I was moved to make a post after the crazy sick week we had last week. All three of us caught some kind of coughing, mucus-y, feverish, nasty cold. Noah woke up Saturday night with a fever which is my worst kind of terror because the last two times Noah had a fever he had a Febrile Seizure. These are seizures that can happen in kids under 6 when they have a rapidly rising or falling fever. They are typically harmless to the child but can be terrorizing on parents (as I'm sure all parents can imagine!). I will not go into detail about just how awful this can be.
The first time Noah had a seizure was Thanksgiving 2012. We were in Dallas seeing Sarah and Heath and he had been feeling bad since before we left the following Sunday. By the time we were home, he had a fever. At probably around 6 that night, Josh was setting dinner up at the table and I was getting Noah off the couch to go to the kitchen when he started seizing in my arms. I screamed something to Josh and he came and held Noah while I called 911. That was the worst 45 seconds of my life.
A firetruck showed up pretty quickly and 3 firemen ran to the house with bags in their hands. When they got in the house and I said he had a seizure, they asked if he had a fever and were visibly relieved when I said yes. That was the first moment that I began to feel ok. They didn't do emergency care but instead started consoling us, the parents. Apparently this was a 'normal' thing and he was going to be fine. We went to the hospital in the ambulance that arrived a few minutes later and the doctors reiterated the firemen's sentiments. Noah was sick and had a fever but the seizure was just sort of a side effect of the fever and he was ok because it didn't last too long and he didn't have more than one. I still had some concerns but knowing that my baby was ok was tremendous relief on the worst night of my life.
The second seizure occurred during the night last May. Because of our experience the first time, we knew it had happened by the way Noah was acting when he woke up; he was exhausted and breathing heavily, every move seemed to hurt, he couldn't be consoled. If that one had been the first, I can't imagine what I would have thought he was going through. That is why I am writing this, because parents need to be aware that this happens, and that their children are ok!
I think if I would have known that Noah's first seizure was due to his fever and that he would be fine then I could have avoided the hours of terror that I went through. I will admit that the second time was very difficult as well because we hate to see him like that, but I wasn't as concerned for his overall health and well being because of what I had learned. I want to spread this message to other parents of those 4% of kids who will have a Febrile Seizure at some point (that's 1 in 25 toddlers). With that high of a rate, I can't believe I hadn't heard of this.
So last weekend, when Noah woke up at 11pm with a fever, I knew I wouldn't let him leave my arms. It seems that the way most kids get injured through this type of seizure is by falling. I did everything I have learned to do when he has a fever; alternate Tylenol and Advil, wipe him with a cool rag, keep light clothes on him and soothe him with our love. Josh and I stayed with him through the night and we got through this illness with no seizures!! There were some bad moments during that week, but I'm glad that we were able to avoid that. Our knowledge has proven to work for him and I am so happy that, despite how traumatic it seemed to us, he is really ok.
Because I want to spread some information I will provide some real resources for anyone who wants to learn more. There is a lot of information out there including some from the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and the Mayo Clinic. I truly hope this helps some parent avoid the confusion and alarm that Josh and I experienced.
With much love,
PS. I hope to update the pics on the sidebar soon! Seeing Macy makes me realize how long it's been, I miss her!
