Yesterday, I had the scariest moment of my life as a mother. Ada had a seizure in my arms. Evidently they are fairly common in children under the age of one, caused by a sudden spike in temperature. She had a slight fever in the morning, but Matt & I both thought it was because she's teething. (Her fangs are coming in on top, just in time for Halloween!) We gave her some baby Tylenol and she was acting completely normal. She ate a normal breakfast and was herself. I took this picture at 11 AM, this is the giant-open-mouth-face that she does. Then she had a bottle and went down for a nap.
She woke up from her nap around 2 PM. I thought she felt warm, but she is naturally warm blooded just like her parents. I took the blanket off of her and we started watching Sesame Street to cool down. Then, she twitched and shook her head, and I turned her to face me and said her name. She went completely limp and her eyes went up to the side. She was still breathing and her heart was still beating. She was this way for an eternity it felt, while I called Matt and told him he needed to come home immediately because we had to get to the hospital. He told me to drive there on my own, but there was no way I was putting my baby in the back seat while I drove. What if she went unconscious or stopped breathing? I would have no way of knowing and would be trapped in the driver's seat. So he hopped on the bus and came home as fast as he could.
Once I got off the phone with Matt, Ada's arms and legs started jerking. She was unresponsive to me, which scared me more than anything. Even when she is falling asleep or just waking up, her eyes recognize me. Her eyes were looking off to the side and she wasn't acknowledging my voice. This is what made me think I might lose her. I called 911 at this point, and they sent an ambulance and a firetruck over. The woman stayed on the line with me and told me not to feed her anything or give her anything to drink, I wanted to yell, "DUH!" but I was respectful, you never know what people are going to do. Ada was drooling and grunting, but still breathing. By the time the firemen arrived, very quickly I might add, Ada was done seizing and was out of it in my arms. She was completely limp and looking around like she'd never seen anything in the room before.
The 6 guys piled into my bedroom and asked me what happened and started taking all of Ada's vitals. Her blood sugar was low because we were about to have lunch, and a fever causes that too. Otherwise she was fine and they kept asking me if she was acting normal. I said no, she is never this calm unless she's sleeping! She was moving her tongue around funny like she did as a newborn, like she was trying to figure it out again. On the ambulance ride, she started grabbing at the oxygen mask and I said, "There's my girl!" The guy who rode with us was so sweet with her, he has been married for 6 years and wants a baby so bad.
We got to the E.R. and got her weighed, hooked up to a heart rate monitor, and her temperature was 101. This was after cooling down with just a diaper on in the ambulance, so she was very hot. We got a cool washcloth and patted her with it to bring her body temp down. The nurses were great and the doctor told me that there are almost never long-term effects from febrile seizures. This reassured me more than anything! While she was seizing, that is what I was praying for...that I would have my baby back the way she was. She was so hungry and tired, they gave us lots of formula and she downed it all and fell asleep. They took a urine sample to make sure there was nothing that needed to be treated with antibiotics. It came back clear but they kept us there forever. We finally bugged the nurse to let us go home after hanging around for 4 hours. There was entertainment though, the man in the room next to us was strapped down to his bed and angry about it. He was making the ground shake while yelling and trying to break free! We were happy to see him wheeled away...the words coming out of his mouth were not very nice. Ada slept through most of his fits though, she was so worn out. We also had a weird lady sitting in a chair outside our room, she said she was a nurses' assistant, but I didn't see her assisting anyone. She did get us some applesauce for Ada though, which was very nice. Poor Matt hadn't eaten a thing all day, he thought he'd be able to have lunch when he got home. I had a bagel for breakfast then nothing else. So we were starving & stopped by Betty's Burgers on the way home. YUM.
We are so grateful for all of the prayers on her behalf. Once she was checked out and acting like herself again, I realized what could have happened. There are so many variables. I am just so glad that she was in my arms and that I knew how to respond. I was just reading in The Baby Book about fevers and febrile seizures the night before. I know that Heavenly Father was preparing me for what he knew was to come the next day. Also, last week I called Ada's insurance to ask about a doctor up here, and she made a point to tell me that E.R. visits are covered. What a blessing that was as we were there to not be stressing out about money and bills, but to know that she was covered.
Evidently Matt had a seizure at about the same age as Ada. Luckily he only had one, so I am hoping that is the case with Ada.
We checked on her constantly throughout the night, I've watched her like a hawk today, and checked on her multiple times already tonight. Look at what she decided to do today...
Walk SUPER FAST! Haha I don't know why, but it uploaded the sound normal but the picture in lightspeed.
But she took her first steps :)
Yes, I cried. Today, I am counting my blessings over and over again.
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