Yesterday started out like any normal day; rushing a bit to get the kids fed and ready for the day, Ellie out the door to catch the bus. What was new though was that it was the first day of the Mom's group I'd signed up for at church, and Aidan, Maddie, and Zoe were going to be in day care there for 2 hours while I was with the other moms. All the kids seemed perfectly fine though Zoe's nose was running just slightly - still pretty normal as Zoe, Maddie and I all suffer from seasonal allergies. We made it to church on time, I dropped the kids off, and headed to my group.
The Mom's group was great; I felt like I really connected with the other moms in my group and it was such a nice change from our normal pace around here. We were just about to conclude our session when one of the two day care ladies came into the room and announced, "I need the mom of triplets." I stood up amid a gasp in the room as they all looked at me, the "mom of triplets". As I started gathering my things, the day care lady- I never caught her name - told me one of my kids wasn't doing very well. Thinking maybe someone was feeling a bit under the weather, or just really sad, I started walking after her until she told me "We need to hurry, I think she's having a seizure." At that we broke into a run for the last 30 feet to the classroom.
I entered the room and at first had a hard time figuring out where my kid was, and which child it was. All the kids were gathered in a circle and as I got closer, I found they were all staring at Zoe, who was lying flat on the carpet, arms splayed out, extremely sweaty and pale. She was so pale, in fact, that her face had taken on a greenish hue. I quickly took her sweatshirt off to try to help cool her down and in the process, my hand brushed her chest and I could feel her heart racing extremely fast. Her body was completely stiff and she'd wet her pants. The most scary thing, though, was that she was completely unresponsive. Her eyes were open, but were rolling back in her head a bit. She did look at me after a minute but there was no indication she knew who I was or what was going on. I kept talking to her and asking her to squeeze my hand but there was no response. The day care lady asked if I'd like her to call the paramedics, and I found myself answering calmly, "Yes, please." While she was calling 911, I called Dave on my cell phone and, again calmly, told him that Zoe seemed to be having a seizure and he needed to get in his car and come right away.
The day care lady came back and said the kids had all been sitting on the floor; she'd left the room to take another child to the bathroom (the rest of the kids were in the care of a second person) and when she'd returned, she found Zoe lying in that position, with her eyes rolling back in her head.
It seemed like forever before two policemen showed up. In the meantime I'd asked the that kids be moved to another area of the room, and also for someone to bring some damp paper towels to help cool Zoe down. I continued talking to Zoe and holding her hand but she was still not responding to me. Somehow I had the presence of mind to check that her tongue wasn't blocking her airway and that she wasn't in danger of swallowing her tongue. At one point Zoe started heaving a bit like she was going to throw up and so I rolled her onto her side, and she did spit out a little bit of spittle. I looked around and found Maddie and Aidan with the other kids, each keeping one eye on us, and the other on what the other kids were doing. I called my mom too and asked that she meet us at the hospital, thinking that perhaps she could take Maddie and Aidan back home later on.
Two policemen were the first to arrive and they asked that we be moved to a private room; I picked up Zoe and carried her to an empty meeting room on the other side of the hall and called Maddie and Aidan to follow along with us. The day care lady came along and pulled out some toys and markers to keep them occupied as I laid Zoe on the floor there and answered the policeman's questions. I sat on the floor with Zoe and held her hand, talked to her and smoothed her hair back. It wasn't long before the paramedics arrived with their stretcher. We removed the rest of Zoe's clothes, wrapped her in blankets, and then strapped her onto the stretcher. Knowing Dave was only minutes away, I agreed to leave Maddie and Aidan with the day care lady until he arrived. I gave the two of them hugs and kisses and tried to reassure them that Zoe would be OK and that Dad would be there very soon. I later learned that Dave saw our ambulance leaving the parking lot just as he was pulling in.
Zoe was loaded up in the ambulance and after securing the stretcher, we were off to Children's Hospital in St. Paul. The paramedic checked Zoe's blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen as we went and Zoe started to come around a little bit more. She still couldn't/wouldn't talk but she did whimper a little, and indicated her displeasure at having to have the pulse oximeter on her finger. The paramedic then gave Zoe a little teddy bear which she's been carrying around all day today.
