Regardless of any advice given to me I was so very unprepared for the emotional side of it. I knew the minute that I held my son for the first time that if need be I would die for him. The overwhelming love that appeared from virtually no where had left me breathless.
I'm not the best mother in the world, indeed I think that it would be incredibly difficult to set the criteria for that coveted title, however on the other hand I know I'm not the worst mother either.
However, I bet when Ghadir Aleeyan spotted her 13 month old son Imad chomping on the head of a 12inch long snake she most definitely freaked out and uttered words along those lines.
Now, there are snakes native to the UK, namely the imaginatively titled 'grass snake', the even more imaginatively named 'smooth snake' and the better known, 'adder'. The adder is poisonous, but it's really rare to die from its poison. Don't quote me on this, but I think the last death from an adder bite happened around 1979.
However this isn't really the case in Israel, you see they have more species of snakes and more venomous ones too. So when Ghadir turned round from making her son's milk to see him with a snake in his mouth, she obviously thought the worst.
Imad Aleeyan's Aunt, Yasmin Shahin appeared with some neighbours after hearing his mother screaming at the top of her lungs. One of the quick thinking neighbours pulled the snake of the toddlers mouth and made sure it was dead. (Obviously the reptile not the child).
The youngster was then rushed to hospital in nearby Haifa. Luckily Imad was unharmed, he had no bites and had suffered no ill effects from his impromptu snack.
Now whether the half eaten is poisonous or not is still open for debate, the hospital told Ghadir Aleeyan that the snake was really deadly but considering the time of year they had been really lucky as vipers have less venom in the colder months.
Phew! You may think what a narrow escape that was..... Then some specialist tells you that it's a really young specimen of hemorrhois nummifer which is non venomous. Now what Dr Boaz Shacham is saying is probably very accurate, but being calm and rational is very easy when you're sitting in a university looking photos of a mashed reptilian head. It's a totally different ball game when your child might be asking for tomato ketchup to dip a snakes tail in.
It's also very well for him to sit there and say that snakes aren't really active in winter.....
At least now I know I'm not the only mother who has been scared shitless by something their child has done.
I daresay that will not be the last time her son does something to scare the bejesus out of her, and I daresay that my own child will keep doing the same to me for many years to come.
In fact, I'm not sure I would want to miss it for the world.
