NO MORE STAIRS!!!

Rachel has been learning to climb the stairs.  There are tons of stairs in our house because it's somewhat of a split level.  There are 3 steps between the kitchen and the living room, 3 steps between the living room and the office, a flight of stairs up to the bedrooms, and a flight of stairs to our unfinished basement.  I have been letting Rachel practice climbing up and down the 3 steps between the rooms on our main level, but have not let her do the flight of steps upstairs on her own yet. 

About a week and a half ago we were cleaning up dinner in the kitchen and Rachel was playing with a toy on the first or second step between the kitchen and the living room.  All of the sudden we hear a thump and Rachel has fallen off the step onto the kitchen floor.  Jeff is closest and goes to console Rachel who is crying.  He holds her up against his shoulder patting her and then after a few seconds notices that she is no longer crying or making a noise. He brings Rachel in front of him to look at her and and her mouth is wide open like she is trying to cry, but nothing is coming out!  He yells to me to take Rachel and that she is not breathing.  I look at her and see her mouth wide open trying to scream but unable to.  I take her and by that time she has passed out and is totally limp.  I tell Jeff to call 911!  Rachel is limp and not breathing!  He picks up the phone and begins to dial.   Rachel makes a noise for a second like she is going to breathe and then nothing.  Jeff finishes dialing and gets the dispatcher to send out the paramedics.  By that time Rachel thankfully takes a breath and regains consciousness!  She is now crying again!  The paramedics are already on their way, so we let them come in and tell them what happened.  They attributed it to Breath Holding Syndrome, which sometimes occurs in babies and young toddlers.  We agree that was what happened and decided that Rachel didn't need a trip to the ER. 

Being a pediatric nurse I have seen several babies have a breath holding spell after giving them an IV or a shot. Their mouth is wide open trying to scream, but unable to.  But after a quick blow in the face they have always snapped out of it.  I've never had a breath holder pass out on me.

Rachel scared me to death when she went limp in my arms.  Life is so fragile.  How I love my little one and how grateful I am to keep her just a little longer while here on this earth.