I nearly lost my son last night

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   Hi Guys, 

It has been a long time since I've been a regular on here, I wanted to come back and post though because last night we went through something I hope I can help to prevent happening to any of your precious kids by sharing it.

My little guy Benjy is 3.5 years old and last night he choked on a coin that my 5 year old daughter Ella had left in a bucket on the coffee table. (not her fault at all though)

I was in the kitchen and heard him hit the floor. He was purple and holding his throat. 

I tipped him over my knee and whacked him on his back, tried heimlich and hubby then managed to dislodge it from his airway with a finger. 

He came right very fast but I decided to take him up to the A & E just to make sure it was in his tummy. 

A couple of minutes into the journey I looked back at him and his eyes were rolled back in his head. I called out to him and he came back, this happened a couple more times and each time he became less responsive so I pulled over and rang 111. 

As I talked to them I managed to wake him by rubbing his chest and decided to head straight to hospital as I was reasonably close and he was breathing ok. 

A minute later I looked back and he had passed out again but this time his mouth had dropped wide open and was pouring drool. 

He didn't respond to me at all so I pulled over and called 111 again. 

They advised to keep going as quickly and safely as I could but by the time I got to hospital he was blue and not breathing. 

As I got him out of his car seat he took a huge gasp of breath and regained consciousness as I ran into the emergency room. 

By the time they got us through to the Paed department he was talking and moving and pretty much back to normal. 

X-ray showed that the coin was in his tummy and now we wait for it to pass through naturally. 

Last night was absolutely the scariest night of my life. When I left the house I thought it was a pretty safe bet that it was in his tummy and I was just reassuring myself by going up to get him checked. 

He seemed ok, if a bit shaken and was breathing, moving and talking normally. Then a few minutes later it was blocking his airway again. 

We were VERY, VERY lucky and all I can feel about it is relief and gratitude. 

We've also had a big wake up call, reminding us how quickly these things can happen, how you can't relax too much just because your child is past the baby-exploring-putting everything in their mouths stage or because they're older and can understand your warnings about not putting things in their mouths. 

I think it is important to share this with other parents so that they might not have to go through what we did or worse. 

Please, please, watch your children carefully and make sure your older kid's toys or other small, choke-able things are not where they can get them. 

Please, please, get your children checked out after an incident like ours, even if they seem ok they might not be and it is so not worth taking the risk.

I'm still really shaken up about it and keep seeing him blue and unconscious every time I close my eyes. It could have been so much worse... there but by the grace of God.