(I have tried to write this post 4,000 times and now I'm sitting down to finish it... so sorry if it's choppy and disorganized - I tend to write blog posts when I'm doing many other things...)
Last Saturday was by far the worst day Jeff and I have ever had since becoming parents. I never want to relive it but I sure did learn from our awful experience.
I was playing with Kenna in the playroom, and I turned for a second to pick something up, and as I turned back around to her, I noticed she was choking... and that she was having a hard to getting it up. I had no idea what it was but I knew immediately that I needed to take quick action. So, I picked her up brought her into the family room, threw her upside down but at an angle and started pounding on her back. Now, while this was all happening I was freaking out, Jeff was upstairs just getting out of the shower and the girls were really upset. While I was pounding on her back I was screaming for Jeff to come downstairs... Kenna was still not getting up whatever it was, but she never turned blue and she was crying a little bit. Now, about only 2 minutes have passed and Jeff literally flew down the stairs. When I picked her back up to see what her face looked like, Jeff noticed a small purple piece of plastic in her mouth, so he scooped it out with her finger. But, Kenna still wasn't breathing right. I don't know if it was from me pounding on her back, or if she was freaking out too, or if there was another small piece of toy still caught in her throat.
I then, called 911! It took about 5-7 minutes for the paramedic to get to our house and while we were waiting freaking out, Jeff was still pounding on her back and I was a wreck - pacing up and down and looking for the paramedics. The girls ended up running upstairs because I think it was too much for them. Now, when I think about it, I feel so bad that I couldn't comfort them and that they were really upset too.
Once the paramedic came and 2 policemen, then immediately checked her oxygen levels and looked down her throat. (Kenna was till crying at this time, which was reassuring... but she still wasn't right. She wasn't gasping for air, or making that much noise). They didn't like the look of her levels so we rushed around getting her car seat, my stuff and went right to the hospital.
At this point, once I got Kenna in her car seat, she started to calm down a bit. Our drive to the hospital was QUICK! The policemen stopped every intersection and we sailed right to the hospital within minutes. I started freaking out again at this point, thinking the EMT didn't want to tell me anything, but I think they were just being very cautious and wanted Kenna to get to the hospital ASAP!
There were about 10 doctors looking over Kenna, giving her medicine for inflammation, comforting her, and just trying to make her relax. About an hour passed, and the doctors told us that it would be best for Kenna if she got looked at the ENT specialist over at CHOP.
(This is what Kenna choked on - I have no idea what it is)
(Being transported to CHOP)
(Playing at CHOP)
It was a very long day, and Kenna was not sleeping well. She just couldn't get comfy because of how many things she was hooked up to. We got seen at CHOP right away. We were rolled right into a room and ENT specialist came in, talked to us a bit and decided we needed to stay the night for many reason:
1. to make sure she was breathing OK
2. no one knows if there are other toy pieces in her belly
3. if there are, they could get stuck to her lungs and she could develop a fever
4. they needed to go in and see if she damaged any vocal cords - which they did by going in through her nose. They didn't want to go down her throat unless they really had to, because they didn't want to irritate her anymore.
Side notes:
* Even though they took a lot of xrays of Kenna's belly, plastic does not show up on xrays.
*Thankfully, we have wonderful family and friends who took the girls for us while Jeff and I stayed with Kenna.
But Kenna was out of the hospital and well enough to watch Cambelle's last soccer game and a couple of days later Cambelle's Preschool Graduation!!
