.....this cute boy (pictured below) will give me a heart attack before I turn 26 in June (or cause me to go grey prematurely!)
Tuesday night I tucked my sweet children in their beds, and off I went to get Mommy things done. I folded some laundry, worked on some paperwork for Mary Kay, and was balancing my check book when I heard a scream/cry. I had never heard this sound come from either one of my children before, and I quickly looked at the monitor to see which one was having some issues. It was around 10:15, and both kids had been asleep for over 2 hours. Maria was sleeping in her crib, so I changed the channel to Greg's camera, and he was moving...almost like he was readjusting himself...and then I did a double take...yep...I knew it! He was not readjusting, he was having a seizure. Lovely.
I jumped and ran as fast as I could to his room, swept him up on his side, and ran back to my room. As I was holding his body, I knew it was another febrile seizure (fever induced seizure from his temp spiking too quickly). His body was so hot. I grabbed my phone as I held him on his side and called my neighbor who is a pediatric nurse. I hung up the phone, and walked (okay, ran) downstairs with Greg in my arms to the door. I laid Greg down by the door as I opened it, Michael and Nicole were on my doorstep. Nicole and I stripped Greg by the door to get his body temp down, Michael called 911, and I ran and got my thermometer, medicine, and water....all the time praying that he would keep breathing...I didn't think I had it in me to do CPR round 2 on this sweet boy! At this point, it had been one minute...maybe 90 seconds since I gotten Greg from his bed. His seizure stopped, and it took him a minute to come to. I told Michael to tell the 911 dispatcher not to send the ambulance, as the seizure had stopped. I gave Greg a dose of ibuprofen, and took his temp. He was right at 100 degrees. Not super high....but these seizures are not about how high the temp is, just how fast it get there. This made me feel better since his last febrile seizure his temp was 103. I also was so glad he continued to breathe through the seizure. He was beyond tired, so we hung out by the door a little longer to cool him down, and then headed inside to get him back to sleep.
I sat with him on the couch, called my mom to have her pray, and got a hold of hubby Greg at work to have him come home. Little Greg kept falling asleep in my arms, but just would not stay asleep. Hubby came home from work, and at this point it was 11:30. I took Greg's temp again and it was 98.8...YAY! I asked him if he wanted to go to his room to lay in his bed. He said yes, so up we went. As we got upstairs, I went into my room to drop my phone on my bed, and then....he threw up EVERY WHERE!!! Grossness EVERY WHERE! Vomit on Mommy, vomit on Greggy, vomit ALL OVER the floor, his blankie, his stuffed animal...ewwww! This is the first time he has ever thrown up, and it was almost comical watching it happen. There was nothing I could do to stop it, and it was obvious he was confused (and scared) as to what was coming out of his face!
We got some water, and got changed, and he was asleep in minutes. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep that night, and was up every hour checking on him to make sure he was okay. Several days later, I am still not sleeping, and find myself lying awake at night just praying he never has a febrile seizure in his sleep ever again.
The next morning he woke up, and was fine. A low grade fever...but he was his normal, happy self. I gave him fever reducing medicine most of Wednesday and he has been perfectly fine since. I talked with his pediatrician and she told me several things:
1. Because Greg had his first febrile seizure before the age of 2, he had a good chance of having another one.
2. Because he has had another one, he will most likely have more...they can last up until age 5 (three more years??? AHHH!)
3. They look scarier than they are. There is no neurological or developmental issues with these seizures and the seizures do not damage his sweet brain in any way! (PHHEWWW!)
4. Keep washing hands, etc. because he gets these seizures when he had a virus that he can pick up from any where (playground, grocery cart, etc.)
Let me stand on my soapbox for a moment: PLEASE parents. Do not bring your children out and about when they are sick. If they have a virus with a fever they should not be playing at the playground, or in a shopping cart, or at the mall, or out to eat in a restaurant. They are contagious and spread germs. Although it may just be a fever that runs its course, they can still pass it on to other children. Maybe your child does not seem bothered by being sick....but they still need to be at home away from others. When you bring your child out, you risk the health of all the other people and kids around you. Some of these kids have seizures when they get viruses with fevers, so please do us all a favor and keep your sick kids away from the healthy ones. And done. Sorry...I needed to get that out of me.
Greg is doing just great now. I am terrified that another one will happen in his sleep and I will not hear him...which is why I lay awake at night....I know that I cannot put him in a bubble and he is a boy who gets into everything. I know that I can handle these seizures when they happen. It makes me feel better as I have heard from others who have had children with febrile seizures. My cousin Mark had 4 before he turned 5, and my mom's friend at work had two boys who had them often as well. Although they are common, I would appreciate prayers that we have no more! :-)
This sweet man is giving me a good run for my money...but I love him to pieces anyway! :-)
