Life is non-stop action for Ariel Dalton Henshaw. With nine-month-old twins and a three-year-old boy, she's constantly on the watch for little parts that could be a choking hazard. But with a toddler running around, that's a harder challenge than normal.
That's why what she found in her daughter's mouth one terrifying day was such a surprise. It didn't come from her three-year-old. It came from something no parent would think twice about giving to their child to play with.
One spring day while Henshaw was doing laundry she heard an unusual sound from her daughter Ollie who was playing across the room.
Henshaw paused and waited. The sound happened again.
She immediately swiped Ollie's mouth, but there was nothing in there
She looked around, trying to find what she could have swallowed, but there was nothing there. Henshaw's meticulous in making sure the floor stays clean for this very reason.
"My three-year-old likes to bring his toys out into the living room and I'm constantly taking them back to his room because there are always little pieces, " Henshaw told FamilyShare. "I must vacuum the rug a million times a week because the girls are into everything and always seem to find any little piece of whatever and shove it straight into their little mouths."
But earlier, Henshaw had given her twins some Gerber Puffs and a plastic water bottle to play with, because they liked the crinkly sound it made.
By this point Ollie was turning blue, but there was nothing in her mouth
Henshaw kept searching for what it could be. A Gerber Puff would have dissolved already. She was frantically searching for anything.
Then she decided to pray
She asked God for direction and help, and he answered.
"Almost at once a strange calm spread over me, it was almost like watching myself from outside of my body," Henshaw said. "My mind was cleared and it was almost like I was walked through what I needed to do to help her."
She laid Ollie down and tried one more time to feel anything that might be in her throat.
As she swiped Ollie's throat one last time, her finger hit something
"I managed to dislodge the item and to my surprise and horror it was the plastic ring from the water bottle," Henshaw said. "Somehow she gotten it off the bottle and had tried to swallow it."
This isn't the first miracle Henshaw's had with her twins
Being able to stay calm and find the plastic ring in Ollie's mouth was just one of many miracles that has come with having her twins. Henshaw said just having her two girls was an incredibly difficult road.
After an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage, Henshaw and her husband were in the process of adoption when something incredible happened.
"I took a pregnancy test on a whim and it was negative so I tossed it in the trash," Henshaw said. "[I came] back that evening and happened to glance down at the trash can where it had turned positive sometime during the day."
After she took several more pregnancy tests to confirm the results, she was speechless when the doctor told her she was only five weeks along and she was pregnant with twins.
"There was instant happiness coupled with a huge amount of doubt and fear," she said.
After nearly a full term and long labor, Henshaw held her two miracles in her arms.
Have a little more faith in yourself and God
Henshaw thought there was no way she could take care of two babies at once, but she's learned a few things since then. The most important she shares with herself and other moms.
"Just embrace the bumps and be there to help contain any situation that may come our way with a good attitude," she advises. "Have a little more faith in my Heavenly Father and myself."