to Heimlich or not to Heimlich

So last week I was coughing after having a crumb go down the wrong way and himself said - after I stopped coughing and it was obvious I wasnt choking.. can you do a Heimlich Maneuver on a pregnant woman? I didnt know - it seems like you shouldnt especially with Hobbit so close to my lungs and more likely to get the squeeze than me.

Well we learnt the answer last night at the Infant and Child CPR class. It was an excellent class and held by the parents class network at Good Sam where we plan to have Hobbit. We practiced CPR on infant dolls and then toddler/child dolls. Glad to see they have made it more uniform so all you have to remember is 2 breaths for every 30 compressions. Last time I took the CPR class many moons ago in NY it seemed to be different for each age group and you had enough to remember and not panic about when administring CPR without thinking - should it be 5 breaths or 2? How many compressions for a kid of 6? etc..

So turns out that you should not do a regular Heimlich on a pregnant woman (same as infants - who should be turned upside down). (good luck trying to turn pregnant lady upside down...) Instead you do a quick compression in chest area to expel the object out for pregnant lady. Not only is the baby residing normally where you thrust in and upwards in the J motion of Heimlich at belly button area but also with a womans organs being pushed up and sidewards during pregnancy you dont want to damage them either pushing hard against them.

They were also offering the test certification at the end of class and I think it says a lot re my growing cankles and wanting to get to a cup of tea that I passed up doing the test. Normally love taking tests and love getting certificates. I passed this one up and went off to get a cup of tea at Effies our local home from home restaurant. (Where they know us so well they had a pot of tea with English breakfast teabags) and a club soda with lemon waiting for myself and himself when they saw us getting from car with walker after the class.. now thats service!).