A night in the Emergency Room

Turns out that Jaxon's permanent marker escapades were not the worst thing he would put us through last week. Not even close.

My sister Miriam's daughter, Kiana, was getting baptized this weekend in Boise, so Daniel and I planned our trip up. We were really excited to spend time with Miriam and her family, and I was excited to spend time with my childhood best friend April, and her family as well. I have only seen her once in the last 3-4 years! So we drove up uneventfully (although we did end up leaving the morning after we planned because I am still no good at getting all of us ready and out the door in a timely fashion) and attended the Saturday afternoon baptism. Now, the only reason I am not spending more time on that important event is because that will be a separate blog in itself, once the pictures are ready.

Anyway, after the baptism, we went back to Miriam's house for dinner.


For brevity' sake, I will give you the reader's digest version. We were all staying up late talking, and when we decided to go to bed, I went to pick Jaxon up off the couch, where he was sleeping next to Dan. He was making weird noises, but I thought it was just because he was tired and mad that he wasn't in his own bed. He was crying and coughing, but it sounded off. My mom and sister both noticed and and asked if he had asthma, which he doesnt. After I had been watching him for a while (he was sleeping off and on, and would wake up and cry and cough again and again, with that weird sound), my mom came into the room and said she found her purse and that Jaxon had gotten into her chewing gum. We figured that must be stuck in his throat. We continued to watch him for a while, but since he seemed to be getting worse and worse, we decided we better get him in to the hospital before he could no longer breathe. We arrived at the hospital about 3am.

We ended up waiting in the ER, back in the room, for 3 hours, which at any time during, he could have stopped breathing, just to be told that the xray showed nothing (which they had told us it wouldnt since it was chewing gum) and that we had to go to their other campus, where he would need surgery.



When we arrived there about 7:00am, the doctor was ready and waiting, not wanting to wait any longer than necessary since it could dislodge at any moment and cut off his airway completely. The nurses tried pretty frantically to get an IV in, but couldnt get it for some reason. Jaxon was hysterical and I was crying, seeing him in pain from the IV issues and hearing the horrible noises he was making as he struggled to breathe. Finally, after a long while, they got an IV in and took us down the hall to prep him for surgery. He was crying and calling, "MOMMY! MOMMY!" as they took him away from me on the gurney, and it was so hard for me to let him go.


Daniel and I waited in the waiting room, but thankfully, it was a very short procedure. The doctor came in later on and told us that indeed, the gum had been stuck in his airway, and that she was able to locate it and remove it, and he was in the PICU, still asleep from the anesthesia.


Daniel and I went up to see him and called Miriam to bring over some clothes for him (he was just in a diaper when we rushed him out the door and to the hospital). He woke up not too long later, but had to stay for a while so they could monitor his oxygen sats and make sure his airway was not too traumatized to be able to breathe effectively. Thankfully, by about 11am, they told us he was getting better and we would be able to take him home.

After all of us being up all night, that sounded like a great idea. We went back to Miriam's house, thankful that we were blessed enough to have a positive outcome from something that could easily have been much, much worse.


I fell asleep on the couch, and woke up to Jaxon laying on top of me (I didnt even know he had climbed onto me) and a few pictures of that were on my camera :)

After getting something to eat and taking it easy for a few, we drove home.

I grabbed my camera this morning to take a few pictures of my sweet, happy, healthy little boy, but instead I got pictures of Jaxon back to his usual self

Climbing cupboards

Throwing a fit when he couldn't get up them

And begging for food

Today everything is pretty much back to normal, except I am a little tired, and a lot more appreciative of my little boy, mischief and all. Today I skipped making the bed and instead, got on the floor with my tough guy and wrestled around. And those little, big, and most often unfixable messes of his didn't seem so life altering. Today at least, they are just reminders that he is here, that he is okay, and that all too soon, he won't be little any more.