At Children's we were brought to a private room in the ER and her vitals were checked again. We wrapped her in a miniature gown (which was still too big) and settled her into a bed. The nurse asked Zoe if she could hold a thermometer under her tongue, to which Zoe clearly responded ,"no." So, Zoe had to have her temp taken the "old fashioned" way, and with wide eyes she clearly indicated her displeasure at that indignity. Her temp was "only" 101.6 at that point and she was given ibuprofen. The nurse explained that Zoe had likely had a febrile seizure, which she said are brought on by a sudden spike in body temp and though scary, are fairly harmless; the brain sort of "short-circuits" at the sudden rise in temp. Once we saw the doctor and answered her questions, she confirmed that was likely what was happened. Poor Zoe had to have blood drawn and give a urine sample but in return she got a popsicle and a large cup of ice water. She wasn't in the mood to eat anything but we got some crackers for when she was ready to eat. Grandma got to our room shortly after we did, and Dave, Maddie and Aidan arrived with lunch soon after that. Zoe was pretty happy to see them. They'd stopped at the house on their way to the hospital where Maddie picked out a change of clothes for Zoe, and Aidan had grabbed Zoe's favorite stuffed giraffe to bring along. After lunch, Zoe and I snuggled in for a nap.
While she was napping Dave took the kids to get Zoe's car seat from the car and they picked up a balloon for Zoe on the way back. Zoe was still asleep when Dave and the kids left for home, but she was so happy to see the balloon when she woke up! She asked where Ellie was, and after I told her Ellie was at school, Zoe said, "I love Maddie" and "I love Ellie" and "I like Aidan" and said that she had the best brother and sisters in the world.
After her nap, Zoe ate a few crackers and drank some more water and took another trip to the bathroom. She said her head hurt, and though her temp was normal by that time, the doctor thought she still felt a little warm and gave her a dose of Tylenol. Zoe had gotten pretty antsy to leave; she wasn't too happy that we had to wait until the doctor discharged us. We finally were allowed to leave a little before 4 though Zoe's test results weren't back yet. The doctor indicated it was likely something viral but that they'd call if something showed up on Zoe's tests.
Zoe was pretty happy to leave and walked all the way to the car parked in the ramp, clutching her balloon and my hand the whole way. She was especially excited to get to ride in Grandma's car on the way home, and though we stopped back at church to pick up my minivan that had been left there, Zoe wanted to stay with Grandma in her car until they got home. Once home, the other kids were pretty excited to see Zoe but all four were even more excited about the garage sale happening across the street, so despite my fatigue and worries about Zoe, we trekked over there for a few minutes to scope out the deals. Zoe's face really lit up when we ran into her "boyfriend", Nolan, over there!
Zoe ate fairly well at dinner last night and seemed to especially enjoy her bath and hair washing after dinner. We'd been diligent about keeping up with her meds but despite that, I was very concerned to find her fever spiked again to 103.4 at 9pm. I called our pediatrician who advised to bump up her next dose of ibuprofen and continue her meds throughout the night. Dave and I brought Zoe to bed with us and I set the alarm on my phone to ring when it was time to give her more meds. We made it until almost 4 a.m. when Zoe just sat up and started chatting incessantly. I finally got up with her and brought her downstairs so that Dave could get some more sleep. That little girl just talked, talked, talked until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. She asked to watch TV so I was fumbling in the dark, trying to find something appropriate for her to watch. I think we dozed on and off- probably more "on" - until Dave woke us up at 7:00 to give her the next dose of medicine.
Today Zoe's doing great; still has a slight fever but acting completely normal. She wants to go somewhere "fun" but I think we'll be sticking close to home and keeping her quiet. I did check in with Zoe's neurologist who bumped up our next appointment with her, so we'll be seeing her a little sooner for Zoe's annual check-in.
