powdered with it.  Of course I freaked out and cursed myself and was positive that I was the worst mother alive.  I KNOW I shouldn't have let him play in the cabinets.  And the sister was slightly clueless as to why I was so concerned.  So I just grabbed him, scrubbed his mouth and hands, made an excuse that we needed to leave, and raced home to call poison control.

I was so scared the whole way home.  I kept looking back to check on Luke.  And THEN... I couldn't find the number.  I googled poison control which takes you to a not so convenient home page.  I finally found the number (It probably took 1 minute, but it felt like forever) and called, only to listen to a most frustrating list of options. "If this is a life threatening situation, push 1.  If the situation is not life threatening, but you need to speak with someone, push 2."  I was pushing two, but the phone kept listing options.  Good to know that Skype doesn't work with menu options.  AHHHH!  So then I had to turn on the Trakfone and wait for it to find a signal.  By this time, I was in tears.  When someone answered at poison control, they had to calm me down so that I could explain clearly what happened.  They reassured me that the situation was not at all life threatening, especially since he got very little in his mouth.  There was still powder all over the top of the can when I'd taken it away, and I didn't see any in his mouth.  The lady said his biggest symptom would probably be rashes on his skin because there are a lot of skin irritants in the product.  He had red dots on his chest, back, neck, and forehead. He wasn't throwing up or even acting weird at all.  The lady said to give him a bath to make sure there wasn't any powder on him anywhere and to feed him clear liquids.  She said she would call back in 2 hours to check up on him.  So I did everything she said and then put him down for his nap.  I kept him in his diaper so I could keep checking his skin to make sure it didn't get worse.  He never threw up or anything, and when the lady called back to check on him, she said it sounded like he might have had an allergic reaction to the product because she would expect that the bumps would be mainly around his mouth.  But he did get it on his clothes.  Anyway, I watched him closely all day, and since the lady didn't seem too concerned, I knew everything was okay, but it really shook me up.  Today he still has some red dots and he had 2 abnormally disgusting stinky diapers, but he's eating and drinking and sleeping normally.

I will NEVER let Luke into someone else's bathroom again!  I'm glad that I keep all of our cleaning products ABOVE the sink in the kitchen, so Luke is safe at our house.  But Man!   I've never felt like such a terrible mother.  I felt like, "I was right there!  How could it have happened?  How could I have LET that happen?"  But I know that things like that DO happen no matter how careful we try to be, so I'm trying not to beat myself up too bad.  I'm just so grateful that he's okay.  And also, constant vigilance has new meaning for this mom.