huge scare

Hey ladies.

Just looking for some support. ONe of my twins chocked today and scared me to death. i layed her down on her back for a minute to run to the restroom and when i came by she was chocking on her milk or saliva---not sure---she was blue. she had drank about an ounce prior to when i layed her down about an hour before. when i came back to pick her up she was blue. i picked her up quickly and started to pat her back. she continued to choke. she was trying to cry but the cry wouldn't come out. i opened her mouth and stuck my finger in her mouth to try and see if there was anything stuck in her throat. nothing...cleared away some milk bubbles. I then started to pump her chest and continued turning her over to pat her back. after about a minute she started to breath again and her color came back. i was terrified!!! i thought my little girl was going to die in my arms today!!!

I called my doctor and he said that she doesn't need to lay flat on her back at all. she needs to stay elevated in case she spits up again. he thinks she may be having some reflux and that is why she chocked today. it all scared me to death. i'm still so shook up about it all. anyone else have any similar experiences?? she is so small....don't know if i can handle something like that again!!

 

:hug99: I have no experience with reflux, but I am so glad she is ok. :hug99: You did a great job handling the situation. I just hope and pray that you don't have that happen again. :hug99: But I am so glad you both are doing ok now. :hug99:

 

YOu just described my worst nightmare. I am soooooo incredibly afraid of choking it's not even funny. I'm sooo glad she's okay now. I'm sure it was a one time deal. Good job making it through it.

 

So glad she is ok :hug99: :hug99: :hug99: :hug99: :hug99: :hug99: :hug99:

Dianna

 

:hug99: I am so sorry that happened to you. How early were your babies born? I seem to remember you posting in the NICU forum?? Maybe not. If they were early, did they have any breathing issues in the NICU like apneas where they would stop breathing for second and would either need to be stimulated by themselves to get out of it or by a Nurse??

Mine were born at 32 weeks and we had apneas and bradychardic episodes in the NICU. Those they had to outgrow and did so before they left the NICU but some babies dont. So my first thought is that this was some sort of apnea episode that might have been brought on by some reflux which can be common in preemie babies.

I would keep her upright when feeding and for at least 30 mins after each feed. You can sleep her on an incline either in a bouncy, car seat, or raise the mattress in the crib on one side to help. If she starts having problems eating like arching her back or screaming during her feeds, the reflux (if she has it) will probably need medication to help ease the pain. Please dont hesitate to call the Ped about it! :hug99:

 

How old are your twins? Are you sure she was chocking? The reason I ask is because my son turned blue while eating the day I brought him home from the hosital. I had a regular vaginal delivery at 35w5d and both boys stayed in my room and came home with me two days later. While feeding James that first night home he turned blue and stopped breathing. After I sat him up he started breathing again but my pedi made me take him to the hospital. As it turns out it hapened three more times that week all while eating or after eating. They determind he had apnea. He had to stay a week in the nicu and then they sent him home on a monitor incase he stopped breathing again. He wore it two month and is now a perfectly heathly 4month old. I don't tell you this to scare you but to worn you if it happens again take her to the hospital and tell them she had an ALE (Apparent Life-threatening Event).

Good Luck!

 

Are your twins newborns? That happened to me when DD was just a few weeks old. She had terrible reflux, but at the time I did not know that yet. I would give her a bottle and lay her in the crib and (I didn't know at the time) but it was milk coming up her throat and through her nose and she looked like she couldn't breathe and also looked like she was turning blue. I thought she was dying! It's a horrible feeling to a brand new mom. It happened a couple of times before we figured out it was reflux. Just keep her elevated. My DD LIVED in her bouncy seat for the first4 months. Or you can also elevate her crib mattress. Here is the thread where I posted pictures of her bed: http://www.twinstuff.com/forum/index.php?s...p;hl=reflux+bed

Of course you can only do this while they are very young and not rolling over or moving around much. My doctor also told us to add cereal to her bottles and we did that until she started solids. I remember how scary that was! Just keep her elevated.

 

I agree with the others too, also ask your pedi about possible apnea.

 

:hug99: That would have scared me too!! I'm glad she's okay! I don't know anything about reflux. I'm sure you've gotten some great answers here. :hug99:

 

Oh honey!

Yes, I had a similar experience. I was breastfeeding my DD when she was a couple weeks old. I thought she had fallen asleep on the breast, but I looked down and her mouth was hanging open and she wasn't breathing. Thankfully I had a nurse friend with me, and when I did a couple of things that didn't work I handed her right off to the nurse.

I second every one else's opinion. I would push for some kind of follow-up with the doctor if you can. I took my DD to the pediatrician that day, and that night we were in the hospital having tests done, and then she had a heart/breathing monitor for about three weeks after that. It was a nightmare, I'm not going to kid you. But I'm really glad my pediatrician was proactive. She said that it may just have been choking, but incidents of not breathing/turning blue can be signs of something more serious. It probably was just choking for my DD--she's 8 months old, perfectly healthy and nothing like that has happened since.

DON'T beat yourself up either. I did that for months afterwards (what if I had watched her more closely while I was breastfeeding? What if nurse friend hadn't been there? etc.), and still will today if I let myself, but it's not productive.

