Don't Eat Paper!

When we were kids, my cousin Josh told us he could eat an entire piece of notebook paper. We sat there and watched as he tore off piece after piece, chewed them up, and swallowed them. Yesterday, Barrett unsuccessfully tried to follow in Josh's footsteps.

Namaw gave me a kids catalog that came in the mail. I let Barrett look at it while I continued working on a tax return. When I looked down to see that he was starting to chew on the catalog, I took it from him and threw it in the trash. Then I fished a piece of paper out of his mouth. A few seconds later Barrett starts coughing and gagging. I realize that he must have tried to swallow a piece of paper. I start patting him on his back which wasn't helping. I picked him up as he alternates between coughing, crying, and choking. As Namaw walks into the room, he turns red and starts sweating. There are times where I can't tell if he's breathing or not. When I realized that patting his back wasn't working and that things were getting worse, I started doing the infant Heimlich maneuver. After a few cycles of doing chest compressions and back blows, Barrett threw up on my office floor and I saw the culprit...a piece of paper. Barrett then started crying and clung to me.

For 7 years I was a CPR/First Aid Instructor. I've been certified in CPR/First Aid for over 14 years. Thankfully, this is the first time I've ever had to use it in real life. I was glad to see that I didn't panic or freeze up and was able to successfully dislodge the foreign object. I thank God that Barrett was ok!

Moral of the story: No matter what Josh says...Don't Eat Paper!