Something Every Parent Should Know

Hi Everyone
Being a Newbie here I thought I would start with something that I think we all should know. 

Summer season is just starting (Its was 39 degs here yesterday).  Pool time again.  I want everyone to hear my story both young parents and old.

When my first son was born back in 1996 I was invited to join a mothers group for first time mums.  All of us had children that had been born between 10 weeks of each other and all live in the same area.  After meeting at the childrens health clinic for 8 weeks we then started meeting at each others house's once a week.  It was great reason for some of us to get out of the house.  When the kids were about 4 - 6 months old one of the girls arrange for all of us to do a "Kids Safe" first aid course.  We were allowed to invite anyone we like and it cost us about $30 each (I know its probably a bit more than that now) but anyway.  We had a first aid instructor come to our meeting for 2 weeks and give us a course on normal childhood illnesses and accidents.  CPR and burns, snake & spider bites etc.  We all use to joke that we still had baby brains and probably wouldnt remember it all.

When my beautiful boy started walking at 9 1/2 months we were in for a fun fun time.  He knew one speed and that was flat out.  He never wanted to be inside the house.  Luckily we only had a small back yard so I thought it was safe.  We had a small pond in the back corner but it was raised up about 3 sleepers high and he couldnt climb it as we had watched him try a few times.  While we were watching I asked my husband if he could make the cover he had promised up on the weekend so that it would be safe for the future.  It was the middle of July so we werent outside very often because it was raining.

Unfortunately it we didnt make it to the weekend.  On the Thursday morning before playgroup I was hanging out sheets under the patio so they would be dry by the time we came back.  Blair was playing in his sand pit which was undercover as well.  I had taken one load of washing off and walked inside to put it in the house before calling for Blair that it was time to go.   He wasnt in his sand pit.  He use to play a game of hide and seek when you called him to come inside.  He normally ran down the side of the house.  Dont ask me what made me go to the left hand side, closes to the pond but lets say it was fate.  As I went to walk down the side of the house, I saw a flash of red in the pond.  The top of the pond was covered in weed so it was hard to see underneath.

I realised in a split second that it was Blairs red skivvy that I could see under the water.  I am so glad that I put the red skivvy on him instead of the navy blue or I would never have seen him in that split second.  I grabbed him out, he wasnt breathing but he still had a pulse.  All the first aid training that we had done came back to me.  I managed to get him breathing again and while I was giving him CPR and I used our cordless phone to call an ambulance.  The ambulance arrived within 8 mins and they wanted to know how long he had been under water.  I told them that I couldnt tell them because I didnt see him go in.  I said that I didnt know when he climbed up there as it could have been while I was hanging the sheets and he snuck around the back of them or it could have been less than 2 mins when I took the other washing inside.  The ambulance officers said that he had a graze on his forehead which meant he could have knocked himself unconcious when he fell in the pond.  Also being July and the water was very cold the shock could have stopped him from swallowing too much water.  He was still unconcious but breathing on his own still.  They were mainly concerned that his temp was really low and that he wasnt waking up. 

They rushed us to the Princess Margaret Hospital.  In the emergency room the doctors were asking me how long he was in the water.  I said it couldnt have been more than a couple of mins but I couldnt tell them exactly how long.  By this time Blair was lapsing in and out of conciousness and when he would wake up he woud cry, which the doctors said was a good sign.  They wanted to xray his lungs to see if he had swallowed water.  I told them that I was about 8 weeks pregnant again and they said unfortunately I couldnt go into xray with him because of that.  His xrays came back all clear so he couldnt have been gulping too much water so it meant he may have been unconcious when he went in.

We spent 12 hours in the ICU which was the scariest thing.  The doctors and nurses were great.  Blair was still waking up and crying so I couldnt leave his side so he wouldnt get too upset.  David came in as soon as he could.  The doctors said that because he was so young it could take a while before we really knew if he had suffered any brain damage which was their main concern.  When my parents came into the hospital later in the day he was sitting up in bed listening to me read him a book.  As soon as he saw my father he called up "BLL" which was his nickname for his granda (my fathers name is Bill and when my mum calls out for him Blair used to copy by saying "BLL").  The doctor was just doing his rounds then and asked me how often Blair saw his grandparents.  I told him probably once a week or less.  The doctor was happy as he said that if he could remember someone that he didnt see everyday he was a lucky boy and shouldnt have suffered any permanent brain damage.

At about 10 o'clock that night they said that they were happy with his recovery and that they would transfer him to a normal room for more observations till about lunchtime the next day.  The nurses in the ICU kept saying to me that there would be more children alive today if more parents had done first aid courses.  I said that I believe that they should do a simple course as part of their parenting course before the children are born as they have a captive audience and also most time they have the partner with them as well. 

I probably didnt do the CPR picture perfect to the book, but all I want to say is that Blair is here today because of a friends bright idea for all of us to do a first aid course.  Since that incident Im sure that all our mothers group have had to use their training one time or another.  One of the other girls daughter tipped a cup of hot coffee straight out of the microwave down the front of her face.  She has no scarring to this day because her mum knew what to do straight away.  Another friend helped a teenage boy who had been knocked off his bike by a car.  I have done a refresher course since then and just completed a senior first aid certificate as we are living on 5 hectares of bush now and the kids will be getting quad bikes etc in the next couple of years so the accidents could only get worse.

I hope that this story will get to some of you and make you book a course either just for yourselves, or maybe get a group together.  Even get your extended family together because your kids will not alway be staying with you.  I hope that one day maybe everyone will be qualified to help.  I hope that I help atleast one person to live to tell their tale.

DONT SAY YOU WILL GET "AROUND TO IT" - MAKE ENQUIRIES TODAY - BECAUSE "AROUND TO IT" WILL NEVER COME