Heart stopping story. Glad for the happy ending, though. Reminds me of our younger son. As an infant he was very difficult to wake up & we had to learn lots of ways to stimulate him into wakefulness.

Your infant son sounds alot like me, except I'm in my 20's ;@)

LOL, bbx! He's an early bird now.

They should make a law against babies playing dead. Then you could get the police to arrest the little bugger and he'd think twice about doing it again. Eh? Eh? Yeah.


P.S Appropriate comment verification code du jour: "eeer"

So what we need as a new-style ASBO - an anti-social baby order.

babies can be evil little shits sometimes. Especially before they're able to talk.

Even when it's only for a few moments of not responding - and then you realise they're okay and you get that blend of "oh thank god you're okay, I don't know what I'd have done if you weren't okay, I love you so much, you did that on purpose you rotten little bugger..."

I'm smilling as well.

The Driving Instructor

Another damn fine reason not to have them there chillun.

Anyway, I thought it was only teenagers that were unresponsive to parents?
Learn something new everyday....

7 o clock start this morning, just finished checking our motor when we get the dreaded call " paed suspended" got to the adress in 4 min, en route we'd been told it was an 8 week old boy, parents had put the phone down on our Control staff as they were trying to give CPR instructions. Got to babes bedside in first floor flat, no signs of life no CPR being done! We decide to 'scoop and run', one of our supervisors turns up and jumps in the back of the motor so 2 guys working there B******s off as we drive to hospital, about 15 mins away. All pre-alert cals passed to hosp. Dad is in the cab with me, naturally inconsolable. No past history no illnesses, nothing.

30 mins after arriving at hosp the little lad is deemed past all care and resus is halted. the poor youngster is now asleep in his gods arms.

Is there any justice that a baby who has never hurt a soul in there short life should be taken from his parents and other family.

This job is S**t sometimes!

Barry,
Yes, sometimes the jobs we go on are shit, and it doesn't seem fair that little kiddies die, while some of our obnoxious regulars just keep on ticking.

My advice would be to talk to people if you need it (and I don't necessarily mean the 'professional' services), station mates are the best to talk to in most circumstances. If you want to email me, then please feel free to.

Other than that there is little I can say except to say that I'm sorry for you, and all involved that you had to go through such a nasty job.

-Tom

Tom,
Thanks for your response. I have had loads of support from mates, both those in the job and those who have no concept of what its really like, thier intentions are noble and that is as much as one could hope for. My crew mate has a baby boy of the same age as the poor lad and he is feeling it a bit more, he's off sick for a few days! But after 27 years doing this game it still don't get any easier.

I really appreciate your offer of support, the offer alone is of some comfort.

Congratulations on a great site

Best Regards
Barry

This is an fine example of writing ... not "just" blogging

less than 200 words:
Characters, tension, narrative-drive, resolution. I welled up with tears and I smiled too

Thanks

My son did the same at 8 weeks - stopped breathing in my arms, having fallen asleep just after a feed (thank GOD - had he done it when we were asleep then he wouldn't be here now). He was completely unresponsive and went grey. I called the ambulance, and spoke to someone in Control as my husband put my son in the recovery position. Luckily we live in the 'boonies, so have a RRU in each small town - they were there in 4 minutes and the ambulance there in 10. After 20 minutes oxygen my son's oxygen saturation was only at 70%, so we were taken up to the hospital. My god, those ambulances are bl**dy bumpy in the back! He had all sorts of tests - I didn't get any sleep for 60 hours - and had a similar episode the day after. No reason at all was found. I agree with teh ASBO's for babies - am buying my little boy plenty of Hoodies to get him used to the role ;)

ps i should add that the EMTs and the Ambo's were FAB - they were really kind, reassuring, and the Ambo driver made it 20 miles on country roads in 10 minutes - flooring it when they heard it was a baby. the RRU got here in 4 minutes - that included waking up, getting dressed, getting in car and driving across town. Heroes!!