Sunday, May 29, 2011

Scary.

Horrifying may be a better title for this post.
My littlest one had a febrile seizure on Thursday.

Big Boy had a very mild fever the night before, (99.1F) and had the same temperature in the morning. We had just layed him down on the couch, and I went to grab some Tylenol when Hubby started yelling at me frantically in the living room. When I walked in and saw my little one convulsing on the couch, pale and blue lips, I scooped him up into my arms and saw that he wasn't breathing.

The next two minutes while my hubs called 911 and yelled our address repeatedly was the most horrific and longest moment in my life.

Just before the ambulance arrived, Big boy stopped seizing, and started short, shallow breathes. His body was completely stiff, his eyes pearl and rolling back. I felt as though we were losing him. When I called out his name to him, when the paramedics shined a light in his eyes, he was completely unresponsive. Even though I held his hand, he did not squeeze mine back. I felt as though I was holding his body, but he was gone inside.

When we arrived to the hospital his temperature was 104.1. He was still completely unresponsive for over an hour. When a nurse brought a popsicle in, Big boy finally looked at me and mumbled 'yeah'. After a few hours with some apple juice, another popsicle, a few 'yeah' s, and a few doses of Motrin Big Boy finally began to be responsive.

Over the weekend, there has been a few scary moments of fast rising temperatures over 102. I am so very fortunate that our children's Godmother took Kiki over the weekend so Hubs and I could devote all of our attention to Big Boy, and our paranoid middle of the night temperature taking. Through the exams the doctors found out Big Boy has an ear infection, most likely the cause of his fever. He now has a 30% increased chance of having another febrile seizure, of which he will most likely outgrown by the age of 6. (another 4 1/2 years). My medicine cabinet will never be without the giant bottle of Motrin & Tylenol, and I will never again underestimate a slight fever or mild cough in my children.

If you want more information about febrile seizures, this link, or this link have a good summary of what I was told repeatedly by doctors. Our pediatrician told us while very scary, febrile seizures are more common in small children than we what think.

11 comments:

LJ said...

sending lots of hugs! praying you never have to deal with that again!

Unknown said...

Hugs to you and Big Boy.

Jenny said...

oh goodness, im so sorry this happened. how frightening. hope all is well now

susan said...

so so scary. im glad you called me. am hoping this is the only time it ever happens. big hugs to A

Beth said...

Oh my goodness, Beth, this nearly had me in tears! I can't imagine what I would do with my little guy. I hope Big Boy is on the mend!

Melinda said...

How very scary!! I am so happy everything turned out OK.... hugs to your family!

Kelly said...

Ok, I had a heart attack just reading that post! How scary! So glad he's ok. *hugs*

Marilyn said...

Most kids only ever have one. My son had one when he was a year old, and he was in his bed sleeping with a high fever. I did not see it, and just came in later to check on him, and he was turning blue and not conscious. Since I didn't see it, they thought it was something else at first, and did a battery of tests. But by morning he was fine. He hasn't had another one either, and he's three now.

Rene said...

Beth, I am so sorry to hear about your son.

I had this happen to my youngest son as well. His started just before his 1st birthday and continued to happen another 6-8 times over the course of a year. They stopped when he had tubes put in his ears. (No ear infections-no fevers-no seizures)

It is very scary because the fever comes on so fast that there really isn't time to react. You did the right thing by calling 911.

I really hope this is a one time occurrence for your guy. My thoughts are with you and your family today.

melo said...

This happened with our oldest as well. He had 3 of them in a year and now at 6 seems to have outgrown them. That's the good news. He will hopefully outgrow this. So scary when it happens. Fevers have scared me ever since. Hope all is well.

Anonymous said...

How scary! I'm glad he's on the mend and that your and your husband were able to react so quickly. I hope it doesn't happen again, but it sounds like you're prepared.

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