Thank God for Guardian Angels
| February 15, 2012 | Posted by Amee under Birth and Baby, Family, Inspirations |
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I started my day like any other with cleaning, cooking, laundry, cuddling and playing with my three children. That morning my world froze in a moment of time: thank God for guardian angels.
My nine week old baby girl Ayla is very strong, and I went to get our Bumbo chair for her in my bedroom upstairs. I laid her on the chaise lounge part of our sage green couch, and propped her in a sitting position with pillows on either side. I asked my nearly three year old daughter Keira to come and sit next to her sister to keep her company while I quickly ran upstairs. It took less than thirty seconds to get the chair for my baby. Ayla and Keira were still where I left them on the couch and Keira was kissing her sister and telling her she loved her. I noticed Ayla acted like she had spit up some milk and was gagging, but when I got closer I noticed her color was purple and the gagging became more violent. I quickly picked up my baby girl and flipped her upside down to let the extra spit up run out. Instead a shinny copper penny popped out of her mouth and fell to the floor! Ayla gasped for air a couple of times and then scared screams erupted from her mouth. I stood shocked and stunned at what had occurred. Then tears streamed down my cheeks as I held my baby tight. My stomach was in knots and I felt like I needed to vomit. How did Ayla get a penny? I looked at my daughter Keira and I asked her if she had given her sister the penny. Keira nodded and said, “Yes Mama!” At that moment I was not sure what to do, but I needed my daughter to know what she did was not safe. I grabbed my Keira’s hand and put her in the time-out area. I bent down with tear-filled eyes, and grabbed the phone to call her father. I explained to him what happened and put the phone on speaker. We both told Keira we knew she did not mean to hurt her sister, but she needed to know never to put anything in Ayla’s mouth. After we hung up the phone, I was still in a state of shock. I called my son’s behavioral therapist for more help. This was not the first time Keira tried to put something in Ayla’s mouth. Usually it was a picked booger, dirty fingers, a play baby bottle, or some type of food. The therapist said I handled the situation perfectly, but she said to make sure I gave Keira a positive reenforcer like “you can touch her hands, her tummy and her toes, but not her mouth, eyes, or nose”.
After I calmed down, I shared what happened on my Facebook Timeline and posts poured in from friends thankful that Ayla was okay. Many people gave examples of how similar incidents happened to them with their children. A few of my girlfriends even called to make sure I was okay. Some unfortunately were judgmental and I made a poor choice as a mother to leave Ayla on the couch alone with Keira even for less than thirty seconds. I understood their point of view, but I wondered how being with your children every second of their life was even possible? I am a safe and good mother who takes many precautions to ensure the safety and well-being of all my children. I have extra locks on doors, video monitoring in multiple rooms, and baby gates up to prevent my son from running on a night rampage while the rest of us sleep. What happened to Ayla was scary and likely took years off my life with some more gray hairs in the meantime. I am as careful as I can be, but sometimes things happen out of my control. I do not know where Keira got that penny, and I cannot believe Ayla almost died from a penny.
There are many “what ifs”: What if I had laid Ayla on her back, or gone potty, what if I changed the laundry, did something in my kitchen which is in part of the same room, my sweet Ayla might have died. In my opinion, luck played no part! I am a strong believer in God and His guardian angels. I am thankful I sat her up, and that I knew what to do because of the infant CPR classes I took before my oldest child was born. Ayla’s guardian angels saved her life, and I came away from this experience thankful my baby was okay, but with the realization even when you are a wonderful and safe mother bad things can still happen. I will be more vigilant in the future because thirty seconds would have broken my heart and changed my family forever.
Do you have any experiences similar to mine? When people criticize you as a parent how do you feel or respond?
