Poop Patrol: What Mommies are Made For!

Some women spend the ins and outs of their days in the corporate world, working their way up the ladder for the all might dollar. I, on the other hand, traded in my career in the working world for one of a far greater importance...on same days, you could call me a stay at home mom, but today, you could call me a poop monitor. That's the level my "job" has supported me with today since Elsie "possibly" swallowed a coin yesterday. I say "possibly" because I was not in the room when the incident happened, though if I had to guess...I can't imagine the following conversation taking place if she hadn't, in fact, swallowed a coin.

When: About 5:00 p.m. yesterday
Where: Our house

I come out of the bathroom to find Elsie with a very sullen, puppy dog look on her face, and tears in her eyes.

"Hey Sweetheart, what's the matter," I ask.
"I want my money back," she responds.
"Where's your money?"
"In my mouse (mouth)."
"In your mouth? Did you eat it?"
"Yes," she says with a big pout.

At this point, I'm freaking out a bit...I check her mouth to make sure it's not still in there. It isn't. She seems to be breathing okay. She crawls into my lap and snuggles into my shoulder..."I want my money back," she cries. I console her for a few minutes and then we have a nice little chat about not putting money into her mouth...about not putting anything other than food into her mouth. After that, she gets down and runs off to play with her baby dolls...I decide that I'm not worried, I'll just keep an eye on her and surely it'll pass in a day or two.

To be on the safe side, I call her doctor's office, which is already closed for the day, and then I post on my BBC birth board to see if there's anyone else who has had this happen. The first couple of responses I get are pretty in tune with what I already think...just watch her and it'll pass. Call the doctor in the morning. So, we go about our evening. Jason comes home from work. We have dinner, watch NCIS, fold some laundry, play blocks...bedtime rolls around and we get Elsie to bed. Then, I go back to BBC and have a couple more responses...these are not like the first ones. One says that her nephew had swallowed a coin and was fine at first but started to have trouble breathing later on. The other says that if it's a penny, they're made of zinc which will dissolve with her stomach acid and could cause ulcers! So, I've just put my child to bed, and visions of her not being able to breathe in her sleep along with ulcers are running through my mind. Jason and I lay down in bed, and I'm praying (and crying) like a crazy woman that the Lord not let anything happen to my baby. Jason's trying to reassure me and we end up moving Elsie into our bed for the night so I can make sure she's breathing. I lay there in the dark for at least an hour with my hand on her back, feeling her inhale and exhale. When I finally fall asleep, I wake up several times throughout the night whenever she moves or I move...so I can reposition myself to feel her breathing. We make it through the night, and I'm thrilled to see her happy little face smiling, "good morning!"

I called the doctor again this morning, wondering if I should take her in for x-rays. Instead, I'm on poop patrol. If it doesn't pass in 3 days, I should call them back. Or, if she has trouble breathing, eating, or puking, I should take her to the ER right away. I asked her about the pennies causing ulcers, and she said she's never had that happen although kids do swallow coins from time to time...so, I'm hoping that her bowels produce prizes over the next couple of days! We have church tonight, and I'm really looking forward to explaining to her teacher why I'd like for them to save her poopy diaper for me!