Ambulance Ride to ER

I'll start this post with the ending - everyone is OKAY!!!  But this afternoon was probably the scariest of my life.

To precursor the story, as an exclusively breast fed baby, JM is pretty much with me all the time.  I have started pumping and my mom has attempted to give JM the bottle.  The first bottle was okay.  Then last Saturday I went to a birthday party with SR and my mom had a very hard time giving JM the bottle...he kept sputtering on it, but I told my mom that he chokes on my breast milk too, especially during my let down (for those of you who don't breastfeed, it's when the milk is released from the ducts).

Then yesterday I had a tooth pulled (but it feels better gone than it did in my mouth) and my mom was babysitting JM.  He refused the bottle, but luckily I was only gone a short time.

So we decided that we should give him a bottle every day - only 2 oz at a time as that is really what I get per side per pump and I usually only pump one side.  Also, SR is transitioning into the preschool room in just over a week, and she will get to go on her first field trip on the 30th.  Because I am not working, I can go too and enjoy my time with her.  This is a good trip too - Legoland - and so expensive if I were to just take her, and free if she goes with school.  I can't even imagine how engorged I will be being away from JM all day and I can't sneak off to pump on a trip.

Everything I did in this situation was wrong today.  First of all, I woke a sleeping baby.  But he had been sleeping since his last feed at noon and it was 3pm.  I don't want him to sleep the day away either as I need my sleep at night (and yet here I am blogging when both kids are sleeping).  I woke him up, and we warmed up the 2 oz bottle.  I changed his diaper to wake him.  But he wouldn't take the bottle from my mom.  I decided to try, but he wouldn't take it from me either.  I thought it might have been b/c he could smell my milk (even though it was breastmilk in the bottle).

I put JM onto the breastfeeding pillow and was going to just breastfeed him, but then I tried the bottle again.  SUCCESS!!!  When lying like he is breastfeeding, JM took the bottle beautifully.  ****I realize now that as I don't know anything about bottle feeding, I let him drink the air in the bottle after the milk was gone...BIG MISTAKE***

I raised JM up to burp so that I could continue his feed using my fresh breastmilk.  But he wouldn't burp.  He couldn't even get a noise out.  I looked at him and his face was turning red.  His eyes were bulging.  Milk was coming out of his nose, and almost frothing at his mouth.  I started to scream "CALL 911" to my mom.  My dad and I kept passing him back and forth trying different burping methods.  My mom called 911 (she told me later that she hesitated b/c she didn't know where she would find a phone - we were all in a state of panic).  My mom got 911 on the phone and still JM was choking on something.  He couldn't get the burp out.  It felt like an eternity.  I felt completely helpless.

My dad told me to stand outside and wait for the ambulance - they almost drove by their house, but I flagged them down.  By the time the paramedics came in the house, my dad had gotten JM to burp and he was crying.  RELIEF...but could there be brain damage?

As the paramedics came in, JM suddenly stopped crying and passed out - into the deepest sleep.  That scared us again.  He's always so awake and alert after a feed.

The paramedics checked JM and said he appeared to be okay and was just sleeping, but they suggested we go to the hospital.  The closest hospital was too busy so they took us somewhere else.  I went in the ambulance and my dad went to get SR to bring her home to my place for dinner with my mom.  Then he came to the hospital to meet me.

Hooked up to monitors for the ambulance ride.

We got to the hospital and JM continued to be in a deep sleep - got through triage and they put us into a cubicle with curtains - I guess to separate him from the germs.  We got to bypass a lot of the wait because he is a baby.

I'm rushing through the ending b/c I'm exhausted and it's 10:30 and I should get a little sleep before JM wakes up to feed.

The doctor was really nice and thorough.  He agreed it was probably the extra air he swallowed that caused this.  He suggested I take him to my own pediatrician which I will try to get him in to see tomorrow.  He said that he did not turn blue or lose consciousness so those are great signs that everything is fine.

My mom is freaked out and doesn't want to feed him alone.  But then I can't go anywhere, and I want to do some things with just SR - and she already missed out on this summer of fun activities.

I have to say, SR was amazing tonight with my mom.  Very well behaved (I haven't blogged about her behaviour yet)!

My eyes are starting to close.  I'm going to publish this.  Definitely my wake up call to pay more attention to my babies and hug them a little tighter :)