Today was the first day of daylight savings and Savannah was sleeping late (10:00 to be exact). Caleb had greeter duty at church this morning, so needed to be at church early. We decided to drive separate cars so he could be early and I could wait for Savannah to wake.
As we usually do, we went out to lunch after church today with Jason and Joy. This week, we chose to eat Mexican food at The Jalapeno Tree. Savannah loves eating chips and dip, guacamole, enchiladas, rice and beans. I'm pretty sure she could eat this food for every meal and be completely satisfied.
Church let out a little later than usual, which meant we were eating late and Savannah's nap time was being compromised. She sat in her high chair just fine while eating chips and dip, but I think was getting restless while waiting for the rest of the food. I took her out of her high chair and just let her sit on my lap. This is getting more difficult each week as my belly continues to grow and take up lap space. But, I could tell she was getting tired and I didn't want her to cause a scene in the restaurant or keep me from eating my lunch.
Our food was finally brought to the table and Caleb (sitting across from Savannah and I) cut up her enchilada. She was super excited to eat and I helped her put small bites on the fork for her to eat. About half way through her beef enchilada, she started to cough as if she swallowed something the wrong way. No big deal, I patted her on the back as I've done a hundred times in the past.
This time, a normal pat on the back wasn't helping her to swallow the food, so I started to pat her harder. I was telling her it's okay and offered her a sip of water to help wash it down.
She refused her sippy cup and continue to choke.
By this point, probably 10 seconds have passed with me patting her and I realize that she's really choking and my patting her is not doing one bit of good. I look across at Caleb and tell him to do something. He gets up and takes Savannah from me. He held her face down over his forearm and started to hit her back. Her face was eye-level with me and only about 8 inches away. At this point, I think we Caleb and I both thought she would be just fine with what he was doing.
After a few seconds, we realize that's not the case.
Although I'm sure it had only been a matter of seconds, it seemed like an eternity and in a crowded restaurant, I felt like we were the only ones there. I was scared. She wasn't making a sound. No coughing. No crying. No gagging. Nothing. The fear in her face was the scariest thing I've ever seen. And then her face started to turn blue.
I told Caleb, "You've got to hit her harder...she's turning blue."
I have no idea how hard he was hitting her because I was focused on her face and really started to panic. This is when Caleb loudly said "someone call somebody." --- we didn't know what else to do.
Then finally, she took a deep breath and I could see the relief in her face. The food never came out, so she must have swallowed it.
Caleb handed her back to me and she instantly curled up into my chest. I think she was really scared, too because she never cried and Caleb told me later that he was really hitting her back hard...it would have hurt her if it was under any other circumstances.
I fought back tears and about that time, our waitress and a manager came to the table to see if everything was okay. We told them she was fine now. Then, a lady sitting at a table behind us patted Caleb on the back and said "Good job, daddy!"
Neither Caleb or I could finish our lunch. I was so shook up and on the verge of bawling my eyes out. We got our ticket, paid and walked out to the cars.
Caleb had a couple errands to run before coming home, so we loaded Savannah into my car and I took her home for her nap. I wasn't even out of the parking lot before the tears started flooding my eyes and pouring down my cheeks. I couldn't believe how quickly and easily she choked and how hard it was to get her breathing again. I kept picturing her face turning blue and the fear in her eyes. I thought about how close I was to coming home with an empty car seat.
I am so thankful for this little girl and love her more than ever!!
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