diff --git a/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index 864438ee..6eb14c76 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Changelog
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
+## [7.5.3] - 2019-12-12
+
+(server) attempt at fixing #131 by using blocking writes in server mode
+
 ## [7.5.2] - 2019-12-11
 
 (ws) cobra to sentry - created events with sentry tags based on tags present in the cobra messages
diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.cpp b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.cpp
index 48bcfc6b..50c280df 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.cpp
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.cpp
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ namespace ix
 
     WebSocketTransport::WebSocketTransport()
         : _useMask(true)
+        , _blockingSend(false)
         , _compressedMessage(false)
         , _readyState(ReadyState::CLOSED)
         , _closeCode(WebSocketCloseConstants::kInternalErrorCode)
@@ -178,6 +179,7 @@ namespace ix
 
         // Server should not mask the data it sends to the client
         _useMask = false;
+        _blockingSend = true;
 
         _socket = socket;
 
@@ -339,22 +341,9 @@ namespace ix
         // there can be a lot of it for large messages.
         if (pollResult == PollResultType::SendRequest)
         {
-            while (!isSendBufferEmpty() && !_requestInitCancellation)
+            if (!flushSendBuffer())
             {
-                // Wait with a 10ms timeout until the socket is ready to write.
-                // This way we are not busy looping
-                PollResultType result = _socket->isReadyToWrite(10);
-
-                if (result == PollResultType::Error)
-                {
-                    closeSocket();
-                    setReadyState(ReadyState::CLOSED);
-                    break;
-                }
-                else if (result == PollResultType::ReadyForWrite)
-                {
-                    sendOnSocket();
-                }
+                return PollResult::CannotFlushSendBuffer;
             }
         }
         else if (pollResult == PollResultType::ReadyForRead)
@@ -924,13 +913,21 @@ namespace ix
             }
         }
 
+        bool success = true;
+
         // Request to flush the send buffer on the background thread if it isn't empty
         if (!isSendBufferEmpty())
         {
             _socket->wakeUpFromPoll(Socket::kSendRequest);
+
+            // FIXME: we should have a timeout when sending large messages: see #131
+            if (_blockingSend && !flushSendBuffer())
+            {
+                success = false;
+            }
         }
 
-        return WebSocketSendInfo(true, compressionError, payloadSize, wireSize);
+        return WebSocketSendInfo(success, compressionError, payloadSize, wireSize);
     }
 
     void WebSocketTransport::sendFragment(wsheader_type::opcode_type type,
@@ -1168,4 +1165,27 @@ namespace ix
         return _txbuf.size();
     }
 
+    bool WebSocketTransport::flushSendBuffer()
+    {
+        while (!isSendBufferEmpty() && !_requestInitCancellation)
+        {
+            // Wait with a 10ms timeout until the socket is ready to write.
+            // This way we are not busy looping
+            PollResultType result = _socket->isReadyToWrite(10);
+
+            if (result == PollResultType::Error)
+            {
+                closeSocket();
+                setReadyState(ReadyState::CLOSED);
+                return false;
+            }
+            else if (result == PollResultType::ReadyForWrite)
+            {
+                sendOnSocket();
+            }
+        }
+
+        return true;
+    }
+
 } // namespace ix
diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.h b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.h
index 189fc3f8..934a376d 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.h
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.h
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ namespace ix
         enum class PollResult
         {
             Succeeded,
-            AbnormalClose
+            AbnormalClose,
+            CannotFlushSendBuffer
         };
 
         using OnMessageCallback =
@@ -135,6 +136,10 @@ namespace ix
         // client should mask but server should not
         std::atomic<bool> _useMask;
 
+        // Tells whether we should flush the send buffer before
+        // saying that a send is complete. This is the mode for server code.
+        std::atomic<bool> _blockingSend;
+
         // Buffer for reading from our socket. That buffer is never resized.
         std::vector<uint8_t> _readbuf;
 
@@ -238,6 +243,7 @@ namespace ix
                                                size_t closeWireSize,
                                                bool remote);
 
+        bool flushSendBuffer();
         void sendOnSocket();
         WebSocketSendInfo sendData(wsheader_type::opcode_type type,
                                    const std::string& message,
diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketVersion.h b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketVersion.h
index 5b485625..c3990864 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketVersion.h
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketVersion.h
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@
 
 #pragma once
 
-#define IX_WEBSOCKET_VERSION "7.5.2"
+#define IX_WEBSOCKET_VERSION "7.5.3"