A Mommy Nightmare

It was about 3:30 and it quickly became one of my worst mommy moments. I was getting the kids up from nap, one of the most chaotic parts of the day. I looked over and it seemed to be in slow motion. My 18 month old had a prescription bottle in her hands: lid in one hand and the allegedly child-proof lid in the other. Her mouth was chewing my pills. I ran over there and pulled out about two mostly-dissolved tablets out of her mouth. After Poison Control told me to "drive carefully" to the ER, we spent the whole night doing nothing. They ran EKGs to make sure that her heart was functioning the right way, and they did bloodwork tests on her to check various other things. Violet went from being her rambunctious self (she had just woken up from a nap herself) to a very sluggish and out-of-it child who, frankly, was as drugged as she looked. I was petrified, breaking down a few times in the ER waiting room. I had no idea what was happening to her and terrifying thoughts just kept flying through. We were transferred to St Francis South because Community was slammed full. SHe had a nice room in the Pediatrics wing, with toys and a sippy of milk waiting for her in the crib. We had great nurses too. It really was just a waiting game from there. She was observed for about 18 hours and was let go. That entire time was essentially spent with her sleeping. She would wake up a little bit here and there, play or fuss, and then pass back out again. Once she was sent home, she still slept most of the time for about two days and was cranky when she was awake. I'm very thankful for all the prayers and concerns that followed us during this frightening ordeal. It was truly God who kept it from being much worse than it turned out to be. She continues to get better every day, although she still prefers to be held and rocked to sleep now.