Let me preface what I am about to tell you by saying, ordinarily I am not a squeamish person. Neither am I overly anxious. But what I saw that day when I picked my 7-month-old daughter up from day care still plays on my mind and gives me a little quiver of revulsion.

It was summer, and I’d left work a little early so that I could pick Kala up and meet my sister and her kids at the local swimming pool. After signing my daughter out at the front desk I entered the baby room to see Kala crawling across the floor in the opposite direction.

“She’s really got the hang of crawling now, hasn’t she?” the smiling day care worker said.

“Yes, there’s no stopping her now,” I replied proudly.

Hearing my voice Kala’s head shot around, and that’s when I saw the big black thing at the centre of her gummy smile.

“Kala what’s in your mouth?” I asked rushing to her. “Take it out!”

As I got closer, and she realised I was about to take whatever it was off her, she turned her head and started to scoot away from me.

“Kala. Give it to mummy!” I urged scooping her up.

That’s when the full horror of what it was dawned on me. My beautiful baby girl was sucking on a cockroach!

Fishing it out of her mouth and flinging it to the floor, I watched in disgust as it scurried away. It was alive!

What diseases and bacteria had my daughter just been exposed to? I recalled reading somewhere that they carry salmonella, staphylococcus and streptococcus, among other things. Had that revolting creature been scavenging through bins and waste before finding its way into my daughter’s mouth? So many worries and concerns for my daughter’s health flew through my mind in that moment.

As you can imagine I was not my normally calm and composed self when I demanded to speak to the manager immediately. She of course was equally mortified to learn what had happened. She assured me that they do regularly have the pest control service come into the centre because kids are (let’s face it) kind of gross, are prone to dropping food and debris that attract little critters. Also being in proximity to the commercial district (with all its kitchens and waste disposal areas), cockroaches and other pests are understandably drawn to the area. But she admitted that it was clearly time to get them back! True to her word, they came the very next day.

As for Kala, she had an upset stomach for the next few days, the specifics of which I will spare you. But as the Doctor said, we’ll never know if it was because of the cockroach or because of some other virus going around the day care at the time. All I know is that it took me a couple of days before I could kiss her without thinking of that dirty, great big cockroach hanging from her mouth!