Hang in there. I know it's a terrifying experience. It's hard not to cry writing about it even now. I'll never forget that day. :hug99:

 

Thanks for all of your responses!! You all make me feel better. I really feel like its reflux but am going to ask my ped about apnea. I see him on monday or tuesday of next week. the reason i think its reflux is because she has done this twice-the first time not bad- and she was spitting up milk out of her nose and mouth both times. I have kept her elevated in her bobby chair or on my chest ever since yesterdays episode. so far so good!

The twins are three weeks old and 2 days. This twin was in the nicu. she had a few breathing problems at first but was only on oxygen for a couple of days.

Hopefully keeping her elevated will keep this from happening again. It was a terrible experience!!! can someone explain apnea too. i know its when you stop breathing for a second or two but what causes it??

 

Before we left the hospital, Anna had a couple horrifying episodes where she would spit up and it would come out her nose and she couldn't clear her airways and we or the nurse would have to suction her really quickly. It sounds like your doctor's advice is sound. We just paid very close attention to her in the early weeks, and it didn't really happen again. I know how scary it is. :hug99:

 

SOOO scary! I'm sorry that happend, glad everything is ok!

 

QUOTE(hannahshope @ Aug 1 2008, 01:39 PM) [snapback]908176[/snapback]
The twins are three weeks old and 2 days. This twin was in the nicu. she had a few breathing problems at first but was only on oxygen for a couple of days.

Hopefully keeping her elevated will keep this from happening again. It was a terrible experience!!! can someone explain apnea too. i know its when you stop breathing for a second or two but what causes it??


Here is a website I found about the term "Apnea" and what causes it.

Both of my boys wore Apnea monitors when they came home from the NICU. If she has another episode, I would push for some further tests and maybe a monitor.

 

thanks for the apnea website. i'm going to run all this by my ped on monday. so far so good today. I keep walking up to her to make sure she is breathing. we have had her continuously elevated ever since yesterdays episode. so scary!!

 

Sounds just like my DD. She had horrible reflux where she would stop breathing. The bubbles are the acid coming back up. She would actually hold her breath. The GI specialist we saw said as scary as it is, she would actually pass out before she would die from holding her breath. It was a terrifying thing to deal with and I cried many nights. I always would feed them in their bouncy seats and feedings would take forever because I had to keep them elevated for a half hour after. Looking back I wish I would have just let them sleep in their bouncys. (DS had it also but he did not stop breathing) We elevated their crib mattress by putting towels underneath one side. We started out with Zantac which did not help at all but finally were switched to prevacid. It took about 10 days but what a difference it made. Her episodes became less and less and finally they were gone. We also put a ton of rice cereal in their bottles. Good Luck I really feel for you. It was one of the hardest things to go through. My mother and my MIL were so frantic when ever it would happen. I learned to keep calm and deal with it the best I could always keeping a bulb close by to clear her throat and nose.

 

So sorry you had such a scare :hug99:

Sounds like you handled the situation well.

 

oh my goodness, I am so glad she is okay! My babies choking is one of my biggest fears! I always worry about it. I don't have any experience with reflux but I am glad to read that you called your doctor. I know a lot of people's babies take meds for reflux....I am so glad your daughter is okay!

 

QUOTE(Jen S @ Aug 1 2008, 05:56 PM) [snapback]909046[/snapback]
Sounds just like my DD. She had horrible reflux where she would stop breathing. The bubbles are the acid coming back up. She would actually hold her breath. The GI specialist we saw said as scary as it is, she would actually pass out before she would die from holding her breath. It was a terrifying thing to deal with and I cried many nights. I always would feed them in their bouncy seats and feedings would take forever because I had to keep them elevated for a half hour after. Looking back I wish I would have just let them sleep in their bouncys. (DS had it also but he did not stop breathing) We elevated their crib mattress by putting towels underneath one side. We started out with Zantac which did not help at all but finally were switched to prevacid. It took about 10 days but what a difference it made. Her episodes became less and less and finally they were gone. We also put a ton of rice cereal in their bottles. Good Luck I really feel for you. It was one of the hardest things to go through. My mother and my MIL were so frantic when ever it would happen. I learned to keep calm and deal with it the best I could always keeping a bulb close by to clear her throat and nose.


jens, how old where your children when this happened? what age is prevacid indicated for. what you described sounds very similar to what we experienced. my other twin has it a little too. i see bubbles coming out of her mouth sometimes too. its good to hear you say that they would actually pass out first. i see my ped on monday. i'm going to ask him for prevacid. did you breastfeed or bottlefeed when this happened??

 

ditto

QUOTE(ivfbound078 @ Aug 1 2008, 06:14 AM) [snapback]907942[/snapback]
YOu just described my worst nightmare. I am soooooo incredibly afraid of choking it's not even funny. I'm sooo glad she's okay now. I'm sure it was a one time deal. Good job making it through it.

 

:love0028: That is one of my worst nightmares. I don't have any experience with reflux but you handled the situation like a champ, I think I would have totally fallen apart...

 

Oh my gosh! That is so scary. I'm so sorry but very glad everything is ok.

 

That is so scary! Sounds like you handled yourself very well!

 

QUOTE(twinreverb @ Aug 1 2008, 08:34 PM) [snapback]909301[/snapback]
ditto



I'm so sorry you and your baby experienced this. You handled the situation beautifully. I'm so glad your baby is okay :hug99:

 

Thanks everyone for your responses! as of today, so far so good. hopefully her episode was a one time deal. i really think having them sleep sitting up in their bobby chair and swing is helping. they have a drs appt on monday. i'm ready to get there and talk to him about getting some reflux meds!!