Scare of a lifetime

Many of our family and friends already know about our recent scare but I would like to post a blog about it for posterity's sake.

A little over a week ago Anya had a seizure.

That sentence in and of itself is horrific. The ordeal we all endured was beyond horrible.

I thought Anya was teething because she was running a low grade fever and her appetite was shot. On Wednesday night she started getting lethargic and very crabby so we gave her a bit of Motrin earlier in the evening just to help her sleep a little.

Around 12:45am we were all fast asleep when we heard Anya wail- and I mean a scary screaming cry that would wake any parent out of a dead sleep. I took a peep at the video monitor and saw the blanket vibrating. Myles went rushing in and found our sweet baby convulsing in her crib. He picked her up, I called 911 and we both didn't breathe for a good minute I swear.

We thought we were going to lose our daughter.

The receptionist on the 911 call was fabulous. She kept me focused on her instructions and we helped Anya as best we could. She asked if Anya had a fever that day- of course I replied yes. She then informed me in the calmest voice ever that Anya was most likely having a febrile seizure which is a common side effect when a fever spikes in infants/children. When she asked if Anya was breathing I almost lost it, but it seemed as if she was so I answered yes. She instructed us to take off her pajamas to cool her down and let her have her convulsions in a safe place. The firemen were on their way.

It seemed like forever but it was probably only 5-7 minutes before they got here. By then, Anya had stopped the violent convulsions and was only shaking mildly and staring off in space. To say we were scared shitless would be the world's biggest understatement. We had never heard of febrile seizures and witnessing your child have violent convulsions, eyes rolled back, not really breathing is something NO parent should ever have to experience. The firemen were calm and acted as if this was a common affliction they see from time to time. Anya started coming to and getting scared and tired- her crying was the best sound I had ever heard.

We chose to keep her home for the night and go to the doctor first thing in the morning. There was nothing the ER would be able to do the firemen assured us. We were instructed to manage her fever with Motrin or Tylenol and keep dosing her without letting it lapse. The seizure was caused by her fever spiking very quickly and it could happen again.

No one slept. Anya kept waking up screaming and we couldn't get to her fast enough. When she was sleeping we were watching the monitor- any moan, gasp, grunt - we were wide eyed ready to pounce into action again.

She had the fever for several more days. We spent all of Thursday and Friday trying to collect a urine sample (not the easiest task on a little baby girl). Results were no meningitis, no ear infection, no bladder infection.... then why was she so sick? She wasn't eating anything, slept all day, needed to be held constantly and cried all day long. I was reassured by my pediatrician that she most likely had a virus and she WOULD get better I just had to be patient. I am convinced that if this would have been just a bad fever with a virus it wouldn't have been as traumatizing. But since she had the seizure I was totally freaked that she was sick for good, or never going to return to her happy, smiley, hungry self. They were the longest few days of my life.

Saturday her fever broke and she got a rash. This is a classic sign of Roseola- a virus commonly associated with febrile seizures. So there was our answer.

It is Thursday now and Anya is finally back to normal more then a week later. She laughs, smiles, hugs, and is eating like a horse.

We have done a lot of research on febrile seizures and feel confident that she has not been harmed in any way by this event. We on the other hand are still dealing with the leftover feelings of panic, fear, and gut wrenching love.

After going through this it became apparent that all the medical personnel we dealt with were very familiar with febrile seizures. However- 99% of the parents we spoke to have never heard of them. So if you want more information please visit this site- we found it very helpful.

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/febrile_seizures/detail_febrile_seizures.htm

Our baby is fine, we have some war wounds but we are resilient people. We love her more than ever. The emotions are overwhelming at times; I never in my wildest dreams thought I could love someone so deeply.

Kiss those you love- especially the little ones.