More Than Friends

Choking

Barri's POV

It was a normal day in March. Michael and I were spending time with the kids. We all had Dinner and put the kids to bed. "Goodnight Jayden. Mommy loves you." I gave Jayden a kiss on the cheek. "Yeah. Goodnight. Daddy loves you." Michael gave Jayden a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight Jaylen. Mommy loves you." I gave Jaylen a kiss on the cheek. "Yeah goodnight. Daddy loves you." Michael kissed Jaylen on the cheek. The twins were fast asleep. "Goodnight Violet. Mommy loves you." I kissed violet on the cheek. "Goodnight. Daddy loves you." Michael kissed her on the cheek. Violet yawned closed her eyes and went to sleep. "Good night Isabella. Mommy loves you." I gave Isabella a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight mommy. I love you too." "Goodnight Isabella. Daddy loves you." "Goodnight Daddy. I love you too." "Goodnight mom." "Yeah goodnight." "Goodnight Michael, goodnight Barri, sweet dreams." Michael and I went to our room. I laid on the bed. Michael kissed my lips. "Goodnight baby." "Goodnight honey." I quickly fell asleep. Everything was fine. "Jaylen!" I sat straight up. I shook Michael. "Honey?" Michael groaned. "Honey wake up." "Leave me alone." "Michael!" "Don't get slapped." "You wouldn't dare slap your pregnant wife." "I warned you. So it wouldn't be my fault. Besides, you know I'm not a morning person." "Is this what a happly married couple is supposed to sound like?" Michael looked at the clock. "At five in the morning a happily married couple is suppose to sound like snoring. Now would you let me sleep?" I frowned. Michael was ignoring me even though something was wrong. My mother wouldn't yell my son's name for no reason. "Michael!" "What?" Just then my mother ran in to our room. "I hope you aren't busy, but Jaylen isn't breathing. I don't know what happened." I turned on the light. My mother was in tears and by now Michael had sat up. "Give him to me. Someone call an ambulance!" Jaylen had started to turn a shade of blue. Michael went to the phone and I started CPR on Jalyen. I notice the pathway for the oxygen was blocked. So I switched to heimlich maneuver. "Come on, cough it up." After a while a piece of biscuit flew out of Jaylen's mouth, but he still wasn't breathing.

