Eloise gave us a bit of a scare yesterday. I awoke to the sound of her choking at about 6:15 and found her struggling to expel a large amount of mucous. When turning her upside down and patting her back didn't work, I ran her to the basement where Dave was getting ready for an early work meeting. He took over the effort to clear out the mucous, but it just kept coming. We retrieved the bulb syringe and spent the next 20 minutes battling to keep her clear and breathing. While I ran to wake Sam and get him ready for what looked like a trip to the ER, Eloise decided to turn a shade of blue and Dave decided to call 911.
Before I knew it, we had five of St. Paul's finest from Fire and Rescue standing in our kitchen. By this time Eloise had stopped choking and was breathing fine. She was lethargic, pale, and clammy but breathing fine. I took the ride with her in the ambulance and by 7:00 she was getting checked out by the ER doc. After an examination, RSV test, and EKG, he declared her in generally good health despite a small cold that seemed to have caused the extra mucous and the choking. We were home by 9:30 with orders to observe her and return if needed.
I am grateful for a number of things related to this event. That I heard Eloise choking and realized the sound differed from the grunting we hear throughout the night; that this happened while Dave was still home; that we knew what to do with a baby choking on mucous because we saw a nurse clear out amniotic fluid when Eloise was choking on it the day after she was born; that Sam was absolutely cooperative when it counted and was even somewhat elated to see firefighters in action and spend part of his morning in the ER where he saw doctors and nurses using the very "tools" he pretends to use every day; that none of the healthcare professionals made us feel we had made a mistake when we called on them to help an infant who turned out to be fine; that Eloise just has a small cold and this incident is most likely an isolated one; and that she's sleeping right here next to me as I write this.
8 comments:
How terrifying. Your family was a great team, and you got the job done. I'm grateful too.
I'm glad she is fine! What a crazy story... It's good to have a doctor in the house!
Yikes, Jessie. How scary. Glad that this all ended well.
Holy cow! I am so glad she is okay. You are a brave mama!
Oh my goodness! So glad she is ok.
If I were reading this in the evening, I'd be going directly to the kitchen to have a glass of wine. But it's noon, so I'm just going to have to remind myself that everything turned out fine and all is well in the Slapdash home. So glad you're all okay.
Gulp. I prefer the recitation of this story over the phone as I first heard it. I heard the assurance in your voice and the confidence that everything is okay. Now, I just hear my heart thumping in my ears and feel panic in my chest. I have a desire to learn how to clear mucous out of someone's lungs. So glad you are a Mama that's in tune with your babies. Love you.
How's Eloise doing? What about Sam?
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