The day started out normally like any other day would have started out. We ate breakfast,
continued unpacking boxes as we had moved into our house the weekend before. My daughter, Kendall, was a little clingier than usual. I chalked it up to the excitement and change from living in a new house. Let me tell you, one handed unpacking takes about ten times longer than being able to use both arms so the unpacking job was put on the back burner. I started making lunch, Kendall sat at the bar top in her secured chair. She was fine, she looked a little dazed but like I said before, she was tired from the big move.
I was chatting on the phone with my husband, asking him where the thermometer was because Kendall felt really warm when I had put her into her high chair. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the dazed look on Kendall fade to something even more hazy. Quickly getting off of the phone with my hubby, I scooped her up into my arms and then she fussed, pointing at the ground. “Okay,” I thought, “I’ll put her down.” That’s when it happened.
There Kendall laid on the floor, face down, her tiny body tremmoring. “Oh my gosh!” I yelled, “Brennan! Get the phone for me!” My four year old son, Brennan, obediently handed the phone to me and I dialed 9-1-1. Hands shaking, tears welling up in my eyes, all the while holding my sweet girl as she seized in my arms. Her eyes were rolling in the back of her head, her hands were contorted and then her lips started turning blue. I think it only lasted for a minute but that minute felt like an hour. The doorbell rang and first responders were there.
That day was my introduction to a little blip in the road called febrile seizures. Now, contrary to what you may think, the temperature of a fever does not have to be excessively high for a seizure to come on. What sets up this “perfect storm” (so to speak) is how rapidly the body’s temperature spikes. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, “Approximately one in every 25 children will have at least one febrile seizure, and more than one-third of these children will have additional febrile seizures before they outgrow the tendency to have them.”
Although it’s one of the most terrifying things you’ll witness your child go through during his or her toddler years, the seizure itself is pretty harmless. In most cases it lasts for one to two minutes. The best course of action if your child does experience this is to clear the area and watch to ensure that you child doesn’t harm himself or anyone around him. You do not want to do what I did and pick up your child; looking back I can see how that was really not a wise decision. Most febrile seizures come on at the onset of the fever and occur in children ages six months up to six years of age. One febrile seizure occurrence is also not a precursor to a more serious diagnosis such as epilepsy. Children who have had a febrile seizures are more prone to subsequent ones, however, the risk is raised if the child’s first seizure was before the age of 15 months.
By the way, Kendall’s completely fine. Brennan, for the longest time, reenacted what happened that day for everyone to watch. Just stay calm mama, it’s going to be scary, but everything will be okay.
Have any of your kids had febrile seizures before?
Actually there is a genetic marker to febrile seizures. It’s not how rapidly the temperature rises but whether your DNA is predisposed to having seizures.
My son had a febrile seizure when he was 1 1/2 years old. Scariest day of my life. He was at my mother-in-laws and my brother-in-law called my husband and told us that our son was unconscious. We raced over to the emergency room which was an hour in rush hour traffic. I was frantic worried about my baby, if he was okay and what had happened. Thank goodness he came back a little bit before we got there and the doctor explained what had happened. The doctor said he could have another one at a young age, but he is 3 now and has not had another one, so hopefully we are in the clear, but if not I know what to look for.
That must have been so scary. I’m so glad your little one is doing ok, and that her big brother is comfortable enough with the situation to act it out. It would have been terrible if it startled him to the point of constantly being jumpy around her.
I am so sorry, that has to be terrifying! None of my children have ever had a seizure (yet) but my 7 year old nephew just had one for the first time in July. He is very much on the old side for this kind of seizure, so they did a lot of extra tests to make sure there wasn’t something else wrong. Thankfully everything turned out normal.
My daughter did this right before her second birthday. It was scary but I knew what it was so I was clam. We did go to the hospital to get checked out and see if there was an infection causing the fever. She was fine. But then she started having them without having a fever and every time I took her to the hospital they would tell me it was still a febrile seizure. I knew it wasn’t but we took her to a different emergency room each time she had a seizure and they all said the same thing. Then one doctor told me to stop bringing her to the emergency room for a seizure. There was nothing they could do. One seizure was so bad she lost the feeling in her legs for 48 hours and couldn’t walk. She had to stay in the hospital for the weekend. It was horrible. And that dr still told me it was a febrile seizure but she had no fever that whole weekend. So she started preschool and her teacher thought she was having absent seizures and said I should ask for a referral to the neurologist. The neurologist said there is no way you can have a febrile seizure without a fever. She did an MRI and that was clear. Then she did an EEG and it showed no seizures. I was upset because I knew she had seizures. I had seen them. So the neurologist said she wanted to do another EEG. I agreed. This time she had two different types of seizures show up on the EEG. That was a year ago. We are still trying to figure out the right meds for her. Right now she has maybe one or two seizures a week. She doesn’t have the febrile seizures anymore. Now she has tonic seizure where all her muscles go limp at once and she falls to the ground and she has atypical absent seizures where her mind goes blank but her motor skills keep going. So if she is walking and has a seizure she will keep walking during it. It’s scary but I’m glad we have answers. Please trust your mommy instinct and remember if your child doesn’t have a fever before the seizure starts, it isn’t a febrile seizure. And when your unsure, see a neurologist.
Just wanted to pass along that a friend of mine lost her daughter (8 months old) to a febrile seizure. All was fine, the baby spiked a fever and then seizured. She never came out of the seizure. She was gone. Many tests were performed and even the horrifying autopsy only to reveal NOTHING. Only God knows why that sweet baby girl was taken home to Heaven. The only thing I can say is squeeze your babies every night and say a prayer. Only God truly knows when He will call us home.
Glad your situation wasn’t fatal! Sweet Baby Caden will be remembered forever.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! Can I ask what the follow up was? Did you need to take her to the ER? I’m amazed at the statistic 1 out of 25. This might be a silly question, but was she coming down with something, and her fever just spiked quickly? Or was it just an isolated fever/seizure incident? Reading your post made me tear up, picturing this happening to my little one, sorry you had this scary experience, I hope it’s the last like it. Take care!
Heidi – Thanks for your comment. We met with her pediatrician a few days afterwards. It was just a general check up, however, when I took her in for her two year appointment her doctor informed me that the pediatricians in her office had noticed that there was an extremely high rate of febrile seizures the week that Kendall had her’s. They think it was a virus that might have made more children susceptible to febrile seizures.
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend’s loss, Anna.
Oh Jessica! My heart hurts for the pain you’ve felt watching your baby go through this. I cannot imagine. Hoping that they can figure out quickly what’s happening with your sweet little girl.
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Thanks for this informative and practical post.
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