I was waiting...!

Well, it finally happened. The moment I had dreaded. There always has to be a first, right?

Yesterday, after church, I was changing Evan and getting him ready for a nap. Evan was standing next to me, naked and I saw something dribble on the ground out of the corner of my eye. I thought he had spit some food out of his mouth. When I looked up, I saw more food goo on his belly and much to my surprise, his Gtube button dangling from medical tape!!!

I'm not exactly sure what happen but I'm assuming he pulled on it a little too hard. All at once I was in a slight panic. It is very strange to see a hole in your child's gut, even if it is only about a centimeter wide.

I sent one child to call their Dad, he was still at church. One child to get the emergency kit. One child to hold his arms down, the other the legs. Then began the replay in my mind of all the information they give you in the hospital for situations just like this. You see, the 'button' is held in place by a small water balloon that holds about 1tsp of water. Over time balloon can deflate (which is what was the case for us) and it is flexible so depending on the activity level of your child or even the curiosity of other children, they are bound to come out.

The nurses try to prepare you to handle the situation. We watched videos, had someone come and give us a more hands on training, etc. But it is a lot of information, and many times I was flabbergasted thinking I didn't have to have any medical training to do the things they are telling me needs to be done.
We keep an emergency kit with us at all times. Time is of the essence. Because the stomach is a muscle, the hole can close in there within 10 minutes.

I was not able to get the tube back in. I tried and tried and it seemed just ever so slightly too big. I really wasn't wanting to go to the ER. Of course, as life would have it, in the middle of this chaos his alarm for his cornstarch treatment sounded- queue more panic!

In the emergency kit there are some catheters of varying size that are used to hold the hole open while we seek medical attention in the event the button can't be replaced. I decided that like or not this is what I'm going to have to resort to.

Luckily, my knight in shining armor came home. He was little less affected by the drama and was able to get the button in with a little more patience and pressure than I was. Crisis averted. I fumbled through refilling the balloon, and got him taped back up, with extra tape of course. And then prayed we'd done it right.

All I can say now is WHEW! I never want to do that again but I know this wont be the last time. This experience will make it a lot easier for the times when I have to change it even just for  wear and tear.