9 WHAT ARE HICCUPS

Chapter nine, What are hiccups? "So, Pip and Tiny seem safe from any more unexpected changes in the barn?" Mom asked. I nodded. "I think the hiccups are making Wishy's magic go all wonky. So we just need to cure her hiccups. That should be easy, right?" I looked hopefully at Mom. "Well… they can sometimes be a bit tricky," Mom said. "There's not really a proven cure." "Great." I flopped my head on the table, then turned it to the side to look at Mom. "What even are hiccups? And why can't you just decide to stop hiccupping?" "Those are excellent questions," Mom said with a twinkle in her eye. "I could tell you, but

I'd rather show you." I perked up. "Show me?" Mom smiled. "You go find a plastic bottle from the recycling and grab two balloons and some tape. I'll get the scissors." I grabbed the supplies and brought them to the table. "This part is tricky," Mom said, using the scissors to cut the bottle in half, "so an adult needs to do it." She set the bottom half of the bottle aside and passed the top half and the scissors to me. "Now it's your turn," she continued. "Squeeze one of the balloons through the mouth of the bottle— that's the top part you drink from. Good. Now stretch the opening of the balloon over the mouth of the bottle." She handed me the other balloon and had me cut the skinny part off. Then I stretched the remaining part of the balloon over the open bottom of the bottle and taped it in place. I held up the finished product. One balloon dangled down inside from where it was stretched over the mouth of the bottle, and the other covered the entire bottom part of the bottle.

"This is a pretty simple model of your lungs. You really have two lungs, of course, but for this we'll pretend like you have one." She pointed to the whole balloon hanging from the top of the bottle. "This balloon is your lung." She tapped the plastic bottle. "This is your rib cage." And then she tapped the stretched-out balloon on the bottom of the bottle. "And this is your diaphragm." I raised an eyebrow. "Diaphragm?" Mom pointed to a place on her stomach above her belly button. "Your diaphragm is a big muscle at the bottom of your rib cage that you use without thinking to breathe," she said. "OK, now pinch the center part of the lower balloon

and pull it down." "WHOA!" I shouted. "When I pull that down, the lung balloon blows up!" "That's how you breathe in," said Mom. "When you tighten your diaphragm, it pulls down and your lungs inflate with air. Now push the diaphragm balloon up." "Whoa!" I said again. "So when my diaphragm goes up, my lungs breathe out?" "You've got it!" Mom said. I paused. "But what does this have to do with hiccups?" "Aha, good question. Make the diaphragm move up and down really quickly." I did, and the lung balloon started looking a bit wonky. "Remember how I said you don't think about breathing—you just do it? Well, that's because your brain sends a message to your diaphragm to move. But if your brain sends weird signals, it makes your diaphragm all jumpy. That's part of what makes you feel uncomfortable. But it also makes you breathe out faster than normal, and when you do that, your vocal cords close and

make a hic sound." "Ohhhhhh," I said. "And no one really knows how to make your brain stop sending weird signals to your diaphragm to make the hiccups stop?" Mom nodded. "Every family kind of has their own cure, but there's not one thing that always works. Like we have you hold your breath, right? And it sometimes works, but sometimes not." I sat up straighter. "So… other families might have different ideas to try?" "Mm-hmm. Why are you smiling?" Mom

asked. "Because I've got a plan! Thanks, Mom!" I grabbed the lung model and dashed out the door.