You Thought Your DCP Would Arrive and Find Your Cold Dead Body

[Pestle]

Maybe you climbed a stepladder and then felt it wobble.

Maybe you were peeling veggies for lunch and peeled your finger.

Me, I just took a swig of tea right as the cat jumped onto the counter and head-butted the mug. Tea poured down my trachea, and I thought, "These kids are going to be screaming on the floor around my drowned corpse when their parents come to pick them up."

Share that moment with us!

[Pestle]

That is, your day care parent! I'm still getting the hang of the lingo . . .

[DaveA]

I had a minor cardiac issue (the doctors said it was minor- course it wasn't their heart) a few months ago. DW and a couple DCPs texted a lot more than normal when I reopened blatantly to check to make sure I was vertical. other than that my worst was when I was salting the driveway & sidewalk after an overnight freezing rain and slipped. Perfect 3 point landing: 2 shoulder blades & the back of my head Pretty sure I knocked myself out. Ironically all DCFs stayed home that day because it was too bad to go to work

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

I went out to salt and fell on the back step... twisted my ankle (still have issues with it!) really thought I broke it. Worse pain then child birth! My dh was in the bathroom on the main floor- through the playroom. I was just outside the playroom door yelling for him and he "didn't hear me"- I thought great, it will be 30 minutes before a parent finds me! Finally guess the cold air from the doorway hit my dh and he found me! We spent the next 4 hours at the hospital because a lot of people had fallen that morning.
I was just lucky dd was home and kept kids for me! And watched them until I was off of crutches! I was there but she did all the lifting!

[Blackcat31]

A provider in my area (one I knew well) passed in her sleep last year.

Parents arriving to drop off, found her.

I read the title and thought "It COULD happen"

This topic is a great reminder that we all need to have a plan in place for what should happen should we fall, become unconscious or have some sort of emergency when we are alone with the kids.

I teach my older ones how to call for emergency and I have a provider friend that I text chat with during the day for that very reason...if one of us did not reply we would call for help.

[e.j.]

The smell of a dirty diaper doesn't usually bother me too much but one day, as I was changing one of the kids' diaper, it was so bad that honestly, I felt myself starting to black out.
It was a good thing the changing table was next to a window. I threw it open and took some deep breaths which helped. As it was happening, all I could think about was the kid on the changing table and the others kids playing in the next room and what would happen if I actually fell unconscious. A couple of the kids knew how to dial 911. Not sure they actually would have, though.

[Unregistered]

You'd be surprised. Last Christmas, a few towns over, there was a child wondering around his BIG apartment building. Someone found him. He took the person to his apartment and his mother was dead. I think she had a seizure or something. This boy was like autistic or something. When I used to work at head start, one of the teachers had a heart attack and the most unruly child said "CALL 9-1-1!!!!".

[Mike]

other than that my worst was when I was salting the driveway & sidewalk after an overnight freezing rain and slipped. Perfect 3 point landing: 2 shoulder blades & the back of my head Pretty sure I knocked myself out. Ironically all DCFs stayed home that day because it was too bad to go to work

I did a perfect 1 point landing right on my butt about 10 years ago and popped a ****.
Would have been good if the parents called or texted to say they weren't coming, but then you'd probably still be out salting anyway, right?

I went out to salt and fell on the back step... twisted my ankle (still have issues with it!) really thought I broke it. Worse pain then child birth! My dh was in the bathroom on the main floor- through the playroom. I was just outside the playroom door yelling for him and he "didn't hear me"- I thought great, it will be 30 minutes before a parent finds me! Finally guess the cold air from the doorway hit my dh and he found me! We spent the next 4 hours at the hospital because a lot of people had fallen that morning.
I was just lucky dd was home and kept kids for me! And watched them until I was off of crutches! I was there but she did all the lifting!

I always wondered about that. :: I did a bad twist to my left ankle 16 years ago. That was the most painful incident in my life. It still acts up now and then.

A provider in my area (one I knew well) passed in her sleep last year.

Parents arriving to drop off, found her.

