Ironically, just this morning in children's church, we were singing "Standing on the Promises". I was asking the children to remind me of some of the promises of God, and one of the kids stated the promise that God will never leave us nor forsake us. I'm thankful that He protects us in spite of our stupidty, and that He loves me!
It was a crazy morning with packing the car, trying not to forget anything, trying to help children get ready to go, turn down the heat, wash the dishes, etc. A dear friend, Rebecca, sent me a text this morning stating that she was praying for me. I replied that I was thankful for the prayers and that I was going to need a coffee Iv to get me through this trip! The next text said, "check your email". So I did, and it discovered that my very dear, thoughtful friend had sent me a gift card for Starbucks! Yay! My morning improved drastically! :)
We left immediately following the church service, and headed to Fond Du Lac where we met up with my parents. The boys started into their lunch boxes before we even left the church parking lot! After we met up with my parents, two boys rode with them. The leach, (I.e. Travis) stayed with mom. :) Travis asked me fourteen times in the first two hours when we would be at the hotel! I finally replied, "not until it's dark outside!"
After we passed through Chicago, the boys needed to go potty...again! After the potty break, my dad took the older boys, I drove, and my mom rode with us. By this time, Emma was not happy about sitting in her car seat, so we were looking for things to entertain her. She played with her shoes, tore up paper, and then really started fussing. I felt around in my purse for something she could have, and I came up with a stick of deodorant. That seemed like a fairly safe option, after all the lid was on tight. (You would think by child number five, I would be smarter than that; but I blame it on my tired mommy brain!) Well, she was entertained with that for a while, until it became very quiet in the back seat. My mom looked back to see that she had gotten the cap off and had some deodorant in her mouth. My heart rate immediately sped up, my voice was anxious, and I asked my mom to look at the label. Well, I love my momma, but she needs reading glasses! I could see from where I was driving that the label said something about calling the poison control center! I immediately pulled over, unbuckled Emma, fished around in her mouth, and poured water in her mouth. Okay, by child number five, I should also have the number for the poision control center in my phone...I didn't...but I do now!!
I reached for my phone, and tried to remember the number for 911 since I didn't have the poison control center number. The lady on the phone asked where I was at...um...somewhere in Indiana!? She found out where I was before I did by the GPS signal in my phone. She asked if we wanted emergency personnel, but I said that if I got the number for the poision control center, I'd call them first. So, she gave me the number, but it didn't have a pen to write it down. So when I got off the phone with 911, I tried calling the number for the poison control center. At least, I thought it was the poison control center...but the number was busy!? What? I was smart enough to realize that there is no way that I could get a busy signal at the poison center! So, I tried calling all my nurse friends, my sister, Kelli Stertz, and a few others..but hello, it's Sunday night, so all my nurse friends were in church. Emma was screaming by now, and it wasn't sure if I should give her more water or try to force her to vomit. She seemed to calm down when I held her, so I figured we should put her back in her car seat and keep driving. We were no where near a hospital, so we might as well keep driving towards one while I tried to get ahold of someone to give me the number for the poison control center. I called my friend, Jenna, who was supposed to be in church. :) I was completely suprised when she answered the phone, but I told her to get me the number of the poison center. So she texted it to me, and I called again. Suprise...this time it rang! :)
While I wasn't at peace with the situation, Emma appeared to be fine, and I knew that she hadn't ingested that much deodorant. However, I was relieved to talk to the poison control center. (Although I'm still annoyed that I have to punch one for English, and listen to a recording about how my call may be monitored for quality purposes!) The lady was very calm, which was a good thing, but my phone was not getting good reception. She told me to move to a better location so she could hear me better. Well, that was impossible since I was driving down the interstate in Indiana! I lost the call before I could find out what I was supposed to do! However, my sister called me, and I promptly lost her call too. Apparently, she then called my dad and he explained the situation to her. She called the poison center, and then called me back. Thankfully, we were finally nearing a town, so I did get some reception!
So, my sister tells me that the poison control center is only worried because the deodorant poses a choking hazard if too much is ingested! REALLY!! Why not just say that on the label? This poor momma was terribly worried only to find out that it's a choking hazard!!
Yes, I used up all those words to describe what happened in less than thirty minutes! My sister didn't sound worried when I talked to her briefly about the deodorant, but she called the poison center to make sure that she didn't steer me wrong. I'm thankful for all the people who prayed on spur of the moment notice, those who prayed for our protection and safety on our trip, and those who pray for us regularly eve when things are going well!
It's now almost past ten, my kids are swimming in the hotel pool, and my heart rate is back to normal! :) We did make it to the south side of Indianpolis, so I'm delighted that we've made it this far. Thanks for your prayers...we need them!
B. 
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