Tips for child safety in the Summer heat

As the weather starts to warm up around the country it's always good to remember that leaving children alone in the car is always dangerous, but in the summer it can spell disaster!!

On a typical summer day, the temperature inside a car can rise above 120 degrees; on mild days it can reach 100 degrees. In 10 minutes, the temperature inside a car can rise 19 degrees. In 20 minutes, that temperature can rise 29 degrees. So remember do not leave your child in the car alone, even if it's just a minute, not even with the air conditioner running.

There have been several tragic tales of people who have left their child in the car seat overnight or all day and the child has died. This is a tragic story, but unfortunately it happens. We, as parents, are all guilty of doing to much and not getting enough sleep- and those parents of infants are definitely walking around sleep deprived. But this is not an excuse, you have to give special attention to making sure your child is not in the car when you exit.

Make sure you actually drop the child off at day care, that is another tragic story. Everyone knows the story of the mother forgets to go to the day care and the child is left in the car all day in the parking lot, unfortunately this story has come true, too many times.

There are some simple steps you can take to ensure your child's safety while in the car:

1) Always lock your car and store the keys in a location where your kids cannot get to them.

2) Install a trunk release mechanism, so kids don't get trapped there.

3) Prioritize. Get your children out of the car first when you get home, and then take anything else like groceries or your dry cleaning out of your vehicle.

4) When leaving your car, check to make sure everyone is out of the car. Do not overlook any children that have fallen asleep in the car. Rear facing car seat are especially hard to see children in, so double check!!

5) Even if you leave a child in a car that is running with the air conditioning on, it does not mean that they are any safer. A child may accidentally put the car into drive or get caught in a power window.

6) Bring your children with you when running errands, or use a drive-through if one is available.

7) Fire Rescue officials say one way to never forget a child in the car is the stuffed animal method. Place a stuffed animal in a visible location like the front seat when you have a child in the car. When you take the child out of the car, place the stuffed toy in the car seat. The visual will help remind you there is a child in the back.

Wow, what a difference a year makes!

If you would have asked me a year ago to describe my life right now there would have been no way that I could have done it accurately! In one year my life has totally turned around.

A year ago we were getting ready to start our first IVF, so full of hope that it would work on the first try and we soon would be celebrating my pregnancy. After the first IVF didn't work I was crushed, but still hopeful that the next time it would work.

I spent hours researching and meeting with different fertility specialists here in town and after much deliberation decided to switch doctors. Our second IVF went off without a hitch- everything went great- and then we got the best news of all- it had worked- I was pregnant. I remember driving home from work that day, it was like a weight had been lifted, I had forgotten what it felt like to not worry about getting pregnant.

Little did I know that all that happiness would be short lived- two days later we got devastating news that I was not pregnant- it had not worked, we were right back were we started. That week, the first week of August was the worst week of my entire life- that was the lowest point in all my life. My world was crushed, I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Then somehow someway I managed to pull myself out of the hole I was living in and got some stuff together. I found a card in midst of all our business cards and it was for an adoption recruiter for the county. I called and they said the first step was to attend an informative meeting, and amazingly that meeting happened to be the following weekend. I showed up got the paperwork, told my husband that we were going to get fingerprinted and take these classes so we could possibly adopt through the county.

It all seemed to fall into place, everything just happened so quickly and by the end of September we were sitting in a classroom with 16 other couples learning how we could expand our family through adoption.

And here I sit almost 7 months after our first class- with my beautiful daughter sleeping like an angel in her crib upstairs. Who would have thought it. I have a new outlook on life- I know now that I can get through anything and that everything happens for a reason.