Sure there are a lot of days in my life that I’d like to erase, but I can honestly say that I want this one gone the most.
It was a pretty simple Sunday actually. We decided to stay home from church because Paisley was up a couple of times in the night with a slight fever and she threw up once. Nothing big really. Just a common virus that we had seen so often with three kids. All day she wanted me to hold her, rock her, and not leave her side. There were times when she seemed to be feeling better…probably right after the tylenol would kick in.
Around lunch time Paisley was extremely clingy so we gave her some more tylenol and I continued my routine walk around the house with her. Sam could tell I was getting pretty sore from her weight, the baby’s weight, and all the walking so he took Paisley for a bit. (Up until that point, she wouldn’t even go to him.) He began to rock her and I went out in the kitchen to pick up.
I’ll never forget hearing
“BRITTANY, I NEED YOU!”
As I walked out of the kitchen, down the hall to Paisley’s room, I just figured she had thrown up again. Then I noticed I couldn’t hear her cry…which the they usually go hand in hand. Once I located Sam in the bathroom I could tell something was wrong. In his arms straight in front of me was my baby.
“Brittany, I think she’s having a seizure. We need to run some cold water and get her cooled off.”
Panic set in as Sam and I locked eyes and felt helpless.
“Paisley, Paisley…can you hear mommy?” I held her head, staring at her eye which were stiff to the right.
“She can’t hear you.”
“I realize that, but I just wanted to check.”
“We’re going to the hospital.”
“We need to lay her down” I shouted down the hall as I grabbed my phone and called the one person I really needed at that moment.
“Mom, I NEED YOU HERE NOW. Paisley is having a seizure and we don;t know what to do. Should we call 9-1-1??…Okay…just get here!”
On my knees in front my my precious little girl’s body, I screamed for Sam to call 9-1-1 and to bring me some cold, wet towels. The boys sat on the couch asking questions I couldn’t make out, Sam dialed frantically as he tore apart the kitchen to find towels to wet, and all I could watch my baby. Her body was stiff, she twitched repeatedly, head cocked to the right, face was pale and purple, drool poured from her mouth like an overflowing cup, and her lifeless eyes ripped my heart in two.
“Paisley, I love you. Come Back. PLEASE! It’s okay, baby. It’s okay”
I was uncontrollably sobbing.
Helpless. I was completely helpless, How was I supposed to know what to do? Nobody ever tells you “what to expect when your child has a seizure”. I was mad…no furious, because I didn’t know. Seconds seemed like hours and minutes seemed like a lifetime. Why did time move so slow?
Sam was on the phone with 9-1-1,
“My name is Sam Estes. My 18 month old daughter is having a seizure right. We think it’s from her fever. What do we do?
.
.
.
Okay, my address is…just tell me what to do with her. Yes I’ll hold.”
What?!? 9-1-1 can put you on hold. As I watched what seemed to be my daughter’s life slipping away, the only people we knew to call for help wanted all our formalities before they could instruct us on how to save her life.
Just then I started to notice different movements from Paisley. She began to cry, and looked up at me…She looked at me. I couldn’t believe she was back. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I thanked the Lord that my baby was still alive.
Was I allowed to grab her? All I wanted to do was scoop her up, hold her close, and never let her go. She was crying, she needed me…those mommy instincts were blaring.
“Yes, it’s going to take you 10 minutes before you can even get here! Well, I can get to the hospital faster than that.”
Click.
With that Sam ran around the house grabbing both boys, diaper bags, and ice packs.
“Brittany, throw on some clothes we are going to the hospital.”
Not wanting to leave my scared, crying baby, I dashed back to my bedroom and threw on the first things I could find.
Finally I picked Paisley up, tucking her into my chest as we walked out the door.
“Do I put her in her car seat?”
“No, just hold her and keep her cool.”
I draped wet towels on her, stuck an ice pack up her night shirt for her chest, and turned the vent on her.
“It’s okay baby. Just stay awake for mommy. Please stay awake.”
With the emergency blinkers on, we sped to the hospital. Traffic was not so kind to us, and I began to panic. I just knew Paisley was going to have another seizure in the car…in my arms. So I kept agitating her to keep her crying. I just knew that as long as she cried she wasn’t in a seizure.
“Baby, please keep crying for me. You can stop once we get to the hospital. Just please keep crying.”
Right behind me I could hear Titus yelling for my attention and Ethan yelling for them to plug their ears.
“She’s crying SO loud! Plug your ears Titus!”
Thank you Lord she was crying.
Sam was on the phone with my mom telling her to meet us at the children’s hospital instead of our house, and as we arrived at the emergency entrance I ran in while the wet towels went flying.
“What’s the problem?”
“My daughter was running a fever and just had a seizure.”
“Okay, sign her in and let’s go back,”
“Can you tell me about it?”
Why they ask you to explain what happened at the same time you are supposed to fill out a sign in sheet, I have no idea.
