Life is So Precious, our lives can change in an instant

This is gonna be long one...
Where do I even begin??? What an emotionally exhausting day. First, as a little side note, Braelyn got a few minor cat scratches on her face this morning. That will explain the band-aids you see in the pictures in a few moments.
Today, James & I decided to try and get through the remaining boxes & bins in the garage while the girls were upstairs coloring. We were out there for 10 minutes at the most when we hear Brinley call down the stairs in her tattling voice, "Daddy". I told James she was calling him, but he'd already heard her so he was headed back inside when she yells it outloud again & again, "Daddy!!". They meet up in the hall & I can hear her explaining that Braelyn climbed into something. This certainly wouldn't be the first time. I believe the kid is part monkey. Then as they are disappearing upstairs I can faintly hear Brinley explaining that Braelyn was stuck so I figured I better go check it out also. I am headed toward the stairs & James yells down, "Kalley, blah, blah, blah". I don't even remember what he said because the terror in his voice said enough & then I heard the faintest sound of Braelyn "trying" to cry for help.... My heart sank.... It felt like it took me 5 minutes to top the stairs & get to her. Braelyn's head was stuck in the bottom drawer of an armoire/hutch. All I could see was her little body from the shoulders down! We couldn't see her head or how to get it out! James was scrambling to find some way to get her out & I am trying to keep her calm because all I can hear is some wheezing sound coming out of my baby. She was choking & it appeared there wasn't an easy solution to getting her out. James tried pulling the back off, but that was taking too long & I started to panic. "James, you have GOT to hurry up, she can't breathe!" She would kick one foot or throw her arm up, which to me seemed as if she was losing air too fast & she was convulsing. James then tried to pull the drawer above out and I was terrified because we cannot see her head at all. He slowly & safely got it out! This all probably took less than 30 seconds, but seemed like 30 minutes. At that point I am thanking God that I can see my baby & hear her cry!! The sweetest sound after such a frightening incident. Her face was red, blue, purple & a little swollen. The breathing trouble concerned me since we think she has a touch of asthma. I was trying to cool her off by blowing on her forehead while checking her out a little. Her breathing was still a little erratic, but I noticed she had lots of little blue speckles all over her face & neck. I assumed that it was from her losing oxygen, which just concerned me more. Who knows how much longer would have been "too long", it sends chills up my spine just thinking about it. Bless her heart, all she wanted to do was cling to my neck & lay her head down & trying to keep her awake was a priority since I had no idea what was going on with her. I called 911 to see if they could tell me anything, but the lady suggested an ambulance so I told her we would just drive her ourselves. We were all in the car & headed to the ER within 5 minutes of all of this happening. We got there & fortuantely her breathing was pretty normal by this point & they had us in a room in about 20 minutes. Everything checked out okay! Her oxygen was 100%, temp fine, etc, but they went ahead & put her in a room to be checked by a doctor. He said everything looked fine & the blue speckles would disappear soon. They just want her to have a check-up in about a week. What a relief!!
So, "what happened?" you ask? Apparently the girls thought it would be a good idea to use the rather large drawer for a "play bed". Braelyn even had a pillow & blanket in there with her. Obviously Brinley closed the drawer & it frightened Braelyn so she wanted out. She probably got scared & tried to help get herself out as Brinley was pulling. Basically, her head & neck were trapped after she tried to sit up as the drawer was moving and she was being choked. The whole problem was that we couldn't see anything to know how it happened much less how to get her out. We didn't want to pull or push the wrong way & make it worse since she couldn't talk to let us know. And as she was laying there being choked all I could think was 'please God do not let this be the last time we see this sweet baby'! Well apparently God watched over Braelyn today & for that we are so grateful!!

Kiss your babies & tell them you love them!

These are few pictures I got about 2 hours after the accident so a lot of the swelling was down and the "blue freckles" had started to fade...

pic of one eye...


another eye pic...


chin & neck shot...


I asked her to close her eyes...


what was left of it behind the ear...


pushing her eye closed for me so you can see more "blue freckles"...


you can kind of see the red mark where she was being choked...


The best part of my day, Smiles for Mommy! We are so glad you okay baby Brae! (notice the cat scratch band-aids & her eyes are still a little swollen)