I’ve heard many stories from my mum but not this one. This, is a secret my mum has kept from the family throughout the years and this is the first time I’m hearing it. The story of the swallowed safety pin.
My mum was about 19 years old when she got married and not long after, my eldest brother was conceived. Being young and inexperienced, my mum obviously had lots to learn about child rearing. She didn’t have the benefit of reading books nor anyone for advice. Moreover, being a SAHM at that time meant she had to take care of all the household chores too.
So the story was that she found out one day too late that a safety pin was missing. Safety pins, as you may know, come in various sizes and the missing one had to be the largest. To her horror, my brother, who was less than one year old at that time, had apparently swallowed it. And horrors of horrors, the safety pin was left open before it was swallowed! Can you imagine the panic my mum felt then?
Out of fear, my mum didn’t even dare breathe a word to anyone and kept the anxiety all to herself, not knowing what to do. She was all antsy, worried that the safety pin would cause permanent damage to my brother and that anxiety lasted a good 24 hours until the safety pin was passed out together with his poop. My brother survived unscathed and my mum was finally able to heave a sigh of relief!
Till today, she hadn’t told my brother the story but she swears it was the worst time in terms 
of her parenting years. I can certainly understand how she felt because I had a similar experience, which I won’t be sharing as yet though.
So what about you? Have you encountered any scare in performing your duties as a parent?
wow…. and recently there was this report in the new paper about a guy who swallowed an open safety pin from a mee siam dish.. That poor guy had to go for surgery.
your brother is VERY LUCKY!!!
Comment by Mark — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 @ 5:17 pm
gosh that is really scary! I would not know what to do either if my kid were to swallow something like that in future. heh
Comment by msfairface — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 @ 7:59 pm
Wow…!! that was scary..!! i panic at everything. .when chloe was younger.. and you wouldn’t wanna be my kid.. when i panic.. muahhahaha!!
Comment by Mama BoK — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 @ 10:54 pm
OMG…swallowed opened safety pin? he’s soo lucky.
So far, nothing like that happened but the scarriest moment was when my son got admitted into hospital and I was sick at that time too. It was like mad!
Comment by sasha — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 @ 9:28 am
Wow…amazing!! It was scary as well…
Your bro is really very very lucky indeed…and i could imagine the anxiety your mum experienced…thank god all turns out well…
Comment by Eileen — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 @ 1:04 pm
That is scary! I am not a parent yet but the worst scare I had while raising my young brothers was the youngest one’s battle with whooping cough, it was awful! They never swallowed anything unusual though thank goodness.
Comment by Amy — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 @ 6:40 am
Can’t imagine what it must been like for your mom. I always find safety pin to be abit kind of dangerious to use, it unhook so easily. So I avoid using that.
Comment by ilovepearly — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 @ 2:33 am
Well, it was a scare for her for sure. Luckily, the safety pin wasn’t too wide open and it was swallowed with the round end in first, so minimizing the possibility of poking through the intestines.
Comment by sesame — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 @ 9:02 am