The First Seizure

The moment my world stood still.

Jasmine was 13 months old and I needed to take her into the doctor for a check up and immunization shots. We didn't have a car so I needed to have my mom drive me, I was always nervous for her when she would get shots, the thought of someone sticking a needle in my baby was enough to make me want to throw up. I knew she needed them and so I would force myself to take her. 

 Her doctor was so baffled by me, I would take her in the room and wait for him to come inside. When he did come in the room my anxieties were also so high about the situation I would be a sweaty mess almost in tears. He would still ask me if  I could help hold her down every time I went, Which I always told him NO! A nurse would come in and I would immediately exit the room, but I wouldn't just exit and stand outside the door oh no, I needed to walk half way down the hall and wait for the nurse to pop her head out before I would come back. I wanted no part of what was going on in there, and I surely didn't want my face or voice paired with it.

When we finished at the Doctors we went home and Jasmine was extremely sleepy more so then even usually for after getting her shots done. She didn't have a temperature so I just figured it was because she had 3 shots in one day, and decided she was fine letting her sleep it off. My husband was at work all day and when he come home Jasmine finally woke up. She loves her daddy so much even to this day she is still all about dad as soon as her steps foot in the door. She seemed totally fine, seemed as though she was back to normal.

We ate Taco's that night and Jassy loved them. She loves taco meat and cheese mostly She was a complete mess by the time she was finished. I ran her a bath and put her inside she was still normal she didn't feel hot to me and I had been checking her temperature most of the day. I let her play in there awhile she loved bath time so much. when I felt the water wasn't quite as warm anymore i decided I would take her out in was winter time in Michigan and are apartment was drafty. Dried her off and put her PJ's on . She started whining a little which was so unusual she didn't really like the act of going to bed, what child does. she could walk at the time holding on to things so she pulled herself up to me and I went to comfort her, She felt hot when I say hot I mean her skin felt like it was burning! I called my husband out of the bedroom and told him to grab the thermometer I checked her temp it said it was 100.5, to me it didn't seem right she was much hotter then that. We gave her Tylenol and was waiting the 20-30 minutes to check it again. her dad went back into his room to lay down and Jassy followed.

It wasn't even 2 minutes later I hear my name being called like I never heard it being called before and I rush down the hall. Joe is coming out of the room holding our daughter laying a crossed his arms shes stiff, stretched out and twitching all her muscles are twitching.  I say "Give her to me, NO, NO, NO, NO, Whats wrong with her? What happened? " I,m calling out her name with no response, mind you I had never seen a seizure before in my life. Time started to go slow motion for me. We had no phone I needed to get to a phone,I had Joe the baby and run in to the hall knocking on everyone's door screaming " HELP! My, baby please." It late around 10 pm and I think everyone was sleeping because for me it took forever for anyone to open the door. Once one of my neighbors did open the door I didn't know what to say all i could mutter was "My baby! somethings wrong with her" she ran and grabbed her phone and I dialed 911. 

The operator picks up but I still cant speak, "I need help, my baby" I hear her say whats wrong with your baby? But as she was saying it, I dropped the phone a took Jasmine from Joe. She was starting to turn blue, I could see it and I just needed to hold her. Joe picked up the phone and was talking to the operator and i Went to sit on the couch holding her. Shes still switching and this is about 5-7 minutes into the seizure, I don't see her breathing I thought I was going to loose her. I scream "Get them here NOW! " We lived 2 blocks away from the ambulance station it still took them 7 more minutes to get there.

When they arrived they saw me holding and rocking her, I'm sure they thought I was loosing it because I thought I was too. I didn't think Jasmine was still alive, I hadn't seen her take a breath in like 2 minutes. The EMT lady knelt down to be face to face with me and said" I'm going to need to take her from you, we will be downstairs waiting, go grab things she needs." I handed her over and she took off running and so did I.

Fumbling through my apartment looking for anything she might need, bottle, formula, snowsuit, diapers, and wipes. Then I take off full sprint down the stairs, forgetting to shut the apartment door I look up and my friend over the railing say shes got it. Joe is already in the ambulance with Jasmine, she isn't twitching  but she isn't moving either just kind of slumped over on the bed in there with an oxygen mask on her face. I go over to  her and start rubbing on her head to try to wake her up. The EMT tells me shes fine now its over she just needs oxygen because her stats were so low. She had a Temp of 105.5 not 100.5 and this is probably what caused her seizure. We take off and there driving super fast with the lights on, I ask if she is fine why are we going so fast.  Her temp was so high and they couldn't get it down Jasmine was NOT fine. 

About half way to the hospital, I heard her whine and i rushed over to her "Baby, Baby!" she looked at me and she looked so scared. I told her it was going to be OK, got on the bed with her and held her. This moment was the best moment of my life. I went from thinking the worst to knowing it was actually going to be fine. She was here and alert. Seriously mad about having an oxygen mask on her face but she was awake lol.

We ended up spending hours at the hospital where she didn't once get out of bed. They were telling me she had a febrile seizure and it was common but uncommon for it to last as long as hers did. She went a really long time without oxygen, 2-4 minutes, but she seemed fine I would need to watch her and be more aggressive towards her fevers from now on.. I assured him I would and I was positive this would never happen again.

Did you know between 10% and 15% of  children with epilepsy have a history of febrile seizures before they develop the actual disease.

There are very few moments in life I can remember in life with such great detail. The fear it bestrode upon me was like nothing a had ever experienced in my life. Being 18 years old at the time, having zero experience with epilepsy before, seeing what I saw lend me to believe my child was dying. I never wanted to experience anything like it again.

What was it like for you, the first time you witnessed your child or anyone seizing? Tell me about it in the comments I would  love to hear :)

Well thanks for stopping by 

~Jessie