The Accident

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009. That day was already pretty stressful. We had been running around earlier but I decided we needed a break and drove my two sons, Gabe and Christian to the mall to get out of the heat. We also wanted Raspados and that was closest way to get them.

We came home and my husband, Manny came home. We decided to go swimming before Manny went to his class. We went swimming and Christian had so much fun. Christian and I got out early and went to take a shower. We were all nice and showered and Manny left to class. My older son, Gabe, often watched Christian when we had little things around the house to get done. Gabe is almost 11 and will play with Christian, watch TV with him, etc. We never leave the house while he keeps an eye on him. Gabe would also watch Christian for 1/2 hour when I would take a nap. I work a night shift and I'm pregnant with my third child so I'm always tired.

I asked Gabe if he could watch Christian while I took a nap and he agreed. This was at 4:30PM. The last time I heard Christian was at 4:45PM when he was doing his usual protesting, yelling, playing, etc. Then I dosed off. The next thing I remember is Gabe running into the room yelling, "Christian got outside...I don't know how! I couldn't find him!" My first thought was - Oh my God, he's crawling around outside on the sidewalk! I'll go get him."

Then Gabe led me to the pool. He was yelling, "I couldn't find him in the house and I found him in the pool!" I don't even remember my thoughts. Just horror. Complete horror. There was my 11 month old baby laying by the pool on the cool deck. His eyes were half open and he didn't look completely "gone." So I started doing what they tell you to do for choking. I started turning him upside down and pounding on his back. In my panic it didn't seem quite right. I took a CPR class ten years ago so I didn't trust myself to get it together enough to give him CPR.

I ran outside to the front yard to see if ANYONE was there. Perhaps someone that knew CPR better than me. There was just silence. I screamed. I ran back inside, all this time carrying Christian, I put him down on my living room floor, and started breathing into his mouth. His chest rose and water spilled out of his mouth. "It's working," I thought. So I kept doing it. Water kept pouring out of his mouth. At some point I had yelled to Gabe to call 911 so he was on the phone with them. I wouldn't listen to anything though. Seconds were hours to me. Christian had been turning blue and his eyes were still half open. Then he gasped for breath. Oh my God! But then nothing. He wasn't blue anymore but nothing. And no more water was coming out. I screamed to God, I screamed for the paramedics...it was utter horror.

The neighbors had come over and were trying to help. Then a policeman showed up. I screamed, "Are you going to take over?!" And he held up his hands and said something like, "That's not my role." Yeah, nice. But just a second later the paramedics burst through the door. They took Christian, put him on the couch and found he had no pulse. They were so fast and just as frantic as I was. A far cry from the policeman on the scene. They rushed him to the ambulence and told me to go with them.

I thought we were loosing him. We did loose him. When we got to the hospital they took him into the ER. The doctors came out and told me they were doing everything they could. They told me to call my husband but kept thinking two things: 1) He's in class, he won't answer. 2) I can't get the words out. Luckily, my uncle who lives across the street called him and he was on his way. I can't really remember much except that all that separated us from our baby boy was a curtain. So I was well aware of all of their attempts to save him with no heartbeat and no pulse. Nurses were leaving the room with tears in their eyes.

The doctors had called the larger hospital in town to see if they could send him over the doctor said not to without a heartbeat or pulse. The doctors came out to ask if we wanted to be with him during what was going to be their final attempt at saving him. We walked in, I put my hand on Christian's leg and I think I called his name....THEN THERE WAS A HEARTBEAT AND A PULSE!!!!!! I have never experience the power of a miracle and the power of GOD so strongly until that moment. He had a pulse and a heartbeat, they called the doctor back and the doctor said send him over.

I road in the ambulance with him to the larger hospital, the hospital where he was born, actually. And through a monsoon rainstorm, just like the night he was born almost a year ago. I don't remember a whole lot. I was just in shock. But I know that by the time we arrived at the next hospital, he was breathing on his own.

The next few days after that are kind of blur. I've done more praying than I've ever done in my whole life. Christian has gone through brain swelling, and from what the doctors say, it is more likely he has suffered a brain injury. What that means for him, nobody knows and nobody will know until we see what he can do. Neurologists aren't hopeful but from what I heard, they rarely are hopeful.

Little miracles are happening everyday. He is off his blood pressure and heartbeat medication so he's controlling that on his own. He's also trying to breath against the ventilator. He also get breastmilk through a tube and responds to stimulation. He's a fighter.

We have a long way to go. But I believe in my heart that Christian will come back to me. With God all things are possible.