WARNING: Do not attempt the following at home.
 |
| Moments before The Incident |
Last week my dad and I were in the living room talking. I was sprawled on the floor taking pictures of my sweet baby girl, when all of a sudden--
Choke, cough, splutter!
"Oh my gosh, she's choking on a bead!" I screamed. "She's choking on a bead!"
I swiped the inside of her mouth with my finger. She gagged one more time and then blinked at me as if to say, "What are you so upset about, Mom?"
I pryed Gabe's good-behavior bracelet out of her fist and counted the beads on it. The latch, which I thought was pretty secure (or I wouldn't have let her play with the thing in the first place!) had come open and there were definitely some beads missing.
But then I remembered seeing one on the kitchen floor the day before. And then one of my children found another one under the sofa ...
My math skills aren't so good, but I think that means:
1+1=2
3-2=1
So, just one bead.
One missing bead.
Bad Mom.
Horrible Mom.
Step 1: Self blame
Step 2: Call the family doctor-- in this case, my father-in-law
He assured me if she wasn't coughing, then she'd probably swallowed it. "Just monitor her diapers and make sure it comes out the other end."
It did. The next morning.
I almost took a picture, but then decided not to.
I paraded the diaper around the house, however, to show everybody. I'm kind of used to baby poop, so I wasn't expecting the looks of disgust that greeted me when I showed off the miraculous bead.
"Well, Gabe," I told my seven-year-old son, "it wasn't damaged at all. I could wash it and put it back on your bracelet."
One horrified look was enough to convince me this was not something the boy wanted.
So the bead went in the trash.
The baby did not choke to death.
And even though I'm a laid-back mother of five
I LEARNED MY LESSON.
Praise God that she didn't choke and that your father-in-law is a doctor. I would have been freaking all the way out.
ReplyDeleteThat must have made your heart stop! I'm so glad everything turned out okay.
ReplyDeleteWhen my four-year-old was three, he started choking on some kind of partially chewed lunch product. It was the worst sound in the world: cough, cough, gag...nothing. I pretended I remembered how to do the Heimlich and administered it post-haste. The lunch product flew out a few seconds later (still don't know if it was my Heimliching or his gagging), but I probably haven't felt adrenaline like that before or since.
I'm so glad it worked it's way out. :) Good Mom, you were paying attention.
ReplyDeleteMy Blog
Hate those moments of intense fear...glad it all worked out. I've had my share of scares like that and all of them added more gray hairs. (for the record, I'm not a "bad" mom, just eating issues with Matthea...)
ReplyDeleteWe've had our fun with beads in our house, too. We had to make a doctor visit b/c a bead "jumped up into" our 4yo's nose. And boy, did it jump far!
ReplyDeleteGlad all turned out well for you, for me.
~ Wendy
Panicky feeling reading this, Amy!
ReplyDeleteI used to dread that any of mine would start choking, cos I couldn't manage the Heimlich!
You did very well!
Oh, same thing happened to me! Mine choked on a dime. I thought of sending myself to 'time out corner'.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful baby!!! Love the photo!
ReplyDeleteThat's so scary. I'm glad she's fine! And you are NOT a horrible mom! :)
I'm glad she didn't choke! Eek!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I’m a new follower—wonderful blog! Stop by my blog and follow me too? :) http://rachelbrookswrites.blogspot.com/
Wow! I'm sure that was a scary situation. And I cracked up at "I almost took a picture" hahaha. SO something I would think of, then with camera in hand, decide... no. hahaha.
ReplyDelete