This looks like an ordinary penny and an ordinary refrigerator magnet...but it's not. These are the exact penny and magnet that my Adeline choked on yesterday afternoon.
Aaron took my three older children to the movies to see Star Wars. It was just me and Adeline at home. I was writing out a list for Wal-Mart, and she was wandering around the house playing.
Suddenly I looked up from across the room, and saw Adeline with a panicked look on her face. I could tell that she wasn't getting ANY air. I turned her upside down and pounded on her back. The penny and magnet flew out onto the floor. She could breathe, but she was still coughing and struggling a bit, so I called 911. She cried the entire time I was on the phone with the operator, so they could tell she was breathing...but I was a wreck!
She calmed down by the time the paramedics arrived. They listened to her chest, and it was pretty clear that she hadn't aspirated anything. BUT, since I didn't know where she got the magnet, and I couldn't be certain that there weren't more, they wanted me to take her to the ER for an x-ray. I remembered the recall on those magnetix toys a while back. They were worried that if more than one magnet had been swallowed, they would attract and puncture or block her intestines.
I was pretty sure that she hadn't had any others, but decided to take the "better safe than sorry" approach. I tossed some snacks and books into my bag, and we were off to the ER.
They put us in a trauma room, because it was the only one available. Good idea...put the wild 14 month old in the room without a door and with lots and lots of fun stuff that she shouldn't play with...you know, like a crash cart. The books I brought kept her occupied for about 10 minutes. So she spent the other 2 1/2 hours getting into every cabinet and drawer, and running out of the room laughing her head off as I chased after her.
As if the adrenaline and stress hadn't worn me out enough!
I did discover something really fun...Adeline is an ABBA fan! I had seen the move "Mamma Mia" a few hours earlier (and loved it, by the way!) I was desperately (and futily) trying to keep her up off the gross hospital floor (I could just see her picking up some horrible disease while we were there...yeah, I'm kind of a germaphpobe) Anyway...I had her in my arms singing and humming (mostly humming) the few ABBA songs that were in my head from the movie. She stayed perfecly still, listening to me hum/sing. As soon as I stopped she was off again attempting to destroy the hospital (we call her baby-zilla at home). She laughed like crazy as a danced her around the room.
Three hours and a small forture later, we found out that there were no magnets in Adeline's little tummy.
I am incredibly grateful to my Heavenly Father that everything turned out ok. There are so many "what-if's" that could have made this a terible tragedy. We are so blessed! And we are so getting rid of all those small round magnets! It never occured to me that they are the exact size of an airway! This has been a great opportunity for our family to talk about keeping small things off the floor. We were also able to remind them that we pray everday that our family will be safe. Heavenly Father answered our prayers.
