I don’t usually post about things like this, but I had never heard of this until it happened to me last night and I thought that it was important for other parents to hear it as well. Keep in mind that I am in a country that does not have the luxury of 911, ambulances, actual ER facilities, etc…and I don’t know the answer yet, but I will find out…
I put the twins to sleep at a normal time, around 6 pm last night. Zach was downstairs playing, I was cooking dinner and waiting for Jim to get home from running. Around 6:45, I heard a very loud scream on the baby monitor coming from their room and new it was Brandon and thought he must have had a bad dream and waited a second and he screamed again…he has this habit of throwing up when he gets upset, so I turned off everything on the stove and went upstairs…not racing because I figured he just needed a little hug to calm down. I walked into his room and said, “Hey sweetie, what’s the matter?” while patting his belly. My mind is foggy now, but I knew instantly something was wrong…I do not know how, but I could tell he was struggling. Well, I picked him up and he was completely limp and could not breathe. He could not hold his head up, his arms were lifeless, his entire body was lifeless except for the fact that he was making this noise, but could not breathe. I didn’t know if he just needed a little pat on the back to startle him out of it, so I turned him on his tummy and rubbed his back and then I did the CPR on my knee where you face him down and give a thrust on the back in case something is lodged in there…a couple of time of that and he was still lifeless…I carried him into the hallway because I needed more light and kept massaging his back and finally did a swipe in his throat. He coughed up a little bit of phlegm, but was still limp and blue at this point. I believe I gave him a few compressions on his chest and turned him over to get him to gag again. He finally threw up a tiny bit and was able to catch a breathe but it took a few more compressions and rubs on the back to get him to where he could actually breathe a breath of air in. There really isn’t anyone to call, but I had a driver in the driveway and we went to the “ER” at “SOS International Clinic”. By the time we got there he was breathing, his O2 saturation was good, his lungs were clear and his pulse was normal. I do not know what happened…the Dr. said sometimes when they scream, they can cause an apnea (not to be confused with sleep apnea) which will make them not be able to breathe. I am not sure of this, but fortunately, we meet with an ENT on Wednesday and this WILL be discussed.
My reason for telling this story is because we are all told to not run into the room for every scream or noise they make…and generally I do not. So when holding Brandon, riding in a tuk tuk to the SOS, I had to keep myself from vomiting…I was thinking, what if I had just let him “put himself back to sleep”…he may have never woken up. Until you have your child in your arms and he cannot breath and is lifeless, you do not know the helpless feeling. I had no idea a scream could cause this…and I’m still not so sure I buy it…but until I get another answer, I will be responding to those screams very quickly. I never want to feel that panic again, hear the gasping, trying to rouse him and get him to breath.
I love you little Brando…
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