bennett has one goal: no more swallowing pennies.
when the kids' fantastic pediatrician greeted me with the happy news that mason has climbed to the 3rd percentile for his weight, i countered with the un-happy news that bennett swallowed a penny approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes before our appointment. awesome.
so... off we went to get a special x-ray. just what i wanted to add to my day. my first thought (after bennett's welfare of course) was "oh cr*p. i didn't shove enough lollipops/fruit snacks/sugar filled candy in my diaper bag to keep my kids happy in yet another waiting room." oh, and i also don't have anything to calm my fussy baby... but what else is new.
poor little guy. he seems to be feeling totally fine. when the well-meaning, very sweet nurses at the pediatricians gently "teased" him about "no more swallowing pennies you silly little guy!" i thought he was going to cry. such a tender heart, that boy. and in the parking lot before the x-ray as i attempted to pump my little man up for the adventure of an picture of his insides, he looked at me with these sad eyes, his chin tucked down and asked in a scared whisper, "is it going to hurt?"
i had envisioned quite a long wait (because it isn't always) and when the nurse had handed me the x-ray order and it said "STAT" all over it, for a moment i honestly thought she did that for my sake and not because of the possible seriousness of a foreign object lodged in the esophagus of a 2 year-old. so when i said, "oh, thank you so much for that" she looked at me like i had lost my mind. (and truthfully, i have, so its ok.) then the doctor around the corner hears this and roars with laughter. oh, he thought i was trying to be funny. of course i played along and didn't allude to my self-first mentality. i already have a way under weight baby and a child ingesting coins. i should really be more careful about giving them any other reason to report me to the proper authorities.
so yeah, the wait was about 4 minutes. and everyone was really nice. especially the elderly couple smiling at us the whole time from the corner, all the while looking very sad. it made me think for a moment about the silliness of this visit, and of my life and the seriousness of things all around me. i don't know what tests they were facing this morning, but i had a feeling they weren't sitting there wishing they had remembered their camera. puts things in perspective and really, i am thankful that my "emergencies" involve pennies and laughter. my heart goes out to those suffering far worse days than me.
bennett was very, very still and looked very, very cute in his gown. instead of throwing the gown away, i realized it would make a super fun addition to our "playing hospital"... the still on-going obsession where my kids imitate c-section time and having babies cut out of their stomachs. 
alas, the penny made its way to his tummy. and if all goes "smoothly", it should make its way on out in a couple days. stay tuned...
5 comments:
Stephanie..this is Amber Thompson..
You had me cracking up again! I can't wait for the post in a couple days...hehe
You might just want to scrapbook that penny! What a big boy! Glad to hear all is well and that Mason is doing good too.
Only you could wrap such deep and wise words into a story about trying to get a little boy to pass a penny. You crack me up every time.
That is hilarious (to me now, probably not to you then). I wondered what you do if and when that happens, I figured you wait for it to pass but I'm glad that I know better now. I'm sure the passing will be fun too ;). I love your perspective on things.
Stephanie,
I echo these sentiments. I especially love what Megan O. said, that "only you could wrap such deep and wise words into a story about trying to get a little boy to pass a penny." You have such a way with words and humor, Steph, and you manage to intertwine them with the more serious, nearest and dearest matters of your heart. It is a joy to share these little, precious, moments of your family with you ... even moments that involve pennies and poop (hopefully!). Lots of love my wise, perseverant, beautiful friend!
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