Sunday, July 11, 2010

The Scariest Day of My Life

On Friday, July 2nd we went thru pure hell and back. Never in my most horrible thoughts or dreams would I have encountered such a scare.

Our baby Gavin had what is called a febrile seizure. Late Thursday night he had a slight fever and was a bit fussy. We chalked it up to teething and yesterday morning we did as well and were actually giving him Tylenol every 5 hours. He literally did not get a fever higher than 99 so we thought everything was ok.So, Darrell and I drove up to Naperville w/ the boys to go look at some potential rental homes and have dinner w/ the kids. Gavin slept the whole way there. He woke up 5 minutes before we pulled up to the first home. He was fussy, so I THANKFULLY jumped in the back seat and was soothing him and gave him a snack because I thought he was hungry. At that point too I did notice he was pretty hot and knew that he was due for Tylenol in 30 min. (according to the last time I gave it to him) What happen next, was completely unimaginable. I screamed and Darrell jumped out of the car to come around and see what was wrong. Once he got him out of the carseat he started to turn blue. We thought OMG he is choking. That was the first thing that came to mind. THANK GOD some neighbors across the street were outside w/ their 2 teenage daughters and called 911. These good samritians were AMAZING. Their daughters comforted a frightened Carter who was stuck in the car. We did not get him out and to be honest we could not even tend to him at this time. The lady walked Darrell thru steps that the EMT over the phone was telling her to do. As I stood there helplessly watching my baby lay on some strangers lawn, I thought the worse. How could this be happened? Is this the end? You cannot believe the thoughts racing thru my mind. And when I saw my husband screaming and crying for help, it shook my core beyond belief. THANKFULLY...the good samritians was right, the hospital-Rush Copley was across the street. How fortunate were we? Here we are CLUELESS as to were we are as well. The EMT caught the tail end of Gavin seizing and then explained everything to use. They took him by ambulance. Me in the ambulance w/ him and Darrell and Carter following in our car. I would have gave anything for it to have been me laying in the ambulance instead of him. Gavin's seizure lasted 6 minutes and his fever spiked at 104!.

Our faith in God and lots of prayers on the way to the hospital got us thru this.

These febrile seizures are fairly common, and the doctor did reassure us that Gavin will NOT suffer an neurological damage/learning disabilities or any long term effects from this....We could finally "breathe" when we heard that news. I tell myself that things could have been worse. I am THANKFUL that I was in the back seat w/ him at the time and noticed the seizure immediately. I am THANKFUL for the compassionate neighbors and the TERRIFIC EMT's and docs at Rush-Copley, I am THANKFUL that the hospital was a 1/2 mile away, I am THANKFUL that Darrell was w/me and I was not alone, but most of all I am THANKFUL that my baby is ok.

We learned really quickly that night that life can changed in the blink of an eye and that we truly are fortunate in every way.

We love you Gavin!!! Thank you for being such a brave little boy during such a scary time
Mommy is so proud of you and just can't kiss your chubby little cheeks enough these days. xo

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