As parents we all understand the importance of keeping our eyes on our child in public places, in the blink of an eye they can disappear and find the most unlikely places to explore.
But in the comfort of your own home and yard it should be a time a parent can relax knowing their child is playing in safe and familiar territory.
Unfortunately this wasn’t the case for Christin Blankenship after leaving her one-year-old son briefly with her boyfriend.
Christin said as she was calling to say she was on her way home she heard a piercing scream in the background and rushed home. Within ten minutes her son’s lips had swelled and he was screaming in pain.
When she arrived at her home in Gardendale, Alabama her son was crying hysterically.
Lucas had picked up a millipede and put it in his mouth.
The bug had produced a venom-like substance while it was inside Lucas’ mouth and Christin didn’t know her son was allergic to bugs.
Christin put her son in her car and rushed him to hospital where he was given two epishots, morphine and Benadryl, according to The Mirror newspaper.
“He was screaming the entire way to the hospital, screamed while we got into a room and all the way up to when he got the morphine – then he went quiet,” Christin said, according to The Mirror.
By the time the frantic mom reached the hospital, Lucas was so hysterical it took doctors three hours to calm him down.
Following treatment Lucas had to spend the next day in hospital as his throat and tongue were so swollen, he couldn’t eat or drink.
“He really wanted something to drink because his mouth was super dry,” Christin said, according to the Mirror.
“So every time I would hand him a drink he’d get really upset because he couldn’t put it in his mouth because it hurt.”
‘Watch them around bugs’
Thankfully the family of three are now home and Christin wants to share her story to warn others.
“A baby’s first instinct is to put something in their mouth and Lucas is so fast.
“I know that parents can’t watch their kids with 40 sets of eyes and I know how fast they are, but they need to watch them around bugs.”
This poor baby having to endure such pain for so long. Please share to warn other parents to be aware when their child is playing outside.
