Mother's Worst Fear....Would You Know What To Do?

I love having breakfast with my girls.  I watch how they interact with each other and each moment brings about a gratitude that words escape me to describe.  This morning we sat down to eat like every other day.  I was feeding Bina while Lyla ate her breakfast.  I had just fed Bina a spoonful of food as I looked over at Lyla.  Her mouth was open in a choking motion.  Her face was quickly turning red and she was not making a sound.  Fear encompassed me.  My baby is choking.  In a matter of seconds, I threw her tray to the ground and had her out of her high chair and on the ground to administer the Heimlich maneuver.  By the time I got her on the ground, back facing me, she says, "I ok."  I turned her around.  Her face is no longer red and she is speaking.  Oh Dear God.  Sound.  Amen.  The tears falling from her eyes were round and larger than normal.  I will never forget them.  Her expression - vulnerable but upbeat.  I asked her if she was ok.  She looked at me and smiled, cleared her throat and said, "Yeah."  I watched her for a few seconds.  She smiled again and repeated, "I ok."  I continued to watch her as I went to pick up her tray.  She says to me, "Mommy made a mess," describing the food that had fallen off her tray and onto the floor when I launched the tray.  She appeared to have already moved on.  I tried to, and for a minute or two, I did, as I put her back in her high chair and put the tray back on the chair.

She resumed eating what was left of her breakfast.  I finished feeding Bina her cereal and fruit.  I actually was calmer than I expected.  I suppose because I knew what to do in that very moment and was actually able to do it in that very moment.  I remember going to the pediatrician's office we all joked about when it's your own child, sometimes we forget common sense assessments.  Not this time.  I was so grateful (and quite frankly proud of myself) that at this very moment when my baby needed me, I reacted as I should have.  Thank you, God.

 I described this same scenario to my husband.  He said that if it would have been him, he would have yelled for me because he probably would have frozen up and not known what to do.  That statement made me wonder how many parents and caretakers out there would have reacted the same way as he said he would have.

I offer you the opportunity to, at least, acquire the knowledge of what to do in that very moment and hope that it NEVER happens to you.  Here is a link to the American Heart Association's Heartsaver Courses.  I went through the prompts.  I clicked on "Find a CPR Class," and input my zip code.  The next screen asks which class you want to take and the list is long.  If you are not sure which class would best suit your needs, there is a wizard in which you can answer some questions to assist you in the process of finding a class for you.  The only thing that beat knowing what to do when my child was choking was the fact that she is ok.
Do you have an up-to-date CPR card?  Have you ever experienced something similar?  (I really hope not.)  Has this post prompted you to take the class?  (I really hope so.)  Please send me your thoughts.

Karina