Who Nose?

It was a normal Wednesday morning. Wake up at 7. Breakfast at 8. Get ready at 9, then ballet and tap at 11. As usual Juliette enjoyed her ballet/tap class. When it was over, she greeted me with a huge smile and a shiny sticker. "Look mom, this time I got an apple sticker!" "Good," I replied and took her by the hand as I led her down the stairs, out the door and into the car. But something on the ground caught her attention, "Look Mom! Its a special rock just like the one on Dragon Tales, can I keep it? It can be my special rock!" "Sure," I replied as I placed her into her booster and fastened her seatbelt.

Not even 5 minutes later Juliette started crying. "Whats wrong?" I asked. "Mommy, I can't tell you, I can't tell you what I did..." I was surprised by this sudden onset of unhappiness, "What hunny, what happened?" With hesitation in her voice and tears streaming down her cheeks, Juliette replied, "I stuck the rock up my nose."

I don't remember what I said, but in less than 2.2 seconds the car was pulled over and I was examining her. Yup, theres the rock! It was past the nostrils and buldging out the side. I tried to touch it but Juliette batted my hand away saying, "no mommy, don't touch it!" I made a quick call to my mom (an RN) and asked her advice. I asked Juliette to blow her nose. Nothing. I held one nostril shut, blow again I demanded. Nothing. I started to panic. The realization was setting in that we needed to make a trip the the Emergency Room. Juliette could see it in my eyes, "Mommy am I going to die?!" No, honey, you're going to be fine!

I hopped back in the car, buckled myself in, and started driving. Except I couldn't remember where the nearest hospital was. Thankfully we have Nancy (our family's Global Positioning System) I scrambled as I searched for the nearest hospital, drove there, and admitted my four-year old.

Thankfully, we were seen right away. Before we knew it, the ENT was ready to remove the rock from Juliette's nose. I was instructed to lay across Juliette's lap and to hold her hands down with my arms, similar to the physical restraints I've done in the past. The ENT picked up his scizzor-looking instrument and removed the rock on the first try! "Wow, thats quite a rock, one of the biggest I've seen," the doctor said. Juliette smiled. Not because she broke the record, but because she was happy to have that darn rock out of her nose!

On the way home Juliette and I talked about what happened. She said, "Mommy, I think that rock was trying to hibernate in my nose!"

I'm glad her sense of humor is back!