I think my son stopped breathing in his sleep

My son is 8 months old and hes been an on and off sleeper from day one, but tonight gave me a heart attack and I need some insight if I should contact his pediatrician. He does this thing every few minutes where he huffs or sighs, which helps me know hes fine, so I'm at ease. But I had noticed he hadn't made that noise in a bit, so I thought to myself "give him another minute to make a noise and then check" and like 10 seconds later he started choking and gasping for air as if he was being strangled or something. I had to turn him on his side and wake him up to get him to stop but he kept seeming like he was gasping for air like he couldnt breathe. My husband has asthma and my daughter was born with a heart murmur so I'm on edge about their breathing.