Freak out moment

I had a total parent freak out moment today. It was not pretty.

I told you earlier about how my daughter likes to play with all the stuff in my bathroom drawers. Well today, I was getting ready to go on a mommy/daughter shopping date while Haley played with the contents of my bathroom drawers at my feet. I finished putting on my make up and, since Haley was happily playing on the floor, left the room for no more than a minute to get something from the kitchen. When I walked back into the bathroom, I found Haley sitting on the floor with an open bottle of glucosamine/chondroitin supplements laying on the floor, and one slightly gnawed on pill in her hand. She had gotten into one of the cabinets where the forgotten supplements had been stored months ago. My first thought? FREAK OUT.

The supplements themselves are to lubricate joints. I bought them awhile ago to help my sore knees because of all the running I do, and I only had a few left in the bottle. Apprently the bottle is not child-proof, as I learned the hard way, and Haley zeroed in on it like a kid in a candy store. I have never had her eat anything potentially dangerous before (besides the odd crumb of food or piece of fuzz she finds on the floor here and there), but I knew this could possibly be a very dangerous situation. I wasn't sure how much of the supplement she had eaten, but I was pretty sure she hadn't swallowed a whole one since the pills are humongous.

All I could think of was to get whatever she had eaten out of her, so I ran over and scooped her up and stuck my finger in her mouth to try to get her to gag. She very quickly went from happy girl, to screaming confused girl. She gagged some, but not enough to get anything out. By that point, Haley was also freaking out because she didn't know what she had done to deserve a finger down her throat. I set her down, calmed her, and looked at the pills. From what I saw, it looked like she managed to gnaw off the end of one pill (roughly 1/4 of a pill). This was a good sign because it didn't seem like she ate an entire pill. I read the side of the bottle and, while it didn't warn about poisoning from the supplement, it clearly stated "keep out of reach of children." Yeah, too late for that.

While I didn't think there was too much danger because of the small amount she ate, I just couldn't be ok with "thinking" she was ok, I had to know. And that is how the Poison Control Center became my new best friend. I dialed the number and blurted out "My 14 month-old ate part of my glucosamine supplement, is she going to be ok???" to the nice, calm lady on the phone. She told me not to worry, glucosamine is not toxic and wouldn't cause her any harm. I was so happy I wanted to kiss the Poison Control rep.

All of the fear and anxiety instantly melted off the minute I heard my daughter was going to be ok. I added the Poison Control number to my contact list and hope that I never have to call them again. My daughter may be thankful for me this Mother's Day, but I'm more thankful for her.