Accidents happen? *trigger warning*

rubirubi89

I'm having a little bit of a hard time not sounding judgemental but HOLY SHIT! We got a call late last night from MIL saying that one of our nephews was in the hospital, because SIL was distracted and lost track of where her 19 month old was.  Apparently he had managed to go outside their houseand was "lost". SIL apparently gave up looking for him and just figured he was with a neighbour (I know, WTF?). Luckily BIL was just getting home and something in his gut told him to check their septic tank. He reached in there and instantly felt a foot! By the grace of God the baby is alive and well right now! Our guess is that he had been hidding from his mom and had JUST fallen in there when his dad got home because he took a long breath as soon as he was pulled out. Dr's say he did swallow some water but will make a full recovery. 

So here are the bulletpoints of some things I wish I could say to my SIL.

•WTF were you thinking giving up looking for your baby you dumb B! 

•Why TF was the septic tank open?

I don't even know how I'll look at her in the face next time I see her. 

Escheffler34

Holy. Shit. 
I don't know what to say besides thank God that baby is okay!!

helsbels222

Wow! 

Hope she is never left alone again with any child!
So glad the baby is okay!

rubirubi89

Phone won't let me edit that he is 19months, not 14. Not that it matters anyway. 

rubirubi89

helsbels222 said:

Wow! 

Hope she is never left alone again with any child!
So glad the baby is okay!

The Irony is that she was one to give me crap for not being a SAHM like her, because she could NEVER trust her son to anyone else. And she NEVER takes her eyes away from him...right. 

SoFlaMommie1128

Dear god! So glad that baby is safe
and sound. Let's hope this is a wake up call for dear SIL

kmd91

Yeah, I would say accidents happen if all this had happened but she'd kept looking for him. Because a kid getting out of the house is a thing that does sometimes happen. But at the point that you just give up and assume he's with a neighbor (um, why not at least check in with the neighbors and be sure if that's your assumption), then I don't think I'd call it an accident anymore. And I tend to be really forgiving of parenting mishaps. 

Thank goodness the little guy is okay!

rachswi

Not gonna lie. I feel like cps needs to be called. 

rubirubi89

@rachswi I'm pretty sure they did show up. Usually the hospital makes the call.  We're not very close so I havent gotten many updates. 

rachswi

rubirubi89 said:

@rachswi I'm pretty sure they did show up. Usually the hospital makes the call.  We're not very close so I havent gotten many updates. 

I figured. I know they're pretty quick to make the call at the hospitals around here. Wasn't sure if that was the case everywhere. 

grapesoda1111

Oh my gosh that is horrible. I'm so sorry for that baby. Glad baby is okay tho! Ugh! So worrying! 

mcdoug211

What the actual fuck did I just read?! There's so much wrong with every part of this. Don't mean to be mean to your family but who gives up and assumes their kid is with a neighbor?

rubirubi89

mcdoug211 said:

What the actual fuck did I just read?! There's so much wrong with every part of this. Don't mean to be mean to your family but who gives up and assumes their kid is with a neighbor?

I'm with you 100%. These are DH's family. I come from a long line of slighly overbearing/helicopter type of mothers. I'm just as shocked and disgusted as you. Everything that went wrong can be  "understood" but how the hell did she just stop looking for her son?? A toddler no less!! My mom has driven to my house because my phone died and she couldn't get ahold of me. And I'm 26 years old! Some people are just raised differently I guess. 

mrsgabus

 Being a mother of three , things happen that you would never even think of .              However that is purely neglect, who stops looking for there child . 

BowWowBowie

I'm so glad baby is okay. I hope to everything above the proper channels were notified and that this was a huge slap in the face for her. 

HeatherFaye718

Ugh so glad the baby is okay. 

A girl I knows son died falling into a septic tank. The one place no one thought to look until it was too late

wulfpackgirl

Yeah I don't understand how you stop looking for a child that young!  Maybe a 7 or 8 year old is at the neighbors but not a 19 month old.  Wow!  Good thing the dad showed up when he did. 

AmoLovesAud

Wow.  My parents were pretty laid back, but even when they figured I was at a neighbors house (when I was much older than that), they'd play phone tag with the neighborhood moms until they knew whose house I was at (if the mom hadn't called first to say btw your kid is here).  But at 19 months old?!  Forget the septic, why was the door open for him to get out (or am I the only paranoid household that always locks the front door?)

dramaphile

Wow....  Accidents happen and some toddlers are escape artists, but to stop looking for your 19 month old and assume the neighbor has him?  I'm pretty sure if my neighbor's 19 month old showed up at my front door, I would bring him back home or at least call the parents.  Speechless.

rubirubi89

AmoLovesAud said:

Wow.  My parents were pretty laid back, but even when they figured I was at a neighbors house (when I was much older than that), they'd play phone tag with the neighborhood moms until they knew whose house I was at (if the mom hadn't called first to say btw your kid is here).  But at 19 months old?!  Forget the septic, why was the door open for him to get out (or am I the only paranoid household that always locks the front door?)

From what I was told, she was getting down the groceries and left the baby and his sister who is 9 or 10, playing with their dog outside. Sister got distracted with the dog and lost track of baby. Its been a couple of days now and I still can't wrap my head around what happened. It seems so surreal ! One piece of interesting info is that apparently SIL had been teaching the baby to hold his breath underwater for a while now, so it's likely he did that after falling in.  

VexedMommy

Like many others, I can understand and sympathize with every part of this story until she stopped looking for him!  You do not do that with a small child! 

My older daughter was an escape artist.  I recall at one point when she was about 18 months she was napping.  I took that opportunity to let the dogs out and take a quick shower.  Well, she woke up while I was in the shower and decided to go play with the dogs.  I had just gotten out of the shower when I heard a knock on the door and my neighbor holding her.  He had seen her in the yard frolicking naked (don't ask toddlers have no explanations) with the dogs and did not see me.  He (correctly) assumed I didn't know what she was doing and brought her back to me.  I got a chain lock placed high on the door after that.  There is no way I would not have searched high and low for her after that! 

At 9yrs old I searched until I found her when she was not at the playground where she is allowed to go alone.  (It's within yards of my apartment door.) She was at a neighbor's house, but I was physically searching the area while calling the likeliest neighbors to see if she was there.   

Cook3133

We have "lost" my oldest once and my 2nd twice.  My oldest was curled up asleep under a box in his room and my 2nd son escaped out the back gate twice.  We noticed they were missing within minutes.  My oldest we had every family member searching and walked past that dang box a few times (I have no clue how he fit under it!)

with my 2nd so. He was about 2 when he decided to go for a walk and the second time chase the dog he let out (dog stayed with him the entire time) the moment we knew he was gone and not on our block i called 911.  He was out walking for almost an hour both times before we found him!  Perfectly safe.  I still can't believe NO ONE called in a 2 year old walking down the road in the middle of our small town.  

I was so freaking scared and there was no way I would stop looking until he was in my arms.

the 2 year old figured out the locks on the gate!  

itstheblackwidowbaby

I would never speak to her ever again. Jesus. 

JessicaS0914

How the H does a baby fall in a septic tank?  Our is covered by a heavy manhole cover. Do not understand logistics of that.