Lately Nate and I have been falling asleep exhausted before we even mean to. On Tuesday night Nate fell asleep with his contacts still in. He woke up in a lot of pain and took them out. He spent the day doctoring his eye and hoped it would be better by the next morning. But I woke up at about 5 am the next morning to watch Nate pacing up and down the hall like a mad man with his hand over his eye. Just watching him made your eyes hurt. He had been up since 4am in terrible shooting pain. The doctor's office didn't open til 9am. Nate said it could have been months til it opened and it wouldn't have seemed longer.
The doctor couldn't see him til 11:20, so we dropped Kezia and Ivy off at a friend's and put a sleepy Elysse in the backseat and drove off to Walmart. I found a parking spot in the sun and thought, "oh well, there's nothing in the car that'll need shade" and Nate and I went to the doctor's. We filled out the paperwork, got his eyes airblasted, and waited to see the doctor. And then it hit me: ELYSSE!!! Omigoodness, with the older girls at our friends and our concern for Nate's eye, I totally forgot her!!! And now it was at least 10 minutes later in a car in the sun!!
I dashed out of there so fast. I could hear a baby crying in the distance and my first thought was someone got her out and now they're calling CFS to convict me. The crying continued as I got closer to the car, so then I thought she must be screaming in the car. But as I yanked open the car door, I found a quiet, drowsy, sweaty little girl. (I am thinking (hoping) the drowsy part was because she had just woken up). Although I had gotten the stroller out, I didn't put her in it. I held her close all the way back to the store. I am so, so, so grateful for the Holy Ghost and that she is ok. Since the girls were at a friend's, the thought was in my head that the girls were gone and it was just Nate and I. Once we returned to the car later, it was hot enough that we would have probably lost her had I not remembered earlier.
So now both my parenting nightmares have come true: 1. locking my children in the car without a key and 2. forgetting a quiet baby in the car. And both times have turned out alright.
And what about Nate? He had an abrasion on his eye, probably due to pulling off a layer of eye skin while rubbing his eye with a dry contact in it. He is fine now.
1 comment:
wow Heidi. What a story. I am so glad Elysse and you are okay. Can you imagine...well let's not.
I had a somewhat similar experience the other day when I was SOOOO glad I had thought of my daughter in time. Claire was happily playing in the living room with some bags we had packed for a trip (I think we were going camping) I was rushing around trying to get things done in such little time we had left before we had to leave so I was in the kitchen washing dishes. At one point I thought I heard a cry and i turned to find Claire with the straps of the duffle bag wrapped around her neck and only making it tighter as she tried to roll to get herself free. I just held her and cried. Talk about the need to slow down in life. Dishes smishes.
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