January 8 = Seizure Day

Miss Malia gave us a scare tonight.  Zachary has had a lot of time off recently and he just went back full time today- and by full time I mean early, early in the morning until late tonight.  So around 8, I was putting the kids down for bed and looking forward to getting some cleaning done.  It was time to brush teeth and so I got Liam started- I brush his teeth and then let him do his own thing while I brush Malia's teeth.  Well- Malia didn't want her teeth brushed.  However- sometimes as a parent you have to make sure your kids do things that they don't want to do if it's good for them.  Unfortunately, I can't explain this to Malia so she proceeded to get really, really angry.  We've had an episode before where she's gotten really upset and held her breath and basically passed out but this time, she had a seizure.  Being a seizure expert at this point (ha) I knew to time it.  At 30 seconds, I just knew it would be over really soon.  When it lasted over a minute, I was really surprised.  At about the 45 second mark I called 911.  I just knew it would be over by the time the phone call was over and I'd still have them evaluate her and probably end up going to the hospital but the seizure kept going and going.  For six minutes.  The worst part was, I had to go unlock the door.  I was on the third floor so I asked the dispatcher if I should take her with me or leave her on the bathroom floor.  I had to leave my seizing baby on the bathroom floor to open the door and that may have been the hardest thing I've ever had to do.  We happened to be FaceTiming my parents at the time so they got to experience the whole thing.  My mom said later that she was amazed at how quickly I got up and down the stairs- I was back before she thought I could have made it just down the stairs.  Then I realized I wasn't sure where Liam was so after I got eyes on her and saw she was still breathing- still seizing but still breathing- I started calling out for Liam and right after that I heard my mom yelling that she had stopped.  I picked her up and went downstairs as the EMTs got there. I met them at the door but ended up going back up to the middle floor. I held her while they took her vitals and then was thinking since it was a six minute long seizure I wanted her to be evaluated at the hospital and maybe speak to a neurologist so then I started thinking- while giving Malia's medical history to the EMT- I better figure out what to do with Liam.  And maybe I should call my husband.  Thankfully my dad had already got in touch with him so he knew what was going on so then we just had to discuss what we should do.  He left from the Naval Academy and went straight to the hospital while I drove Liam in the van.  

By the way- during all of this- Liam was standing in front of the TV watching Caillou oblivious to all of the lights outside and all of the people inside and all of Malia's screaming at the top of her lungs.  It was quite impressive.

We beat the ambulance there and Zachary beat us there so the three of us waited for Malia to get there.  Seeing her cute little face roll in was the highlight of my day.  The nurse who was going to be working with her was getting the story from me and when she saw her come in she looked at her and then did a double take and couldn't believe how cute she is!  We got her vitals again and then waited and waited.  Finally, we saw a doctor out in the hallway- there were no rooms available.  He was very nice and reassuring.  He admitted they didn't have much of a pediatric neurology department so he suggested we see her pediatrician on Monday and get in touch with her neurologist.  So there wasn't a great deal done at the hospital but I just had to go and have her checked out.  He said she looked great and that she'll probably be President one day.  We headed home and even though it was really late, had some sweet family time and just reflected on how blessed we are.