The scariest night of my life.

We walked into the house after picking the kids up from my mom's house. They stayed there while Mike and I went grocery shopping. Mike saw Elijah's cars all over the floor...a normal, everyday occurance around here...and asked him to pick them up. When Elijah said no, Mike sternly told him to not tell Daddy no and to pick up his cars. Well, Elijah did not like that AT ALL!! He started wailing and threw himself on the floor. Since he was 6 months old, he will occasionally hold his breath when he cries. Usually it's when he's hurt really bad, but on a couple of occasions, he's done it because he's mad. Once when we dropped him off at church and he didn't want to go in, he did it. So you can see where I'm going with this.... He started holding his breath and his eyes rolled back into his head, his arms go straight out, his hands curl in, and he turns blue. Around the time that he would normally just pass out and start breathing, I noticed something coming out of his mouth. It was vomit...he was puking, but he wasn't conscious enough to actually spit it out, it was just leaking out. He was silently choking on it. I was petrified. I ran to the phone and dialed those 3 horrifying numbers no mother ever wants to dial. I immediately asked them to send an ambulance, because my son wasn't breathing. I remember thinking, this can't be happening...I must be having a nightmare. I felt like I was out of my body watching myself. It was the scariest thing ever! Meanwhile, Mike is holding him, trying to remember what he learned in CPR class. He turns Elijah over and starts hitting him on the back, hoping to dislodge whatever is in there. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Mike said that he thought he was breathing. I was still on the phone with the dispatcher at this point (being totally hysterical) and she kept asking me questions about what was going on. Elijah started wimpering and I knew that was a good sign, at least he was breathing. All of the sudden his whole body flinched, his eyes got as big as saucers, and he just started crying. I think he came too, and he was scared. Right after that, the police officers showed up and said that the paramedics were a couple minutes away. They showed up and checked him out...listened to his heart and lungs and made sure his oxygen saturation was good (everything was fine) and just kind of watched him. He was VERY lethargic after the whole situation, and that's not like him at all, so they were a little concerned. I told them I would take him to the hospital, rather than have them take him and have to pay $2000 or whatever... I ended up not taking him, because he started acting fine. I'm just so thankful to our almighty God for saving his precious little life. I don't know how many times I cried out "Please God!!" when I was on the phone with the dispatcher. I made sure to thank Him out loud too, when we realized he was breathing. Just makes you think about how fast our lives can change...literally in a second, it can turn upside down. I know I'll be hugging my kids a little tighter from now on! Thank you so much Father for watching over your precious Elijah and for sparing his life!!!