Over Reactive First Time Parents :)

I was always a sensitive child...my sister would fall and scrape her knee and I would cry for her. My sister would get her feelings hurt and I would cry for her. My sister would get a splinter and I would cry for her. It didn't take much to reduce me to tears so basically I cried enough for both of us. My crybaby childhood probably paved the way for my becoming an over reactive parent when Hunter was born. Yep, I was one of THOSE parents. If Hunter got hurt I rushed to his side as if he just lost his right arm. The slightest drop of blood on his knee meant that he might need a blood transfusion. I'd like to think that my overreactions are the reason Hunter is a what I would call a "sensitive soul".

When Ava came along I was a little bit better. I didn't run to Ava's aide when she fell nor did I dive across the room to stop her from drinking from another baby's cup.

 Now that Jackson is here it's basically no holds barred. I don't freak when he puts a toy in his mouth that another baby just slobbered all over, the 5 second rule has now become the 30 second rule...shoot just this morning I let him out in the back yard and said "Have fun"...wait no that was Gus.

I've come a long way from being a first time mom but I now know that the over reactive parent inside of me is still there waiting in the wings. I called 911 for the first time the other evening, well actually Hunter did. I must say that I'm extremely proud of him and the fact that he stayed calm and gave the operator all our information. I was in the process of cooking dinner and the kids were all in Ava's room playing. I had gone back to check on Jackson and noticed Ava's Hello Kitty chap-stick was on the floor. I'm not sure now why I didn't say anything to her about it. I went back out front and a few minutes later I heard Jackson crawling down the hallway. He was making a hacking sound and when I picked him up I knew something was wrong. He seemed to be struggling to breath. I looked in his mouth and didn't see anything. He continued to act like something was stuck in his throat and he was trying to either swallow it or cough it up. He then began throwing up. I put him over my lap with his head down and  gave him a couple of pats on the back. He still seemed to be struggling with something and I didn't want to take any chances. We had a close scare back in October where he actually choked on a piece of apple, he was not breathing and I stuck my finger in his throat to swipe it out. Ever since then I've been extremely sensitive to him choking. I told Hunter to call 911 and I continued to try to figure out what was wrong with Jackson. He was still throwing up and struggling to swallow and I felt completely helpless. It was an awful feeling that I hope to never feel again. While all this was going on Ava came running out front, upset that the cap was missing from her chap-stick. My immediate thought was that Jackson had swallowed the cap. As we waited for the Firemen and Paramedics to arrive I had the kids look to see if maybe the cap was somewhere in Ava's room. Right about the time the Firemen and Paramedics arrived Ava found the cap to her chap-stick. THANK GOD!! By this time Jackson was no longer throwing up and was a little overwhelmed at the sight of 8 (good looking) men in our den. I couldn't thank them enough for making me feel at ease when answering their questions while they carefully checked out Jackson. They joked and entertained Ava (she was in heaven with all the attention she was getting) and commended Hunter for being so mature in the way he handled calling 911. I've come to the conclusion that Jackson ate some of Ava's chap-stick which is why he was gagging, having a difficult time swallowing and throwing up. Although I'm a little embarrassed that he wasn't really choking and those guys had to stop what they were doing to come to my house, I'm so thankful that Jackson's okay. This experience has taught me that the over-reactive parent inside of me still exists and to never feed Jackson chap-stick.



I also told Bryan that I may start calling 911 more often if they always send good looking firemen to my house :)