The Seizure

On Friday, October 18, I got one of the most dreadful calls ever while I was at work- Lidiana called to tell me Theo had had a seizure. We had been texting about giving him some tylenol because he had spiked a little bit of a fever. The next thing I knew, she was on the phone and passed it to our neighbor downstairs, who is a NICU nurse. She had brought Theo right down once she realized what was happening. She said it was likely just a febrile (temperature induced) seizure, but he should be checked out. They drove him over to Children's, where I met them after what felt like the longest cab ride ever. 

When I heard, about 80 different things were running through my mind. My frame of reference for seizures was mainly through my colleague, who's young son suffered from them so badly that they were performing a left-hemispherectomy the following Tuesday. 

I called Dave en route to the hospital and made arrangements for Sophia to be taken care of. Thank god for her school director and teachers. They usually let out early on Fridays, but they agreed to hang with her till we got everything sorted at the hospital. Dave was able to run back across the river, get Sophia and she hung out with our neighbors till we got home - I'm so thankful for our village! 

 Dave met me at the hospital - I just snuggled Theo who was just wiped out. But it was just good to hold my baby. On top of the seizure, it was almost 1 and he hadn't eaten and was definitely exhausted. Luckily, the two of them were just able to zone out for a bit while we waited for him to be seen.

His temperature was up and down a bit while we were in the waiting room. He had light fever when I had left for work that day, but nothing of note and his spirits were normal, so I didn't think twice.  After what felt like forever, he finally was taken in to see the ER doctor. She was fantastic as, was Lidiana, who relayed the full story of what she had seen/what happened. I think that was the hardest part through all of this for me - that I didn't know firsthand what had happened. I'm thankful for Lidiana's quick thinking and love for my son. Still, it was tough as a mom. The Dr. said there were somethings about the way the seizure was described that she catalogued as irregular (Lidiana could only confirm that one side of his body seized - both may have, but she remembers seeing one side specifically). With that info, they wanted neurology to see him.

After another long wait, we got into see neuro and they thought he looked ok but the irregularities had them recommend a follow-up EEG. At least we could go home.

 Here's my happy boy after a long, tiring day - doesn't look like someone who just spent the day in the hospital?

And here's a shot from his EEG a few weeks ago. They scheduled it during his nap time as they needed to image the brain sleeping and then awake. There are 24 nodes on his head tracking what he's thinking. He was such a rock star through the process - not something I want to go through again, but Theo is a rock star in my book. And the best news was that it came back all clear. The neuros chalked it up to a temperature induced seizure, which up to 10% of kids under the age of 6 have. This could be the only one he ever has, or he could be more inclined to have another. Let's just hope this is the only one.

And back to our regularly scheduled programming!

'Cause you gotta have friends...

'Tis the season to give thanks, so I'm going to be doing different posts about what I'm thankful for.

I am forever thankful for my friends. I am lucky to have such wonderful men and women in my life. Lately, though, I am especially thankful for my fellow baby mama friends. I am blessed with a group of women who I have become increasingly connected with since being pregnant and having Sophia. These women are all so very different from me and from each other, but they have been my "rocks" for the past 13 months. Some I've known since high school, some I met in the past year. Some live close by, others across the pond. What I know is that they have been there for me in so many ways.

Having children that are all the same age is very convenient for comparisons:

That 8am phonecall that starts with "Sophia's is being amazingly stubborn and not sleeping at all? Is it wrong to want to trade her in today? Oh, Frances is doing the same? Want to swap kids?"
or
"Sophia had a massive poop that destroyed multiple outfits. Will did too? That's so reassuring that our children are really talented!"

Seriously. These are real conversations. But above and beyond the discussions about our children's sleeping, bowel movements, mobility and teeth acquisitions, it's the conversations about ourselves as women, wives and mothers. The reassurance that no, we aren't crazy, yes it is entertaining to watch our husbands make a fuss about something that we do multiple times a day with nary an eyelash batted and maybe it's not the worst thing to snuggle on the couch in silence after the baby has gone to bed with a nice glass of wine and some bad TV.

So ladies, you know who you are. I just want to say thank you for being there and being amazing. I couldn't have made it through the past year with out you. Because you gotta have friends.