A Trip to the Emergency Room

A few days ago was my hubby's birthday. The boys picked out some balsa wood airplanes to give him. We were all excited to go to the park and see them fly. While I was getting my youngest ready to go, he put a penny in his mouth. I saw it sitting on the back of his tongue, dangerously close to going down his throat. I quickly tried to scoop it out with my finger, but may have done more harm than good. He choked on it for a few scary moments (I was afraid it would get lodged in his throat), and then swallowed it.

I wasn't sure what to do, so I called poison control (thank goodness for poison control! I've called them many times since becoming a mother). They recomended we take him in for an x-ray to make sure it made it down to his stomach. Otherwise, it could be hanging precariously in the back of his throat, waiting to fall and lodge in his windpipe (this can be the case even if the child can swallow fine and shows no signs of choking), or it could get lodged in the entrance to the stomach and block him up.

So I took him to the emergency room (things like this always happen on the weekends) while my husband and our oldest boy went to fly the airplanes. We spent two hours waiting and waiting and waiting some more. Finally he was x-rayed, and they found the penny in his stomach, which was a relief.

Now we just need to wait for it to come out (checking for it is not my favorite thing, but we need to make sure it passes).

Lesson learned; keep small objects out of reach of children. Easier said than done.