alignment:

Quite a Scare

Mon., Nov 21 Charlie Grace was only about 7 hours old, and she choked on some mucus. It wouldn't have been a problem for anyone with more developed lungs, but for her it was pretty serious. The mucus got lodged in her throat and she needed help to clear it. Christine did all the right things (sucking out her nose and mouth, sweep, patting back), while I got Erik and Marlene to call 911 and ran across the street to see if our neighbor, who works in the natal care unit was home (she wasn't, she was at work).

Because of all the adrenaline it's hard to say if Charlie was no breathing for 30 seconds or 2 minutes. It sure felt like forever. She turned very blue/purple and clenched up her jaw tight (making it hard to get in there) before Christine was able to clear it. When writing this down it sounds so "clinical", but living through it is just scary as shit.

911 was super helpful in talking us through it, and the EMTs were at our house in less than 2 minutes. The EMT and our midwife both thought this was a rare occurrence and nothing to worry about, since Charlie didn't appear to swallow much during the birth, so we declined an ambulance ride to the hospital. Less than 20 minutes later Charlie choked again. There were 4 of us hovering around, and Christine quickly flipped her onto her back and cleared the mucus, and I called 911 again. This time we decided to take the ambulance into the emergency room, and take our chance with the doctor that's on.

We called Charlie's doctor, and got Kate Atkinson, who was on call. The ER doctor was very young, and said he doesn't often see infants. I overhead him talking to the nurses, and it sounded like they were thinking of just sending us home, but he decided since he doesn't see many infants, he wanted either Charlie's doctor, or the pediatrician they have on call decide what to do. We felt better with Charlie's doctor, and when Dr. Atkinson heard that we were in the ER, she decided to come down to advocate for us. Lucky for us she had nothing better to do at Midnight on a Friday.

Kate was REALLY great, and calming. She decided to have bloodwork done. Charlie didn't like that one bit, but as Kate put it, she doesn't worry when infants cry when getting bloodwork, she worries if they don't cry. The Nurse who took the blood was great, and got a vein the first time, which is hard to do on an infant!

Kate warned us that sometimes new-born bloodwork is all over the map, since birth is a fairly traumatic experience, and different bodies respond differently too it, but when the bloodwork came back everything was great. Well within the normal range. She suggested we stay in the hospital that night (Friday) so that the nurses could keep a watch on Charlie, and we could get some sleep, which sounded great to us. The nurse that checked us in was absolutely great, and we were able to get a few hours sleep each.

Dr. Atkinson showed up around 7 AM on Saturday, and let us know that Charlie was doing great. She was recommending that we sleep as late as we can, and then head home to Max (who was going to spend the morning with Erik, and then head over to his friend Cecelia Daisy's house). Ironically, as Dr. Atkinson was telling us this information, Charlie was actually choking on mucus again in the nurses station. She turned blue again, and they had to clear it. They suctioned her throat and got quite a bit of mucus out of there.

Based on that Dr. Atkinson suggested we hang around for the day, and head home in the evening. The general impression I got from the doctors, nurses and midwives is that having a lot of mucus isn't terribly unusual. The only reason it's dangerous is because Charlie Grace has young lungs, and because she doesn't make a lot of noise when she's choking (because she can't breath). It sounds like it clears up within a few days, although everyone we talk to has a different opinion as to how long that time period is.

We ran a second set of bloodwork, to compare to the baseline, and make sure that no fluid got into Charlie's lungs in any of these coughing fits. The bloodwork came out great, so we decided not to put her on anti-biotics (10 days of IV in the hospital).

Dr. Atkinson was leaning towards sending us home to rejoin Max on Saturday night, but she supported us in staying one more night in the hospital. I asked her what she thought of keeping a 24 hour watch on Charlie for a couple/few days and she said she thought it was overkill, but if it's what we need for piece of mind, we should definitely do it. It does make us feel a lot better to have had my mom spend Sunday night with us, and pull the graveyard shift (1-5AM) watching Charlie, so we could sleep soundly for some of that time. I can't help thinking that this is the type of thing that turns into SIDS.

