Writen by Kathy Hendrix
This South Georgia family has the most careful of parents. There is nowhere to climb, no open electrical sockets, no guns, no sharp objects or no loose clothing. They had heard all the horror stories of child dangers and had vowed to protect their children no matter what expense. With all their careful thought and preparation, they didn't expect what happened to them on the night of May 17th, 2006.
As usual, the Mom called home to let them know she may be little late, but would be there as quick as she could get relief on her second shift at the railroad shops. The babies would be resting quietly when she finally got home and she would steal endless sugars as they slept. She saw them in the morning and spent the day fulfilling all her Mommy duties. What she didn't know, however, is the kisses she stole before she left her little Halloween baby could have been the last smile she would ever see on her bouncing baby boy's little round face.
While talking with the Dad on the phone, she heard the 18-month-old cry out a couple of times but he quickly subsided and all seemed well. They discussed the possibility of bad dreams, which is why he liked sleeping with his older six-year-old sister. She was his idol, his protector, his guardian angel, but little did anyone know, that she could have been the actual death of him that night.
As they talked on, the older sister began to scream. The father quickly went to investigate and vowed to give Mom a call back to fill her in on tonight's little bedtime problem. He entered the room and saw the thrusting of his daughter and flipped on the light. There on the bed, lay his namesake, his baby boy, cyanotic (blue), and limp, without any sign of life in his tiny little body. All he could see was blood and hair. It took a few seconds to register what exactly he was seeing. It was hard for his brain to wrap around what had happened.
His daughter had the most beautiful head of long blonde hair, which reached to the bottom of her little buttocks. However, her beautiful hair had inadvertently become like a noose around her baby brothers neck. The harder she tried to pull to free from whatever was pulling her hair was automatically tightening that constriction around baby brother's neck.
The baby had been tearing at the hair to attempt to free if from his neck. He had tore tiny wholes in his skin with his little fingernails at he fought for air. Crimson blood was intertwined with the white hair. Literally struggling until he couldn't anymore, he let out his final cry out, his little hand lay limp on the shoulder of his sister.
Daddy had to think and act quickly. If he didn't, the call back to the Mommy was going to be the hardest phone call he would ever have to make. He tried to free the hair with his own fingers, but it had cut down into the neck of the baby. He instructed the sister, to not move, as it would continue to cut off the oxygen supply to the baby. He found a pair of sewing scissors in the kitchen and began cutting and blowing air into his tiny blue face. As he cut the hair free, the baby began to gasp then began to move and finally opened both eyes and cry. He had freed the noose of hair strangling his tiny son. He was going to be all right. A quick call to 911 and the Pediatrician's Office to see what else he needed to do to make sure that his son was ok and hadn't suffered any brain damage due to lack of oxygen.
As he sat in the bed consoling his two screaming children (with hair and blood everywhere) he prayed and thanked God his wife had called and awakened him from a deep sleep on the couch. The Braves were losing, he had worked all day, he was tired and he just drifted off the sleep. Would he have heard their cries in time, had he not already been awake talking to Mommy?
He had to call Mommy back. How could he tell her just how close they came to losing their precious baby? The phone call to Mommy was unpleasant. There was terror in her voice, as he tried to explain what had just happened. She felt an endless ache in the pit of her stomach and a growing lump in her throat as she left work and flew home. She literally stayed on the cell as she drove home with the exception of the times she had to pull over to vomit.
As she arrived home there sat the three most important people in her life. Her daughter holding what was left her long blonde locks in her hand, the baby with the bleeding cuts around his tiny little fat rolls in his neck and a husband who could not say a word, just sit there and hold his children in fear of letting them go.
They had been so careful all their little lives. Is this something they should have prevented? The questions just rolled in both of their scattered minds as they held their children until well after 2am before anyone could even think of sleeping.
Tomorrow would be another day, but not for this young couple. A trip to doctor followed by a trip to the beauty shop would begin this day, this day that could have been so much worse if not for, the phone call from Mommy.
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