E Gets Sick

Poor E. I'm still emotional about this day. 

E woke up at 4 am with throw-ups and a fever. After a few hours of laundry and trying to calm him down, he finally fell back to sleep. He slept for a few more hours and woke up absolutely miserable. I tried to get him to drink water and nibble on some food, but he just wouldn't do it. I figured we could just sit and watch shows all day. 

His fever didn't seem too bad, so I just made up a little bed for him - a quilt on the floor (trying to keep the throw up contained to one easily-cleanable area) and let him sleep. Grandpa Nelson brought some jello and E was able to eat a little bit of that. Ron (Grandpa Nelson) said E felt like he was getting warmer, so I gave E some Tylenol. Ron left and E fell right back to sleep. About 10 minutes later I looked down and E was convulsing. I quickly realized he was having a seizure! The next 5 minutes are still a complete blur. I'm pretty sure adrenaline took over. I know I got on the floor with E and turned him to his side (no idea how I knew to do that - it was automatic). I said his name a few times and he wasn't responding, so I grabbed my phone and called 911. The operater had me explain what was happening and walked me through what I was supposed to do. Right after the seizure stopped, E threw up (red jello everywhere) and passed out. He finally started breathing and it was such a relief when I heard the sirens and the paramedics rushed in. Realistically this whole scenario happened in less than 3 minutes - so grateful we live 2 blocks away from the fire station! I stepped back and let the EMT guys do their thing.

They said E most likely had a febrile seizure (temperature shoots up too fast for the body to handle it, and a seizure is how the body responds) and wanted to take him to Primary Children's to make sure everything was okay. They loaded him into the ambulance and off we went. I sent C a quick text telling him (in very few words) that E had a seizure and we were ambulancing our way to the hospital and C met us there. E started regaining consciousness in the ambulance and FREAKED OUT when he woke up and didn't know where he was. Thank goodness Mommy remembered his beloved Softy! The poor boy was so confused and kept crying for me (something he's NEVER done). My heart broke. 

E calmed down once we got situated at the hospital and C showed up. They did their thing and gave E a nice dose of Motrin. That helped pretty quick! He was able to drink some juice and get a little rest, and then started acting almost like himself again. 

After a few hours they decided E was going to be just fine and let us go home. The next few days were movie-sleep days! 

...Until E wanted to play outside. 

It was probably the most terrifying experience of my life. I've never called 911, and never ever wanted to have to call for my child. The doctor said now that E has had one seizure, it's more likely that it will happen again. (They also said I did everything right and I did well - that made me feel a little better!) Now that we've had that experience, we know how to handle it in the future. I'm actually sort of grateful it happened because we can be better prepared for if it happens again. Still, the memory of his little body seizing up and him not being able to breathe or move just haunts me. :( I never want this to happen to my baby (or any other babies) ever again!! I'm going to be so much more careful about making sure he gets Tylenol and Motrin around the clock when he's sick. NEVER AGAIN.