Scariest Moment of My Life Thus Far!

Today, I spent most of the day setting up for a big scrapbook show that is going on in Salt Lake over the weekend. After we finished setting up, I had a few errands to run and I didn't get home until almost 7:00pm. Rhett hadn't eaten dinner yet and I was so proud of him for not being crabby. When I got home, I promptly fed our dog - who had been locked in her kennel all day because no one was home. Rhett likes to watch Ginger eat and sometimes plays with her water dish. I left the room for a moment and before I came back Rhett had crawled out of the bathroom (where we keep Ginger's food dish). I didn't think anything of it. Well, I picked Rhett up a few minutes later to set him up to the table to eat some dinner. I noticed however that his clothes were wet and I needed to change his diaper (I bought cheaper diapers and let me tell you, Parent's Choice diapers at Walmart are NOT my choice because he leaks right through them every night! Huggies ALL THE WAY!). I laid him down and noticed he was eating something and I hadn't given him anything to eat yet. I tried to open his mouth to see what it was and low and behold he started CHOKING. And not just **cough** it got caught in my throat, but an open mouth no sound and face turn red! I sat him up to pat his back to make him cough it up, but it DIDN'T WORK. I went into an automatic mode and just remember saying aloud, "SCARED" whiled I picked him up and started pounding on his back. When that didn't do anything after a few seconds, I turned him face down across my arm and other hand and started pounding on his back and a few moments later he threw up on my carpet. I don't think there was a time I was HAPPIER puke was on my carpet! After he was breathing, I just held him tight and then it hit me how shaken the incident made me and I just held him and cried for a moment. John wasn't home yet but I was glad for a hug and a vent to him when he came home! I have to say I honestly don't remember a moment at ANY time in my life where fear had gripped me to make me react like that moment did! Thanks to all the First Aid classes that were taught to me LONG before I ever had an infant so I knew instinctively what to do.

By the way, the object that Rhett choked on was a dog kibble (probably more than one), which in and by itself wasn't all that big a deal. I purposely buy smaller kibbles and they are probably the size of a cheerio. Chomping it by itself probably wasn't where the choking became an issue as when I set him on his back and tried to pry his mouth open to see what was in there! But all in all, Rhett's fine and I was just a little shaken. I guess I'll just have to be more careful and not have Rhett around when I feed the dog! And Rhett needs to learn that DOG FOOD is not HUMAN FOOD :):)