Baby C's 2nd ER Visit

VIA AMBULANCE!!!!

This is a picture of my dear husband and his two favorite girls at the zoo Sunday morning. I love this picture because these are my three favorite people, and I hate if any one of them is hurting. This same afternoon Caroline woke up from her nap with a fever of 104. I immediately gave her a dose of Motrin and three hours later a does of Tylenol. I assumed that her ear infections hadn't healed. It is amazing because whenever I think her ears are infected they aren't and when I have no clue that something is wrong they are. So Graham said he would stay home with her because he had plenty of vacay days left and with it still being back to school season work is still keeping me very busy. I am very lucky with my schedule that I can flip flop days if need be, so I usually stay home with the girls if one of them is sick. Lets just say Graham chose the wrong day to help out! He took her to the pediatrician on Monday morning and to my surprise her ears had healed. So because of the fever with no other symptoms they put a bag on to get a urine sample to check for a UTI. They went home, Graham gave her some Tylenol, and she went down for a nap. Later that afternoon, they loaded up the car to return the urine sample and go pick up Julia at Ms. Margaret's house. This is when my heart breaks for my husband. I can't even imagine the terror that he must have felt. After he buckled Caroline into the carseat, she started having a seizure. She has no history of ever having a seizure so Graham immediately called 911. From what Graham thinks the seizure only lasted about 45 seconds to a minute. At times she stopped breathing but never turned blue. Of course it was a slow day in Centennial, so the fire department, police, and ambulance all showed up. They were going to give Graham the option of taking her to the ER himself since she wasn't seizing anymore but they were concerned because her heart rate was over 200. So Graham and Caroline took their first ride in an ambulance. At this point, I had just returned to my office from doing after school hall duty when Graham called. I could hear the panic in his voice but it was a short conversation to tell me that Caroline had a seizure and they were on there way to Parker Adventist. I quickly gathered my things made a phone call to Margaret about what was going on until I could locate my mom to pick up Julia. I am so thankful that Julia wasn't there to witness what had happened because she is so sensitive. The next part is something I don't think I will ever forget and still makes me tear up. Walking in to the ER and watching my husband try to muster up the strength to tell the ER staff what had happened. It was heart wrenching that he had to go through all of it on his own. After they did an initial exam it was determined that the seizure was due to her temperature. Febrile Seizures are harmless and only happen in 4% of children, but I honestly believe it is one of the scariest things for a parent to have to watch. The seizure is not caused by how high the temperature is but how fast the temperature rises. So after three hours we were discharged and armed with lots of information on how to handle these seizures. We were also told that only 30% of children who have a febrile seizure would ever have another one. I guess we are just special. We arrived home and gave Caroline some more Tylenol. Within a couple of minutes Caroline started having another seizure. This one lasted about two minutes. Graham took action immediately, like a seasoned pro, and I started calling the doctor's office. Once again they weren't as concerned as the two parents who are now traumatized by this whole event. They gave us instructions to stay ahead of the fever and keep alternating Tylenol and Motrin every three hours. All I wanted to do was hold my baby but the body contact only made her hotter, so I stripped her down to her diaper and she fell asleep on a blanket in the middle of the family room. She was so exhausted and run down that she didn't flinch to any of the chaos going on around her. Today, she seems to be doing better. Our pediatrician called to check in on her and said most likely she will develop a rash due to roseola, a virus. He reassured us that we have probably gone through one of the most scariest, harmless events that a parent could go through. She is eating again and her temperature has stayed down for the most part. Now that she has had two, she will most likely have another. The best thing we can do is anytime a fever starts is to be more vigilant to try and keep the fever down. What is funny that Julia has had higher fevers and never once an issue. Caroline just likes to keep us on our toes.