Reese swallowed a battery today. We had a little light-saber key chain that Reese liked to play with. I never even thought to check what kind of batteries it used; since it was long and tubular (like a pen) I just assumed it was probably a AA. One minute Reese was sitting on the floor innocently flicking the light on and off (while I was fixing dinner) and the next minute I look over and he's chewing on the end of it with little things on the floor next to him. He'd chewed open the battery compartment, and the battery cover + 2 button batteries were laying on the carpet next to him. After a quick inspection I realize there should be 3 batteries. Edward and I looked everywhere for that missing button before concluding that he must've eaten it. I looked up the "National Battery Ingestion Hotline" and called and they said to take him to the ER to make sure it didn't get stuck in his esophagus (which can cause tissue burning). So Edward and Reese spent the majority of the day at the Children's Hospital. An x-ray showed that the battery had made it's way down to his lower intestines, so now we just have to inspect his diapers till we've seen it's made it's way out. Reese seemed fine/ enjoyed all the attention. He liked getting his hospital bracelets and his own pair of gloves. I however feel horrible about the whole thing and hope I can do better spotting potential problems before they happen.
Theo swallowed a penny a few weeks ago, too! We had to take him to the ER, because it was stuck in his chest, or so he was telling us. The xray showed it was in his gut, but we had to watch for it too. Theo is five years old by the way!
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