Glad I don't have a tail

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. When someone asks what your child ate, the best answer to give to sound like mom of the year is "I don't know". You look even better when the person who asked the question is a paramedic. Let me back up and explain the whole story...

Over the weekend, my little town had their 3rd annual Community Day. It's nothing to rave about because quite frankly, there's not much there. And that's a shame. Even though I'm not a fan of one of the ladies in charge, I really need to find the organization on Facebook or something and suggest how to get the word out more for next year. We really need that new park and stadium.

Just because there's not a lot to do at Community Day, we still managed to have some fun. The first hour that we were there, the husband and I let the kids play on the inflatables and play a few games. After that, the boys went home. It was time for me to volunteer at the Girl Scout booth. On the way over, GG stopped to get a sno-cone.

Instead of having GG be bored out her mind with me at the booth, I let her run around with her friends. They ran all over the field for the next 90 minutes or so. I ran into GG on my way to get a bite to eat and she asked for a bottle of water. She had a headache. I should have paid more attention to this little detail, but I failed. GG drank some water and went back to find her friends.

Another 30 minutes pass when my girl returns to the booth. She now says her stomach hurts and she is really hot. I turn to look at her and all of the color has drained out of her face. I was about to gather our stuff to take her home when I thought to feel her head for a fever. After all, she was sick earlier in the week. Perhaps it had been lying dormant for a few days.

When I touched her face, she feels clammy and cold as ice. My friend put her hand on GG's leg, which was also cold and clammy. I look back at her face and this is when I realize that her lips are blue. My heart dropped. Thank goodness the EMS tent was nearby because off we ran.

The paramedics turned on the misting fan behind her to cool her off. I was not a fan of this. It was warm that day, but nowhere near as hot as it had been earlier in the week. The checked her blood pressure, as well as her pulse ox (the level of oxygen in your blood - I know this from our asthma induced hospital trips years ago).

Everything checks out fine, which is when one of them turn to me and ask "What has she had to eat today?" That is when I utterly failed as a mom. Other than the sno-cone, I honestly had no clue what she ate for breakfast. The husband feeds the kids on the weekends so I can sleep in. I also had no clue what color sno-cone she ate (drank?). Turns out it was blue. I'm thinking (hoping) I didn't notice the sno-cone blue left on her lips until she lost all her color. Another fail? Probably.

The diagnosis? Get the girl something to eat, like a hot dog or hamburger.

If I had a tail, it surely would have been between my legs. I should have paid more attention to what was going into her body.



Until next time...



6 comments:

Unknown said...

Girl first of all you are NOT the first and only mom to have the kids think they know how to take care of themselves. They have to learn some time. Hell E decides at 8 AM he wants chicken nuggets and for dinner he wants waffles. Some where in there he drinks a LOT of really watered down apple juice and he'll snack on any thing he thinks he might like, popcorn, swedish fish, pretzel sticks, string cheese and other days he lives on almost nothing but fluids. I say don't beat yourself up over this. You are not purposely depriving your child of food or keeping her malnourished, she was out having a good time and didn't think about eating any real food until she didn't feel well. I've done it as a kid, hell some times I still do it as an adult. You remedied the problem and I'm sure she was right as rain once the food hit her system. I was one of those kids who was constantly on the go and used my lunch money for the week to live on junk food instead of buying lunch for myself. Hang in there all will be just fine.

Oka said...

A good educational experience for GG.

Kmama said...

How scary! Thank goodness it was just that she needed to eat.

I often don't know what my kids have eaten, so don't feel too bad!

BNM said...

I wouldnt beat yourself up about it (always blame the spouse LOL) but seriously she was having a good time and forgot to eat & I agree with Oka it was probably a good learning experience for her food is important!

Cyndy Bush said...

In a situation like that the kids that age are always running around and who knows what they're eating, drinking, or doing! Don't feel bad. Glad she's ok! My first thought when you said 'blue lips' was 'blue sno-cone'. LOL!

Liz said...

I say, at least it's a quick and easy fix!

Plus, you can blame the husband. :)