Save A Life

Last night hubby and I went to Wee Workshops' CPR course (go, Wee Workshops, go!). The last time I took a course was in high school. That's more than 10 years ago! (How is it possible that I've been out of high school for 10 years?!?) I feel really foolish for not having taken a course sooner, especially having a baby. I think I was intimidated with remembering how many breaths, how many compressions, etc. etc. But with Stacy, I felt comfortable enough to get out of my comfort zone.

So for 3 hours we learned and practiced how to give CPR on infants (less than 1 year old), children (1-8 years) and adults. We also practiced a bit of the Heimlich maneuver and what to do for a baby in case of choking.

They recommend using two fingers when doing compressions for a baby, one hand for a child, and two hands for an adult. Compressions need to be fast -- to the beat of "Stayin' Alive" -- so you can imagine my fingers were about to break off. Then Stacy had us practice in pairs. She said try with one hand and if you can't do it, switch to two hands. Well I was with another mom and there was no way I was going to cave if she was still using one hand! It also helped to imagine that Jr was really in need of my help -- I would do it until my wrist broke if it meant saving her life.

I feel 100% better about CPR and the Heimlich. I don't know how I would react under pressure but at least I know that what I have to do is somewhere in my brain.

It's scary to think of something horrible happening to your child and in need of CPR. I just can't believe my siblings and I, for example, have made it 30+ years without needing CPR. There seems to be so much that can go wrong! It's especially horrifying that there have been 35 deaths so far this year due to drowning and the summer has just begun.

Stacy gave us a horrible scenario: your child is at the bottom of the pool but there's a live wire in the water. What do you do? While our first instinct would be to dive in to retrieve our baby the right thing to do would be to call 911. She said not many people know that Hydro Quebec is connected to 911 and once they find out where the live wire is located, they will turn off the power of a large grid and notify you that it is now safe to remove your child. Horrible, horrible stuff.

Thankfully, prevention is everything and almost all of kids' injuries and deaths are preventable!!!

Anyhow, I guess the purpose of this post is to tell you to learn CPR. It's really not difficult to learn and you could save a life!