Scary Moment as a Parent: Choking
First let me say - TAKE infant CPR before your baby is born. It may save their life!!
Now for the details. On Monday every parent's nightmare came true for us. After Olivia finished her breakfast and burped she coughed and choked. Typically she is good in a few seconds of coughing but this time nothing happened. She continued to choke and her coughs became less and less strong and her face more and more contorted. It was absolutely horrifying.
Russell has just walked out the front door to meet his ride so I had my Mother, who is staying with us to watch Livie when I go back to work, run out the door and get him before he drove away. After he came back in I had my Mother call 911 and let them know we had an unresponsive infant. At our CPR class they said to always use "unresponsive infant" when calling, even if she is responding.
When Russell came in we both went into action to relieve the blockage to her airway. I had her on my knee where I would sit her up and pat her back and lay her flat and rub circles on her chest and repeat. After a lot of this nothing really changed and her eyes rolled back in her head.
Russell's CPR training kicked right in and he took her from me and turned her over on her stomach and gave her 5 hard pats on her back followed by flipping her over and rubbing her chest. At one point during this she tried to cry but was unable to get any sound out. That was a moment I will never forget. He did this action around 4 times and finally when she was on her stomach some spit bubbles were coming out and when Russell flipped her over to her back a huge glob of spit/ phlegm and formula came out. I took her back after this but she still was having a very hard time breathing, really shallow and seemingly difficult breaths, so I continued the tummy/back & chest rubbing regiment until the paramedics arrived.
When they got to the house they pushed past us all, dropped right in front of me (very Patrick Swayze-esque) and checked Livie's vitals. By this time she was breathing normally so they were able to check her and ask us some questions about the situation. At this point my body panic finally caught up with me too. The paramedics had to ask me if I was shaking or it was Olivia, as my legs were shaking so badly. Because we saw her lips turn blue they said it was considered a more serious incident and they had to take us to the hospital. I was very much ok with this option as I wanted someone to see her. This was Olivia's first (and hopefully last!) ambulance visit so of course I got a picture.
Her carrier is strapped to the gurney, haha. The entire ride she was talking and laughing! You would never have known she wasn't breathing for a few minutes just moments before. Armando, our EMT, was quite entertained by her.
At the hospital they asked us for all the details. It is amazing how many details you are not thinking about, yet still processing, in a traumatic situation. Between both Russell and I we able to recount the entire situation so they could make a determination on next steps.
The Dr's determined Olivia has acid reflux. When she takes in food her body decides to push a bit of food back up her esophagus and when that happens her airway shuts itself so that this fluid doesn't get into the lungs (this is a normal & good process for the body). Most times you cough and clear your throat but in this instance she was unable to clear her throat herself and since her airway was closed she was not getting oxygen.
They decided not to hold Olivia overnight for observation (holding babies is usually the norm) because the following day she would have to be at the same hospital all day for her Spinal Defects Clinic and they did not want to impede that in any way since Olivia was not showing any signs of problems and she was swallowing just fine. So they talked to us about prevention of acid reflux and sent us home with a prescription for a lower does prilosec type drug.
One more medicine to add to the list for the day. She is up to 4 medicines daily at this point.
Here is what the doctors told us for acid reflux prevention:
- After each meal ensure Livie is upright for at least 30 minutes
- Burp lots of times during each feeding
- During nap time try to put her in positions that are not lying down flat on her back
- Keep her upright as much as possible
- When breastfeeding do not lay her flat but instead hold her at an angle (which sucks because I love My BreastFriend pillow but can no longer use it)
- Add one more feeding in the day taking her from 4 feedings to 5
- Put 1 tsp rice ceresal into 60 ml of formula (we had already been doing this but a slightly smaller amount)
After arriving at the hospital we were so thankful that she was breathing and laughing nothing else really mattered. So terrifying and hopefully we never have to go through that again. But at least I can say if we do we will be able to take care of business as a team.
