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From:
"Joyce Nadolny Shui"
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 7:52 PM
To: Joan Nadolny, Jennie Shui,
Jo Shui, Conway Shui,
Elaine Shui, Patsy N., Jeannine Rogel,
Ray Nadolny
Subject: Emma's adventure today
Emma
is totally fine so no need for alarm. But
today's adventure was as follows:
About
1:45 pm, I
got a call from the babysitter. Ordinarily, when I get a call from the
babysitter (rarely), I get a little worried. Remember that one of the
last times it happened, Julia had fallen and had to be taken to the hospital and get five stitches . . . But today, I was cheerful and fine
because I knew the babysitter was going to be letting me know whether she could
babysit on
Monday.
As I picked up the phone and cheerfully said hello, however, I realized the time and that she told me she wouldn't be able to tell
me until after 2:30 pm. Uh-oh. That's odd that she'd be calling
this early. And then the news.
"Don't worry, Emma is fine,
but . . . "
"Her head is stuck in the railing
banister. We're trying to calm her down, and the fire department is on the way."
Can you believe -- I
actually
asked, " Should I come over?" I'm
sure the babysitter thought, what a dumb question. But I attribute it to
the babysitter's incredibly calming demeanor and the fact that she had me absolutely convinced it
was not an issue. But then
she said, "yeah, Emma would probably feel better with mom here."
Duh- of course.
I left my
work
without saving, ran
downstairs, and
pulled out of the garage immediately. I heard
the
EMT sirens
just as
I pulled out of the driveway. Ugh.
When I arrived one minute later (the babysitter is
just a couple blocks away), there were two EMT cars, five EMT responders, a
couple of adults and six kids (plus about 10-20 bees) hovered around a
shrieking Emma. She was
trying unsuccessfully to extract herself the wrong way while everyone was
trying to talk loudly enough to tell her not to move so they could try to get
her out. Two EMT guys try to pull the irons apart.
Unsuccessful. They talked about using a torch to break
off of the two bars, containing her head. No, that would be too hot and
dangerous. (really!?) Finally, one of the EMT officers asked the
adults on one size to hold her body up horizontal while he pulled on her on the
other
side. Apparently, until people
are five years, the head is the largest part of
you, circumference-wise. So, he decided to have her pushed through. She continued to shriek while I stood next to
the EMT guy and
told her (I don't think she could hear or see me) that she would be okay. She
got stuck a little at her chest but then once past
the chest, she came out nicely.
She finally
saw me and
shrieking, buried herself into
me and arms and
just sobbed. Poor thing. I held her tight and cooed to her and signed documents from the EMT who told the
thankful babysitter (and a thankful mom) that they
were glad that she wasn't hurt and there'd be no charge and then left peacefully, without sirens. Emma continued to cry in my
arms for a while. I stroked her hair and spoke
gently
to her that it
would be okay. After about 15 minutes, I told her I needed to get her in
the car to go home. She didn't like that. But I assured her I would hold her for as long as she wanted when we
got home and then she was fine.
When we got home, she had me hold her for a
while. She said hello to Daddy who was working at home. And then
she let me carry her upstairs where I held her in bed, and she fell asleep in about five seconds. It was way too much excitement for the poor thing to handle.
The EMT
responder said to me as he was leaving, "Well, she won't do that
again." Well, actually
--
my friend
Patsy
will remember that she and her lovely husband,
Larry, had to extract Emma from two bamboo poles when
they had taken me to dinner several
months ago in Seattle. Yes, Emma had already gotten her head stuck between
two
poles once before! And, my
family in New Jersey will remember that Emma repeatedly, despite my consternation, punishments and admonitions, walked/jumped
through two
railings at my parents' house (her head was small
enough over the summer not to get
stuck).
Apparently, one of Emma's best traits is that she has short-term memory and moves on quickly! I hope
though that she
has learned her lesson for good this time! Luckily, other than some redness around the ears when she was pulling so hard to
get herself out, fighting the babysitter and other mom who were trying to keep
her from scraping or hitting her head, she is
completely fine.
xoxoxo,
Joyce