Wednesday was a super fun day. Fun in the worst sense of the word. I thought we were going to have this craz-mazing day. Brian was staying home from work, we went to the park by 8 am to enjoy the non-heat, and we were ready to go somewhere else by 9. Claire and Jared were playing as they normally do and were running around the house. I was laying on the couch ready to pass out and didn't even hear Claire fall down, but Brian got up and ran back to her super fast, so I decided I'd go check out what happened. Brian has a tendency to over-react and I thought I could help out.
By the time I got back to the bedroom, Brian had Claire in his arms and he was kind of scary-yelling at her, "Claire! Claire! Are you....What happened? Claire!?" He had her in her arms but she was straight as a board, not relaxed, her arms were twisted funny, and her legs were shaking. I wasn't sure what was happening or even where she fell from, so it all just looked crazy and scary. He set her down on the floor and was panic talking to her. Luckily, way back when, my lovely 911 operator told me to calm down and talk to her as normal as possible and just tell her everything is going to be ok. It's like if you're sleeping and someone wakes you up in a panic, you're automatically going to be going 100 mph upon wakeup and it can be a little jarring. Anyway, I wasn't sure if she was having a seizure, but it sure looked like one. I talked her through it and it ended faster than any previous we've seen. Total it was probably about 15-20 seconds long and she came out of it terrified.
She rolled over and kept saying, "No, please stop, please stop." But she looked really scared and then started crying. No one saw her fall, she couldn't remember Brian picking her up, and she didn't want anyone to touch her. She finally let me hold her, but wouldn't stop crying. Normally after a seizure she zonks immediately. Partly why we didn't know if it was a seizure of if she blacked out. Maybe both? After a few minutes and Brian researching seizures due to falling or hitting your head on something (a normal thing to happen), we called the doctor and they made an appointment for noon. It was now about 9:30 and I was surprised they didn't have be bring her right in. She said she felt a little sick, but was acting ok...not happy or sad...just ok.
I jumped in the shower, trying to get ready as fast as I could and by the time I was putting my mascara on, she wanted to throw up. I called the doctor again and they told me just to bring her right in. By the time I made it to the toll road to go up to her pediatrician, she was throwing up in the car and I felt like the pediatrician would be a waste of time, called them, and turned around to go to the hospital.
I don't know why this happens, but whenever you're in a hurry, people like to go 20 mph under the speed limit. Ugh. I had kept it together pretty well all morning, but Claire looked awful. She was bobbing all over the back in her carseat, kept throwing up, tried to sleep. Her lips - you couldn't even see them, they blended in with the rest of her incredibly pale face. I tried to keep her awake (even though I knew it didn't matter for them to sleep or not) just so she could tell me how she was feeling. She threw up a 3rd time and started to get a little more color back into her face, but she was acting more and more strange by the minute. I nearly lost it in the car thinking we wouldn't even make it to the hospital, but apparently I have tear ducts of steel and managed to keep myself together and let my legs and arms shake for whatever emotion I couldn't spill out through my eyes.
We got to the ER, checked in, luckily made it to the waiting room with NO ONE IN IT!?!!? That's a first. We still had to wait 20-30 minutes and during that time she vomited a 4th time. She had a really bad headache, wouldn't talk to me, told me not to talk to her, didn't want to watch Big Hero 6, which she loves, and we sat there in silence. These really nice women next to me grabbed her a drink and some tissues while she was throwing up (luckily we had our trash can). I thought that was so kind because I probably would have grabbed my stuff and moved not knowing what illness this barfing kid had. To be honest, I was terrified. I wasn't keeping it together very well as far as I was concerned. I'd lie her down, get up and pace, and then run back to her. I'd try to talk to her, anything. Maybe I was over-reacting, but the unknown was so scary. We've been through so much with this kid and this was the last place I wanted to be. Sweet Claire, there are other ways to spend time with your parents.
So, we head back to our room finally, doctor comes in and checks her, looks concerned and says, "Well, we try not to give them, but her case is concerning enough that we will probably do a CT Scan." I was hoping for one anyway because I wanted to go home sure that everything was ok or not ok. In the back of my mind I had this Natasha Richardson scenario and I really didn't want to go through that.
So, Although I didn't really want to broadcast our mishap to the world at the time, we didn't have time for Brian to give her a blessing before we ran out the door, so I posted and asked for prayers on Instagram. It's amazing what prayers can do. Brian was at home sobbing and thinking the worst. I was composed, but my insides were a hot mess. Brian put her name in the temple, my brother did the same, and almost instantly I felt more calm. So, thank you to everyone for helping us out in this way. It made all the difference.
Claire fell asleep while we waited for the head pediatrician. He came in, said the same thing the previous doctor said and ordered the CT scan. Since she knew the answers to his questions, he was optimistic, but because she met at least 2 criteria for a CT, he ordered it. While we waited, Claire slept more.
Her criteria was: Fell from higher than 3 feet, vomited 4+ times, had a seizure, got hit with a forceful object, acting more and more loopy. I think that was all.
Finally, we went back to the CT room and she did awesome. Her little nap must have done wonders because when we got back to our room, we turned on Big Hero 6 and she told me the entire storyline and wouldn't stop talking. She got stickers from being such a good girl during her scan and she was so happy about them. I told her we would get her doughnuts afterward because she had to put her head in a giant doughnut (the CT was a giant circle and thinking of it as a doughnut really calmed her down).
The long hour to see if her brain/skull was ok.
Drinking water. Finally! It's amazing how the little things are so important when you need them to happen.
CT came back completely normal....hallelujah! We still couldn't leave her alone for 24 hours, but things were looking up. I felt very peaceful that everything would be just fine and our "watching" would be pretty easy.
Brian's sweet parents treated us (THANK YOU!!!) to dinner and dessert for our long fiasco and Claire was REALLY excited that she got to eat at Taco Bell (barf!) and then again for eating her big bowl of ice cream. It's really sad how much we really love ice cream.
They said she would self-limit her play, but she didn't do anything out of the ordinary. She wasn't extra tired, she wasn't extra ornery, her headache never came back. It was almost like it never happened. Again, I thank everyone for the prayers. It could have been really scary and I'm so glad we asked for reinforcements!
Next day I thought she'd be under the weather, but she had extra energy to play with all these lovely hooligans!
And...she has been a lego building machine! My phone has a billion pictures of lego houses, animals, towers, faces, you name it.
And...because we really need to give a shout out to cute Jared. I asked if he wanted a peanut butter sandwich or a grilled cheese. He looked at me thoughtfully and said, "Boy cheese". Apparently "Grilled cheese" sounds like "Girl Cheese" to a 3 year old boy.
We now have "girl cheese" and "boy cheese" sandwiches at our house.
Cutie.
Now...I'm hoping that Brian can get a job soon and we'll move to a new house without so much tile. Blast this tile!
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