Quite a scare

The Pickle gave me a huge scare last Monday which resulted in a call to 911 and a ride to Children's in the squad. Everything seemed good in the morning until he started acting like he was ready for a nap, after only being up for about an hour and a half. I held him off, until about 10:00 and he played up until then. I sort of thought that he might be teething because he seemed quick to whine.

He took a regular length nap and woke up about 11:30. When I went in to get him he was standing at the edge of the crib as usual waiting for me to pick him up. I took him to the other room to change his diaper and when I went to lay him down he cried, which usually means that he doesn't need a change right then. So I grabbed the stuff and took it down stairs to do a little later. When I picked him up I told him that he felt warm, but because he just woke up from a nap I didn't really think anything of it. We sat down in the living room to play and he whined until I picked him up and laid him in my lap. He was laying there rather quite when I asked if his teeth hurt. About that time he cried out and started having a seizer. It scared me to death. I ran with him to the phone and dialed 911. Which rang 4 times! (Really, 911 needs to answer on the first ring, no need to play coy, like oh... I was just in the other room....) I explained that I had an 11 month old infant who was having a seizure. I was told to set him down someplace safe on the floor and that it should stop and that the squad was on its way. He continued having the seizure for about 4 minutes and stopped just as the EMT's got to the door.

They asked if he had been sick and I said, "no, that I thought he was teething." ultimately they bundled us up and took us to Children's hospital. They gave the Pickle some oxygen on the way. He was very groggy and not really "there". He was rather floppy and I started thinking of all the scary things that might be going on. I had a cup of tea with honey, did he get some of the honey and now has botulism? It it meningitis... Viral, meningococcal, bacterial, invasive group A strep... etc etc etc. When we got to the hospital they took his history and explained that he had a febrile seizer that results when an infant spikes a temperature in a matter of heart beats. I was told that they see it every day and that it is unlikely that he will have another one (Although more likely to have one, than a child who has never had one.)

During this whole ordeal I was unable to get a hold of D who was out of his office on a training site and left his cell phone sitting on the kitchen counter. When I was told that I could give someone a call I was at a total loss. I had left without my cell phone and had no numbers to call. I ended up calling my Dad in Cleveland and asking him to call my brother who lives in town and have him come and get us.

The Pickle took an extra long nap that afternoon with me practically sitting in the crib with him. When he woke up he was back to his same old self and D could not believe that it was this baby, who was crawling all over and laughing and jabbering away that this happened to. I has been fine every since and I have been so attentive about how warm he feels. At the slightest sign of unexplained crankiness he gets a dose of Motrin.

On Wednesday we took him to his ped for a follow up. She explained in not so many words that while calling 911 was what most parents do, it really wasn't necessary. She said that if it happens again, that we should be sure that he is in a safe place and time it, waiting until 5 minutes pass before calling. She said that most do not last that long.

So, it was a pretty scary day, but I do feel like things were explained to me in a clear manner and I know what to do if it happens again. Hopefully it never will.