Last Thursday, I was scheduled to go into Ponte Vedra HS to observe the teacher I was taking over. I noticed Mia was a bit warm, so I gave her a dose of Motrin before heading off the the babysitters. I chalked it up to teething and I knew Makaela had a runny nose. When I picked her up, the babysitter said she was fussy and clingly and she took Mia's temp in front of me and it was only 99 degrees. Yes, a bit of a fever, but nothing "freak out" worthy.I drove home and pulled up into the driveway and when I went to get Mia out of her carseat, I found her slumped over in her carseat. Her eyes were open, but fixed and dilated on nothing in particular and her color was a blue-grey palor. I freaked and started panicking. I grabbed her out of her seat, held her and started jumping up and down trying to wake her up. At this point, I was crying, repeating, "oh no" over and over again and trying to dial whomever I could. I called matt and he didn't answer. Then I accidentally called makaela's preschool and struggled with my phone to acutally end that call. Meanwhile, Mia is still comatose. I then call 911 but hung up when I noticed that Matt was trying to call back. At this point, Mia came too slightly. She started drooling so I took this as a sign her breathing was back. It was at this point, I remembered my friend Kristie's kids and how they had seizures when they had fevers. I finally got through to Matt and tried to tell him what was going on, but I realized I had been screeching and crying when he couldn't understand what I was saying over the phone. He instructed me to take her to the emergency room (which is luckily only two exits away), but as I was hanging up the phone, I realized Makaela was watching this entire episode. Oddly, I was glad to have her there, because I asked as I drove to the hospital in a the crazed state I was in, Makaela kept an eye on her sister, giving me second my second reports on what she was doing. As I was driving, I thought, "What is wrong with me? I know rescue breathing, I know there is a fire house around the corner with an ambulance, why did I just stand there and cry when I thought my baby was dying" (and that's literally what I thought for a few moments there). It's amazing how I couldn't function when I was most needed. I was ashamed and mad at myself.
Matt met us at the ER drivethru and took Mia in while I parked. When I got in, Mia was doing a moaning type of sob. I picked her up and walked her outside (it was cooler and she was burning up) and we just walked up and down the sidewalk. Now that she was better, I didn't want to let her go. She seemed to calm down but then she threw up all over me. Yes, panic set in again, when I headed back into the ER, her name was being called.
In triage, Mia's temp was 103. It's crazy because I had just watched the babysitter take her temp not 30 mins ago and it was 99. The nurse said that when the fever jumps that high, that quickly many infants have seizures. I also found out that that I had been hospitalized as an infant for febrile seizures so Mia was predispositioned to them.
For the next five hours we sat with Mia waiting for her temp to drop. She got blood drawn, had a Chest Xray, a catheter inserted for a urine sample and then a monster shot of antibiotics. What a trooper Mia was. The nurses fell in love with her and even though their presence sparked terror in Mia, they felt terrible putting her through all that. I have to say we were seen quickly, and even though there was a bit of a wait between triage, the dr visit and the labs, in terms of ERs, it was quick and everyone was nice, explained everything and tried to make us as comfortable as possible. They came in just to "chat" with us while tests were being run to see how we were holding up. Turns out Mia had a pretty bad ear ache and pneumonia. Makaela was also awesome. She got a bit antsy around 8:30 because they was whining about being hungry and needing dinner (actually she was just stating what I was whining about in my mind), but overall, she was well behaved considering what was going on. When she got in the bed with Mia, my heart just melted. I hope they stay this close and loving
When we got home, we were reluctant to let Mia out of our sights (or grips in Matt's case). What a scary moment to make you realize how important our loved ones are and how our lives now, are defined by our children. The thought of losing Mia (and yes, that is extreme, but I can't even convey the emotions and fear I felt), is unfathomable. For the next five hours we sat with Mia waiting for her temp to drop. She got blood drawn, had a Chest Xray, a catheter inserted for a urine sample and then a monster shot of antibiotics. What a trooper Mia was. The nurses fell in love with her and even though their presence sparked terror in Mia, they felt terrible putting her through all that. I have to say we were seen quickly, and even though there was a bit of a wait between triage, the dr visit and the labs, in terms of ERs, it was quick and everyone was nice, explained everything and tried to make us as comfortable as possible. They came in just to "chat" with us while tests were being run to see how we were holding up. Turns out Mia had a pretty bad ear ache and pneumonia. Makaela was also awesome. She got a bit antsy around 8:30 because they was whining about being hungry and needing dinner (actually she was just stating what I was whining about in my mind), but overall, she was well behaved considering what was going on. When she got in the bed with Mia, my heart just melted. I hope they stay this close and loving
No comments:
Post a Comment