The last choking episode was Saturday morning in the hospital (over 36 hours ago at this point). The last mucus she's coughed up was Saturday night, about 15 hours after they suctioned out her throat. She coughed that up on her own. We've been keeping an eye on her and keeping her on her on her side, to make it easier to get things up. We've also been poking her a lot more than we did with Max (poor girl).

Christine and I are both coming down from the multiple adrenaline rushes. Christine is healing GREAT from after the birth. Some of it is adrenaline, but some of it is shear tenacity. We're feeling much better, and personally I'm getting much better at NOT overreacting every time Charlie makes a noise, or moves, or doesn't make a noise or doesn't move. It's hard not to think about her turning blue, and thinking we were going to loose her.

All in all we were very lucky that we were awake when it happened. It's great to see that both times we called we had EMTs at our house within 2 minutes of making a call to 911. It's great to have friends in the apartment upstairs that were able to help out. It's great that Max was able to spend the night with Daisy, and Gabe and Kim. It's great that I have family who came up last night, and are coming up tomorrow night to give support.

Christine's doing much better. She's wanting to talk about it in small doses, because it's hard to talk about a lot, but it's good to get out. Right now we're trying to put some focus back on Max (who has handled this amazingly, and has been sharing his toys with "his baby"). We're also making up for some of the bonding time we lost when Charlie was being monitored in the nurses station. We've already been apart from her for longer than we were apart from Max in the first few weeks of his life, and we're excited to spend more time with her.

Thanks for all the well-wishes I've received. I'm not *really* reading email, but I have glanced over some of it. I've had a few people tell me that girls tend to be more drama than boys, I figured I had until she was a teenager to learn that. :)

