So I Called Poison Control

Josiah and Anna. They have become the best of buddies now that Aliza is frequently occupied with school, but, boy oh boy, can they make a mess and get in trouble! They came in from outside late this afternoon and wanted to take a bath. I said no since it was almost supper and I was trying to assess Aliza's silent reading lesson. They went upstairs and, naively, I assumed they were playing in a bedroom. No, they were in the bathroom with the door closed. Aliza finished the lesson and went to tell them that she wanted to play outside. She came back and told me something that I can't remember and I went to check on them.

I opened the door to the bathroom to find the contents of the bottom shelf of the medicine cabinet spread out and opened on the floor. I tried to quickly comprehend what I was seeing on the floor, but it took a bit for everything to make sense. I did see that my prescriptions were in the sink--unopened. Thank goodness. They had an estrogen cream (that Aliza has needed) smeared all over them and the tube was in Anna's mouth. Then I realized that the Pedia-Lax enema bulbs were empty. Anna had one in her hand. I nonchalantly asked Josiah if he drank one. He said "no, but Anna did." Figures...predictable response. There were 4 empty bulbs on the floor. I picked up the box and read that if ingested call poison control. So I call my Mom. She was at work and couldn't answer. So I called my mother-in-law who said probably the worst that would happen is stomach cramps and diarrhea, but call just to be safe. I wasn't at all convinced this was an ER case so I was hesitant to call someone who I thought might tell everyone to go to ER.

I did call poison control. The guy was very nice. He confidently assured me that neither one of the medicines would hurt the children. He talked to me until he knew I had calmed down and told me to feel free to call back with any other concerns.

Of course all of this happened right at suppertime. The spaghetti meat was on its way to burning as I was trying to make phone calls and get children in the bathtub. That bath that I had originally said NO to! And Jeremy didn't get home until the kids were out of the bathtub. I did, however, let them run around bare so that Jeremy could dress them. Otherwise I was afraid he would not believe the story that I greeted him with--in the driveway--before he could even get in the house!