Be Prepared **edited

I have a much happier post in the works for today (just waiting for photos), but something happened a hour and a half ago that warrants a post and your attention. Briefly, I promise.

You know, I've grown up hearing about 'fire plans' and 'emergency plans' for families. I thought they sounded a little paranoid. Not any more.

This morning I almost drowned. Weird, since I was in the shower. But it's true. Somehow I took a deep breath while turning towards the water. In some strange odds defying moment, I inhaled enough water to cause an emergency. I couldn't breathe. I tried. All that happened was a really scary sound. A sound I knew meant I was not getting enough oxygen and that if it didn't get better, I had only minutes to live. Seriously. I have choked on food before or water and gotten a little concerned, but this was waaaaayy different. I knew immediately this was bad. I was not panicked, but I have taken enough CPR and First Aid classes to know something needed to change quickly.

The Boy had been eating his cereal outside with the other younger kids, but wanted more and came in. He heard the scary noise from the kitchen and came into the bathroom (sign that it really was a scary sound... a ten year old boy burst into the bathroom of his showering mother). One look at my face and he knew all was not well. He asked anyway, I shook my head. I grabbed a towel and stood there trying to get a good breath. It was not working and in my head the clock was ticking. I stared at my son who kept asking if I was ok. I knew I wasn't. Finally, I signed 9-1-1 to him. He said, "Call 9-1-1?" I nodded and sat on the ground. He came back into the room talking to the 9-1-1 operator and, to me, an awful conversation was taking place. My sweet son said, "I don't know our address." Tears sprang into his eyes as he realized the importance of that information. He calmly told them though that he lived at the back of *** Camp, and what two major roads our house was off of (I had trained them over and over about the two highways the property is on). It may sound odd, but during those seconds, I had the following thoughts running through my head: I want My Sweetie but he won't have time to make it; if I die right here, my kids will be traumatized as they wait for the ambulance; I don't want to die naked; how can I get more air; how can this be happening; there is nothing to Heimlich Maneuver out, I just need the water to clear; what an awful sound; I don't want my kids to be traumatized; I need air.
Then just as suddenly as I lost the ability to have a good breath, air started to come back through my trachea. I could not breath correctly yet, but the sound was changing and I knew that was good news. I waved to The Boy. He listened and told the 9-1-1 operator to hang on. He stared at me and listened. I stared at him and listened. I have no idea what the 9-1-1 operator was doing, but I bet he was staring and listening too. The sound continued to change until I could whisper. He handed me the phone. I said quietly (I wanted to shout, trust me), "I think I'm ok now."
"Are you sure, ma'am? What happened?"
"Somehow I inhaled water in the shower. It's getting better now. I can talk and I know that's good."
"Yes, ma'am, it is. Do you want us to still send the ambulance?" (When The Boy dialed and the operator answered the call by asking what the emergency was, The Boy said, "Something happened to my mom in the shower. Something's wrong." The operator asked, "Do you need an ambulance or an officer?" He smartly said, "An ambulance.")
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, thank you very much."

The Boy and I sat there in the hallway listening to my breathing improve. Then we held each other and wept. I told him how proud I was of him. How wonderfully he did. How calmly he behaved. How I know that was scary for him. How he did everything right.

After the air cleared, both literally and figuratively, I gathered all the children. I explained in a raspy voice (my voice still doesn't sound normal) that I had made a mistake in thinking 9-1-1 automatically knows our address when we call. I told the kids I know they memorized our mailing address, but they now had to learn our new physical address (which, by the way, is different than the camp's... mail can not even be delivered to this physical address). Our address is shared by all four duplexes and it seems is not on the 9-1-1 computer when we call (that will be addressed by My Sweetie on Monday morning, count on it). We also talked about an emergency plan.

I commended The Boy more and then explained an emergency procedure. Since they are often alone with one adult, if something happens to that adult, they need to know what to do.

1) One person calls 9-1-1
2) One person runs to Mrs. King's house (or Papalou's neighbor if they are there) for help. He/she does not knock. They burst in and say exactly what is wrong (ex: My mom can't breathe.).
3) One person stands outside the front door waving his/her arms to help the ambulance find the right duplex/house.

It was the second scariest moment of my life. After not having to call 9-1-1 my whole life, I have now had to call it twice in less than a year's time.

I think being prepared has taken on new meaning for me. I share all of this with you not to have you live in fear, but to encourage you to do the following:
A) Talk about 9-1-1. I will admit my 6yo knew nothing about it until this morning. BUT she is sometimes with Papalou or myself and just the younger kids. If it had only been her with me this morning, she would not have known what to do. She's old enough to know. Now she does.
B) Talk about what to do to help. The steps above are great.
C) Have your older kids learn basic CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver
D) And have your kids learn your physical address even if it's not used for anything except emergencies and even if it's not a road anyone else in town knows and even if you live out in the middle of no where with a physical address that is not on any regular map
E) Post your physical address somewhere so even visitors or little kids (who only know letters and numbers) can read it (or spell it all out) to a 9-1-1 operator
F) Make sure all the children in your home no where to find a phone or how to find the phone (handset pager)

I know that my children can not handle any emergency. I know that we can not have a plan for every kind of incident, but we are more prepared now.

Thank you, LORD for clearing the water for me. I'm truly grateful.

**I know this sounds unbelievable or exaggerated. I know. It wasn't though. I can not even compute the odds of this happening, but it did.
Also, just to clarify... we live at the back of a 500 acre camp. We live right off a (semi) highway (like 40 yards), but the road/entrance to the camp has never been named until last year. It did not have an official street name. A year ago, a friend noticed that and wanted to be sure that the families who live at this back entrance to camp had 9-1-1 assitance, so he got the road officially put on 9-1-1. We have the blue street sign and address to prove it (in this town if you have the blue signs, that is suposed to mean you are in the system). I never had the kids learn this address because I thought that the only need for that address was for 9-1-1 call and that since we had the blue signs, we were on the computer call up. No need to learn the 9-1-1 address. Does that make sense? I had them learn the two roads because that would be necessary for 'finding home'.