After taking her son to A&E because she feared he had a hole in his mouth, a mother was left red-faced when she discovered it was simply a red sticker.
Becky Stiles, 24, from Chingford, Essex, became concerned when she noticed a ‘hole’ on the top of her 10-month-old son Harvey’s mouth while changing his nappies.
Fearing the worst, the mother-of-three rushed her young son to Colchester Hospital.
A nurse put a little torch into his mouth before she even entered the medical facility, revealing the ‘hole’ was only a harmless sticker.
Becky was ashamed, but she said she shared the story to warn other parents to keep stickers away from their newborns.
‘I saw Harvey needed his diaper changed, and when I placed him down, I observed a ‘hole’ on the roof of his mouth,’ she explained. I tried to touch it, but he shouted at me, so I demanded that his father come over and look at it.
‘I’m trembling, sweating, and fighting back tears. We lit a torch on it, and his father said, “What the heck is that?”
‘I contacted my mother, who advised me to dial 111, and while I was waiting for someone to answer, my father instructed me to take him to A&E immediately.’
‘So we dropped the two older kids down at their grandparents’ house and drove the 30 minutes to the nearest A&E.’
‘I had phoned all my side of the family to let them know and emailed the image,’ Becky, who has two other boys, continued.
‘I also called Harvey’s father’s side of the family to inform them. I’m explaining it to a stranger who was waving and conversing to Harvey while I wait outside the main doors of A&E.
‘When it was our turn to enter, we showed the nurses at the door, and they were discussing transferring him to a different ward.’
‘Let me just get my pen torch and have a look,’ one nurse remarked. “That’s a sticker,” she said after about 30 seconds of looking.
‘Me being a moron’ “No look, that’s a hole,” I told her. She inserted her finger into his mouth and drew it out.
‘I was laughing, shaking, and ashamed.’ Harvey thought it was amusing as well! I told her I felt like a jerk and that I would embrace her if Covid wasn’t around.
‘”Well, I’ve never corrected a cleft palate at A&E doors before,” she said. We all continued to laugh as we walked back to the car in humiliation.
‘I had to swallow my pride even more in the car and contact everyone again to let them know Harvey didn’t have a hole in his mouth.’ Stickers had become a favorite of his.’
Harvey was playing in his cot without a care in the world when Becky videotaped him when they returned from the hospital.