It Happened

Last Thursday IT happened. Christian pulled out his trach. Did I seen this coming or what? Nevertheless it did not make the situation any less scary. I was home alone and had just placed him in his exersaucer to take some laundry down the hallway. Let me go back and say that I think moms of trach babies develop bionic ears, well any mom in general, but I am especially in tune to Christian's breathing. Most of the time you can hear each and every breath he takes as it passes through his trach. Also, the little sounds (laughing, crying) that we are used to hearing Christian make are "airy" sounds that pass through the trach as well. I was half way down the hall and I just heard something strange. It was more like an abrupt silence to what I am used to hearing. I turned around to see a look of panic on Christian's face. I ran towards him and bent down. Sure enough he had pulled his trach out completely and it was slid over to his right. The posey collar (trach tie) was still in tact around his neck and the artificial nose was still on the end of the trach. I took him out of his saucer and placed him on the blankets on the floor. I remember telling him over and over "mommy's got you, mommy's got you" and in my head thinking "oh my gosh, this is really happening." With trembling hands I took off the Velcro tie on his left side (my right)and pulled it from the trach. I then held Christian's head back, revealing his neck, and put the trach right back in. Once the trach was in Christian immediately took a deep breath and I was able to get the tie back through and secure it to his neck. He looked at me like "what just happened mama?" He was breathing easily and at a normal rate. I took him into his nursery and hooked him up to his O2 monitor to see what his Sat was at and it was 97%. That is great! He was fine. I on the other hand was so upset. I can understand now the whole adrenaline thing like the story of the mother who lifted a car to save her child who was trapped underneath. I had that adrenaline rush. The situation was scary for me but I knew what had to be done and I did it. It all happened so quickly. Christian is fine and so am I. We made it through it and now I know that I can handle it if it happens again. I had a long talk with Christian telling him it probably would NOT be a good idea for him to do that again! :)