I love being a mother, and because it is my job to keep Wa'a safe, I am very cautious in many ways. I make sure every part of his body is warm or cool enough. I check my floors every day and am on the lookout for objects that he could swallow, and when we go to other peoples houses, I do the same thing. I make sure if little kids are around that I talk to them about not giving Wa'a "big people" food. I check on him lots in the night. I mush everything he eats and cut even the smallest of baby puffs in half before he puts them in his mouth. You get the idea.
I knew another way to protect my son was to be prepared for situations where he could need me most. Working with children for almost all my life, I always had to be trained on CPR and the Heimlich maneuver. But the other day, I decided to look up and refresh my memory on specifically baby CPR and Heimlich.
Today Wa'a was sitting in his high chair and I was eating an apple and browsing the local news online. I was of course cutting baby puffs in half and letting Wa'a suck on them. He seemed interested in my apple, so I bit off a tiny piece, took off the skin, pinched it with my fingers and made it soft and a little mushy.
A few minutes later, Wa'a started turning red. He was coughing violently and then seemed to struggle with his breathing. Now, I know that if a baby or an adult can gasp for air, that is a good thing because that means the airway is not completely blocked. But my heart still stopped. His face then turned even more red with more gasping and gagging. I ripped him out of his high chair and put him in the proper position and started the heimlich. Wa'a all of a sudden started throwing up violently. And a lot. Before you knew it, my floors were covered and Wa'a was breathing again with color back and of course, all smiles.
Now, I am not sure the Heimlich was needed in this situation. As I look back at what happened, there was nothing that was big enough for him to truly be choking on to lodge his airway. He might have had some of the apple stuck in the back of his throat or he might of had a puff that he swallowed without mushing it in his mouth first, and so he gagged. I am not sure. BUT, I am grateful that my first reaction was to act. And to have everything come to mind about what I had read and studied in regards to helping a baby while choking. And like I said, it might have been totally unnecessary, but I am grateful I was prepared and didn't panic to the point where I was useless.
I'm going to be honest. I bawled my eyes out after it all happened. Something like this with my small, precious babe had never happened before, and of course it scared me deeply as a mother. As I was on my knees cleaning up puke, tears splashed on the floor. I was so grateful that his little body reacted the way it should have and helped him. Whatever was bothering him, came right out. And I was relieved. I was so grateful that I was also personally prepared to help him. And I was grateful to my Heavenly Father that everything ended up being okay. I said a prayer of gratitude and held Wa'a tight.
It reminded me of the time when my dad truly did choke on food and couldn't breathe. My mom and I were in the living room and could hear him start to cough violently. We were concerned and went to go check on him. He had stopped gasping and started gagging. He started signaling to us that he was getting no air and couldn't breathe. My mom and I went right into action mode. I'm not sure if I did the Heimlich first and then called 911, or the other way around. But all I remember was switching with my mom on who was helping him with the Heimlich and me calling for help. He all of a sudden spit out the food and I was able to tell the police not to send an ambulance. We all were relieved and I again, cried. I was scared. But I was incredibly grateful he was okay.
Be PREPARED. I can't stress it enough. Even if you think things like this would never happen to you. Or even if you think you would never be the one to be on the front lines to help out. It is so important that I knew how to help my dad. And it was again, so important that I knew how to help my son, just in case it was more serious than I realized.
So even though these events were very scary for me, tonight I am grateful. Blessed. Humbled. At peace. And prepared.
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