Febrile Seizure

Yesterday was the scariest day of my life...and one of the longest. I hate replaying it in my mind but I want it documented so that we remember the details. This post is more for us than you all, so feel free to skip over it - it's not near as fun as the usual post.

Saturday, May 28
Sierra woke up, ate breakfast and it seemed like a normal day. We went on a walk to the donut store and the first strange thing was that she didn't want to eat her donut hole. I thought she must just be full. When we got home she was acting very lethargic, started to be really fussy and just wanted me to hold her. She wasn't acting herself, but it looked like she was just very tired. I decided to put her in her crib just to see if she needed some rest time or a short morning nap (which is not something she takes anymore). She felt really hot when I picked her up so I took her temp at 9:30am - it was 103.1 F. Whoa, well that explained her behavior but she didn't have any sick symptoms - no congestion, runny nose, cough, etc. I gave her Tylenol and she fell right asleep. She slept for over 2 hours! (again, not normal since she doesn't usually nap until after lunch). When I got her out of the crib she still felt really hot so I checked her temp again and it was 102.6 at 12:30pm. That seemed still high with the Tylenol still in her system and the bottle says to give it every 4-6 hours so it wasn't time yet. I left a message with the Pedi nurse to call me back but didn't hear anything (turns out they had an error with their phone system and the page they sent the doctor never went through). Meanwhile I tried to feed Sierra lunch and she didn't want to eat.

At 1pm, Kyle convinced me we should just run to the after-hours clinic right by our house. I am SO thankful that he pushed me to go!!!! Usually I'm the one who wants to head straight to the doctor, but this time I was going to wait it out a bit. But since we had quite a few BBQs planned for the weekend, he thought it would be good to know if she was contagious and get her on some meds right away if so. Thank the Lord that we went!!!

We were the only ones there so we got called back right away. The nurse seemed to take forever asking us questions. By this point I was a little nervous because she was acting really lethargic again and was trembling a little bit on and off. Her temp at the clinic at 1:30pm was 104.4 F. It had been 4 hours since I gave her the Tylenol and I had it in my bag to give her again - but the nurse said the doctor would give it to her in a minute. (looking back, with such a high fever, I should have given her another dose...or Ibuprofen sooner) The doctor came in and checked her out and couldn't find any signs of what was causing the fever. She said her best guess was Hand, Foot, Mouth disease because they were seeing a lot of it and Sierra was indirectly exposed a week and a half ago. It can start with a fever and then show symptoms later, so that's what she was thinking. At 1:55pm they finally gave her Ibuprofen and said they wanted us to wait 45 min so they could see if it helped bring down the fever. Sierra was just laying on me and still trembling a little off and on. We were singing and she was responsive. Then all of a sudden (probably only 10 minutes after taking the meds), her eyes started to roll back and forth and her body felt weird. I stood up and told Kyle to go get the doctor. I ended up following him out of the room because very quickly her eyes rolled back and fixed in one position and her arms bent up and became stiff. The doctor met us in the hall and said she was having a Febrile Seizure, not to worry that they are common in toddlers. She led us to another room and told me to lay Sierra on the table. I cannot even describe how incredibly scary, awful, horrible the next few minutes were. I started to fall apart as I watched so helplessly as she lay there stiff, seizing, with bubbles/drool coming from her mouth. I just couldn't stop crying and pleading with the Lord to heal her. It was SO SCARY. I asked how long it would last and if she was breathing because it didn't look like it. She said that usually they are less than 1 minute and yes she was breathing. All the nurses and the doctor were in there and asked us to step out of the room. We could hear the doctor asking the nurses to call 911, take her blood and test her blood sugar, to get the oxygen and to get an IV stint put in her hand. Was this really happening to our baby? It was awful. And we could tell that it had been longer than 1 minute which was making me even more scared. My mind started to think about brain damage - I couldn't handle it.

and then we heard that sweet sound of our baby crying and the doctor's voice saying "there you are, that a girl"...and i could breathe again. the paramedics arrived right away and they let us back in the room. sierra was totally out of it, very still, just looking slowly around, very confused. they said that was normal for post-seizure behavior. i just wanted to pick her up and hold her forever! This is when the doctor told the paramedics the details of what happened and all of her levels and numbers - she was yellow on the spectrum but we don't know what that means. She told them that the seizure lasted longer than usual, 1-2 minutes. (we've come to find out they can actually last up to 5 or 10 minutes! i cannot even imagine!) They strapped Sierra's car seat to the stretcher and she and I were loaded into the back of the ambulance while Kyle drove and met us up there. She sat there looking exhausted, with her arms just hanging down to her sides, staring around. I kept asking her questions along the way to see how responsive she was - I just wanted to see our Sierra back to her normal self. She would answer a very tired "yeah" or "no", so I knew she was at least understanding and able to answer back. They took us to Dell Children's which is not super close and it seemed like it took forever. By the time we got there, Sierra was looking more alert. As I signed the computer form before stepping out, the paramedic said "good job Mommy" and Sierra looked over and said "yay Mommy" in her sweet voice. The paramedic started laughing at how cute she was and I knew she was going to be ok  :)

We got to our room and she started talking our ears off, just like her normal self!!! The paramedics and ER staff were all very impressed with how the staff at the urgent care handled everything, specifically putting in the IV in her hand - apparently they don't usually do this because it's especially hard in a little toddler. We were there about 2 1/2 hours and then continued to give her Tylenol and Ibuprofen alternating every 3 hours for the fever. They monitored her fever and it was very slowly going down (103.1, 102.8, 102.6). They checked her out again and still did not find any other symptoms to explain the fever. Most likely they said it was a virus of some kind and would have to run its course.

