Yesterday morning our little Avery had a seizure. Everything about her now seems great, but it was a bit of a traumatic experience!
Here's what happened:
We laid her down Monday night, just like we have done since she was born.
She woke up a few times during the night, but we guessed it was just because we had family in town and her schedule had been thrown off a bit.
I remember thinking she felt a little warm during the night when I checked on her, but I just thought it was the "toddler sweats" (does anyone else's toddler get really sweaty sometimes when they sleep?)
The next morning at 8 she woke up crying. This time she felt really warm, so I stripped off her jammies and took her temperature. It was up at 103 degrees!
I gave her some Tylenol and called the doctor to setup an appointment. The answering service told me to call back in 15 minutes when the office opened at 8:30.
So I passed the time just rocking Avery while sitting on the floor. Kyle had slept in that day because he had woken up early to drive his parents to the airport at 6 that morning, so he was sitting next to us with Sawyer.
That's when it happened. All of sudden Avery started crying really hard (and really strange...I've never heard her cry like that before.) Her eyes glazed over and her entire body went limp except for her right arm. That arm began twitching and would flex every few seconds. She wouldn't respond to anything we said. Her eyes were out of focus. Her face honestly looked like she was no longer with us.
That's when I went into my nurse mode. I had to push out all my motherly terror and just focus on Avery as if she were a patient. I haven't worked as nurse in almost 2 years, but I haven't forgotten all my skills yet. I laid my sweet baby girl on the floor and turned her head to the side so she wouldn't choke on her saliva since she had loss consciousness at that point. I looked at the clock and began timing how long this seizure was lasting.
Kyle gave her a priesthood blessing while she continued to seize. I don't think either of us were taking in anything that was said, we just were praying our guts out for our Avery. The seizure lasted for 4 very long minutes. Once it was over Avery was extremely sluggish and we knew it was time for us to pack up our family and get some help. I tried not to let how motionless Avery's limbs were to affect me as I zipped her in her jammies, or how utterly lifeless she felt as I carried her down the stairs to the car to get my emotions going. This was no time for me to freak out, this was time to take action.
I sat in the back of our car between Avery and Sawyer's carseats while Kyle sped his way to the hospital. We were both offering countless prayers to God to take care of our daughter and help us know what we needed to do as her parents. Our hospital is a good 25 minutes away, and just a few minutes into the drive she fell asleep. I kept one hand on her chest to make sure she was breathing while I used my other hand to pacify Sawyer's cries (he hadn't nursed yet that morning.) I called her doctor's office on the way and they said they would be able to see us at 9:10.
By the time we got there, it was about 45 minutes since her seziure. She woke up as I took her out of her carseat, but she was far from her normal self. She wasn't using her right arm at all, and anytime I would move it, it would drop back down to her side. I'll admit this is when terror started creeping into my body.
While she was being examined there were no symptoms to note besides her temperature, which had dropped down to 100.5 at this point. The nurses got a urine sample (via straight cath...that was an experience in and of itself) and did a UA. Everything came back normal.
So as of right now, we aren't really sure what caused Avery's fever. We are fairly certain that Avery's fever caused the seizure (I liked this website for information on
febrile seizures for those of you who have kids below the age of seven. Apparently 1 in 25 kids experience them.) We are still waiting on a culture of her urine to see if that gives us any answers.
In the meantime I've been rotating acetaminophen and ibuprofen every 3 hours like a crazy woman! And I'm happy to say that after a few naps, a good night's sleep, and lots of pressure to drink water, she is as happy as ever (and she is using her arm again. I guess she was just too tuckered out to use it for a couple of hours.) Her temperature hasn't spiked again, so the meds are working! I'll start spacing them out a bit more now that it's been 24 hours since her episode.
Yes, this was terrifying, but I feel like we saw so many little miracles during all of it. The fact that Kyle was home is the biggest one I can think of. It was incredible to see that his first instinct was turn to our Heavenly Father to help our girl. I am so glad that he was able to drive us to the doctor so I could sit in the back with Avery. He was able to care for Sawyer while I was helping Avery with the catheter. Words cannot express how wonderful it was to have my best friend with me.
And Sawyer? He was an all-star champ. He went a REALLY long time without eating since I was so preoccupied with Avery, and he took it well. Welcome to being a middle child Sawyer! You are a natural!
Plus, we got to see a doctor right away and were able to get some questions answered. Not all the questions, but some (which is a heck of a lot better than none!) Add to all of this that Avery is acting really normal today, and I am just counting my lucky stars! And in a few days when everything is a bit calmer, I might actually let myself sleep without compulsively going into Avery's room to check on her!
Please don't hesitate to keep Avery in your prayers. I really think we are out of the thick of things, but we are still fighting this fever. Thank you all for loving and caring for our family!
