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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Don't get choked up. For reals.

You know you’re going to have scary moments as a parent, but that still doesn’t REALLY prepare you for when they happen.

The other day, I was cleaning the bathroom and put Avery on the floor outside of the bathroom so I could watch him and he could watch me.  I’d been at work all day, and I wanted to kill two birds with one stone: spend some time with him and clean my tragic bathroom.  Everything was going fine, I tossed some clothes over near him and he started pawing through them with his little hands. 

Then, all of a sudden, he made a weird gurgling sound.  I looked over and saw he was struggling to breathe.  Then, he wasn’t breathing.  Then, he started turning red.  I ran over, hauled him up, threw him over my arm and started pounding.  I yelled for Jon and headed downstairs as fast as I could, pounding all the way.  I said “I think he’s choking.  Is he breathing?!” and Jon took him, checked, and said “No, he’s not” so HE started pounding.  A few seconds later, Avery started to cry so I knew he was breathing.  But that wasn’t enough for me, I wanted him to take deep breaths.  Poor kid was terrified, I was terrified.  Ugh.

So, the rest of the night, we watched him, and he just seemed loopy and sad.  He just kinda sat around looking like he had a cold and felt doped up.  I’m not sure if he actually grabbed something and swallowed it.  A million things go through your mind: was there something in the clothes that he was playing with?  Did I pick up that coin from the floor?  Can he pull up pieces of carpet and swallow them? 

We think that he just got choked up on some phlegm.  He seemed to be stuffed up the rest of the night, snoring, and his right eye was red as though it was itching and bothering him.  BUT, even if he didn’t choke on something we left laying around, it was a really good wakeup call as to the fact that now he grabs and swallows, so even putting him on the carpet without a blanket under him is a bad idea.  

The next morning, he was back to being a breathing, adorable baby.  WHEW!

I know there will be more terrifying moments, but wow, this one was rough.

On the good side, he’s 7 months old now.  I’ll be writing his 7 months entry soon – stay tuned!!

2 comments:

Ellen Feeney said...

Oh Ali, that is so scary. I'm glad he's OK...and I'm glad that YOU two are both OK after dealing with that. Miss you by the way!

claire said...

I'm glad your baby is alright. Take care always! :)