All for the want of a Nickle.

Ever heard of that Nursery Rhyme, "All for the want of a horse-shoe nail" where an entire battle was eventually lost? Well, we had a similar experience at our house yesterday afternoon. It was quite relaxing at first. I was cleaning my room, Elsie was playing on my bed, and Peter was rolling around on my floor looking for spare change. Suddenly, Peter turned over onto his belly quickly and started gagging. I knew he had found a nickle, and suddenly, the realization came. He was swallowing a nickle! He gagged and cried and gagged and I quickly looked for signs of choking. He was breathing, but still very uncomfortable. I called my pediatrician and the nurse told me he needed to go to the ER or Insta-care. I ran outside where my neighbors had gathered on their hill and handed Elsie off. Another neighbor quickly got her car while I grabbed a throw-up bowl, and she took us to the Insta-care. I used her cell phone to call Mike. It took me 3 tries to get his cell phone number right. I admit, I was scared. I kept telling Peter, "It's okay, you can still breathe, you will be alright" to comfort him, but truely, I was comforting myself. Just as we were about to drive into the Insta-care parking lot, Peter threw-up. As he threw up, I heard with it a "clink" from the bowl. After fishing around with my finger through his bile (being a mother really has its moments of desperation) I indeed found a nickle in the bowl. PHEEEW! Peter immediately felt better and I can't tell you the amount of relief that was lifted from me. I called the pediatritian back and asked if anything further needed to be checked. He gave me the clear that everything was indeed all right. As my neighbor put it, "There's never a dull moment at our house!" Isn't that the truth.