The Unimaginable

I don't even want to post about this because it was the scariest day I've ever had as a mother! But it needs to be remembered so here it goes! I was out working out with my friends at the church, our kids were running around the gym and I was feeding Isla an apple. Leo crawled up to us and wanted some. I bit off a tiny piece and gave it to him, thinking he could handle it with his 6 teeth. A few minutes later, I was holding him, and he sort of started choking. He wasn't struggling for breath, he was just coughing and uncomfortable. I put him upside down over my knee and started patting his back hard. That seemed to work, and he was OK. Then it happened again a few minutes later. I did the same thing, and he was fine. I waited about ten minutes to make sure he was fine. I put him in his car seat, and he fell asleep. I ran a few errands while he slept and got home about an hour later. I had called Travis to ask him if he thought I should take Leo in. He told me that if he had any symptoms then to just take him in. When Leo woke up, he was breathing weird. I was home, so I Face timed Travis to see what he thought. As we were talking, Leo started getting progressively worse. He was struggling to breath and was coughing and crying. Travis told me to call 911 and if I needed to, lie Leo on the ground and give him thrusts around his xyphoid process. Leo was still doing OK when i called 911, I started talking to the operator and explaining what was going on when Leo started turning blue! Then his little body went limp and he wasn't really breathing. I immediately did what Travis told me to do and was basically pounding on his chest. It seemed like forever, but it was probably 10 seconds and Leo started coughing and crying. The ambulance came a minute later. They checked him out, an Leo was fine. He was actually acting like his cute self, smiling and laughing. This was the scariest thing I have ever experienced it even sort of makes me sick to even have to type this all out! I'm sharing this because I need to remember. It could have gone so wrong! I don't even know what I would have done if it went south. I learned a couple of things 

1) Don't get complacent about what you give to your baby. It thought he would be OK, the piece was tiny and he has teeth.

2) Your kid should be monitored very closely after they choke, especially if they don't cough the food up. I thought the apple had just got caught and that it eventually went down in his stomach.

3) Review what to do if you baby/toddler/teen/spouse is choking. I had forgotten a lot and I was pretty lucky that Travis told me what to do right before it happened. I feel like I was really watched over because thing could have really gone bad! 

This really was so horrible to go through. I'm so grateful that Travis was on the phone with me and told me what to do. He rushed home from work and was with me the rest of the day. He probably saved Leo's life. I'm also grateful that the ambulance arrived so quickly, I think they would have helped a lot if I couldn't have dislodged the apple. I'm also so grateful that Heavenly Father was watching over us. I'm happy I listened to my mommy intuition and that I felt that something wasn't right with Leo. I love that little boy so much. He is such a light in our family. Don't take anything for granted!!!