I had to do the Heimlich maneuver on Nick today. This is the third time this kid has choked bad enough to need assistance. What the hell is that about???
He crams his mouth with food and won't swallow until he gags. I am constantly having to make him spit some out into a napkin - nice visual huh?
Anyway. It was different that the other times. He started off with dry chex cereal. He made a face as if he was in a great deal of pain and cried out. But then he stopped making noise. I picked him up and thought he'd swallowed a sharp piece and scratched his throat. I was carrying him to the garbage can to empty his mouth of the rest. Then I heard a brief and desperate sounding gasp. It was way too short to be a real breath, it stopped abruptly. I realized that he was choking and not breathing. I knelt on the ground and did the chest thrusts. Two of them. Nothing. No breathing. No breathing.
Normally, I'm calm. At least I feel calm, normally. But I freaked-the-(insert cuss word)-out when the two chest thrusts didn't work. I picked all 34 pounds of him up with one hand and tilted his whole body with his head down. I dropped his chest onto my fist and then whacked the living-shit out of his back like a freaking maniac.
It worked. The gravity worked. He took a big long gasp and started to cry.
Shocking News Flash: I'm not too thrilled that this kid has a knack for choking.
4 days ago
Re your last line: I am thrilled that you have a knack for applying life-saving techniques to small children. But I'm sorry you've had to do it so many times.
ReplyDeleteIt's a miracle our species is perpetuated, as our young so often seem bent on self-destruction.