My biggest piece of sea glass

Don't you love the eraser? I needed something for comparison.
I know you're thinking - what? That is your biggest piece?!
Yes.
There is a reason.
Before I had a blog but loved reading other blogs I knew this story would need to be written, and I began mentally composing it in the emergency room.

You see, one rainy Saturday, I had gone out for a run and like most runs, I ended up on the beach. I found some sea glass, but nothing out of the ordinary. The family admired them and I left them on the table to go shower. Getting out of the shower I heard a frantic shout from the living room. Dashing in I see child #1 freaking out and my husband is trying to look in his nose with a flashlight. When things calm down enough to find out what happened, my heart sinks... there is a piece of sea glass in my son's nose.

We bundle everyone up and head to the local and very small emergency room. My husband checks him in, they call for the doctor that is "on-call" but after waiting for 30 minutes,(I think he was at home eating breakfast) he arrives. He assesses the situation, puts on a headlamp, uses a tool with a loop at the end and gets...nothing. (I don't see any of this but I do hear my child's tears and the doctor's request, "can you hold his arms?" as I was entertaining/dealing with child #2, in the other room).

After tears and numerous tries, the doctor informs us that he will have to call around to find a pediatric ENT (Ears, Nose Throat) doctor, who will most likely have to sedate our child in order to get the glass out. My heart sinks, now it is getting serious.

With this unfortunate news, I begin trying to think of who I can call to care for child #2 and of course, all the while, I am praying in my heart,
"please let this be short"
"please, I don't want him to have to be sedated"
"please, just let this little piece come out"
and
"please help me handle this all"

We wait and wait (did I mention it was Saturday morning?). I go out to the car and let child #2 play, while child with sea glass in his nose plays with daddy's iPhone.

I get tired of the car and my husband and I switch kids. When we make the switch, he mentions that child #1 had sneezed earlier, but nothing came out. I began to pray for another very large sneeze!

As I sit there worrying and praying, child #1 is stealthily trying to pick his nose. I quickly tell him to move his hand away. He then tells me to move away. I do and again the finger moves to his nostril. I understand that it must be uncomfortable to have something stuck there, but like a good mother, I try to explain that he must leave it alone.

But he is very persistent with wanting to pick.

Because so many people have been looking up his nostril, he does not want anyone to look up his nose, but I sneak a peak when he is distracted by the iPhone (bless you iPhone!)

With that peek, I become convinced that I can see the glass and I ask my husband to get the doctor. The nice doctor comes from his office (where he has been waiting to hear back from other hospitals) and tries again.

Again, the headlamp and the tool with the loop at the end. And again I hear tears but this time, I also hear a clink.

It is the piece of sea glass being dropped in a metal bowl! What a relief!

I hug my crying son. We sign some papers. The relieved doctor mentions that he was afraid this was going to be his first extraction where he was unsuccessful. Because of that blessed sneeze, he keeps a perfect extraction record. I think we were all praying for a little miracle!

And that is why that little green piece of sea glass holds the title of "My biggest piece"