Once again I'm left feeling so very thankful for our kids and their relatively good health; this appears to have been a "simple febrile seizure" and likely does not indicate a seizure disorder. I can't imagine how difficult and scary it would be to have a child with continuous or chronic health problems. I've got my fingers crossed that this never happens again but at least I know now what was happening and why. Our church has called twice and sent several emails, asking how Zoe is doing and offering prayers, and I'm so thankful for their support as well! For now, we're taking it easy today and hope to get back to our crazy kind of normal next week.
The Mom's group was great; I felt like I really connected with the other moms in my group and it was such a nice change from our normal pace around here. We were just about to conclude our session when one of the two day care ladies came into the room and announced, "I need the mom of triplets." I stood up amid a gasp in the room as they all looked at me, the "mom of triplets". As I started gathering my things, the day care lady- I never caught her name - told me one of my kids wasn't doing very well. Thinking maybe someone was feeling a bit under the weather, or just really sad, I started walking after her until she told me "We need to hurry, I think she's having a seizure." At that we broke into a run for the last 30 feet to the classroom.
I entered the room and at first had a hard time figuring out where my kid was, and which child it was. All the kids were gathered in a circle and as I got closer, I found they were all staring at Zoe, who was lying flat on the carpet, arms splayed out, extremely sweaty and pale. She was so pale, in fact, that her face had taken on a greenish hue. I quickly took her sweatshirt off to try to help cool her down and in the process, my hand brushed her chest and I could feel her heart racing extremely fast. Her body was completely stiff and she'd wet her pants. The most scary thing, though, was that she was completely unresponsive. Her eyes were open, but were rolling back in her head a bit. She did look at me after a minute but there was no indication she knew who I was or what was going on. I kept talking to her and asking her to squeeze my hand but there was no response. The day care lady asked if I'd like her to call the paramedics, and I found myself answering calmly, "Yes, please." While she was calling 911, I called Dave on my cell phone and, again calmly, told him that Zoe seemed to be having a seizure and he needed to get in his car and come right away.
The day care lady came back and said the kids had all been sitting on the floor; she'd left the room to take another child to the bathroom (the rest of the kids were in the care of a second person) and when she'd returned, she found Zoe lying in that position, with her eyes rolling back in her head.
It seemed like forever before two policemen showed up. In the meantime I'd asked the that kids be moved to another area of the room, and also for someone to bring some damp paper towels to help cool Zoe down. I continued talking to Zoe and holding her hand but she was still not responding to me. Somehow I had the presence of mind to check that her tongue wasn't blocking her airway and that she wasn't in danger of swallowing her tongue. At one point Zoe started heaving a bit like she was going to throw up and so I rolled her onto her side, and she did spit out a little bit of spittle. I looked around and found Maddie and Aidan with the other kids, each keeping one eye on us, and the other on what the other kids were doing. I called my mom too and asked that she meet us at the hospital, thinking that perhaps she could take Maddie and Aidan back home later on.
Two policemen were the first to arrive and they asked that we be moved to a private room; I picked up Zoe and carried her to an empty meeting room on the other side of the hall and called Maddie and Aidan to follow along with us. The day care lady came along and pulled out some toys and markers to keep them occupied as I laid Zoe on the floor there and answered the policeman's questions. I sat on the floor with Zoe and held her hand, talked to her and smoothed her hair back. It wasn't long before the paramedics arrived with their stretcher. We removed the rest of Zoe's clothes, wrapped her in blankets, and then strapped her onto the stretcher. Knowing Dave was only minutes away, I agreed to leave Maddie and Aidan with the day care lady until he arrived. I gave the two of them hugs and kisses and tried to reassure them that Zoe would be OK and that Dad would be there very soon. I later learned that Dave saw our ambulance leaving the parking lot just as he was pulling in.
Zoe was loaded up in the ambulance and after securing the stretcher, we were off to Children's Hospital in St. Paul. The paramedic checked Zoe's blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen as we went and Zoe started to come around a little bit more. She still couldn't/wouldn't talk but she did whimper a little, and indicated her displeasure at having to have the pulse oximeter on her finger. The paramedic then gave Zoe a little teddy bear which she's been carrying around all day today.
