Meanwhile, Blue continued to scream at the top of her lungs while her face turned as red as a tomato.
“Holy shit!” I breathed, bracing myself on the rocking chair when I felt my knees weaken. “What the fuck just happened?”
River turned from where she was hovering over Blue, where I presumed she was examining her, and said, “She choked, and we need to know why. Call her doctor’s office and have them page whoever is on call. Tell them exactly what happened. Then, ask them if they want you to bring her to the office or the hospital because we are taking her to one of those two places. I can watch her while you’re on the phone, but I’ll gladly talk to the physician on call if you need me to.”
I made the call and relayed the information as River instructed. The doctor wanted us to be at the office when they opened in less than an hour. All the while, Blue was crying because she was still hungry, but we were given specific instructions not to feed her anything until she’d been examined. Thankfully, while I was scrambling to get us ready to go, River got someone to cover her shift so she could go with me to the pediatrician’s office.
The few hours that followed were a whirlwind of activity blurred by a cloud of fear. We went from the pediatrician’s office to a specialist’s office and ended up at the hospital for a test that allowed them to look at her stomach using x-rays instead of having to stick a tube down her throat. I couldn’t remember what it was called, but it involved them giving Blue something in her bottle that would make her insides show up on the screen. I made a mental note to ask River what the test was called so I could be better prepared for the aftermath if Blue ever had to have that test again.
Because no one prepared me for the epic chalky white shit my tiny girl would take afterward. A shit so epic it covered both me and her literally from chest to feet in poop that looked like wet cement while having the consistency of paint.
I tried to yell for River but started to vomit halfway through her name. “Rivvurrrlllggghhh!”
She appeared seconds later, as did my brother, Layla, Leigh, Batta, Tatum, and Judge—all watching me throw up to the side so I wouldn’t get vomit on my shit-covered daughter or my shit-covered self, as if it mattered at that point. I started to chuckle at the thought, and promptly choked on the puke spewing out of my mouth, redirecting the flow to my nose. While every fucking one of them stood there and watched, refusing to touch me or my shit-coated spawn.
It was one of the longest days I could recall—waiting to find out what was wrong with my daughter, and more importantly, what could be done to fix it. As it turned out, Blue had acid reflux, which the doctor assured me was very common in infants. He suggested she may have actually gagged instead of choked, but in any event, her body responded by protecting her airway; thus, Blue turned the color of her name.
Ultimately, we were sent home with a prescription for me to add to her bottle before putting her down for the night, and that was that. No more turning blue for Blue and no more near heart attacks for me.
However, there were times it seemed like she was struggling to drink her bottle. I mentioned it to Leigh, and she suggested trying a different bottle or a different nipple.
“Jonah had a little bit of trouble eating when he first started bottle-feeding. I went through probably twenty different brands before I found one that worked well for him, and it’s still a popular brand today. I’ll run to the baby store and grab the kind I used, plus a few others for you to try. Do you need anything while I’m there?” Leigh asked, already hooking her purse over her shoulder.
“Yeah, can you get me a tube of nipple cream?” Her eyes grew comically wide, causing me to burst into laughter. “I’m being serious,” I managed to say between laughs. “I had to start wearing my jewelry again, and my shirts are making my nipples chafe.”
Leigh doubled over laughing, dropping her purse to the floor. “Oh!” Leigh guffawed. “This is because she tried to nurse