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Amee, I do have a similar but horrifying experience to share. I do not know this person, but she is a friend of a friend. She had a just walking toddler and by accident had fallen asleep on the couch. The little girl somehow got into her purse, which had her anti depressants in it. Unfortuntely the bottle was open, and the baby swallowed a bunch of them. When the mom woke up a few minutes later, the daughter was barely breathing… and she didn’t make it. This was a few years ago and the mom’s whole world is crushed; her and her husband split up and I know she feels like her life is falling apart. I cannot even imagine how that feels. All I can say is that you did nothing wrong, it was a total freak accident and possibly happened so that you could teach Keira not to do that anymore. Who knows what would have happened if you weren’t able to teach her this lesson and she did it again? I am so happy everything is ok. I agree luck played no part, it was God watching over you. He only gives us what we can handle and God knows that is too much to handle. Thanks for sharing your story. -Jen
Thanks Jen oh man I feel for your friend because if Ayla had died I could see how it would destroy a marriage and even one-self. Yeah one of my girlfriends who called told me how a friend of hers three year old started to choke on food and she tried to fish it out of her mouth making it go down further. She called 911, but her baby died in her arms so I know even freak things can happen when you are right there. It is good though because I do stop now and think to myself will she be okay. I mean I carried up a load of laundry last night and thought there is no way I could carry her and the basket safely and my other two usually follow me in tow. -Amee
Amee!!!!! I’m just reading this now… I’m so sorry.. You already know I call you super mommy!!! I couldn’t do half Of what you do! You know better to believe negative comments… I know you have your days, we all do and then you have days like today that remind you on just how precious life is! I will never forget the day I had went and took a nap with Michael he was 10 months old and we woke up to the phone ringing.. It was daddy calling from downstairs… (Hahaha) telling us to come down bc dinner was ready.. So I grabbed him and went to walk down the stairs with him on my hip… Well till this day I have no memory of actually what happened… Did I miss a step?? Did I lose my balance??? Well I fell from the top step all the way to the bottom… My natural mommy instincts kicked in bc when I got to te bottom Michael was still in my arms on my chest.. I must have bear hugged him all the way down and I went flat on my back… Of course at that time I felt no pain bc I was so concerned about Michael! He started crying right away and Steve heard all the noise and came running.. All I remember saying is I held onto him he never hit a step.. Over and Over again but why wouldn’t he stop crying???? There were no marks on him no abnormalities … So what was it.. So I called the Ped right away and he told me to bring him in right away by this point he had calmed down and the crying had stoppe but for piece of mind we brought him anyway! O course we get to drs office and he’s as happy as can be… But when I held his hands and let him walk alittle we notice he wasn’t puting all his weight down on one leg so my Ped said u know what lets just go get a X-ray just to make sure but he was almost positive it was nothing… Well…. He ended up fracturing his leg In 3 places….. I nearly dropped to the floor in hysterics… Thinking to myself omg I broke my babies leg what kind of parent falls down te stairs with a baby in there arms… Thankfully they were tiny fractures but still needed a full length cast on for 3 weeks…. My baby just started crawling a few days bf this I was deviated they told me that he prob would not crawl until the cast came off… Boy was he wrong!! Lol within min o putting him down off he went and could care less about he cast ne’er phased him!!! Me on the other hand spent the next 3 weeks crying bc of what happened..
Still to this day I still judge myself bc of what happened that day.. Why didn’t I hold the rail or why if wasn’t feeling 100% why didn’t I have Steve come up and grab him!!! But the what Ifs and should haves doesn’t matter anymore… What happened happened and no taking it back but learning experience! Till this day I hold the rail walking down the stairs just like you will now be extremely cautious with how Keira plays with her sister… It happens to the best of us and I know for sure every mom has her stories and unfortunatly I’m sure there’s more stories to come!!
Wow Jen that story is horrible I couldnt even imagine what that girl feels like….. So sad..
Oh and by the way I couldn’t believe that he actually broke his leg bc I had him the whole time well the next day or day after I saw felt something on my lower leg… Guess what it was a foot print! Yep he jammed his foot on my leg and that explained exactly he type of fractures he had… So he really never hit a step!!!
Thank you Tara it was scary and I am thankful Michael was okay. You are such a wonderful mother too wish our kiddos were not sick this winter off and on so we could play more. I know I should not let people’s opinions get me down, but I have second guessed myself. I took a load of wet diapers up yesterday to hang them and I questioned myself simply bringing the basket up. I could not bring the baby and diapers up I would fall on the stairs. Thanks again for the support!