Human Piggybank

This week has been a busy one for me. I've been quite tied up with some last minute projects in the office, with a big one launching tonight. And oh, it doesn't help that I received a BIG, BIG, BIG news earlier this week. I'm still in a state of shock and still trying to comprehend things. Will tell you more about this once things have settled down.


Anyway, my post today is about the importance of baby-proofing your house. You see since we moved to our own place, this became the last of my priorities. I assume that since my almost 3-year old daughter is a bit bigger now, there's no need for it. Well, I was all wrong.

This morning we had an emergency scare. My husband was out for a check-up with his ortho and it was just Sofia and I in the condo. Since I was busy doing the laundry, I let her watch a little tv while playing. I saw her got her small Disney Princess coin purse that she usually carries with her whenever she pretend plays. She's been quite independent and can amuse herself so little supervision is needed. All I have to do is to check on her from time to time to see what she's doing.


A few minutes after checking up on her, she shouted "Mommy, vomit" and heard her making choking sounds. Scenarios like this is not new to me. You see, my daughter has a long history of constipation and there are times when she strains too hard, she ends up vomiting. I went to our room where she was playing and escorted her to our bathroom to vomit straight into the toilet bowl. After a few gagging sounds I heard a loud "plock". I was shocked to see at the bottom of the toilet bowl was a shiny 25cents coin!

I started scolding her for trying to swallow a coin...started scaring her with the bad things that could happen to her (yeah I know bad mommy). This was the first time she EVER did that. Even when she was younger, she was never the type to put non-food items into her mouth.  When I asked her how many coins did she eat, she said two. I started to panic even more that she may have "successfully" swallowed another coin. 

I immediately dressed her up and changed my clothes as well. When we went down, I realized my husband got the last of my money so we made a mad dash to the ATM at a nearby building. After getting the money, I hailed a cab and instructed the driver to rush to Medical City Ortigas ER (I'm so glad we are living in a commercial area where atms and cabs are very accessible. Had we've been still staying in my mom's place and an emergency happens, I just don't know what I will do). 

Upon arriving at the hospital, the doctor immediately ordered for a neck to abdomen xray. We had to wait for my husband to arrive so he can accompany my daughter inside the xray room since I wasn't allowed to stay with her in there. All the while they were inside I was fearing the worst. I was imagining my daughter's xray film will look like this:

(Photo credit: http://premedofcolor.wordpress.com/)
 
It was big relief that her xrays turned out clear. I am sooo guilty with what happened. In a way it was my fault for being too complacent on making sure our place is safe for our little girl. So the moment we went home I started with the baby-proofing. Here are the things I did:


1) Place sockets covers on all electrical outlets
2) Sift through her toys and throw away choking hazards i.e. small toys, coins, etc.
3) Place cabinet door and drawer locks 
4) Place door knob safety covers on the the bathroom doors. This will ensure that she will not go inside the washroom unsupervised.
5) Moved all medicines in a cabinet where she cant reach them
6) Made a schedule with our condo's maintenance to setup the safety gate to cordon off our kitchen 


One hard lesson learned for mommy today: unless I want my daughter to look like a human piggy bank or get into an accident, I shouldn't be complacent. After all, even though my daughter looks older now, she's still a baby and is very curious of the world around her so who knows what will she think of the next time.