So, I've read lots of stories of these sorts of things happening to other children, and all the mom's feel tons of guilt and blame.  I felt the same, but then I realized that children do things that are out of our control, even if we have taken the necessary steps to make our homes safe, they always seem to find something that we didn't think about or that we even thought was dangerous.  So I stopped blaming myself and focused on the miracle that my son is still with me today. 

Here's my story:

In our previous home, we had 3 windows in our living room that were quite low to the floor.  I love letting in the sunshine, so I always pulled the blinds right up, and having heard of children being strangled by blind cords, I tied it up so it was out of the way.  I went on with my daily chores while my boys did their usual which is wrestling, playing, and anything crazy.  They were playing in the living room on this particular morning.  I pulled out the vacuum and was in the living room getting it all hooked up.  Normally I can just slip the hose into the power head without any problems, but this time, was struggling to get it together.  With my head down and focused on the vacuum, I remember hearing a noise that sounded different, and wasn't a noise that I had heard before.  I just ignored it and finally got the vac together, I was about to turn it on, but the something clicked in my brain and I had a really STRONG feeling that I should look up and see what that noise was.  I looked up and there was my sweet Ronan hanging from the blinds cord.  He had somehow managed to climb up on the window sill and looped the cord around his head.  I don't know if he slipped off or jumped off not realizing the placement of the cord, but there he was.  The image that is burned into my eyes of my little boy literally hanging to death will NEVER leave me.  He was grabbing at the cord above his head.  This all happened very fast, from the time I heard the noise to the time that I ran over and lifted him off the cord.  I have never been so incredibly scared before in my entire life.  My first reaction was to hold him and cry.  But I remained strong so that I wouldn't scare him further.  Checked out his neck, and comforted him.  This is the damage:

He was about 3 years old when this happened.  Now he is 6 and of course doing fine.  He talked about this for awhile, but has since forgotten about it, I think...

My reason for blogging about this is to share my experience, but also to share my growth.  I am a guilt ridden person.  I feel guilty about everything, even things that I shouldn't feel guilty about.  I beat myself up for quite a while over this, saying how I wasn't a good mom, that I was careless, that I wasn't very bright, that Ronan should and would hate me.  But then I realized...that I had done what I was supposed to.  I had tied the cord up and out of the way, I was a good mom for doing that.  Although I did learn that I should probably tie them up higher so that if one of my children did manage to climb up on the sill the cords would be out of the way from that too.  But children are curious and like to explore.  Ronan thought it would be fun to get on the window sill, and these things happen.  So, I just want other moms who have had these similar experiences to know that you are and always will be good moms no matter what may befall your family.

Anyways, there you have it.  :)