At Children's we were brought to a private room in the ER and her vitals were checked again. We wrapped her in a miniature gown (which was still too big) and settled her into a bed. The nurse asked Zoe if she could hold a thermometer under her tongue, to which Zoe clearly responded ,"no." So, Zoe had to have her temp taken the "old fashioned" way, and with wide eyes she clearly indicated her displeasure at that indignity. Her temp was "only" 101.6 at that point and she was given ibuprofen. The nurse explained that Zoe had likely had a febrile seizure, which she said are brought on by a sudden spike in body temp and though scary, are fairly harmless; the brain sort of "short-circuits" at the sudden rise in temp. Once we saw the doctor and answered her questions, she confirmed that was likely what was happened. Poor Zoe had to have blood drawn and give a urine sample but in return she got a popsicle and a large cup of ice water. She wasn't in the mood to eat anything but we got some crackers for when she was ready to eat. Grandma got to our room shortly after we did, and Dave, Maddie and Aidan arrived with lunch soon after that. Zoe was pretty happy to see them. They'd stopped at the house on their way to the hospital where Maddie picked out a change of clothes for Zoe, and Aidan had grabbed Zoe's favorite stuffed giraffe to bring along. After lunch, Zoe and I snuggled in for a nap.
After her nap, Zoe ate a few crackers and drank some more water and took another trip to the bathroom. She said her head hurt, and though her temp was normal by that time, the doctor thought she still felt a little warm and gave her a dose of Tylenol. Zoe had gotten pretty antsy to leave; she wasn't too happy that we had to wait until the doctor discharged us. We finally were allowed to leave a little before 4 though Zoe's test results weren't back yet. The doctor indicated it was likely something viral but that they'd call if something showed up on Zoe's tests.
Zoe was pretty happy to leave and walked all the way to the car parked in the ramp, clutching her balloon and my hand the whole way. She was especially excited to get to ride in Grandma's car on the way home, and though we stopped back at church to pick up my minivan that had been left there, Zoe wanted to stay with Grandma in her car until they got home. Once home, the other kids were pretty excited to see Zoe but all four were even more excited about the garage sale happening across the street, so despite my fatigue and worries about Zoe, we trekked over there for a few minutes to scope out the deals. Zoe's face really lit up when we ran into her "boyfriend", Nolan, over there!
Zoe ate fairly well at dinner last night and seemed to especially enjoy her bath and hair washing after dinner. We'd been diligent about keeping up with her meds but despite that, I was very concerned to find her fever spiked again to 103.4 at 9pm. I called our pediatrician who advised to bump up her next dose of ibuprofen and continue her meds throughout the night. Dave and I brought Zoe to bed with us and I set the alarm on my phone to ring when it was time to give her more meds. We made it until almost 4 a.m. when Zoe just sat up and started chatting incessantly. I finally got up with her and brought her downstairs so that Dave could get some more sleep. That little girl just talked, talked, talked until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. She asked to watch TV so I was fumbling in the dark, trying to find something appropriate for her to watch. I think we dozed on and off- probably more "on" - until Dave woke us up at 7:00 to give her the next dose of medicine.
Today Zoe's doing great; still has a slight fever but acting completely normal. She wants to go somewhere "fun" but I think we'll be sticking close to home and keeping her quiet. I did check in with Zoe's neurologist who bumped up our next appointment with her, so we'll be seeing her a little sooner for Zoe's annual check-in.
Once again I'm left feeling so very thankful for our kids and their relatively good health; this appears to have been a "simple febrile seizure" and likely does not indicate a seizure disorder. I can't imagine how difficult and scary it would be to have a child with continuous or chronic health problems. I've got my fingers crossed that this never happens again but at least I know now what was happening and why. Our church has called twice and sent several emails, asking how Zoe is doing and offering prayers, and I'm so thankful for their support as well! For now, we're taking it easy today and hope to get back to our crazy kind of normal next week.
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