Kellie tagged me for a meme. It’s not your typical meme either.
What’s been one of the scariest (in a terrifying or humorous sense) thing you’ve ever experienced?
I had to think awhile on this one. I’ve been blessed to have not ever been involved in anything overtly terrifying. Kellie wrote about her experience on an airplane with a crazed madman on the loose threatening to take the plane off-course to heaven. Um. Yikes?
My story is equally scary, but in a completely different sense. It involves choking. And my infant daughter. And a single piece of Golden Grahams cereal lodged squarely over her windpipe. And her frantic mother who took on a semblance of rationality that is uncommon (for me at least) in that type of situation.
It happened when Kennedy was just under a year old. We lived in a tiny (under a thousand square feet tiny) house in California. Big sister Torri was three back then and was playing with Kennedy while my husband and I did the dishes and after dinner clean up. In an effort to keep them occupied while we went about our chores I had put a handful of cereal on Kennedy’s exersaucer tray. They were taking a piece here and there as they played there, just steps away from us.
It happened when my husband dropped a dish on the floor. The sound pierced my ears. It also must have scared Kennedy enough to cause her to take a sudden gasp of air, thus sucking that damned piece of cereal solidly into her airway.
I’ll never forget the way she looked at me.
Her eyes were wide and set right on mine, frozen and terrified. I screamed to her Dad (who had been well trained in CPR and other lifesaving maneuvers) to do something. He rushed to her, his hands leaving a soggy trail of soapy dishwater behind, and picked her up. He held her so that her chest was resting on his forearm and began administering hefty blows to her back. My eyes well up with tears as I write this because I remember the crippling feeling of helplessness.
As he continued doing what it was he was trained to do I grabbed the phone, but I didn’t dial because I knew full well that anybody the 911 operator sent would be too late. My husband started to break down because his actions weren’t doing what they were supposed to do. He began yelling at me that it wasn’t working and that he didn’t know what to do.
In the meantime, Kennedy was fading from our grip. Her body began going limp and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Her lips started turning blue around the edges.
I could have died right then and there.
And judging from the way I react now when one of my children so much as coughs at the dinner table, it’s a miracle I didn’t.
I just kept telling my husband in the calmest, most assured voice I could muster that he could do this. That he knew how to do this.
And as suddenly as it began, it ended. One of those forceful smacks to her back served to dislodge that little square of hell and Kennedy began to cough.
Nothing has ever sounded sweeter.
Oh how we held that child. For hours and hours afterwards. There’s nothing like a near-death experience to make you count your blessings huh?
I eluded to how that event changed me. I am absolutely, totally and completely a paranoid freak when it comes to the likelihood, suspicion, or even remote possibility that one of my children is choking. If my husband is around when I first hear those telltale gasps my response is always the same. “Baby, baby, baby.” Loud and fast. My husband measures the severity of the situation by how closely spaced those “baby’s” come from my mouth. And once I have his attention I close my eyes and cover my ears and utter “oh God, oh God, oh God” under my breath.
Everyone in the family finds it very amusing. If you ask me though, it ain’t funny.
I should tell you that I don’t react that way when I’m alone with the children. I’ve seen the proper procedure more times than I care to remember so I know what to do. A calm comes over me and I just react.
It’s really a nightmare for me though.
See, I told you. Scary huh?
Now, the five people I’m tagging are:
1. Musings of a Housewife
2. My Sweet Life
3. Soliloquy
4. The Queen B
5. Not Just Any Jen
Makes my heart race just thinking about it. I would totally freak out myself!
Darcie,
That IS a scary story!!!
As I am feeling a little hormonally weepy this morning, your story made me teary…I cannot imagine the terror of that moment.
I remember reading about “the event that changed you” and I hoped some day you would write about it.
It’s amazing how something as benign as breakfast cereal can pack big life lessons…
Thanks for sharing (and playing!)
That was chilling!!!! I am so glad all was ok.
Steph
That is completely terrifying. I am so glad that your hubby was there and trained in what to do. We took an infant-cpr/choking class back in childbirth classes, and I took it again a couple of years ago, but I have no idea how I really would react in that kind of situation.
I am so glad that everything turned out ok – and I don’t blame you for not buying Golden Grahams anymore. :)
My heart was in my chest reading this, even though I knew it had to come out ok (you know, since she’s alive and all). How SCARY!
I had to give Catie the heimlich (sp?) in Chef Mickey’s when she choked on undercooked bacon. (After which she immediately began eating again. That’s my girl!)
Wow…that was scary.
I totally freeze when something happens to the kids. If the husband is there, he usually takes over. If not, for some reason, I muster up the strength to get in there and help.
Afterwards, I usually just cry for a while until I can stop shaking!
It’s always good to be certified in CPR….we both are….and thank God…we never had to use it.
Wow. I’m so glad that story had a happy ending. I have a very similar story, but it was my uncle choking. It is a horrifying situation.
Hi Darcie,
Thank God your husband was able to save Kennedy and she is okay. I wish all chokers could have savers.
I posted a scary story on my blog.
Kristenc
That’s horrifying. I’m so glad you could keep it together. The description of her fading away….God.
that sounds just horrible. So glad it turned out okay!
We had a choking “episode” once with our daughter too and it was absolutely terrifying! My heart raced and nothing else seemed to matter in that moment. Fortunately, everything was okay in the end, but it was extremely frightening.
HOw Scary!! I will get to this next week!
Oh my word. Just reading this scares me to death! This is one of my all-time worst fears….every time my baby makes a choking noise I completely freak out. I SO understand how you feel!
THAT. Was awful. What a sickening experience….
How can we be so resilient and yet so fragile??
TRYING to think of something for this meme….. I’ll get to it. I promise.
Okay — that is my worst fear. Choking scares me to death! I, like you, have been trained in what to do, but part of me wonders if I can really pull it off in “real life.” So, glad the story had a happy ending. But, I’m with you, it is not amusing. At all. (BTW, I’ve been wondering where you’ve been, as I hadn’t been notified of new posts through bloglines. For some reason, it wasn’t updating. I’m going to try to resubscribe.)