This afternoon, I babysat TG. I love babysitting TG. We have good times. They are most certainly my favorite little people. They are probably the main reason I got to the point where I want to have kids of my own. That and the fact that I’m getting old.
Anyway. TG were playing with my cats. B & C. B has a toy that my mom gave her for Christmas. Its a mouse on an elastic string. B has great fun. But, C has a history of swallowing strings (as much as 6 feet! (and that resulted in a trip to the vet, an endoscopy, and a very very large vet bill (on Christmas eve (last year) nonetheless)). I really did learn my lesson with that event and have been so careful to only keep B’s toy out while supervised.
So, TG have the toy, and they’re walking around the living room, as C is chasing the mouse on the string. Prior to this moment I had warned TG that Cooper has deep affection for string, and he’ll swallow it all if we’re not careful. (I didnt word it like that, more of, You can play with the toy, but dont let C chew on the string, he’ll eat it and get sick).
I was in the kitchen, starting dinner.
Moments later, TG joined me in the kitchen, complaining of being hungry, asking what we’re having. The usual.
After I got the pasta boiling, I stepped into the living room, and thats where I found C, lovingly, passionately, defiantly, chewing on the string. Well, it might be more accurate to say, swallowing the string. Cause when I pulled the mouse away from his mouth, there was only an inch of string attached to it. The rest, was in his belly.
I quickly went and found my husband, to tell him the terrible news. I knew what this meant, that was far too much string for him to pass aww naturalle, and we would have to take him to the vet. (Again).
Turns out we’re still “in between” vets. Our vet closed shop (for family reasons, she was a great vet. Wicked with an endoscope). Also turns out this story occurred around 4pm on a Saturday afternoon. And vets dont work on Saturday afternoons. So, after much calling around, we got referred to an (undoubtedly expensive) emergency hospital (in Cary!).
We have a friend (who will now go down as “great friend”) that is a vet. I called her once, no answer.
Then, C & R arrived. I had invited them over for dinner after their movie. But we told them the news, and that we’d be traveling to the vet soon, and they took my half cooked dinner home to eat it (yes, that means I am now without dinner).
Then I got a hold of The Great Friend Vet. She suggested that we give C some hydrogen peroxide and induce vomiting.
So, thats what we did. We fed him a can of cat food (his lucky day, ay?) and then gave him 5 CCs of HP (thank God I hold onto silly things like syringes).
We waited. I cried and cried and cried.
And then, finally he threw it all up. In one big (disgusting) bleeeeh. I thanked God and cleaned up the mess. No endoscopy on a Saturday night for us.

And what does ALL of this have to do with adoption?
What do you think was going through my head while I cried and cried and cried?
I am in NO WAY fit for parenting. If I cant boil a pot of water and keep my cat from swallowing two feet of string, how can I possibly be a parent? Babies put things in their mouth all the time! I realize I have the human gag reflex on my side… but really, its not just swallowing. Here I was, thinking I was a great multitasker, thinking I was responsible, and mindful, and and smart! And then this, Day Two of Journal of an Adoption and I BLOW it. No parenting for me. I should even reconsider owning pets!
I dont really mean all this. But I did cry about it for a good hour. I am certainly more scared about parenting than I was before. Maybe thats why this happened, maybe I was getting comfortable with my skills. Just the other day I bragged about being able to change a diaper and do whatever else at the same time. Clearly, thats not true. Lesson learned, one thing at a time, babe.
In case you’re concerned, C is perfectly fine. He’s totally back to normal (sneak attacks on B, looking for more things he shouldnt eat). I’m the one with puffy eyes.