I can't sleep because of the near tragedy that occurred today. I just felt like writing about it to help me get things off of my chest and so hopefully others will not make the stupid mistakes that we made.

I went on a fishing trip, it was a fun day that started out at O dark 30 and ended a little after 7 when I returned home. I got home and unpacked my vehicle and brought my rods, reels, backpack, waders, and boots into the house. I started to put away my things and I noticed my wife was outside with all of our children. They were playing in their little kiddy pool. I just finished putting my boots and waders away in the garage and I came back into the house. My wife came in to say hi to me real quick.

We went to go outside when I stopped to put something away. As I went to put it away we heard my oldest daughter screaming. So I ditched it on top of the fridge and we went outside.

My wife went out first and I followed. All of a sudden I heard her screaming. She ran to the little kiddy pool and retrieved our youngest son who was face down in the water. She handed him to me, he was blue, cold, not breathing, I could not detect a pulse, and his eyes were rolled back. I immediately administered CPR and told my wife to call 911.

As luck would have it our phone dead (we have phone service though our cable service and from time to time has had issues). My wife in a panic could not find her cell phone so she ran to a neighbor's house to call.

Meanwhile I am continuing to administer CPR and my son is still nonresponsive. I yelled as loud as I could to hurry and call f'n 911. Finally she was able to find a neighbor that was home and called. As she was on her way back (I did not know this at the time) my son took a short breath and coughed up some water. Just as I thought that he might not die he stopped breathing again. I went back to performing CPR. Just before my wife got back he started to breath although it was very shallow. He opened his eyes and his pupils were fixed and he kept going in and out of concessions.

After what seemed like an eternity the paramedics showed up. By this time my son was starting to cry a little. He was transported to the local ER I went along in the ambulance with him. By the time the ER doctors were done examining him he was starting to act more like himself. By this time my wife and our two other children arrived at the ER. The doctors decided to keep him for observation. Then they decided that they wanted to transfer him to a different hospital that had a better pediatric unit.

So my wife decided that she wanted to go with him when they transported him so I could go home and put our other children to bed (it was after 11PM). I just got off the phone with her and she said that he is acting more normal but now he has a fever.

I just thank god that this did not turn out a different way. I also decided to post this because sometime as parents we can get complacent with things. I wanted to remind other parents not to get complacent because that is when accidents happen.

Sasha...I am at a loss as to what to say...I feel for you and your family...Things happen so fast, especially when it comes to our children...You and your family are in my most sincere prayers and thoughts...Rob

I need to refresh my CPR skill. Lesson taken. Thanks. Don

Sasha, accidents always happen, but thank God you were able to revive your son. I agree, it's very easy to become complacent. As a father of four myself, I can't keep an eye on all four at once during a full day of cooking, cleaning, and other things. My youngest is 2 and I try to keep him at my side most of the day.
I'll keep your son and family in my prayers.

J.

Thankfully all is well wth your family. Hope your son recovers soon
Robert

Wow, Sasha. I'm really glad your son is home and doing fine. Thanks for sharing with us.

Thank you for the update.

Les

Thanks for sharing the pic, he is a handsome young man. Your quick action is the reason he is still with us today.


J.

I'm glad it turned out for you and the little guy is Ok. I have a 9 year old and she is my world and if I lost her I don't what I would do.

PS... One great reason to stick to a land line and stay away from internet phones.

I'm so glad it turned out well--I was actually starting to literally feel sick reading it because I sort of know how you felt. My younger son had a fever in January. I left the room to get some Tylenol and when I returned, his face looked just as you described and he was having a seizure. Really freaked me out. Scariest moment of my life. I'm SO glad your boy is well, and it reminds me that I really need to get CPR certified.

EDIT: Oops--guess I'm a couple months behind on this one. Sentiments remain the same, however.