Yesterday evening I was getting the girls into the car in the parking lot behind my parents condo. Its always a bit stressful sans stroller because I have to make sure that whomever is the 2nd to go in does not decide to roam the streets! Normally I open the front passenger door and drop all my stuff and put the keys in my pocket and then start the buckle down. Yesterday I just happened to not have pockets so I threw the keys in the front seat as well.
I had Stella "trapped" between me and the car while I was getting Lucy in and then I shut the door. All of a sudden, I heard the big CLICK. Lucy was now officially locked in the car with all the windows up in 90 degree weather. (It baffles me how this happened, no one was near the key fob and Lucy would not have been able to lock all 4 doors from her door.) My mom happened to be outside getting ready to take the dog for a walk and I was hollering my "freaked out mom" holler and she came rushing over.
My first thought was to call AAA. Then I realized wait a minute... I need to call 911, so that's what I did. And then we called AAA just to cover our bases.
It took almost 10 minutes for the cop to arrive. And, I guess the police do not carry equipment to open doors so they called their specialists who said they would be 15 minutes. AAA also said it might be 15 minutes. Lucy seemed to be doing OK and in good spirits. All of a sudden she started crying really hard- her face red, and I noticed she was sweating pretty hard core.
It had been 15 minutes total now and I wasn't taking any chances. The officer pulled on his fancy gloves, got his crow bar, and broke the front passenger side window. Thank goodness for tempered glass that are pebble-like (instead of shard-like) but Lucy was definitely jostled by the noise.
A minute later, AAA comes zooming up.
There was no way we could have known. So we may be out a couple hundred bucks but there is no price for a safe child.
A mom's anxiety is no joke; I never really appreciated what moms everywhere go through emotionally until I had kids of my own. Thank goodness everyone is OK!