I read the title and thought "It COULD happen"

This topic is a great reminder that we all need to have a plan in place for what should happen should we fall, become unconscious or have some sort of emergency when we are alone with the kids.

I've never actually thought about that. See, another example of how helpful this forum is, for providers, and providers to be.

I teach my older ones how to call for emergency and I have a provider friend that I text chat with during the day for that very reason...if one of us did not reply we would call for help.

That's a good idea, even when not caring for children if you live alone. There was a news story a couple years ago about an elderly lady found dead in her home who had died several days before.

[permanentvacation]

Many years ago when my personal children were very young, I went into my daughters' room to either open or close the window and I tripped over a toy on the floor. I went forcefully falling towards the window and caught myself by the bridge of my nose (the bottom of my nose) on the window sill. I saw little 'stars' flashing in front of my eyes, I was extremely dizzy, blood started gushing from my nose, and felt like I was going to faint.

I went into the bathroom, looked in the mirror and told myself over and over again, "You can't die, you have a house full of little kids!" I kept myself together, kept myself from fainting, cleaned myself up and went back to taking care of the kids.

[Play Care]

When I first started out and had permission to nap the kids upstairs, we were coming down from nap and I tripped over a dck and fell down the last few stairs with my infant DD in my arms. Thankfully the gate was latched which broke the fall, and I bore the brunt of the fall hurting my arm. Thankfully none of the kids were hurt, but it made me think!
I also changed how we transisitoned from nap after that...

[Pestle]

I was a nanny for four in a two-story house, and was carrying the little one downstairs for a change. Slipped on the carpeted stairs in my socks and skidded down half a flight of stairs on my shins, baby laughing all the way.

Twice.

When I was ready for my own home, I bought a ranch house!

[AmyKidsCo]

A provider in my area (one I knew well) passed in her sleep last year.

Parents arriving to drop off, found her.

I read the title and thought "It COULD happen"

This topic is a great reminder that we all need to have a plan in place for what should happen should we fall, become unconscious or have some sort of emergency when we are alone with the kids.

I teach my older ones how to call for emergency and I have a provider friend that I text chat with during the day for that very reason...if one of us did not reply we would call for help.

We have a form to fill out with emergency contacts for ourselves, but the form doesn't have to be posted or anything so I always wonder how someone will know where to look for it.

[permanentvacation]

Our emergency contact list has to be posted on the wall near our required land line phone. You might want to post yours on the wall just in case someone does need to use it for you.

[permanentvacation]

Pestle,

I've had a couple of kids fall down the steps because my only bathroom is upstairs. So when I buy a house, I plan on buying a single level home so no one can fall due to stairs. I just don't want that worry or the extra liability.

[kitykids3]

For months this was a reality for me. 2 summers ago I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and was stage 3 heart failure. My heart was so weak that they put a wearable (24/7)defibrillator on me for 3 months because I was at such high risk of cardiac arrest.
Before I had gone to see the doc, there were times I was trying to wake up in the morning for the day, feeling like a heavy iron apron was on my chest, keeping me literally from getting up. Most days I barely had the energy just to get up, eat a bowl of cereal, get dressed (no shower), go downstairs and lay on the floor ALL DAY while my assistant did all the work. I would go back upstairs and essentially sleep for 12-13 hours and do it again. I would take a 2 hour nap. I got no choice. My body literally could not do it.
There were times as I was trying with all my strength just to open my eyelids, that I would wonder who would find me first. If the parents would try to come in, or just walk away, or if it would be my employee having to call 911 because I wasn't opening the door. I live alone with my cat, so who knows how long it would be. It was scary to go to sleep at night, wondering if I would wake up in the morning.
I never really thought of emergencies, or wills, or having plans in place or anything like that until 2 years ago. Now I have things in place, because no one ever knows. I was so close, and waited almost too late to see a doc, because I thought I was just tired from getting older/being lazy and my fibromyalgia. I was lucky. I saw the doc just in time and the meds have been keeping me going since. But none of us knows when or what could happen so quickly.