Yesterday I sat Big Bad Baby Emmett down in his highchair for dinner because he was starving and after I spooned in one tiny spoonful of rice cereal he unleashed the loudest, most animalistic scream that has ever come out of him. He followed it with tears and ripping at his eyes and ears. He was actually 100% normal until that first bite so I leaned in to see if his forehead was hot and that is when he unleashes scream number two. Jameson ran in from the playroom and said, "Stop it Big Bad Baby Emmett, that hurts my ears." This confirmed that it was indeed THAT loud. I grabbed Emmett out of the high chair just in time for him to throw up ALL over me. I was totally caught off guard because moments before everything was fine. Jameson ran for cover...far, far away. Brett was at soccer practice with Brooklyn so it was just me and the barf monster. So, I set him on the ground and tilted him forward so he could get the barf out. It was then that he looked at me with these helpless, teary eyes and started gagging but not throwing up. Lots of in breaths, not a lot of out. I finger swept his mouth once, twice and felt nothing. At this point I was getting panicky because he looked totally scared. I had Jameson grab my phone and I called Brett to walk him through the situation and while on the phone it got much, much worse. Emmett was only taking breaths in and then gagging, gagging, gagging. I hung up with Brett and told him if he didn't start breathing fully I'd call 911. I picked Emmett up, laid him face down on my forearm and started hitting him on the back because I thought he might be choking, not just randomly throwing up out of nowhere. Hitting brought on lots more puke. Fountains of puke. I know, so gross. Jameson actually checked in at this point only to yell, "So GROSS!" and hot step back out of the room. Then, the scary part. Emmett started really choking. No breathing, just choking. I finger swept, again. Nothing. It was hard, but I then gave him a really hard whack on the back and he gave a really hard cough, gag, cough, loooong gag and what appeared on my carpet, a freakin' metallic sailboat sticker. Emmett and I looked at each other, both shaking and crying, and I started to laugh (hysteria, I am pretty sure it's called hysteria) and just held his barf soaked body and we cried and cried. He was so helpless and scared. And I was too for that matter. Apparently every once in awhile parents need a reminder that they are completely and utterly helpless. Ugh.
Lesson here is to brush up on your choking regimen. Luckily EMT Brett has gone over it with me plenty of times so in my moment of panic my memory took over on autopilot. I mean, everything happens for a reason, right? Therefore, I impart choking regimen wisdom to all the parents of infants out there: http://www.babycenter.com/0_infant-first-aid-for-choking-and-cpr-an-illustrated-guide_9298.bc.
I don't know if it is the best guide but it is better than nothin'.
Ahhhh! My worst nightmare!!
ReplyDelete