Love,

Jason, Christine, Max and Charlie Grace

Home News Max Pictures Charlie Grace Ian and beyond (fall 2007) Travel Pictures Mailing List Sign Up: sign up for our email mailing list: [ submit ]		alignment: Quite a Scare Mon., Nov 21 Charlie Grace was only about 7 hours old, and she choked on some mucus. It wouldn't have been a problem for anyone with more developed lungs, but for her it was pretty serious. The mucus got lodged in her throat and she needed help to clear it. Christine did all the right things (sucking out her nose and mouth, sweep, patting back), while I got Erik and Marlene to call 911 and ran across the street to see if our neighbor, who works in the natal care unit was home (she wasn't, she was at work). Because of all the adrenaline it's hard to say if Charlie was no breathing for 30 seconds or 2 minutes. It sure felt like forever. She turned very blue/purple and clenched up her jaw tight (making it hard to get in there) before Christine was able to clear it. When writing this down it sounds so "clinical", but living through it is just scary as shit. 911 was super helpful in talking us through it, and the EMTs were at our house in less than 2 minutes. The EMT and our midwife both thought this was a rare occurrence and nothing to worry about, since Charlie didn't appear to swallow much during the birth, so we declined an ambulance ride to the hospital. Less than 20 minutes later Charlie choked again. There were 4 of us hovering around, and Christine quickly flipped her onto her back and cleared the mucus, and I called 911 again. This time we decided to take the ambulance into the emergency room, and take our chance with the doctor that's on. We called Charlie's doctor, and got Kate Atkinson, who was on call. The ER doctor was very young, and said he doesn't often see infants. I overhead him talking to the nurses, and it sounded like they were thinking of just sending us home, but he decided since he doesn't see many infants, he wanted either Charlie's doctor, or the pediatrician they have on call decide what to do. We felt better with Charlie's doctor, and when Dr. Atkinson heard that we were in the ER, she decided to come down to advocate for us. Lucky for us she had nothing better to do at Midnight on a Friday. Kate was REALLY great, and calming. She decided to have bloodwork done. Charlie didn't like that one bit, but as Kate put it, she doesn't worry when infants cry when getting bloodwork, she worries if they don't cry. The Nurse who took the blood was great, and got a vein the first time, which is hard to do on an infant! Kate warned us that sometimes new-born bloodwork is all over the map, since birth is a fairly traumatic experience, and different bodies respond differently too it, but when the bloodwork came back everything was great. Well within the normal range. She suggested we stay in the hospital that night (Friday) so that the nurses could keep a watch on Charlie, and we could get some sleep, which sounded great to us. The nurse that checked us in was absolutely great, and we were able to get a few hours sleep each. Dr. Atkinson showed up around 7 AM on Saturday, and let us know that Charlie was doing great. She was recommending that we sleep as late as we can, and then head home to Max (who was going to spend the morning with Erik, and then head over to his friend Cecelia Daisy's house). Ironically, as Dr. Atkinson was telling us this information, Charlie was actually choking on mucus again in the nurses station. She turned blue again, and they had to clear it. They suctioned her throat and got quite a bit of mucus out of there. Based on that Dr. Atkinson suggested we hang around for the day, and head home in the evening. The general impression I got from the doctors, nurses and midwives is that having a lot of mucus isn't terribly unusual. The only reason it's dangerous is because Charlie Grace has young lungs, and because she doesn't make a lot of noise when she's choking (because she can't breath). It sounds like it clears up within a few days, although everyone we talk to has a different opinion as to how long that time period is. We ran a second set of bloodwork, to compare to the baseline, and make sure that no fluid got into Charlie's lungs in any of these coughing fits. The bloodwork came out great, so we decided not to put her on anti-biotics (10 days of IV in the hospital). Dr. Atkinson was leaning towards sending us home to rejoin Max on Saturday night, but she supported us in staying one more night in the hospital. I asked her what she thought of keeping a 24 hour watch on Charlie for a couple/few days and she said she thought it was overkill, but if it's what we need for piece of mind, we should definitely do it. It does make us feel a lot better to have had my mom spend Sunday night with us, and pull the graveyard shift (1-5AM) watching Charlie, so we could sleep soundly for some of that time. I can't help thinking that this is the type of thing that turns into SIDS. The last choking episode was Saturday morning in the hospital (over 36 hours ago at this point). The last mucus she's coughed up was Saturday night, about 15 hours after they suctioned out her throat. She coughed that up on her own. We've been keeping an eye on her and keeping her on her on her side, to make it easier to get things up. We've also been poking her a lot more than we did with Max (poor girl). Christine and I are both coming down from the multiple adrenaline rushes. Christine is healing GREAT from after the birth. Some of it is adrenaline, but some of it is shear tenacity. We're feeling much better, and personally I'm getting much better at NOT overreacting every time Charlie makes a noise, or moves, or doesn't make a noise or doesn't move. It's hard not to think about her turning blue, and thinking we were going to loose her. All in all we were very lucky that we were awake when it happened. It's great to see that both times we called we had EMTs at our house within 2 minutes of making a call to 911. It's great to have friends in the apartment upstairs that were able to help out. It's great that Max was able to spend the night with Daisy, and Gabe and Kim. It's great that I have family who came up last night, and are coming up tomorrow night to give support. Christine's doing much better. She's wanting to talk about it in small doses, because it's hard to talk about a lot, but it's good to get out. Right now we're trying to put some focus back on Max (who has handled this amazingly, and has been sharing his toys with "his baby"). We're also making up for some of the bonding time we lost when Charlie was being monitored in the nurses station. We've already been apart from her for longer than we were apart from Max in the first few weeks of his life, and we're excited to spend more time with her. Thanks for all the well-wishes I've received. I'm not really reading email, but I have glanced over some of it. I've had a few people tell me that girls tend to be more drama than boys, I figured I had until she was a teenager to learn that. :) Love, Jason, Christine, Max and Charlie Grace


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