There was a little girl who swallowed a marble ...

I have a 2 year old in the house, need I say more?  It was the craziest thing.  The girls and I headed to the basement to our playroom/guestroom/office.  I had a few things that needed to be done on the computer before we headed out for the day so I let the girls run around the playroom.  We've done this before, nothing new.  That morning I noticed a small decorative marble on the floor.

I thought it was odd since the only place in the house we have those is in the master bathroom high up on a shelf.  I picked it up and put it next to me on the desk, quite pleased that I had found it before Abigayle.  The girls played, I worked and I was just about finished when Norah came over and wanted to sit on my lap.  I let her sit with me when she noticed the marble.  She picked it up and said, "what's this?".  Here's where I made a huge mistake.  "Oh, that's a pretty jewel".  She replied, "water in there?".  "Yes, it does look like water in there" I said.  Here's where things get fuzzy.  I thought we put the marble back on the desk.  We either didn't, or someone has quick fingers and snatched it back up.  Roughly 60 seconds later she stood straight across from me, started crying and panicking.  Immediately, I knew what had happened.  "Did you swallow it?", I asked.  She opened her mouth real wide, pointed down her throat and said "yeah" with tears in her eyes and panic in her voice.  "Oh man, oh man, oh man" I said as I swooped her up and started pacing around.  Should I try to get her to cough it out?  Should I call 911? Should I call Dave?  Should I call the Dr?  I raced upstairs with the girls trying to think of what I should do.  She's breathing, she's talking, don't call 911.  I love my husband, but honestly, what was he going to do in the situation other than calm me down?  I called the Dr.  I  bypassed the nurse message line and went straight for the receptionist and told her I needed a nurse right now.  Then, sweet, sweet Helga got on the phone.  I explained what happened and she asked me lots of questions and then calmly said, "she'll just poop it out.  It will be fine.  Just keep an eye on her poop and make sure she gets it out in 7 days".  Oh, well ok, I thought.  That's not so bad.  I had envisioned them having to pump it out of her.  The day went on and she was fine.  Totally normal.  She ate, played and did all her normal Norah things.

The next morning she woke up a little early so Dave brought her into our room to let her snuggle in bed with me.  Out of no where she started dry heaving and then threw up water on the bed.  Well that's not good I thought.  Probabaly bad timing though, nothing to worry about.  Dave was off to work and Norah and I stayed in bed for a while.  And then she did it again, and then again.  Agh, fine. I'll call the Dr.  There was sweet Helga again, this time more concerned.  "You should bring her in, we should take a look, it will make us all feel better" she said.  I got the girls dressed in record time, packed a breakfast for Abby and loaded us up.  Keep in mind that trips to the Dr for normal check ups are a pain with two kids in tow but an appointment where I actually need to be focused on what the Dr was saying wasn't going to happen if I didn't have backup.  I called Dave and told him to meet me there.

The Dr wanted to get an X-Ray just to see where it was.  We left the office and headed to Children's Hospital, just up the road.  Norah, still on an empty stomach and dry heaving every 30 min or so, was still acting fine.  We got the X-Ray done and found it was in her stomach.  The Dr thought that was a little long for it to still be in there (apparently things pass through after 4-6 hours) but they didn't want to intervene unless it was absolutely necessary.  They said to go ahead and go home.  If she gets worse or if we feed her and she can't keep it down, we needed to come back right away.  We got loaded up in the car again, I gave her a granola bar and we headed home.  We literally pulled up to the house and Norah threw up everywhere.  Time to go back.

After a change of clothes for Norah and shuffling of car seats, so Abby could go to a friends house, Norah and I were headed back to Children's Hospital.  They were going to have to put her to sleep, go down her throat and pull it out.  Waiting was the worst part.  I know that the Dr's said they do this all the time, that kids swallow stuff their little bodies can't pass and they have to retrieve it, but watching your baby go under is scary. 

Finally, we were ready to go.  It took a terribly long time for the team of 3 nurses (one was called in for back up) to get her IV in, but Norah was my brave girl.  After the first try she kept saying, "all done, all done, all done".  I made the nurses give her a little break before they went at it again and this time my Mama Bear came out.  I nicely, but firmly said, "you've got 60 seconds.  That's how long this video is (on our phone) so let's make it happen".  And they did.  :)

Then we went on a long walk while Norah was wheeled in her bed, took an elevator ride and we were in the OR prep area.  The anesthesiologist came out and told me how they were going to put her to sleep and listed the drugs they would have to use.  My stomach churned.  I'm not opposed to drugs, but I don't love them.  They were needed in this situation and I was thankful for them, but it sounded like so many, I was so uneasy.  Then the GI Dr came out and I couldn't tell you a word he said.  My eyes were filled with tears and I was quietly praying all would go well.  This all sounds very dramatic for a marble retrieval, but at the time, all you see is your baby slowing getting some drugs, laying back and going out of it and you are just praying all goes well.  I had to trust total strangers to take as much care of my daughter as I would.  And then we were escorted out.  I couldn't sit still.  If you know me well, this is nothing new, but I just walked around, got a snack and before we knew it, the wait was over.  The Dr and his two Fellows said it went very well, no problems at all, and they handed me the marble.  They said we could see her soon.

The nurse came out and got us and we headed back.  She was still groggy, but waking up.  When we got back there the first words out of her mouth were "go home, take this (IV) off".  Poor baby.  We hung out in recovery for a couple hours and Norah proved she could eat and drink and walk and talk.  Then they put her in a red wagon, gave her a ride to the car and we headed home.  A few days later we got a sweet card in the mail from her nurse, Helga, wishing her well and telling her not to swallow any more marbles.  Yes Helga, I agree, no more swallowing marbles.