Spoon
Baby has three teeth and three more all coming in at once. He is teething hard. We were in the yard today and he was chewing on everything so I plucked a stalk of mint to keep him occupied with the non-poisonous side of the garden.
After a little time outdoors, lawn mowing, hammock, the rain drove us in. I was playing on the floor with him and letting him teeth on a metal spoon. A friend had suggested it to help his swollen gums and it seemed fine with close supervision. Of course he was in my lap when he jabbed the spoon handle into the roof of him mouth and started to cry. The stricken hurt-myself cry. I swept him up and peered into his tiny palate. The roof of his mouth was dark with blood, a black blotch, like the spoon had sliced it terribly open. In a flash I had scooped him up and was in my shoes. Yelling at his dad to rush us to the emergency room.
And just that quick the baby stopped crying. I was confused. He reached for a toy and started to play again. He would not nurse and wouldn’t let me see inside his mouth. We had the pediatrician’s office on the phone. The baby was calmly playing when the nurse on duty called us back to say we should go to the ER if it was actively bleeding. The service had also related the message that we let him teeth on a screwdriver instead of a spoon. We clarified so she didn’t send Child Protective Services to our house.
We had gotten him a wet washcloth and stuck a corner in his mouth. There was no blood on it at all. Zac thought it might have been a dark blood blister When Lex let us look again with the flashlight there was nothing to see. The roof of his mouth was pink and perfect. Mysterious.
I was fizzy with adrenaline when I figured it out. He had gotten a mint leaf stuck on the roof of his mouth earlier and when he had gotten a slight poke with the spoon I had totally overreacted.
He was fine. I almost took him to the emergency room for mint. Still, no more teething spoons. Poor sweet bug.