I could feel my panic slip away as the doctors and nurses came in droves to help and attend to my baby. She was safe. We made it here. What was to happen next, I had no idea, but I knew this was the place to be for her to have another seizure.
Still in the triage room, out of the corner of my eye I caught my mom and sister run in. The sweet security guard let them back to see Paisley and I. They were flat out bawling…which got me started all over again.
“How are you Princess?”, my sister said as she reached to hold Paisley’s finger.
My mom kissed her head, “I love you baby. Gma Loves you.”
I have to tell you. I am so blessed to have my family here. They not only love my kids like crazy, but they would and have dropped everything to come and help. My dad even came up to the hospital when this man is having some medical issues, and JUST had knee surgery. He was ready to help watch the boys so Sam and I could go back with Paisley. I am beyond thankful for them. I’m sure it wasn’t an ideal scenario in the waiting room, they didn’t get to see Paisley, or get many updates…but they watched our other babies so we didn’t have to worry.
Priceless.
While we were in the hospital Paisley clung to me. She was not about to go to anyone else. Of course she cried every time a nurse or doctor came in our room. And why wouldn’t she?
They had to get a urine sample…which took the nurse 5 tries to get the catheter right.
She had to have blood drawn….and apparently they couldn’t find a vein either.
Her fever was checked in the “down south” region…if you get my drift.
I mean the poor girl was scared.
Sam was such a rock during the hospital visit. I, as I’m sure you know, was a complete wreck. I had to stand in the corner for each test, fever check, etc. because all I could do was cry. I had seen too much already that day and couldn’t take any more.
So after 4 hours in the hospital we know this:
* Paisley’s seizure was a febrile seizure. It’s caused when a child has a fever that jumps fast. Happens to some kids and not others…it’s kind of normal?! (I’m sorry, but it is NEVER normal to see your daughter lying on the floor convulsing.) She may never have another, or she may have more. Kids usually out grow them by the age or 7. Her seizure caused no damage (as most febrile seizures don’t.)
* She has a random virus. No medicine needed, it just needs to run it’s course.
and
* she is completely fine.
Praise the LORD!
…………………………………
Here are some pictures Sam snapped as we were in the hospital
She was starting to feel better in these pics
(a hair bow ALWAYS helps)
We had to get her to sit off of my lap because my pregnancy heat wasn’t allowing her fever to go down fast enough.
The transition wasn’t so smooth…
Until she got a popsicle to help cool her down.
The girl ate two.
She even smiled at some nurses after that!
Then we got to leave.
Paisley was sure happy to see her Gma and Gpops!
We were told to watch her for the next 24 hours. If she had another seizure then we needed to bring her back into the hospital.
That girl was not going to get out of my sight…so she slept with Sam and I.
What a blessing to wake up to that precious little girl…who praise the Lord is still alive!
Oh the tears! (from me, reading your post…) So glad that she was ok!
I’m so glad Paisley is okay!
Oh praise God. My heart stopped I think. And, yes, the tears….so many. I am so glad that everything is ok!
Brittany…how scary. SERIOUSLY PRAISE THE LORD for the end result. I can only imagine how much you are lovin’ on that little angel girl these days…
Brittany…how scary. SERIOUSLY PRAISE THE LORD for the end result. I can only imagine how much you are lovin’ on that little angel girl these days…
So scary! I teared up too! I am an RN and I would react the exact same way! So so so glad that she is ok!!
Girl, I couldn’t read your blog post without crying because I recalled how helpless it felt to stare into EE’s blank eyes too.
(And by the way, you don’t feel any better even when you know what to do for them! It’s just as helpless and scary!)
How is she feeling now? Is the virus still hanging around?
Oh my goodness, what a horrific story to live through. So glad your little punkin is okay.
I was so scared for you, I even cried. I’m so glad she is okay and I can’t wait to see you all later!
That is heart breaking! Praise Jesus that she is okay! So sorry you had to experience that. So sad that any parent has to ever experience that.
This just happened?? Oh mymgosh you poor thing, this had to be awful!! And while pregnant, my goodness. Praise the Lord she is ok what an awful thing to go through! And congrats on baby #4!!! she beautiful!!
Okay now that I have stopped crying but still have the huge lump in my throat, I am so glad, happy, and excited your baby girl is okay! That was so intense.
Oh my gosh! I just cried and cried reading that post! I cna’t imagine the fear (both yours and hers) and the helplessness you must have felt. I’m so glad she’s okay now.
That story brought tears to my eyes. My son just had a fever last week of 104.1 and I felt so helpless. I was so scared of a seizure. I’m so glad she is totally fine after all of that. I can’t imagine your fear.
Ok seriously Im crying my eyes out reading this story! I had no idea you went through this and I’m SO sorry you did. I can’t even imagine how terrified you must’ve been. And yes, praise the Lord she is ok!!!
This same thing happened to my son just before Christmas. It was so scary and then they tell you it is fairly normal. WTH!!
The funny thing is that I had NEVER heard of this before he had one and then after, I found out every second person I know either had one as a kid or their kid had one 😛