As my son says, “We’re getting a baby soon.” A flurry of activity to prepare this much anticipated arrival has been underway for a couple of months now. One of those activities involves convincing my 5-year-old son, Ulysse, that he should allow the new baby to have his old dresser because we built a diaper changing station on top of it and since he doesn’t wear diapers anymore, he can have a new dresser.

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Photo by Taton Moise on Unsplash

At first he agreed, but then he must have thought about it some more and realized this baby was about to swoop in and steal all his stuff. He wasn’t having it. Sudden nostalgia. Intense attachment to the blue and green dresser with the cute little sea creature decals on the drawers.

So, I changed my strategy. Since he loves art projects, I offered to let him decorate his new dresser however he wants - consequences be damned! I got lucky and found a lovely wooden dresser with no stuck drawers or anything like that for only $25 (instead of the $250 it was looking like we’d be paying for something new.) I don’t know how old this dresser is, but it definitely had a few coats of paint on it - the top layer was latex, but the rest was a mystery.

I didn’t give it much thought to be honest until I was wearing a mask, wielding a sander, and covered in a layer of fine paint particles from head to toe last weekend. Then I sort of off-handedly said to my husband, Fab, “I wonder if they used lead paint on furniture back in the day…”

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Photo by Jon Moore on Unsplash

As I showered, I thought about Flint, Michigan and all the children and families whose lives are forever changed for the worse by the effects of lead poisoning. Anything I had just stupidly done to myself and my fetus was nothing compared to the disaster of Flint, but I was suddenly very afraid. You can’t fix lead poisoning. I’m an adult, I’ll be fine, if a little wonky, but I can’t say the same for my 8 month fetus.

The near crisis was quickly resolved when we remembered we had some lead check tests left over from when we wanted to replace the windows of our 1966 house. Fab tested the top layer and the paint dust that was coating everything - NO LEAD. What a huge relief! (Of course there is some disagreement about how reliable these tests actually are.)

For an anxious few minutes there, I was feeling like a total, complete, absolute, irrefutable, fucking idiot. Why didn’t I think of lead BEFORE I started spending my time surrounded by paint dust with a baby on board?!?

We got lucky, but I can’t help wondering what I would have done if the result had been lead positive? Would there have been anything we could do? Would my midwife lecture me? I would have deserved it!

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Photo by Amaury Salas on Unsplash

But really, how much exposure does it take to be harmful? Shit happens, right? Sometimes we unintentionally get mixed up in things we don’t know to avoid, or can’t avoid. How bad would it have been? I washed all the dust off of my body, but my clothes, the floor, the deck were all covered in the stuff. Would we have had to call Hazmat or could Fab have cleaned it up without all of our brains rotting out immediately?

Here are just a couple of the rather frightening misconceptions about lead paint that I found on the New York State Department of Health’s website:

"Some methods of removing lead-based paint actually do more harm than good.

True. Some methods, such as dry sanding, dry scraping, torching, or power sanding can create huge amounts of lead dust. Once the dust is released into the home, it can make occupants sick if it enters the body. Always use a method that creates the least amount of dust and fumes."

I was working outside, but I did nothing to reduce dust…

"Preparing to do the job is as important as the methods used to do it.

True. It’s important to take certain precautions to protect your family. Children and pregnant women should leave the work area. Remove all furnishings (even rugs, if possible) before beginning. The work area should be sealed with plastic and taped down to keep the lead dust in. Cover air vents and turn off heaters and air conditioning systems during renovation and remodeling."

Oops. I did not leave the area. Ulysse did some sanding too - with a mask, but probably not an adequate one.

Anyway, another close call. It seems as if we escaped this time. Life is so complex it is really a full time job to stay on top of all the dangers, best practices, things to do/definitely not do… It’s a wonder sometimes any of us are still alive. But, I guess that’s a testament to our resilience, too. In spite of how fragile we seem in some ways, our bodies do amazing things to protect us and help us recover (from so many things) and we just keep going.

Stay safe out there, everyone!

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