I just had the scariest experience of my life tonight!
Zach was golfing, Mia was sleeping and Addie and I had just sat down to eat dinner.
I had fixed something new, nothing fancy, just a regular old easy Hamburger Helper Crunchy Taco dinner.
Everything was fine. Addie took her first bite and said “yum!” so I thought we may have a winner! (she is a bit picky these days)
And then terror!
First I heard a weird gasping noise. I looked at Addie and realized immediately that she was choking.
Occasionally Addie gets a little over excited when she is eating something that she likes and ends up coughing a bit when something gets stuck in the back of her throat. Zach always freaks out because he thinks she is really choking no matter how many times I tell him coughing is good. It’s only when she stops coughing that you need to be worried.
Tonight, she wasn’t coughing.
It was real, turning-blue-in-the-face-can’t-breathe kind of choking.
And I was scared.
I immediately pulled her out of her booster seat and opened her mouth. I couldn’t see anything so I laid her belly down over my lap and proceeded to slap her back firmly in attempt to dislodge the chip that I was sure she was choking on. It felt like I did this for at least 5 minutes with no success.
I was sure that the Heimlich maneuver should be my last resort especially with how fragile her little body is. But I was getting desperate her face was pretty darn blue and I just couldn’t seem to get that damn (pardon my French) chip out! Finally just as I was about to move her into the position to perform the Heimlich on her she finally managed to cough it up as I slapped her back one last time.
Holy cow. I was so relieved. Then she started stumbling around the house puking, her eyes were still watering and she was crying so hard. She also was making this weird lurching movement in her chest. I was a little nervous that maybe there was something else stuck in the back of her throat so I followed her around, staying way calmer than I ever would have believed possible. Finally she collapsed on the floor in the fetal position and looked up at me with sadness in her eyes as if to say “Man, that was so exhausting”. I pulled her into my lap and then I finally allowed myself to freak out a little bit. I was shaking so much and crying like a little baby! I seriously have never been so scared before in my entire life. After a few minutes though she was wanting to finish eating her dinner-HA! Yeah, right Miss Addie! I gave her applesauce instead. I had enough excitement for one evening, I didn’t need a replay.
She is back to her regular ole self now. Running around the house and picking on her little sister so I am guessing it wasn’t nearly as traumatic for her as it was for me. But I guess that is to be expected with her short attention span and everything. ; )
PS Later when I was cleaning up the mess I picked up the piece of chip that she was choking on….it was rock hard. So hard that even I would not have been able to bite into it. Not cool….
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4 comments:
Oh wow! That is awful! I'm so glad that she is ok, but that must have been terrible to go through that!
SOO scary Erica!! My brother choked on a chip when he was about 18 months old. I wasn't born yet so I've only heard stories of it, but apparently he turned blue and actually passed out before the Emergency people got there! My dad thankfully ended up unlodging the chip by putting him over his leg and pounding on his back like what you did with Addie. Needless to say, it will be a LONG, LONG, LONG time before Parker EVER has chips! So glad she's alright! I would have been crying like a baby and freaking out too!
I know! I was so scared! I don't know how I managed to stay calm though during the actual choking--I didnt freak out until afterwards which is the best possible thing I could have done but I totally was not expecting it! If you would have asked me what I would do if my child was choking, BEFORE my child actually choked I would have said I would freak out and freeze but that wasn't the case at all! Thank God!
She eats tacos and chips all the time, she has all of her teeth except her two year molars so usually it's not a big deal. This piece she choked on was so hard though that I would not have been able to bite into it. So I will probably be carefully examining every bite of food from now on!
omg how terrifying. Thank God she is alright!!!
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