Michael's POV

Everything was normal. My family and I went to sleep. I thought I heard something,but I ignored it. Barri tried to shake me awake. This irritated me because it was five in the morning. Soon my mother-in-law ran in the room with Jaylen. He looked so lifeless. He wasn't breathing. I called an ambulance. "911, What's the emergency?" "My son isn't breathing." "Okay I'm going to get you an ambulance. In the meantime I'm going to give you step by step instructions on how to do CPR." "My wife is already doing that. She used to be a pediatrician." "Okay. Well, I need you to stay with me until the ambulance gets there." "Okay." I looked at Jaylen and some food came out of his mouth. He still wasn't breathing. A few tears escaped my eyes. "Please hurry." "They will be there in a second." At last, the paramedics arrived. "Okay they're here. " "Alright. Have a nice day." "You too. Thanks." I hung up. My son Jaylen was still blue and not responding to anything the paramedics were doing. They took Jaylen into the ambulance. Isabella walked in with her sister. "What's going on?" "I'll explain later Isabella. For now you have to get dressed." I went to check on Jayden, who was crying. I cleaned him and got him dressed and put him back to sleep and put him in his carseat. I went to check on Barri and the girls who were dressed. Barri also had a diaper bag. I cleaned myself and put on some clothes. I grabbed a desguise. We all got in the limo. We headed to the hospital. We sat in the waiting area. "So, would you mind explaining to me how Jaylen got a piece of biscuit stuck in his esophagus." "Barri I'm sorry. I was hungry, so I got a biscuit. I was eating it as I checked on Jaylen. I dropped a piece. I meant to clean it up, but I couldn't find it. Jaylen must have gotten to it. I'm sorry." Barri just stared off into space. The tears fell down her face. I wrapped my arm around her. "You were very brave. I mean you jumped right into that CPR and Heimlich Maneuver." "None of that means anything if I don't hold my son in my arms. I just want to hug him and look at him smile." "You will. I promise." "What is going on? Mommy don't cry." "You see Isabella, your brother isn't doing so well. So we brought him here so he could get better." "Is he going to be okay?" "The truth is I don't know." Isabella begin to cry. "Don't cry little one." Isabella and violet yawned. I put violet on my lap and she fell asleep. Isabella fell asleep on Barri's lap. Time passed. At last a doctor came to talk to us. "Are you Mr. And Mrs. Jackson?" "Yes." "We've done everything we could do. We have a heartbeat, but he is still not breathing on his own. So we've hooked him to some oxygen and if he doesn't wake up soon we are going to have to hook him up to a machine that will get nutrients into his body. At this point, it's hard to say what will happen to him. You can go see him now." So we all went to see Jaylen. He had tubes going in him. "Jalen it's me, daddy. I need you to get better so I can take you home." "I love you Jaylen." Tears fell down Barri's face. I quickly wrapped her in a hug. "Ssh. It's going to be okay don't cry." "Don't tell me not to cry! This is my son!" "But your pregnant. You have to calm down for the baby you're carrying." We sat down on the couch in the room. Time passed. "Mommy I'm hungry." "How about we go to the cafeteria and see what they have?" "Okay." The girls walked to the door. Isabella turned around. "Daddy are you coming?" "No. I'll just stay here. I don't want anybody to know I'm here." "Why?" "Things would get real ugly, real fast." "Okay. Well I'll see you later. We'll be right back daddy." So Barri took the girls to the cafeteria. I looked at my son and I broke down in tears. "Michael you have to know that I am sorry." "I know mother-in-law. I know. It was not so long ago that I thought I was going to lose Barri." "Why didn't you tell me?" "We weren't exactly on good terms." "Right." "A little over 6 years ago she got into a car crash and flatlined. A little over a year ago she was overwhelmed because Isabella almost drowned. Isabella was with my father. Barri flatlined. Her brother was unconscious about 3 or 4 years ago. You and your husband were unconscious. You all are strong. So I know my son is going to be okay. You just have to Jaylen." The tears continued to roll down my face. Soon the girls came back in. "Here you go honey." "Thanks baby." "You were crying, weren't you?" "I tried to be strong, but that's my son." Barri wiped the tears away. We ate our breakfast. Time passed. "I'm bored." "Oh I put some toys in the diaper bag." Barri went through the diaper bag and pulled out some toys. The day went on. Barri looked over at Jaylen and bursted into tears. "Please don't cry." "What do you mean. This is my son, our son. I'm surprised you're not crying a lot. Don't you care?!" "Of course I care." "Then act like it!" "Barri take down you're tone. There is not one particular way you're supposed to act when you're upset." "Oh shut up mom! This is all your fault! If it wasn't for you, then we wouldn't be here!" "Baby, I don't like the way you're behaving in front of the kids." "Just leave me alone!" "Okay." I picked up Jayden. "Isabella, Violet let's go." "Where are we going Daddy?" "Anywhere. You don't need to see your mother acting like this. Isabella get the diaper bag please." She grabbed the diaper bag. "Thank you." "You're just going leave your son? What type of father are you?!" "I think you should be asking yourself what type of mother you are." Barri slapped me hard across the face. "I hate you! I never want to see you again!" "That's fine. I'll pack your stuff and sit it outside. If it gets stolen or damaged it won't be my problem." "Good!" "Good. Let's go you two." I walked out the room and saw my family come in the hospital. "Where are you going to in such a hurry?" I gave Janet a hug. "Hi Janet." "Hi auntie Janet." "Hey. Now answer my question." "Anywhere Barri is not." "So you just had an argument?" "Yeah." "Do you still love her?" "That doesn't matter. I'm done with her. She crossed the the line. Now if you will excuse me." I walked toward the door. "Michael you don't mean that." "Yes I do. She was being a horrible example in front of my kids, telling her mom to shut up. She said she hated me. She slapped me. I was a fool to marry her." "Michael listen to me. You and I both know that you would be miserable without her. Try to see things from her perspective. That's her baby boy in that hospital room. When you were lonely, it was her who got rid of that loneliness. Her parents told her not to marry you, she ignored them. She always defends you. So I'm going to ask you one more time. Do you love her?" "Of course." "Well I'm sure the argument will resolve itself. You both love each other and that's what counts." I decided to sit down with my family.