That night at home was really rough. Sierra was so agitated by the high fever and just could not sleep. We knew she had to be so exhausted.

a la pileta!

we took sierra swimming quite a few times last summer while we were living in a complex with a pool practically out our back door. now, almost a whole year later and with no pool that we have free access to nearby, this was the first weekend we took her to swim. we had no idea how she'd do...

 ready! notice the crooked glasses - one arm broke off the first day she wore them, but that didn't stop her!

 she was not so sure at first...she clung to daddy like a little monkey and would say "no...no..." hesitantly every minute or so...but no crying, so daddy kept her going

 

 ah, the floatie! the first time they tried she wouldn't put her legs in the holes, but after warming up to the idea swimming on daddy, she LOVED the floatie!!! i'll have to post a video tomorrow - she would kick and kick her legs and make herself bounce up and down really fast while laughing and laughing. it was hilarious!

 she liked having uncle stu in there with her too. when he got out to get snacks, she quickly said "tu in. tu in"

 

 all the adults got out and sierra didn't want to, so we had to tell her there were snacks...and then she wouldn't stop eating! ...watermelon, crackers...and she even got to share a chocolate cupcake with mommy!

 aunt cat was a great swimming buddy - she even got sierra a big ball to play with in the water!

 ...and pool time wouldn't be complete without some sunbathing! she crawled up there on her own and we gave her the magazine so she would have something to read...of course!

 she was "reading" out loud...another video i'll try to post tomorrow. she is so funny...and entertaining!

ah, what a life!

Sessah...Seeya...

i LOVE that sierra refers to herself in the 3rd person!

it makes sense - i mean, i've been referring to myself as Mommy the majority of her life and not "I".

for almost 2 months now, she has referred to herself in the 3rd person - first as "Sassah", now as "Sessah" and just recently she'll say "Seeya". it's so much more fun to hear "Sessah food, Sessah raisins" instead of grunting and pointing to guess what she wants.

and when i say "Sierra Grace" in a 'mommy isn't happy with what you're doing' tone of voice, she stops, giggles and repeats "Sessah Gace" with a big smile. little stinker.

dressing her self and buckling buckles

Sierra is definitely trying to grow up way too fast!!!

Buckles:
recently, she has been consumed with figuring out how to buckle the buckles on her highchair, car seat and on all the baby things we've recently pulled out - swing, bouncer, etc. typically it's hard for one toy/thing to hold her attention for too long, but she can try and try and try buckling for quite a long time - usually when she's not sitting in the chair, but just standing in front of it working on the buckle! she is soooo determined! she's been doing this for a few weeks and has finally gotten the hang of it...this is going to end up being really helpful for me when the baby comes! and it's precious when she gets it because yells YAYYYYY! and looks over at me with this huge smile, waiting for praise on what a big girl she is  :)  now she is trying to figure out how to unbuckle...that one's a bit tougher.

Dressing:
oh yes, she has also become obsessed with putting on pants - several of them at the same time. she will pull out all her pajama pants (the only ones she can reach from her dresser), sit down and start to put her legs through them. after a couple weeks of trying, she is getting pretty good! she can get them as far as up to her knees and then needs helping pulling them all the way up. sometimes shirts end up on her legs too! it's pretty funny, but can be a challenge when we are actually in a hurry to get dressed (with only one pair of pants...or a dress without pants!) and get out the door. again, this is another activity that can keep her interest for quite a long time! great for when mommy needs to get dressed and ready for the day!!

and side note, she is really improving with handling her frustration!! she has always gotten easily frustrated when she couldn't quickly figure something out and would grunt/whine and often throw something to let you know she was upset. i told her instead she needed to ask for help saying "help please" and now she does it with this really sweet voice and then waits patiently for help ... without the frustration noises!! i'm pretty amazed!! and thankful  :)

(she is crying because she bumped her head on the dresser...not because she put her legs through a shirt!)

cuddle time with Daddy

Kyle has been trying to get Sierra to cuddle with him on the couch for quite some time now and she is just so squirmy and full of energy that she's been resistant - always on the go. But recently she loves to give hugs, hold hands and yesterday evening gave her Daddy some short but precious cuddle time on the couch!!!

aren't they so sweet?!?!

