it's always mitchie
On Monday Mitchell and I had our first ambulance ride together. I hope it'll be our last.
We were at my friend Amy's house. The kids had been playing all morning there (playing, wreaking havoc, you decide) when it occurred to us that Mitchie had been lazier than usual, sitting in my lap and watching t.v. That's when I realized that he was burning up. He'd been fine earlier that morning at home - he ate a big bowl of breakfast, threw some toys at the other kids, normal Mitchie stuff.
Amy offered me some tylenol, but I kind of figured that I could wait until we got home and just give him some there. We weren't going to be there much more than half an hour longer anyway.
We headed to the kitchen for a snack, and Mitchell crawled into my lap to eat his. We visited, drank coffee and ate almost an entire pan of apple crisp when I noticed Mitchell was making an odd face. "Mitchell?" I asked, a little concerned.
Then his eyes rolled back and he stiffened and started shaking. I started calling his name and patting his cheeks. Amy, who was standing behind me at the counter asked if he was choking. "No! I think he's having a seizure!"
She called 911 while I tried to get him to look at me, or make a noise or something. I've never actually seen a seizure before, but I assumed that's what it was. He started doing weird things with his mouth and drooling like crazy, his eyes still back and to the side and fluttery. Air was moving but it wasn't normal breathing. Amy was on the phone with 911 and slipped her hand up his shirt and onto his chest. I assumed she was feeling his breathing. She'd say "now" and then pause again and say "now" again every few seconds.
This all lasted a few minutes, almost as long as it took for the ambulance to arrive. Just before the paramedics showed up, he relaxed, went limp and passed out in my arms. I was never so happy to see help arrive. I was standing up to meet them at the door and trying not to cry.
That's when he woke up and started crying uncontrollably.
In the ambulance they stripped him out of his clothes to cool him off, they checked his blood sugar and they put him back on oxygen when he started to act very lethargic again.
At the hospital they gave him tylenol, kept him naked, checked his temp (it was high, I don't remember what it was exactly), listened to his heart and chest and took a urine sample and a throat swab. We stayed for maybe two and a half hours while they observed him and waited for him to cool off more. Anytime that anyone came to check him for anything he'd hang onto me and say, over and over, "Not get me, Not get me Mommy!"
Turns out it was Febrile Convulsions. Horrifying to look at, but actually quite harmless. It's brought on by a fever in some children. I'm desperately hoping he never does it again - even though I know what it is and that I don't actually have to bring him to the hospital if does happen again, you can be sure I'll probably freak out and race him down there anyway.
I'm thinking that the fever itself was caused by seasonal flu. I gave him alternate doses of advil and tylenol for the rest of the day on Monday, and on Tuesday morning after going most of the night without any he was cooking again. So I gave him more and stuck him in a cool bath to cool him off and then kept up the medicine again all day. After a few hours he'd heat back up again until he had more. Last night the fever finally buggered off, but when I checked on him in his bed he was cold, clammy and sweaty. How a person can actually sweat when so cold is beyond me. He woke up a few times over the night and cried and clung to me.
Luckily he's still eating and happy to drink water whenever offered, so we can just see this through.
It's always Mitchie. The other kids get a sniffle, Mitchie gets a sniffle, a fever and croup. The other kids get a runny nose, Mitchell's runs for the next six weeks. He's my little sensitive one. Last winter he had a cold accompanied by a high fever for two full days. He was the first of the three kids to get an ear infection. Ever.
Now I understand why parents joke about their kids turning them gray.
We were at my friend Amy's house. The kids had been playing all morning there (playing, wreaking havoc, you decide) when it occurred to us that Mitchie had been lazier than usual, sitting in my lap and watching t.v. That's when I realized that he was burning up. He'd been fine earlier that morning at home - he ate a big bowl of breakfast, threw some toys at the other kids, normal Mitchie stuff.
Amy offered me some tylenol, but I kind of figured that I could wait until we got home and just give him some there. We weren't going to be there much more than half an hour longer anyway.
We headed to the kitchen for a snack, and Mitchell crawled into my lap to eat his. We visited, drank coffee and ate almost an entire pan of apple crisp when I noticed Mitchell was making an odd face. "Mitchell?" I asked, a little concerned.
Then his eyes rolled back and he stiffened and started shaking. I started calling his name and patting his cheeks. Amy, who was standing behind me at the counter asked if he was choking. "No! I think he's having a seizure!"
She called 911 while I tried to get him to look at me, or make a noise or something. I've never actually seen a seizure before, but I assumed that's what it was. He started doing weird things with his mouth and drooling like crazy, his eyes still back and to the side and fluttery. Air was moving but it wasn't normal breathing. Amy was on the phone with 911 and slipped her hand up his shirt and onto his chest. I assumed she was feeling his breathing. She'd say "now" and then pause again and say "now" again every few seconds.
This all lasted a few minutes, almost as long as it took for the ambulance to arrive. Just before the paramedics showed up, he relaxed, went limp and passed out in my arms. I was never so happy to see help arrive. I was standing up to meet them at the door and trying not to cry.
That's when he woke up and started crying uncontrollably.
In the ambulance they stripped him out of his clothes to cool him off, they checked his blood sugar and they put him back on oxygen when he started to act very lethargic again.
At the hospital they gave him tylenol, kept him naked, checked his temp (it was high, I don't remember what it was exactly), listened to his heart and chest and took a urine sample and a throat swab. We stayed for maybe two and a half hours while they observed him and waited for him to cool off more. Anytime that anyone came to check him for anything he'd hang onto me and say, over and over, "Not get me, Not get me Mommy!"
Turns out it was Febrile Convulsions. Horrifying to look at, but actually quite harmless. It's brought on by a fever in some children. I'm desperately hoping he never does it again - even though I know what it is and that I don't actually have to bring him to the hospital if does happen again, you can be sure I'll probably freak out and race him down there anyway.
I'm thinking that the fever itself was caused by seasonal flu. I gave him alternate doses of advil and tylenol for the rest of the day on Monday, and on Tuesday morning after going most of the night without any he was cooking again. So I gave him more and stuck him in a cool bath to cool him off and then kept up the medicine again all day. After a few hours he'd heat back up again until he had more. Last night the fever finally buggered off, but when I checked on him in his bed he was cold, clammy and sweaty. How a person can actually sweat when so cold is beyond me. He woke up a few times over the night and cried and clung to me.
Luckily he's still eating and happy to drink water whenever offered, so we can just see this through.
It's always Mitchie. The other kids get a sniffle, Mitchie gets a sniffle, a fever and croup. The other kids get a runny nose, Mitchell's runs for the next six weeks. He's my little sensitive one. Last winter he had a cold accompanied by a high fever for two full days. He was the first of the three kids to get an ear infection. Ever.
Now I understand why parents joke about their kids turning them gray.
Comments
I hope this is the absolute last time you have to go through anything like this.
I know the panic you feel when your witnessing your baby's eyes roll back in their head and are unresponsive. \
Hopefully you'll never have to do that again.
Apparently, they are more common than you would think. Why dont they put that in the parents handbook???
Crazy scary.