Lesson Learned

It's funny that after 3 kids I think that I have this being a mother thing down and then something happens...

Everyone gets into some sort of routine...if you think about it. 
You wake up (usually at the same time everyday)
You eat Breakfast
You go to work
You eat Lunch
You go to back to work
You eat Dinner
You wind down after the day
You go to bed
You repeat.

My Husband and I were in for a wake up call about how comfortable we were with our routines. On Sunday I was on the phone with poison control because as we were going to bed, I checked in on the boys and discovered that David had managed to get a hold of a bottle of children's Tylenol and drank a good portion. Other than the day they were born I have never been so scared and worried about my kids in all my life!

How could this happen? We were so careful, putting the bottle on the boys dresser that is quite high. They have never attempted to climb the dresser...but this time David climbed onto the rocking chair and used the arm as his lift to reach for the bottle. I am trying to wrap my brain around this, and my theory is:

The boys have been sick all week and we have been giving them Tylenol to help with sore throats and sleep. Sunday night I thought that they were much better and didn't need it. David however had a different idea. He probably thought that we missed giving it and took it upon himself to get his dose. We have absolutely no idea how much he actually got because the bottle was not new and I don't know how much was left.

Calling poison control the lady on the other line was very nice but I could tell that she was trying to be professional. After weighing David we figured (doing calculations on her end) that he would have had to have 3/4 of the bottle to be toxic. If that was the case I would have to go to the hospital and get the antidote, because Tylenol causes liver damage.

Because I was doubting how much he could have ingested I was up all night making sure that he was still breathing and not turning yellow from liver failure...so the lesson has been learned and I hope this blog can help someone else so they don't have to go through the worry and terror of a child overdosing on something so simple as Tylenol. It can happen so fast!

The first thing I have done the next day was put all medicine in our medicine cabinet that the only way a child can get to is by closing our bathroom door and climbing on a chair...which they would have to get from downstairs.