Thing 2's first trip to the ER

I had just gotten back to NC after being back home in VA to do some cleaning up in the house to get it prepped to sell while leaving the kids with Daddy to look after. We're all exhausted and hoping for an uneventful evening. The following are the events as they unfolded.

I was changing Thing 1's diaper and putting her in her pajama while Thing 2 was walking around; Daddy and I were chatting the entire time. Suddenly, Thing 2 approaches Daddy crying with a very small toy in her hand. She coughs and points to her mouth. Instantly, I yelled at Daddy to check her mouth because she is choking. Daddy puts a finger (a pointer finger! I yell at him to use his pinky) in Thing 2's mouth and Thing 2 cries harder. She spits up. By this time, I left Thing 1 diaper-less to rush to Thing 2. I put her on my lap while she cries harder. I am panicked at this time so I shove my pinky down her throat and do a sweep. Thing 2 spits up blood. I continue my sweep down her throat and she cries and turns blue. I sweep with my finger and thought I touched something. I can't get it because she bites me. Daddy then hands me a small toy to put in Thing 2's mouth so as to prevent her from biting me. I yell at Daddy for coming up with a dumb idea. Thing 2 continues to cry but I can't do anything more so I hush her and calm her down and yell at Daddy to call someone.

After a few minutes, Thing 2 calms down. I call our pediatrician back home and spoke with the doctor on call. I described everything that unfolded and she suggests to take Thing 2 to the hospital just to make sure that the toy didn't get in her lungs. So we drive to the hospital and after a total of 2 hours (which isn't bad in terms of ER wait time goes) and xrays, we find out there's nothing lodged in her throat and there is nothing in her tummy. PHEW! But wait, what was all that?? As far as we can figure, the gagging happened after Daddy shoved a big fat finger down her throat. And the spitting the blood by the time I took over was probably due to Daddy's finger nail. Turning blue was probably due to all the shoving of finger we were doing.

Late last night when all are quiet, Daddy and I agreed on a few things: 1-we absolutely do not mind having gone to the ER to be safe rather than sorry. We would spend our life savings to keep our kids safe, though thankfully, our COBRA coverage has already kicked in so we didn't have to and 2-Daddy spazzed out (and he freely admits it) big time!! I am not the only one, ha! But having risen to this occassion, I realize that my trigger is the sight of blood.