Horrible, Terrible, No Good Day

You guys!!!  Ugh, yesterday was an AWFUL day!!!  Let me tell you all about it...

Waking up, it seemed like a normal Monday. Got up, threw on some clothes, got Tater up out of bed and got us both our milks to start the day.

About 8:15 all three boys were playing together, having a great time so I thought it'd be the perfect time to hop in the shower and get ready for the day.  Just as I was finishing my hair Aiden comes running down the hall yelling "Mom! Mom! Come quick! We need your help!!!"  I opened the bathroom door and Aiden says, "Tate threw up EVERYWHERE!"  My first thought was 'oh, this is why he had a high fever Saturday. He's sick.'

As I'm walking towards the living room here comes Tate, crying a little.  He has some throw up on his shirt but not much, and some slobber on his chin.  All seems normal.  I walk over by the couch where he threw up and see a small 2 oz. bottle of hand sanitizer on the floor with the lid off.  Holy shit was my first thought.  I immediately go into panic mode.  I put the lid back on and hold it up.  I have no idea how much was gone out of it before he got ahold of it but there is less than a quarter of it gone.  I turn it over looking for the 'if swallowed' disclaimer.  It says to contact a doctor or call Poison Control.  I fill a sippy up with water thinking he needs to dilute whatever is in  his tummy and call our doctor.  He tried to drink the water while I was calling the doctor but I could tell the sanitizer must have made it taste funny to him because he kept touching his tongue and sticking it out.

After speaking to a nurse she gives me the Poison Control number to call.  After one ring my new best friend, Cheryl, picks up.  She is super calm.  She asks me how old Tate is, how much he weighs and what brand the sanitizer is so she can look up if it's made with alcohol (some are not I found out). I look at the bottle and tell her it has 70% alcohol in it.  She then tells me hand sanitizer is made up of water and alcohol and asks if Tate acts drunk at all.  No, he didn't.  I told her he threw up, which she says was a good thing.  She recommends I give him a sweet snack and some juice to help counteract the alcohol.  After that I'm to keep a close eye on him to see if he is super sleepy or if he falls asleep and I have a hard time waking him.  If that happens I'm to call 9-1-1.

Finally, she tells me she will call me back in 30 minutes to check on Tate and to make further recommendations if necessary.  I hang up and immediately get Tate a package of fruit snacks, a cookie and sippy of apple juice.  He downs the fruit snacks and apple juice right away then sits on my lap for a little bit.  After about 5 minutes he gets up and motors away to go see what the boys were up to.  He acted 100% normal, not drunk at all.

True to her word, Cheryl called me back 30 minutes later.  We discussed keeping an eye on Tate for another hour and to give him another snack 2 hours later.  She was so kind and helpful, totally put me at ease.  I hung up the phone with her to find Tate had pooped out of his diaper, which was just what this frazzled momma needed, a poopy mess.

The rest of the day was fairly normal but because it was such an awful, scary experience my day just totally sucked.  I was tired, crabby and on edge.  Thank goodness, though, Tate was fine and not hurt at all.

As for where he got the sanitizer?  My only guess is he found it in the boys' room somewhere.  I don't buy much of it.  I have a small bottle in my purse, which was hung up and on the other side of the baby gate in the mud room.  The boys had taken down the baby gate that was meant to keep Tate out of their room so I know he was roaming around in there with them.  But why was there a bottle of it in there???  Ugh, the questions, the what if's, the why for's.

All I can say is, all's well that ends well.  And thank you, God and Grandma, for keeping an eye on my little boy.