My story begins around 8:30pm on Tuesday night. I want to preface the story with the fact that my daughter, Emily is very smart and mature for a 3-year-old - USUALLY!!! My baby is no glue-eater!
My husband was at a friends house doing his ever-important Fantasy Football Draft. Emily was in her bed still talking to her favorite stuffed animal, Turtle. I had settled in to put my feet up and watch some trash TV before going to sleep.
At around 8:30, I heard loud loud crying coming from Emily's room. My initial reaction is that she must have bit her tongue or fell out of her bed while attempting some new acrobatic move or something along those lines (neither of these would be unheard of in our house). I went in and she was sitting up and once she calmed down a little she said "There's a quarter in my tummy!" We went through a comical line of questioning from there because a quarter seams so big to me for anyone to just swallow! "Can you breath? Are you sure it was a quarter? Why was the quarter in your mouth? Are you sure you swallowed it? Does anything hurt?" - You get the idea! I got a bunch of non-helpful 3-year-old answers that didn't make any sense to me.
Because she was acting just fine, breathing normally, and very chatty at this point, instead of panicking, I called the Kaiser advise nurse to see if we needed a trip to the ER or if a child could actually successfully digest a quarter. I teach about the digestive system to my 7th graders and I know that the small intestine is a really really narrow tube. I just didn't see how it was possible for a quarter to go through! The nurse did all of her weird trouble shooting questions that she is required by law to ask including my favorite question, "Is the child suicidal?" Followed by "I'm really sorry mam, I am required to ask all of these questions." I started laughing (yes I am immature)! At this point she asks me to hold up a bunch of different coins for Emily to make sure its really a quarter and not just a dime or a penny. I know that Emily knows her coins well, but I held up all the coins as requested and Emily looked at me like I was a simpleton and said "Mommy I told you it was a quarter!!!" In the end, I was instructed to take her to the ER because they needed to do an x-ray to make sure it was in fact a coin and not something more hazardous (like a battery) and to make sure it wasn't lodged in her esophagus.
I told Emily we would be going to the hospital and the child got really excited! Hospitals are cool and have ambulances!!! A late night field trip! Yay! How Fun!!! I called my hubby and he said, "Do you really need me? I have a couple of picks left before the draft is over..." I hung up on him! He deserved it! He came to his senses and called back for me to pick him up on the way to the ER. Our closest Kaiser hospital is about a 20-30 minute drive away. Emily excitedly chatted away about the hospital the whole drive there! All I could think was "There better be a freaking coin in this kids belly or mommy going to lose her S-H-I-T!!!"
We got to the hospital, Emily had a lovely time with the triage nurse! She was very interested in the blood pressure checker and the cool new bracelets they put on her wrist. We went in and got the picture of her tummy and sure enough, the quarter had made its way into her stomach! I wish I had the x-ray to show! It is funny! A tiny little rib cage and this huge shiny quarter!
Apparently, if you can swallow it, it can be digested and passed through your intestines with no trouble (unless its a sharp object). The Doc said she would poop it out and to watch out for signs of illness and sent us home at 11pm. Thankfully he said I didn't have to go sifting through poo to find the quarter! Emily was very excited at the idea of pooping out a quarter like it would be magical!
I still cannot believe that my 3-year-old ate a quarter!!! I thought we were out of the woods with the tiny objects in the mouth! We give her coins all the time to play with and think nothing of it! Can't believe it! It is a funny story to tell to her when she gets older!
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