Mom drops twins off at daycare in their car seats, hours later she receives tragic news

Ryne and Rachel Jungling had struggled to get pregnant and like so many couples who have issues with fertility their path was not an easy one.

But after years of hoping and praying, Rachel finally got pregnant and they were blessed with beautiful twins, a boy and a girl.

But less than a year after their precious bundles of joy were born they would experience an unimaginable tragedy.

The couple received a phone call that no parent ever wants to take; her son was fighting for his life, just a few hours after she dropped him off at daycare.

Mom Rachel had dropped her twins off at day care in their car seats. It was a snowy day and leaving them in their car seats to carry them in seemed like the safer option.

Little did she know the tragedy this would lead to and now the Junglings want to share their story to warn other parents.

When Rachel said goodbye to her children, her boy Anders was still in his car seat but looked sleepy. Her daughter Linnea was awake and already out of her seat.

“I assumed Anders was next,” Rachel said, according to Fox13 News. She explained that the day care provider had always taken both babies out of their car seats.

Rachel and Ryne, who are both teachers, then received calls from police officers telling them something had happened to their son at day care but gave no further details.

As they both rushed to hospital they were met with a chaotic and terrifying scene of doctors, nurses and police officers. They were told that Anders was fighting for his life after he fell asleep in his car seat and his airways had become constricted.

Just two hours after Rachel had dropped him off doctors were working to get his heart started again.

“When a car seat is in a base in a vehicle it is tilted back, the baby’s head remains tilted back and their airway remains open. When a child is in a car seat on the floor, their head can tilt forward, cutting off airflow to their lungs,” Rachel said, according to Fox13 News.

Couple’s mission to raise awareness

“This is what happened to Anders. My strong and thriving little boy suffocated.”

Anders spent three days on life support before his loving parents and sister had to say their goodbyes.

Since sharing their story to warn parents and caretakers, they have been inundated with people telling them they had no idea letting a baby sleep in a car seat on the floor was so dangerous.

Now they’re working with Carma Hanson, coordinator of Safe Kids Grand Forks,  neonatal nurse and a car seat technician, to spread this crucial message.

“Young babies and children have disproportionately large heads, weak neck muscles and vulnerable airways. When placed at an angle that is too upright, the head can fall forward, blocking the airway, and the baby can die of what is termed positional asphyxia (essentially suffocating because the airway is blocked from the position that it is in),” Carma said.

Couple welcomes a miracle

Car seats are still the safest place for babies to sit in a vehicle and pose little to no risk to a sleeping baby if installed correctly.

But the Junglings’ story doesn’t end there; shortly after they lost their precious son Rachel found out she was pregnant again, with no fertility treatments, and the couple welcomed their second son.

Find out more about positional asphyxiation in the clip below.

[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl_uTGXy-pk” /]

So heartbreaking, and to think of how many people each day do this. My Condolences & sympathy to this beautiful family! No parent should have to go through this trauma. 

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