What a week it's been.




I did my first two book parties this week. One of which I hosted (and had me cleaning the house and baking along with the regular preparation for the book presentation), the other of which was completely in french.




Friday was supposed to be a relaxing day with the girls at home...




At 10 a.m., we were all still in our pyjamas when Meaghan started to stir about 1/2 way through her morning nap (unusual for her). After letting her grumble and whine for a little bit in hopes that she would roll over and go back to sleep for another 30-45 minutes, I gave in and went to check on her.




As I bent over her crib to soothe her - something shiny caught my attention from the corner of my eye...




An earring back was lying in the middle of her change table and there was no actual earring to be found.



In a split second I was thinking..."Where is it? When did she lose it? Last night? This morning? I'm sure she had them in this morning. Yes, she did. I cleaned them this morning. Maybe I loosened the back when I cleaned them? Maybe the earring only fell out later? Maybe it came off when we were outside? Maybe it was still in when I put her down for her nap? and... oh my goodness... Could she have taken it out and somehow swallowed it?"




Uh-oh....




Then began the frantic search. Move the change table pad, no not there. Check the clothes in the laundry basket next to it, nope. Pyjamas off, not there either. Lift the crib mattress, move the crib, check her polar, hat, etc... no, no, no, no...




Uh-oh...




What if she did swallow it? Is it small enough to pass? Could it get stuck? Could it hurt her?




Time to call Info-Santé.




They only confirmed what I thought. Chances were very small that she would have actually swallowed it, but it's better to be safe than sorry so it would be a good idea to take her in to the ER and have an X-ray done to look for the missing earring.




On a side note here... I normally pride myself on being a very "chill" mom. When Layla was a baby, a lot of people commented on how calm I was for a first time mom. I was just comfortable with babies (and even more so with my own) and wasn't really prone to panic. It turns out I'm a completely normal mom... and I do panic sometimes :-P




So... to finish my story (and you can only imagine how it ends from the title and the previous paragraph)...




After calling around to find someone to watch Layla (thank you Aimée!), packing a quick bag for Meaghan and putting on some more decent clothes (including a bra... remember, we were still in pyjamas!) I dropped Layla off and made my way to the local ER (Charles Lemoyne).




On my way there, I was thinking... this is probably all for nothing... but I still couldn't help those bad/panic thoughts from going to absolute worse case scenarios. What IF she did swallow it? What do they do? Pump her stomach? Give her something to make it pass? would surgery be necessary? Picturing my sweet little Meaghan with tubes and who knows what else sticking out of her did not serve to calm my nerves as I tried to stay within the speed limit! Sigh.




So when we arrived at the ER we wait for almost 30 minutes just to go through the "triage" (no idea what you call this in English). When the nurse went to take her temperature (and her diaper was removed to have a more accurate temperature reading)... what catches my eye?




A shiny little earring! Right under her little bum!


Relief.



Embarrassment.



Blood rushing to my cheeks as I sheepishly look at the nurse and say..."Je l'ai trouvé...uh... merci quand même..."



And then I collected my things and went to pay for parking. $4.75 completely wasted!

Better safe than sorry --- I know. Still - how embarrassing!

A.