Wildflower Center

this was one of the fieldtrips we took about a month ago with some friends and their kiddos. we were looking for a good spot to take bluebonnet pictures but since we haven't had much rain this spring, there weren't many out there. at least it was a pretty day to enjoy the outdoors and plenty of other pretty flowers. the highlight for the kids was definitely the turtles in the pond at the entrance...and the pond in the back...and then the playground we went to afterwards - not the flowers. oh well, we all had fun and at least got to snap a "few" photos...

 i guess this is a true sign of a toddler - majority of my pictures are of the back of Sierra's head and she is walking away or just busy doing her own thing...absolutely NO interest/time to stop and pose for a picture!

 this was our best bluebonnet picture...hope next year is more successful!!!

 oops, she did pick a few flowers...pretty sure that's not allowed. but i chose the photo op over stopping her!

 sweet baby curls (i hope she doesn't lose those!) and the strap that just wouldn't stay on

 she was dropping pebbles into the pond and the big kids wanted to see what all the fun was about

 busy with her rocks

 gotcha!

 that smile melts my heart  :)

 bad shadows, but what a cutie!

 rocks seem to always provide such great entertainment...and at this point the hair clip was lost and the photo session had gone a bit too long....

i was playing around with the camera so the lighting is weird, but she was being silly while mommy made one last attempt at a face-on picture  :)

I just don't want to forget...

all the adorable and hilarious things that our silly girl says and does. so please excuse all these wordy posts. feel free to skip over them until i get more pictures up  :)

* we went to HEB two days in a row and the next day we got in the car to go to the park and sierra said from the backseat (in a very excited voice) "H-E-D! H-E-D!". haha, poor girl...at least i took her to the park instead that time! *I started this post 2 weeks ago and since then, she hasn't been so excited about H-E-D. We pulled up the other day and she started shaking her head saying "no H-E-D, no H-E-D". But today she was playing in her car in the backyard and I asked her where she was going..."H-E-D!" she said. I guess it's a love-hate relationship  :)

* sierra has loved hiding for quite awhile. now she covers her eyes and thinks you can't see her. whenever she's hiding and i ask "where's Sierra?" she always responds with "hiding!" *it has since turned in to her response for anything I ask about. ex: "where are your shoes?" "hiding!"; "where did the bird go?" "hiding!"

* she is really practicing her verbs and opposites. she loves to open and close doors, while saying "open! close!" over and over. she also does "up! down!" with her head nodding or with animals. she just started now doing "in! out!" getting inside her cozy coupe car or the laundry basket. and she always says it with such excitement in her voice  :)

* she talks so much and fast that she often says the wrong person/thing a couple times in a row and then stops, thinks and says it correctly. you can just see it on her face, how quickly her little mind is working! example: (to Kyle) "all done, mommy all done, mommy....(pause) daddy all done, daddy all done."

* this morning when i went to get her out of her crib (she had been awake for a little while reading in bed), she just talked my ear off. she didn't want me to get her out yet, so i sat in the rocker and listened as she told me all about lots of animals. it was a very long conversation (more like story but she needs me to repeat back what she's said to show that i was listening and understand)! it went something like this...
S: "bunny, bunny, eating, bunny eating"
me: "the bunny is eating?"
S: "yeah! bunny, eye, ear, feet, tail, nose, mouth, bunny" (pointing to those things on herself)
S: "goat, goat, eating, food, hungy, goat, agua, mouth"

*she has started putting 3 and 4 words together to make sentences with nouns and verbs - mostly correct! her first few "sentences" have been: "no hitting baby" (i need to do a seperate post on that subject!), "no hitting mommy" (do we see a pattern?), "i see you daddy", "i see you mommy", "i ee you too" (i love you too)

Agua! and Mother's Day :)

I had a wonderful Mother's Day! Kyle (& Sierra of course) gave me some beautiful pink tulips, a sweet card and a photo collage. Our day started with an 8am meeting at church so we stopped at SB on the way to get my coffee "treat". After church Kyle had reservations for us to have brunch downtown and it was amazing - great food, great atmosphere, warm muffins, and just because it was Mother's Day we got a free slice of cake and a 5x7 picture of the 3 of us from a photographer the restaurant hired! Sierra then took a nap while Kyle and I watched a movie. Once she was up, I went down for my nap while Kyle had some daddy/daughter time. I woke up to find this....

I'm sure you could hear that laugh for miles - she was LOVING it! ...especially when she turned towards mommy and discovered she could get me wet!!

 pure JOY

 then we tossed the clothes and put her in the pool, which she lovingly called the "boat"

 she was "tooting noodles", so of course she had to "eat" them!

 totally "nakie" now!

what a little ham  :)

We all had a blast! Once we got the little one bathed and in bed, our good friend came over to babysit so Kyle and I could slip away to meet some friends for yogurt. We sat outside, enjoying the breeze and good conversation.

It was the perfect day! I am sooo blessed to be a Mommy to this sweet little girl (and boy on the way)...and wife to my amazing husband. Thank you, Lord!

Mom

just this week Sierra has sometimes started calling me "mom"...not "mama" or "mommy".

what?! where did this come from?! it sounds sooo grown up! i'm not ready to be "mom" yet!

i looooooooooove the way she calls me "mommy"!!!

i hope this doesn't stick! so far it's only been when she repeats "mommy, mommy..." over and over and then turns it into "mom, mom...". but she laughs and just thinks it's the funniest thing. i'm trying to tell her that's not my name. hopefully that works.

oh little girl, please don't grow up too fast!!!