Big scare - feeling like the worst mom!


Guest ldsashley
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Guest ldsashley

Sorry for the long post...

Last night I went out to get the mail and my son (20 months old) thought it would be pretty funny to shut the door on me... only it wasn't so funny because it was locked!! I looked in the window and I could see him standing there crying. I ran to the neighbours house but no one was home. When I came back, I couldn't see him in the window anymore. I tapped on the window, then I knocked, then I banged on it, and he didn't come, I still couldn't see him....I have never been so scared in my life!! My husband was at work, where I can't reach him - he works in a call center, so there is no phone number to reach him at. The neighbor came home, and then the neighbors on the other side came home, so they were all helping me. We had just resorted to calling the police when one of the neighbors figured out they could kick the dog door in (it is secured with a metal/wood panel so I didn't think it could be done), so they did that and I crawled in through it, and .... he was completely fine, and he had fallen asleep. He was alone in the house for almost an hour, and it was the scariest hour of my life because I was thinking the absolute worst.

I had a horrible sleep last night because I kept thinking of the worst things that could have happened and I felt so bad for being so careless and allowing it to happen in the first place. I laid there in bed crying until my husband told me to pray. I prayed for a while, thanking Him that he's ok, and asking Him to forgive me for being careless, and asking Him to help me forgive myself.

My husband told me this will be a funny story in 20 years when he's getting married, but it doesn't seem very funny right now!

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Okay, here is the kids perspective (or sort of)

When my mom accidentally locked herself out of the house (or got locked out by my older brother, I am not sure what happenned ..I was VERY young...2 I think) and she freaked out, (I remember the stove being on) she eventually took an axe to the door and chopped her way through. The axe was scaryer for me, but I was not traumatized, but I do remember it.

The important thing to remember is that you did all you could as a Mom to get back in to make sure your baby was safe. That is not being a horrible mom. That is being a FANTASTIC mom. Accidents happen. You do not need to beat yourself up for it.

-Sunshine

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My husband was at work, where I can't reach him - he works in a call center, so there is no phone number to reach him at.

Just for future reference. I've been a supervisor in a call center and there is always a number that someone can be reached on. There is usually a workforce or attendance line or even supervisors numbers. I would suggest getting a number from your husband for emergencies.

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Just remember even Jesus' parents lost him (for 3 days). No matter how many mistakes I've made I've never forgotten a kid for 3 days. lol If they were good enough to be the parents of the savior of the world then I'm doing ok.

Forgive yourself. You will make mistakes and I know you don't feel it now but you will laugh about it one day (probably by the time he's 5).

*hugs*

edit: also might be time to consider a hide a key. :)

Edited by Gwen
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Such things happen. In a real emergency, you could have broken a window to get in. Actually, you probably could have kicked down the door; most home doors are not strong enough to withstand a few really hard stomps (though it helps if you weigh ~200+ pounds rather than ~130-).

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Actually, you probably could have kicked down the door; most home doors are not strong enough to withstand a few really hard stomps (though it helps if you weigh ~200+ pounds rather than ~130-).

If she's small enough to crawl through a doggy door, I doubt she could produce the force necessary to kick in the door on her own.

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Well, needless to say, you must be a good mom, if you feel so heart wrenched about this experience even to call yourself the worst mom ever.

I only need to share with you one of my experiences, of forgetfulness, and you will feel like the BEST mom ever.

However, so not to sully my renowned presence here on LDS.net, I will refrain from sharing my most recent experience.

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Well, needless to say, you must be a good mom, if you feel so heart wrenched about this experience even to call yourself the worst mom ever.

I only need to share with you one of my experiences, of forgetfulness, and you will feel like the BEST mom ever.

However, so not to sully my renowned presence here on LDS.net, I will refrain from sharing my most recent experience.

You have a worst mom story? :P

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I'm from Northern Utah. While visiting in Southern Utah, I accidentally left my baby in the grocery cart after purchasing my items. We were several miles down the road when I realized my baby wasn't in the van with us (my sister, her kids and mine). I nearly had a heart attack. We drove like crazy back to the store. The clerks all took care of him while I was gone. They knew I'd be back. I guess it had happened before. I've felt guilt about that for years.

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I'm the oldest child in my family. A few days after my mom brought me home from the hospital, she got ready to go out (grocery shopping, perhaps?). She got herself all ready, grabbed her purse and coat, and headed out the door. She got in the car, turned it on, and went to back out of the driveway. When she checked her rearview mirror, she noticed my carseat. I was asleep in my crib in the house -- she'd forgotten that she had a baby!

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We left one of our kids on the wharf in Santa Cruz. We had gone in a circle to get back to the entrance of the wharf and saw a crowd around where we had been stopped. One of the kids said "Hey! There's .....! We got her amidst lots of glares from the crowd. After that we counted every single time we drove anywhere. Since then I have heard lots of stories from parents who have done amazingly scary things that could have ended very badly. None of them did.

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Guest ldsashley

Wow thank you everyone for the messages. I feel so much better now. I guess parenthood will probably be full of scary moments and I'm not alone in making a mistake!!

By the way, my husband works for a government business tax call center, and there really is no emergency number I can reach him at. There's an email address, but that wasn't very useful that evening because I couldn't remember it (it's made up of a bunch of abbreviations) and my phone was in the house anyway.

And we are definitely putting a spare key somewhere after this!!

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