A Scary "First"

Early Saturday morning, Lauren had her first visit to the hospital. About 1am we heard her whimpering in bed. After checking on her several times, Todd brought her to bed with us. She was shaking, but was cool to the touch. After some debate we went ahead and gave her a normal dose of Tyelenol. Around 3am or so her leg brushed mine and she was sooooo hot! Only minutes later, she began having a febrile seizure (ie. fever-induced seizure). Arms, legs, and head were all twitching, her eyes rolled back into her head. It was the scariest 30 seconds or so of our lives! Afterward, she was so out of it--- eyes wandering, no one home, glazed.

We called the doctor's office, who, after a series of questions, concurred with us that she had seized, and because it was her first, asked us to take her to Atlanta's Children's Hospital at Scottish Rite. Once there, she got lots of poking, prodding, and tests (much to her dismay!). After her bloodwork showed elevated white blood count, they were uncertain if the spike in temps were due to a bacterial infection, or from the seizure itself. As a safety precaution, they gave her a 24 hour dose of antibiotics and sent us home. We got home about 8am or so, after a long, scary night. After a nap or two, she was back in business.

The ER doc did tell us that she is more likely to be prone to them now so we'll have to be more aggressive about treating even low-grade temps until she's about 5 or 6 and outgrows this. Anything under a 5 minute seizure is normal for febrile seizures (Yes, folks-- 5 mins. I cannot even imagine how long that feels!!!!!!). I had them as a child, as did Todd's sister, and they tend to "trend" in families. We are taking her for a follow-up visit today to check on viral vs. bacterial infection. She's definitely a-ok today, but it was quite a scare!