If you had told me when we started January 2020 that I'd make my first parental 911 call and I was a betting person, I'd have put money on James having fallen off something or jumped and broken something. I'd never ever think it was Cora.
I went to get my haircut after Brandon got off work, and came home and went to bed early for once. My kids had been driving me nuts, and I was glad for a break. Brandon had fallen asleep on the couch, and since I gave up a long time ago on trying to move him I left him there.
I woke up a few hours later to a commotion. It sounded like throwing up, and Brandon YELLING. He never yells, and especially at our kids. All of a sudden here he was, yelling and screaming "WHAT DID YOU DO?? YOU NEED TO TELL ME!" I jumped out of bed to see him holding Cora over the sink, trying to give her the Heimlich. I started shaking, and asked him "Is she choking or something??" And he just kept yelling at her. I realized that what I thought was throwing up was Cora not breathing. She could gasp in tiny breaths, but couldn't breathe out. Soon Brandon and I were both screaming (different ways), and Cora was crying but still not breathing any better. I yelled "I'm calling 911!" I thought Brandon would tell me I was being dramatic, but he didn't say anything. So I ran back to the room. I don't know why, but I was able to stay calm while telling them "my 4 year old just woke up and can't breathe. She's choking. She needs an ambulance." While doing this I was pulling on pants because I realized I was about to have a bunch of strangers in my house and I didn't want them to see me like this I forget what the responder said, but suddenly Brandon was running over to me. He yanked the phone out of my hand and said "I'm a PA. She needs an ambulance right now!" Suddenly, my hands stopped shaking. I had a feeling of immense peace come over me. I just knew Brandon would move heaven and earth to make sure she was ok.
Brandon opened the front door just in time to see a police car squeal into our cul de sac. The officer came running in to see Cora, who was sitting in the chair with me. She was calming down, but still working way too hard to breathe. You could see her working with her neck muscles, which I had learned is a really bad sign. The police car was joined by a fire truck and ambulance, all with lights blazing. Did I mention this was midnight? I'm sure our neighbors were all watching. The 911 response time was FAST, about 3 minutes.
The firefighters said they didn't think Cora was choking, but that it was croup. I had croup a bunch of times as a kid, and I thought "Oh, that's it?" I thought they were going to leave us, but when Cora asked me to not leave her I told her she wasn't going anywhere without me. I had no idea how scary and dangerous croup was. The paramedics said they'd like to bring her to the ER to check her out, so I put shoes on while Brandon got Cora's car seat from the van.
I started texting a few people at a time, saying "Can you just pray RIGHT now? Cora isn't breathing well." I wasn't sure who was going to see it, but I just needed some support. It would have made more sense to send Brandon with Cora, but when my kids are sad or sick they only want mom. So there I was!
Cora needed some breathing masks with epinephrine, because her oxygen levels were dropping by the minute. Her body was just getting tired. She was obviously scared. But she had her Cotton Candy unicorn (the one she got when she had her second round of ear tubes last August), that I said made her brave.
The ER itself was a wild ride. There were grown men screaming, and someone had ripped out their IV and was bleeding everywhere. Meanwhile, the one who should be screaming was quiet as could be. Thankfully, we got back to a room quickly and it helped us to not hear a lot of the sounds. I felt kind of bad that we got into a room so quickly when people were laying in the hall all night, but I also did not want to give it up.
After Cora's oxygen levels became more stable, we just had to wait to make sure she could breathe on her own without the help of epinephrine. She finally fell asleep about 2:30, but I could not rest. I had thankfully grabbed my phone charger and put it in my pocket, because I was just stuck sitting and waiting. I KNEW she was going to be fine if I closed my eyes, but 1) I just had a little metal chair to sit on and 2) my adrenaline was just too high.
They did an X Ray on her throat and determined that it was croup, since there was nothing in her airway. We were finally allowed to go at 5 AM. I was glad that Brandon was awake, even though I knew we had friends who would have picked us up if he didn't answer. James slept through the WHOLE thing, so he was wide awake and happy to see us when they got to the hospital.
Needless to say, we did nothing the next day. Cora took the day off of school, Brandon took the day off of work, and we just rested. We appreciated all the calls, texts, treats, and dinners we were given the next day.
We are so thankful that this was so short lived. We weren't even admitted to the hospital! Cora was totally fine by the time she woke up the next morning. However, Brandon and I were severely shaken up. How on earth does a child go to bed not sick and then nearly die a few hours later? How did Brandon hear her? I didn't! How are we so lucky to have such healthy children that this was our first 911 call? We have friends who have children who have spent more time in the hospital than I can imagine.
I talked to my mom the next day, and she told me how awful it really was whenever I had croup in the middle of the night. I BELIEVE IT.
So there you go. We are officially parents. We have needed to call 911, ride in an ambulance and spend the night in the ER. I hope we don't have to do it again, but we're glad it had such a happy ending.
