Code Brown

Have you ever heard of the phrase, code brown? The first time I heard it was when my newborn son was in the hospital for dehydration (Mommy wasn’t producing enough boobie juice). Like most hospitals, they had codes to alert staff of emergency events. Some examples of what that would be include: code red for fire, code blue for cardiac arrest, code black for bomb threat/other dangerous threats, and so on. My husband, who was curious of what all the codes were called, and what they were used for, questioned one of the nursing staff. After sharing the codes to him, she then mentioned code brown, and then laughed. My husband quizzically asked, “What is code brown?” The nurse laughed again, and told us that it was an inside code among the nursing and CNA staff... standing for, and you probably guessed it, POOP! And not just any poop. Poop everywhere! The patient, the bed, the walls, floor, you name it!

As a daycare momma, I’ve definitely had a few... scratch that, A LOT of code brown situations in my classroom. From the accidentally sticking my finger in it when checking diapers, to the common up the back diaper blowout. However, there have been a few instances that stand out, and... well, became unforgettable.

The Corn Fallout

Corn is one of the most delicious vegetables ever, loved by both adult, child... and the toddler.

It's funny how you can recall what a child ate the night before—the evidence is in their diaper. One day at work, I was reading stories to the kiddos as my co-teacher checked and changed their diapers. We were getting ready for nap time. There was a little girl who was sitting next to me. When her name was called to go potty, she got up and started walking to the bathroom, and I continued to read.

A short minute later, I glanced to the spot she was at, and saw it. A piece of corn. I didn't process it right away, and I continued to read... then it hit. Why is there corn right next me? I looked again, and there it was, covered in poop. Another child came up and tried to grab at it. I quickly caught his hand, saying loudly, "Noooooo!" I cried for help from the second co-teacher (who was cleaning up after lunch).

"What's wrong!?" she exclaimed.

"Code brown!" I responded. She went and grabbed gloves, wash cloths, and the sanitizer as I kept the toddlers out of the feces.

After cleaning up, the other co-teacher came out of the bathroom and informed us that the child had a blowout out of the side, the second co-teacher and I were like, "You don't say!"

The Volcano

In our classroom, we have a climber, with two steps on each side for the young toddlers to practice using steps and to gain some gross motor skills. It also has a bit of a platform for them to play on and walk across. One day, a little girl was standing on that climber, playing peek-a-boo with another child that was down below her... when it hit her, the volcano.

There must have been some kind of tummy bug going around because in the infant room across from us, they had a similar issue and reported it to us on the previous day that one of their babies had a blow out, and it just kept on bubbling up out of their diaper... and that's exactly what happened.

As a daycare teacher, smelling poop is a norm... but I have never smelled something so foul. And once my eye caught the cause of that awful smell, I was in horror. Runny and brown, and not just coming out of her diaper and pants, but bubbling out of it! And nonstop! We quickly grabbed the climber and held onto the child and dragged them both to the bathroom, away from the other curious George's in the room. The entire time, it was still coming out of her. We cleaned her up first, then the climber (the best we could)... both that co-teacher and I trying not to gag from the smell.

Later, when all was calm, we called maintenance to come shampoo and deeply clean the climber, before putting it back in the room.

Last but not least...

The DaVinci

Finger painting is a fun way to let toddlers express themselves creatively... as long as they are using paint! The third code brown I can't get out of my mind is one I'm sure many other parents and childcare workers have experienced... a child using poop as their tool of paint.

Another little girl, and the same climber as previously mentioned, is the crime scene here. Just add a speech pathologist and an overall crazy morning, and then picture it.

There I was, once again reading to the kiddos, but a little girl who wasn't entertained by my version of "Old MacDonald" decided to get creative instead. She decided to paint the climber. I didn't notice it right away, as I was engaged with the other children, but as anyone who does childcare knows, you are constantly multitasking. When you read or play with children, you are constantly panning and watching the other kids interact and play in the classroom. When I spotted her with her hands down the back of her diaper, my suspicions grew. I called out her name, and she looked at me with a smile. Poop covered her hand... then she wiped it down the side of the climber. I immediately apologized to the children who were listening to the story and walked up and grabbed the little girl by the arm as gently as I could, but as firmly as I could to prevent the poop from getting on me... and dragged her to the bathroom so that my poor co-teacher, once again, could clean up a poopy mess. Then I dragged the climber in.... then went back to the teacher chair, sat back down, and started to read again.

When the speech pathologist finished observing, she made a comment about how she doesn't know how we do the work that we do, as well as how much admiration she had for us for how we deal with such circumstances, and messes, in such a calm manner.

Our reply?

"You should have seen the Volcano!"

Bonus: The day after that nurse told my husband and me about the code, our baby, who was on IVs and antibiotics, had his first.

He was sleeping in the hospital crib... I was trying to catch up on sleep in the recliner right next to it. Since he was dehydrated, we'd been waiting on a wet diaper for quite some time (and were suppose to keep track of how many he had for the doctor). My husband woke me up to excitedly tell me that the yellow line on the diaper was blue. I asked him if he wanted me to change him, and told me "no" and to get some more rest. But rest, I did not get, for he then started shouting, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God... I need the nurse! Gross!" I looked up and saw that our son blasted the crib, and my husband, with poop! He hit the call button, and the nurse asked what she could help us with, and my husband shouted, "Code Brown! We have a code brown!"

All you heard from the other end... was laughter.