Monday, December 10, 2007

911 what is your emergency?


I so didn't want t have to make the call. I did everything I could NOT to make the call. I called everyone I could think of who could possibly help me out, and they all said - make the call.

When I was little I was given a wooden rocking chair by my father. When my father died, and we were going through his stuff, I found it, along with pictures of me in the chair, so I decided I have tons of kids, they would love to use it, so I took it home. It has been in my house putting up with abuse from my kids for almost 4 years now. Until today.

This morning was a pretty normal morning (other than Mickey and Isa missing the bus, and me having to take them to school) and I was catching up on my emails, and rocking Levi, while Johan was watching Dora, and Lana was sitting at the little table coloring.

Well for some reason she got up from the table, and decided to crawl through the openings in the chair. Well, she did, and no sooner did she get through one opening did she get stuck. No biggie I let her try to get out for a couple of minutes, then decided she needed help. Johan had gotten stuck in the same chair before, and like Lana he couldn't get out. So I had to turn him around so he could climb out. Only she put her head through a different hole. I couldn't help her. She is to big in the belly and waist to be able to pull her out, and her head is to big for her to be able to back out of the chair the way she got in. I really dont know how she got into that hole. I dont even think Levi's head could fit in that space.

So I get a hammer and try to hammer away at the part where the arm-rest met the back of the chair, and other than making some dents the chair wasn't budging or breaking. So I called around and a friend down the street had a saw. So I sent Andre down to get the saw and when he came back, I had him hold her hands and the chair in one spot, and with her leaning across my legs, I tried to saw the arm-rest off. But I didn't have a good angle, and she kept screaming and having a fit and I was scared I would end up sawing off an arm or something. Plus I would still have had to saw off the other side and she was in the way.

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So I had to make the call. I felt so stupid telling 911 what my emergency was. But they were very very nice, and came out and with their little tiny saw, took it apart and got her out of the chair and told me there is no reason not to feel bad. It only took them 5 minutes or less to get her out. She was in awe of them, and Johan was angry that they broke his chair, LOL. They were leaving and he was yelling at them to come back and fix it because they broke it. Now my family heirloom is out back in the trash waiting for trash day to come so that it can go to its new home.


As for Lana, she is fine. She is going to be covered in bruises on her back and belly/chest, but other than that, she is back to normal getting into everything.



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Lana after she was freed by the firemen.

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Lana's back


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My poor chair all broken up - you can see where I was sawing the arm, I did most of the main cut, but couldn't go further without hurting her, and then on the other side I started to cut it there. They also took out the back peices, and the rocking peice on the one leg was broken off.

13 comments:

Jennie B said...

Poor Lana and your poor chair!

Karen said...

I'm so glad Lana is fine, but why on earth does it always have to be the things we cherish most?

That'll be one for the Christmas letter for sure. :)

onthegomom said...

OMGOSH!!!!! Poor Lana! And of course it was the heirloom chair, not something from a thrift store or Wal-Mart or whatever. I am glad she is okay but sorry you lost your heirloom, but it will be good story to tell her as she gets older. By then you will laugh :)

I have to ask, was your house a total mess?? I only ask, because my carbon monoxide detector went off one night and I went to bed without picking up the house, etc and OF COURSE when the firetrucks (yes PLURAL... TWO trucks) got here I was frantic from the alarm going off to worry but once it was determined it was fine, we just needed a new detector, I looked around and wanted to DIE!!!! I just wondered if Murphy lived at your house too, or was it just MINE?

Unknown said...

WOW. My sister put her head through a rail fence and was stuck for hours. My mom was hysterical. A wise old lady walked by and told her, "if it went in, it will come out". She had no 911 to call, so after many tears, my sister was free. (I wasn't born yet).

Anonymous said...

OMG pobrecita!!!! Glad she is ok though!

Scarlett said...

This is so funny to read. I mean as bad as it was for poor Lana, it's such a great post. I'll have to add you to my blog. I didn't realize you had one.

Anyway, keep those kids away from them chairs...or anything else for that matter! hahahaha. Hey, send me my saw back! ;)

CancunCanuck said...

Oh honey, I hate to say it, but I am giggling (knowing that everyone is ok). What a trauma! Glad the wee princesa is ok, sorry about the chair!

And yes, this will be a story to tell for years to come! (And you've got the pics to prove it, lol!)

Jennifer said...

Onthegomom - was my house a mess? Actually not really. When I made the call, the foyer and the steps had crap all over it, and the upstaies living room needed to be vacuumed. And I yelled at Andre (my almost 12 yr old) to hurry up and clean the steps and foyer, and vacuum the upstairs living, dining room and the hallway. Why I told him to clean upstairs when we were DOWNSTAIRS is beyond me, but whatever. My mind so was not working that day. I actually thought to myself, maybe it would be easier to load her up in the van - chair hanging off her neck and all - and take her to the ER instead of calling 911. The one fireman did make me laugh though, he said are all of these yours (it was Andre, Johan, Lana and Levi) and I said yeah. Wow 4 kids is alot he said. I said no not compared to the 7 that I have, LOL. He just laughed. I figured that him knowing I have 7 kids would explain any mess that there was, LOL.

Heather said...

Yes thais got stuck in the chair at the hotel. luckily i got her out after a few different tries. It happens and i have no idea how they can get in and not get out???? glad all is well!!!

Brook Ann ( the Great ) said...

This made me laugh right out loud, because your daughter looks like mine, and she would so do something like that. Sad that you lost the heirloom, but this post brightened my day, I am struggling right now. Kids are such a kick. No dull moments.

Andrea said...

Poor girl!! I am glad she got free!! I would have freaked out!! Great pictures! She will always charish that day!! :)

Unknown said...

Chairish that day?

Honduras Sprout said...

Your kids are a hoot!

I did think about how great it is to have a working emergency system like 911. That was one of my worries (and still is) about moving to Honduras. I have played the route to the ER over and over in my head.