Things you may not know about me #8

My heart stopped when I was a baby.

     When I was about a month old, I developed a cough. One of my aunts suggested a little steam bath. Which is standard practice in Russia when someone gets a cold. I actually still do this for myself on the rare occasion I get sick.

     So she and my mom prepared a warm bath for me. They lay me in the bath, wrapped in a receiving blanket like pictured above. (The photo above is of me, but not taken the same day this happened. Mothers wrap their babies in blankets to help keep them from getting cold.)

     Slowly they started adding hot water to the bath.. so that my body would have time to adjust. As the water got warmer and warmer, I started crying. They continued to add more hot water, to "get the cold out for good".

     Eventually the water got so hot I started screaming and suddenly stopped. My body straightened out and went limp.

     My mom scooped me out of the bath, scared out of her mind, and my aunt started exercising my body.

     Here's a video of what that means.. {click here} all Russian mothers do this regularly to their babies, it helps with good blood flow. (Only my aunt did it much faster trying to bring me back to life.)

     Finally, just as suddenly as I stopped, I took a deep breath and let out a loud scream.. then settled to crying.. then to whimpering.. and eventually fell asleep.

     I survived, my mom never gave me another steam bath, or any of my siblings for that matter, and I've rarely gotten sick since.

     Needless to say, but I'm going to say it anyway, do not steam illnesses out of your babies!!