Debi came down with an ear infection last week. Toren likely came down with it at the same time, but it took us a bit longer to recognize his symptoms. Debi took him into the doctor and the doctor prescribed a strong antibiotic. Given how he was feeling, we decided not to send him to daycare but instead to keep him home. That, of course, would mean we wouldn’t get much work done, but hopefully it would help him get better quicker.
I was watching him in the early afternoon as Debi had a class. I fed him lunch, then gave him some Motrin to help with the pain and his fever. After lunch I was letting him play in our front room. He can now pull himself up to a standing position on his toy box, and since he loves to stand and walk, that’s what he was doing. He was enjoying himself playing with his toys when I noticed a little tupperware of goldfish. Not thinking anything of it, I opened the tupperware and handed one to Toren. He took it, popped into his mouth, then continued to play. He’d done the same thing dozens of times before, so I thought nothing of it…
Until he started gagging. He occasionally chokes a little on food, coughs, then clears the food. But he wasn’t clearing the goldfish. Maybe I’m alone on this, but this scenario is basically my worst nightmare – I’m watching Toren alone, some freak accident happens, and… Yeah, so I picked him up, flipped him over so his stomach and chest were on my knee, and started thumping his back, hoping to clear the goldfish. All the while, Toren his gagging, wheezing, and crying (which, in retrospect, meant he was getting some air, but I was still freaking out, and I never freaking out). I had to pound on his back for a good 20 to 30 seconds before it popped out. Toren was freaking out. I was freaked out. And then – the vomit came!
The antibiotic he is on is tough on his stomach as it is. But having just eaten not twenty or thirty minutes before, he still had food in his stomach. So, in the process of clearing his airway, I managed to upset his poor stomach and out came all of his food. The vomit got all over both of us, and he sure seemed pathetic as he was vomiting, but I was just glad he was breathing. Once the vomiting stopped and I had comforted him, he was ready to go back to playing. Of course, I had to strip the two of us, throw our clothes in the washing machine, and mop everything up first, but 20 minutes after it started, you never would have guessed that I’d nearly lost my son. He was right back where he left off, playing by his toy box.
Phew!
