Scary

I am not as vigilant a mom as I used to be. I would never have given peanut M&M's to Jaycie when she was two and we were driving in the car. I would have obsessed over allergies, choking, etc. I guess it is inevitable that I loosen up my rules with each kid. Well, not after today...

We were driving home from doing some last minute shopping for school stuff. I opened a bag of M&M's and passed some to all the kids. Joshua only got three, and they were given to him one at a time, but that didn't matter. We were literally less than a mile from the house when he started coughing. I wasn't too concerned at first, until the coughing turned VERY hard and loud and he couldn't stop. I pulled over and took him out of the car where I pounded his back, tried the Heimlich, and did a finger sweep in his mouth to try to get anything that might be stuck. Nothing came out, but his coughing stopped. He looked at me kind of wide-eyed and smiled. I felt a little relieved. We got back into the car and drove the two blocks to our house.

He kept having coughing attacks. I am a worrier by nature, but I just couldn't help thinking that he had aspirated it into his lungs. I called my mom (an RN) and explained my worries. She told me to go with my gut and get him checked out...just in case.

We drove to the Kaiser offices by our house. I really didn't know if they would agree to see us because...it's Kaiser. No appointment=tough luck. I was pleasantly surprised that they got us right in. They took x-rays of his chest and neck and listened to his lungs. Everything looks normal! He still has a raspy voice and coughs a little bit, but I feel better about it. If his breathing becomes labored, or he develops pneumonia we will take him back in. They don't think that is going to be a problem, and I am so thankful that we are able to take our kids to doctors and get the help we need when we need it. That is a huge comfort.

Too bad for my kids....I am going to become a bit fanatical now about EVERYTHING for awhile.