Our little miss is just fine now and was back to herself in minutes. Ugh - no more universe, no more!
Remember:
Be Happy. Laugh. Enjoy Chaos.
Now for the details. On Monday every parent's nightmare came true for us. After Olivia finished her breakfast and burped she coughed and choked. Typically she is good in a few seconds of coughing but this time nothing happened. She continued to choke and her coughs became less and less strong and her face more and more contorted. It was absolutely horrifying.
Russell has just walked out the front door to meet his ride so I had my Mother, who is staying with us to watch Livie when I go back to work, run out the door and get him before he drove away. After he came back in I had my Mother call 911 and let them know we had an unresponsive infant. At our CPR class they said to always use "unresponsive infant" when calling, even if she is responding.
When Russell came in we both went into action to relieve the blockage to her airway. I had her on my knee where I would sit her up and pat her back and lay her flat and rub circles on her chest and repeat. After a lot of this nothing really changed and her eyes rolled back in her head.
Russell's CPR training kicked right in and he took her from me and turned her over on her stomach and gave her 5 hard pats on her back followed by flipping her over and rubbing her chest. At one point during this she tried to cry but was unable to get any sound out. That was a moment I will never forget. He did this action around 4 times and finally when she was on her stomach some spit bubbles were coming out and when Russell flipped her over to her back a huge glob of spit/ phlegm and formula came out. I took her back after this but she still was having a very hard time breathing, really shallow and seemingly difficult breaths, so I continued the tummy/back & chest rubbing regiment until the paramedics arrived.
When they got to the house they pushed past us all, dropped right in front of me (very Patrick Swayze-esque) and checked Livie's vitals. By this time she was breathing normally so they were able to check her and ask us some questions about the situation. At this point my body panic finally caught up with me too. The paramedics had to ask me if I was shaking or it was Olivia, as my legs were shaking so badly. Because we saw her lips turn blue they said it was considered a more serious incident and they had to take us to the hospital. I was very much ok with this option as I wanted someone to see her. This was Olivia's first (and hopefully last!) ambulance visit so of course I got a picture.
Her carrier is strapped to the gurney, haha. The entire ride she was talking and laughing! You would never have known she wasn't breathing for a few minutes just moments before. Armando, our EMT, was quite entertained by her.
The Dr's determined Olivia has acid reflux. When she takes in food her body decides to push a bit of food back up her esophagus and when that happens her airway shuts itself so that this fluid doesn't get into the lungs (this is a normal & good process for the body). Most times you cough and clear your throat but in this instance she was unable to clear her throat herself and since her airway was closed she was not getting oxygen.
They decided not to hold Olivia overnight for observation (holding babies is usually the norm) because the following day she would have to be at the same hospital all day for her Spinal Defects Clinic and they did not want to impede that in any way since Olivia was not showing any signs of problems and she was swallowing just fine. So they talked to us about prevention of acid reflux and sent us home with a prescription for a lower does prilosec type drug.
One more medicine to add to the list for the day. She is up to 4 medicines daily at this point.
Here is what the doctors told us for acid reflux prevention:
- After each meal ensure Livie is upright for at least 30 minutes
- Burp lots of times during each feeding
- During nap time try to put her in positions that are not lying down flat on her back
- Keep her upright as much as possible
- When breastfeeding do not lay her flat but instead hold her at an angle (which sucks because I love My BreastFriend pillow but can no longer use it)
- Add one more feeding in the day taking her from 4 feedings to 5
- Put 1 tsp rice ceresal into 60 ml of formula (we had already been doing this but a slightly smaller amount)
After arriving at the hospital we were so thankful that she was breathing and laughing nothing else really mattered. So terrifying and hopefully we never have to go through that again. But at least I can say if we do we will be able to take care of business as a team.
Our little miss is just fine now and was back to herself in minutes. Ugh - no more universe, no more!
Remember:
Be Happy. Laugh. Enjoy Chaos.
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