We use glass bottles and have for months with the mindset that something we are doing differently today is resulting in the more numerous cases of autism. Huge jump in logics there, right? Hear me out. There are about a trillion different things we do nowadays that even our parents didn't do. There are hi-def TVs, there are numerous technological toys and those that are a hundred times more stimulating than the sticks (only a slight exaggeration) we were given as children. We use much more plastic. We feed our animals steroids. We use chemicals on everything: cleaning, the ground, the air, soaps, lotions, you name it. It could be anything, but it has to be something we're doing differently than we (as humans) were in the past. Anyway, that's the long, roundabout way of telling you why we decided to switch to glass because that's what they used in the past.
On Monday (March 12), I was fairly close to a panic attack/nervous breakdown. Here's the process: I heat up formula in the glass bottle in a bottle warmer. I then pour the heated formula into a bowl, mix it with his cereal and food and then feed it to him. Bailey asked if she could feed him that day, so I let her feed him the first half of his food.
I then fed him the remainder and went to clean up afterwards only to find that there were 3 decent sized chunks missing from the top rim of his bottle (see below). The piece directly above where the camera flashed is the one I was really worried about.
I found one of the pieces, a long, thin, sharp looking piece. The other two were at large. I shut the lights off and searched with a flashlight, hoping it would catch the glare of glass. I swept the floor and searched the dustpan both by the light from the ceiling and with a flashlight.
I crawled around everywhere the glass might possibly be and couldn't find it anywhere.
I had two options: 1) we fed it to him or 2) it managed to make it down the drain. I was certain I searched everywhere else more thoroughly than anything has ever been searched.
So I called the doctor and explained what happened to the receptionist, all the while trying to keep the sobbing out of my voice. She put me through to leave a message with the nurse.
They called me back an HOUR AND A HALF later!!!! REALLY!?!?!?! Meanwhile, I continued to search and call people and search and call people asking for advice and needing consoling. Bailey at one point asked me why I was so worried and what was going to happen to Michael and what would make me stop crying. I told her if she colored me a picture and put lots of stickers on it, I would stop crying, and then silently cursed myself in case it was a lie.
The nurse called and said "If you want to ease your mind, we can do a chest x-ray." That's it. That was my only option. I asked if that's what the doctor thought I should do, and the nurse only repeated herself. So I asked what would happen if they did see something in there and she said, "He would need to see someone pretty immediately."
Aaaaaaaannnnnd begin freak-out mode.
I called Tony, who was just returning from his firm's trip to the Bahamas and was at an airport in Miami, and he wasn't answering because he was going through security at the time.
I called my mom, and she gave me the number to a woman whose children I used to babysit for who is a radiologist. I talked to her, and she told me the only reason they would need a chest x-ray is if it were lodged in his lungs and that the chances of glass showing up on an x-ray were very, very slim. She suggested I just let it go and watch him for any signs of discomfort or blood in his bowel movements.
About that time, Tony called back, so I talked to him and he made me realize that I wasn't going to be okay just sitting around waiting, so I might as well take Michael in after I talked to the nurse again to make sure it was something they would be able to see.
I called the nurse back to see if I should go to the doctor's office or to the hospital and to ask more questions. She assured me that they would be able to see it and that they were looking not only in the lungs but in the esophagus and stomach as well.
So I went.
I had to do everything in my power to right this wrong (all the while thinking I was going to get a call from CPS and have my children taken away. I mean, really. Who feeds their child glass ... maybe?)
I went and sat and waited to be registered. Then I went and sat in a different part of the hospital waiting to be called back to radiology. Luckily, Michael was his happy, bubbly self.
They called us back, and as we were walking I asked the nurse if they would be able to see glass in an x-ray. Her brilliant response, "I don't know. I would have to ask."
The next words she spoke were, "Okay, just lay him here."
Wait. What?
Didn't I just ask a question that went unanswered? I promise, it wasn't some hypothetical, I'm-curious-about-the-logistics sort of question. I was serious, but I received no answer. Looking back, I should have demanded one.
Okay, so I lay him down and they have me step away while they pin him down and he screams.
Another question, only it was like they put me in a bubble or my own little dreamworld ... Isn't there something you put over his face or anything? Nada. No answer.
Now I'm not only scared but irritated as well.
When they finished, which thankfully wasn't very long, I asked when I would hear from them. The nurse must have popped my magic invisible bubble, because she managed to answer that question.
She said the radiologist would have to read it, then send it to the doctor, who would call me. That sounded not the least bit promising since it was 4:50 p.m. as I was walking out the door.
I called the doc and left another voicemail saying the x-ray was finished and would you please call me before you leave for the day so I'm not stressing through the night?
Coincidentally, my phone died and the doc must have called back at that time. She said as of 5:31 p.m., there was no fax from the hospital, so please just call back in the morning.
Okay, I'm slow sometimes, but I SWEAR she had said the first time I talked to her that if they saw something in the x-ray they would need to see him immediately. So what was the "call back in the morning" business?
At that point, I was feeding Michael again (and yes, I have since checked the remaining bottles EVERY time I use them) and decided to call the hospital directly.
The woman (Kim) I spoke with was very nice, and I really tried to be too, especially considering they had information I wanted.
She assured me that they could absolutely not share any information with me over the phone. I told her that I thought something was mixed up. The nurse told me that the doctor had written the order as routine, but when the nurse saw we were looking for glass, she put it through as stat and told me she thought I would know something that night.
Kim said she would see what she could find out and call me back. Thankfully, she did. But she said I would have to come in and sign a release before they would give me the report and a copy of the x-ray.
...
The report showed that no foreign body was found. I checked his diaper for the next 2 days hoping there was no sign of anything else, and there wasn't. I think we are in the clear and that the glass must have gone down the drain (I will disgust you with the knowledge that I checked his diapers pretty thoroughly).
CPS never called, but I'm fairly certain I will not be up for Mother of the Year.
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