Poison Control

Short Story: I had to call Poison Control this morning because Joey ingested an unknown quantity (at least 1/4 of a bottle perhaps as much as 1/2 a bottle) of children's acetaminophen. He is fine. Long Story: I have been sick for about 10 days with a sinus infection and bronchitis. I am feeling much better now (on round two of antibiotics) so I can't really use my prolonged illness as an excuse for my poor parenting but watch me. Joey started feeling sick yesterday and had a fever and cough again when he woke up this morning so we headed into the pediatrician. His illness was pronounced as viral and we went home with a "prescription" to snuggle on the couch watching movies and use Tylenol and/or Motrin for fever control. Upon our return home, I dosed Joey up with Tylenol and we made a bed on the couch and got comfy. Perhaps too comfy since I fell asleep. I vaguely remember at some point Joey saying he wanted more medicine and I told him that he already had medicine and couldn't have anymore yet. I woke up at some point later (no more than 15 minutes) and got up to make Joey lunch. I noticed the (closed) bottle of Tylenol on the counter with a chair pulled over to the counter in front of it. The bottle was nearly empty and though I could not recall how full it was two hours earlier, I was positive it held much more liquid then. I asked Joey if he took any medicine and he said "yes, four times....I'm sorry." I thought there was no way he could have opened the "childproof lid" that I struggle with at times so I handed him the bottle and asked him to show me what he did. Sure enough, he opened it right up and then showed me how he basically poured himself shots (4 times) of medicine into the medicine cup. Yikes. I called Dean and paniced to him and then more calmly called Poison Control. They were very kind and after asking me his weight and then assuming that he ingested about a half bottle of medicine, determined that he was fine. She said he would have had to drink an entire bottle of the medicine in order to be sent into the hospital for a Tylenol level. Again, I am not sure how much he drank but I know for a fact that I have given at least five doses of medicine from that bottle so I feel confident that it is not possible that he ingested more than half of the bottle. I feel a little bit better, but not really. Joey seems fine and is napping now (which doesn't do much to help my nerves). I moved all of the medicine from the cabinet in the kitchen where it is normally stored onto the top shelf of the hall linen closet...not terribly convenient but at least I know my little houdini can't easily reach it now. If you need me I will be polishing my "mother of the year" award and googling all of the horrible things that can occur when a child overdoses on Tylenol.