cherish every moment...

(Sorry for the long post, but I felt it needed to be documented)

We are sent these sweet spirits from Heaven to care for and love.  They count on us, trust us completely... we serve them, guide them, direct them, care for them, we do all we can for them.  But there are times it's out of our hands...

Yesterday I felt completely helpless...

My little miss H suffered a Febrile Seizure and there was nothing I could do it was out of my hands...all I could do was pray.  Ask for help from my Heavenly Father who trusted me to take care of her.

When she woke up from her nap around 1:30pm she felt a little warm, I thought it was just her teeth.  One year = one year molars.  I fed her lunch and she ate but was a little cranky and didn't want to be put down after.  So we sat on the couch and read stories.  Little E had a friend over and they were playing in the play room so we went down to check on them.  Miss H saw all the toys and got down to play.  She was happily playing and I needed to run upstairs to grab something so I asked Kiki to watch her for a minute.  I went up and got a call from my sister and didn't get back downstairs for about 5 minutes.  As I was coming back down the stairs Kiki's friend met me on the stairs and said "Kiki wants you to come see how cute Miss H is being.  She's rocking her and Miss H is laying her head on her shoulder."

I walked in thinking how cute and then I noticed Miss H's right hand twitching.  I grabbed her and held her in my arms and she was not responding at all.  Her arm continued to twitch, her head was turned to the right and her eyes were glassed over...she was limp and very quiet other than a tiny little moan.  I ran to the couch and laid her down and called D (3:54pm), by this time I was frantic and was asking him what I should do..."WHAT SHOULD I DO".  I also yelled to the kids to go get their aunt next door and to get Little E's friend's mom from down the street.

D told me to take her to the ER, but I couldn't drive with the baby...I couldn't put her in the carseat while she was having what I thought was a seizure, A SEIZURE...is this really what is happening?  I grab her and start up the stairs where I meet my SIL Tenay, she follows me as I run to my room grab my shoes, purse and keys.  I hop in the car with Miss H in my arms and ask her to drive.  BH is in tears at my window wondering what he needs to do.  I asked him to help with the other kids.  We start down the driveway and D calls again, he says stay put call 911 (4:02pm), just as Tenay says we need to stay here and call 911. 

We stop at the end of the driveway and I call...seizure is still going on.  Miss H is foaming at the mouth and drooling a lot.  I am bawling on the phone they have to tell me to calm down and give them my address.  We pull into the circle drive and Miss H starts to come to, it's been about 8 or 9 minutes, I think, according to cell phone calls.  I hand the phone to Tenay she finishes the conversation.  About 3 minutes later the paramedics are there.  They do a blood sugar test, take her temp and give her oxygen.  Temp 103.8.  I later found out that one of the paramedics saw that BH was having a hard time and pulled him aside to help him understand what was happening.  I'm grateful for that man.

They tell me they need to take her to the ER by ambulance so they can monitor her.  They take her carseat from the car and attach it to the gurney and put her in it.  I ride in the front seat, wishing I could see her face, know that she's okay.  D has arrived home by now and follows behind in my car.

When we arrive at the ER there are tons of questions, over and over and over.  They determine that it's a Febril Seizure, fairly common in toddlers when they have a fever that spikes really fast.  1 in every 25 kids will have one or more. WHAT...why have I never heard of this?  They take her temp 103.6, they do a blood test, urine test, chest x-ray and give her Tylenol.  We wait...she's super whiny, she missed her second nap so she's tired also.  She takes a small nap in my shoulder until they come back in to take another rectal temp.  Temp is down to 100.8 she's starting to smile and act like our little miss H.  We are glad to have her back.

The tests all came back normal...but still we worry, it could happen again with any fever in the future.  Now we are in prevention mode.  No sudden rise in fever = no seizure, we hope.  She could continue to have them until she grows out of them, probably around age 5.

I was so afraid I would lose my Miss H, not see her sweet face smile at me, hear her voice say Hi, it was the scariest day of my life. 

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful supportive family who will jump in where needed at a moments notice.  All of my siblings and sister-in-law came to the hospital and waited with concern for our little one.  Our neighbor came to help with in seconds.  Two of my sister-in-laws stepped in to love and care for my kiddos when I couldn't.  Our parents were there in an instant with comforting hugs and words of encouragement.

I've learned a great lesson that I hope to never forget, cherish every moment, you never know when it could be the last.

I am so blessed to have these sweet children in my life and so grateful that I have a Heavenly Father to help me care for them.