There once was a Marley who swallowed a screw...so we had to go through her poo.
Last Saturday evening I was getting a bath ready for the girls, and went into Marley's room to get her. I had noticed she was hiding in her closet being suspiciously quiet, but I figured she was just playing. I told her it was time for a bath and she ran over to me crying and holding her throat.
She kept saying, "It hurts! It hurts!" and I immediately asked her if she swallowed something. She said yes, and I started asking her what she ate. I couldn't get a straight answer out of her, so I asked her what it looked like.
She said, "It had a circle with a line on it, and it was sparkly." By this time, Jason was in the room too and we were looking around trying to find something that fit the description.
**Side note... The closet doors in Marley's room are accordion-type, with hinges that are screwed onto the back. They are pretty old, and the screws are always falling out. When I spot one on the floor, I pick it up and put in on Marley's dresser so that I can have Jason fix it when he comes home.**
There was a screw I had found a few days earlier sitting on Marley's dresser, and I grabbed it and asked her if that is what she swallowed. She said yes, and I looked at Jason and said, "Looks like we're headed to the emergency room."
He stayed home with Kenzie while I drove Marley to the ER in Murray. (Looking back, I realize I could have totally just gone to Instacare, but I was freaking out.)
I got her all checked in, and she loved every minute of the attention from the bubbly nurses. The doctor came in and asked me a bunch of questions. I started to get a little annoyed because I could tell they thought I was crazy. They kept saying, "So you didn't SEE her swallow the screw?" Or "She seems so fine and happy, breathing normally."
After I saw that x-ray pop on the screen I said, "Yeah, NOT crazy!!" Marley is very well-spoken, and I knew once she described the screw to me exactly what had happened.
So we met back up with the doctor and he said that since the screw had already made it to the stomach, that we just needed to wait and hope it passes. He recommended a follow up x-ray two days later just to make sure that the screw was moving through her system.
Marley got such a kick out of getting to see her bones on the x-ray, and seeing the screw in her tummy. She kept telling the nurses (with a sigh) "Yeah, I swallowed a screw."
We headed home, with a haul of 6+ stickers, a box of crayons, and a coloring book that Marley conned from the nurses for being "so cute" (I wasn't buying it...) and brave.
By Monday we still hadn't seen the screw so I took Marley back to instacare for a follow up x-ray. They never showed that one to me, but the doctor told me that things were moving along and that the screw should pass in the next few days.
Finally, after 4 days of searching poop for a screw...having to tell Marley's teacher that if she happened to poop in her pull up that they needed to call me so I could check it (that was fun, I love getting looked at like I'm crazy)... Jason found the screw in her pull-up on Wednesday, the ONE morning I slept in.
I have to say, I was a little jealous that I wasn't the one to find it but I'm just glad this craziness is over. Marley loves telling people she "pooped out the screw," and has promised that she will never eat anything that isn't food again.
A lot of people ask me why she did it, and I have absolutely NO idea. My theory is that she had it in her mouth, and when I came in and told her it was bathtime, I surprised her and she swallowed it by accident. But honestly, who knows?!
Toddlers are the worst...
