Febrile Seizures and New Life

This week has been one of emotional highs and lows. I haven't blogged in awhile because I haven't had many words, life was just steady. Now, I feel like if I don't let some of the words out, my head might pop off.

I remember when I was about 13 weeks pregnant with Ava and I woke up in the night with severe sharp pains on the right side of my abdomen. I was in tears and afraid for my baby. I called my mom and you can read her blog about it here( RobinZnest: Who Do You Want to Answer the 3 AM Phone Call? ). But the one thing I told her was "Mom, I don't want there to be anything wrong with the baby." Well we made a trip to the ER and after many tests and ultra sounds to check on the baby, they didn't really know what was wrong with me but most importantly, my baby was fine.

On Wednesday, I was in my classroom working with students on the 3rd day of the school year when the phone across the hall rang. I immediately worried some because I knew my phone didn't work so if there was an emergency for me, it would probably be that phone ringing. I was right. That teacher ran across the hall and told me there was a lady on the line and that it was an emergency. My heart stopped. I ran to the phone and said hello. It was my aunt, the one that takes care of my baby while I work. She told me that Ava had been throwing up and passing out and that the ambulance was on it's way. I hung up and called the office and not very calmly told them I had to leave. They quickly got someone to my room and I went running.

I held myself together okay while I was in the building but once I hit those doors, I fell apart. I called my husband and all he said was "I am on my way." So I called my mom thinking those same words I had thought just a couple of years before "I don't want anything to be wrong with my baby!" All I could get out was a sobbing "Mom!" Who knows what the poor lady thought as I tried to get myself together enough to explain that it was her favorite (and only) grand-girl. She just told me that she was on her way.

I somehow managed to beat the ambulance to my aunt's house, although I felt like I was driving in slow motion. It was like one of those nightmares you have where you just can't seem to move fast enough. I parked my car and ran into the house and found the most precious person in the world laying on the floor completely rigid and gray. I wanted to throw up. I managed to keep myself together because I knew that if she was aware of my presence, my hysteria wouldn't help her.

The whole time I wanted to pray. I wanted to pray these amazing words that would stir the heart of my God to action to intercede on the behalf my little girl. All I could manage was "Oh God!! Oh God!! Oh God!!" Over and over this repeated in my head and I was starting to panic that I couldn't say more but a still quiet voice spoke to me in the middle of my hysteria to remind me that the Holy Spirit is interceding on our behalf and that He was pleading my case to my God in words that I could not manage.

The paramedics came rushing in assessed her and told me that they could take us to the hospital, or I could take her to the hospital. In other words, she was going to the hospital. So I picked up my little gray angel baby and carried her to the ambulance and we went on a ride to the hospital. When we got there, my husband, dad, sister, and nephew were waiting for us at the ambulance drop off area. The paramedic was a bit surprised and asked if they were all here for Ava, yes they were, that's how we roll! We got Ava in and they took her temperature, it was 104.3. That is very high. The ER doctor diagnosed Ava with a Febrile Seizure. That is a seizure that is caused by a very high fever in children under the age of 6. After a few hours of being there, Ava was released with orders to take Tylenol and Ibuprofen every 4 and 6 hours.

We got home and she perked up. That night her fever spiked really high again around 3 am. I started to pray over her and stroke her little body. I found out the next morning that both my parents had woken up about that time and felt the need to pray for Ava. Thank you Lord! We made it through the rest of the night and managed to get her fever down some.

The next morning we went to her regular pediatrician so that Ava could have another exam and we could talk about what to do if this happens again. Her doctor wasn't really comfortable with the diagnosis for the same reasons we weren't. For one, Ava didn't have a fever before she had the seizure. She was completely fine before her seizure started. The second reason was that her seizure, which should have only lasted 1-2 minutes or 5 at the longest, lasted for about 30 minutes. She referred us to a pediatric neurologist just to make sure that Ava's seizure fell into the normal range of Febrile Seizures. I think I will be able to relax more once we have that appointment on Tuesday and they tell us everything is fine and it shouldn't happen again.

But then, God has a way of bringing your chin up when you feel like you are too tired to do so. My sweet sister, who thought she would be pregnant forever, had a beautiful little baby boy for us to love on. She had a much easier time this time, thank you Lord, and the baby did wonderfully! I have been snuggling him all weekend and I can't get enough of him. I spent all yesterday afternoon with him and then when I left to go to bed, I dreamt about him all night! Sweet baby Aiden is just perfect!

Isn't that just like God to give you a breath of fresh life just when you can't see past your own doom and gloom? Our family had a Thanksgiving dinner today for lunch. We just felt like we needed to stop and thank the One who hears our incoherent prayers in times of panic and blesses us beyond belief by giving us these little ones.

We are so blessed.