I saw this on Facebook today and had to share : Today, my life nearly changed forever. My almost 18 month old came up to me while I was in my bathroom putting makeup on. He was holding a heart shaped lollipop from his sissy’s Valentine’s Day treat bag and said “peeeease”. I hesitated but I went ahead and opened it for him. He walked right back into the living room and was looking out our back french doors, where I had the blinds raised so he could see Papa and Nana’s house. Every few minutes, I peeked around the corner to check on him. I can count on one hand the number of lollipops he has ever had and every one of them, he had while sitting on my lap. A few minutes went by again, and I heard a strange cough come out of him. I threw my brush down and ran in there knowing it didn’t sound right. He was holding just a portion of the white stick of that lollipop and was visibly struggling to breathe. I knew what had happened and immediately did a quick swipe of his mouth finding no trace of the candy. I began to slap his back and hold his jaw open, while over my knee. Still nothing. I started to panic and tried sticking my finger in his throat to attempt to have him throw it up. Still no success. At this point he was making no sounds whatsoever but was physically trying to dislodge the lollipop also. I didn’t know what else to do and I threw the door open and began to run next door, screaming “Jesus! Help!”. I felt completely helpless and finally made it to my mother in law’s front door and I beat on the glass of her door until she ran down stairs and opened it. She knew something was bad wrong too and began praying out loud and pleading for him to breathe. Just as we walked up to the door, I was finally able to gag him enough to throw up but I didn’t turn to look until after we were inside. He was fading out and was limp over my arm at this point and I asked her to call 911. We stepped onto the porch and I looked at where he had thrown up and I saw the whole piece of candy with a piece of the stick attached to it. He had softened the stick and then bit it off. Within minutes. Right there, a few feet away from me. We stayed on the phone with the dispatcher until a fire truck and officer arrived at my house, where we walked back over to meet them. As we were walking over, he perked up and pointed next door and said “doggie” and then “vroom vroom” when he saw the fire truck. I lost it. The gentlemen did a visible assessment and asked me to recall the situation and then they went on their way, after confirming he was ok. I am sharing this because I, like many of you, knew of the dangers of lollipops yet I still allowed him to have it. Knowing is not good enough. Hearing, reading, seeing other people’s posts about what happened to them was not good enough. It didn’t prevent this from happening to us. I share this to beg you not to have the “it won’t happen to us” mentality when it comes to anything that could endanger our children. I learned very quickly today that even me, the momma who still cuts up his grapes, is not immune to these kinds of situations. As I replay this event all day, my heart just breaks at what could have been. I am so emotional as I type this knowing that even in the blur of a scary moment, my heart cried out “Jesus!”. I am so thankful that he had his hand upon my baby today. I have never had to call emergency services and I pray I never have to again. However, I am so so thankful for their prompt response. Hearing sirens in the distance and knowing they are coming for you is a feeling I will never forget.

**The guilt of allowing him to have the lollipop is already unbearable enough, so please no negative comments. Please feel free to share this with anyone who may have small children so that this can be prevented from happening to anyone else.

**the quarter is just to show comparison to the size of the lollipop.