Two Mondays ago my husband arrived home at 4:30pm and we all settled down on the couch to watch a movie with the kids, since my younger two had not been feeling well most of the day. With in about 5 minutes into the movie I looked down at my 2 year old who was snuggling up with me and noticed her lips had turned purple. I sat up and quickly realized she wasn't breathing. I handed her to my husband who then laid her on the floor and he told me to call 911. I dialed with my handshaking and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. As I told the operator what was going on, where we lived and my phone number I watched my husband trying to get my daughter to respond after she continue to not breath he gave her two breaths. After those breaths, my daughter threw up and started breathing again. Shortly after that the paramedics showed up and got right down to business. Taking her stats, asking questions and trying to figure out what just happened. Then they all agreed that she had a Febrile Seizure, meaning her body temperature spiked faster then her little body could handle. They reassured us this was a normal reaction for a 2 year old with a fast temperature spike. We all agreed that we would feel comfortable staying home and watching her. Well with in 10-15 minutes of them leaving our daughter had another seizure, this time she started convulsing and her eyes rolled back. My mother-in-law showed up and as soon as she walked through the door she began praying, while I dialed 911 again. My mom then showed up and was able to help calm our other 2 children as we waited for the paramedics to come back. They arrived in about 5 minutes and by that time she had stopped the convulsions, but looked to be unconscious. Again the paramedics asked questions, took her stats and asked what we would like to do. By this time I was pretty freaked out and really didn't know what to do and my husband was ready to take her to the hospital. The Paramedic that seemed to be in charged reassured us that again her temp spiked to fast and this was her body's reaction. She let us know what would happen if we took our daughter to the hospital, but she also felt that if we could get her some medicine to get the fever under control we would probably be ok to just stay home with her, but it was up to us. We decided on staying home and I slept on the couch with her that night, terrified it would happen again, but thankfully it didn't.
The rest of our week was filled with all 3 kids getting fevers and the stomach flu. It was a long week of restless nights, TONS of laundry and a week with cartoons and movies. Finally Saturday morning came, the sun was out and everyone seemed healthy. So after a busy weekend the next Monday came and all I could think about was getting life back to normal. Well that was a short lived thought.
Last Monday morning started off to be pretty normal. After everyone woke up breakfast was served, everyone got dressed and brushed their teeth, laundry was started, so far so good. And then our family dog of almost 5 years (which we had him since he was a puppy) bit my son in the face. I didn't see the incident, but I heard it and by the time I had gotten to my son and he was bleeding and crying. I clean up the cuts, text my husband and the dog spent the rest of the day in his crate or outside. That was it, as good as a dog he was and there were times he wasn't so good, but it didn't really matter now I wanted that dog out of my house. After looking at all our options, we finally took the dog up to my inlaws until we could figure out exactly what to do with him. Well through my mother-in-law's friend we were able to find the dog a good home, with no kids.
Now what to do about my son's face. I did what I knew what to do or what I thought would be best, but it just seemed to be not getting any better. So I got in contact with one of my good friends who is also a nurse and asked her opinion. After getting a picture message of my sons face that I texted her she advised me to take him to the doctor. I was able to get an appointment that day and he was on antibiotics by late afternoon. His face is getting better, I just feel so bad that this happened to him. He loved that dog and just wanted to pet him.
So I have officially decided that I DON'T like Mondays and am thinking of erasing them from my calendar. I think two Saturdays sound good to me :)
Yesterday I was praying and reading my bible and I began to think about all the events of the last 10 days. I have come to the conclusion that all the things that happened could be attacks from the devil. About 3 weeks ago I stepped out in faith and spoke to the women from our Women's Retreat and 2 weeks before that spoke to the high school youth group. I am now starting to really understand why we should continue praying even after we have taken our step of faith. We may feel our job is done, but that doesn't mean the devil won't "reward" us for trusting God and doing what He has asked of us. But even in the midst of what I feel like are attacks on my family I have seen God's hand upon us and I know that He never left. Through the last year my confidence has grown in the Lord and I know we may have to walk through horrible things in this lifetime, but I have confidence in my God that He will walk right next to me, He will protect me and my family and He will help me to overcome and turn to good what the devil has intended for evil.
Proverbs 3:26 "for the Lord will be your confidence..."
Joshua 1:5 "...I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Through these last 10 days I have seen God's hand on my family...
- My husband had been home maybe 10 minutes before my daughter's first seizure. He took control and was pretty calm during the whole time.
- We had paramedics that responded with in 2-5 minutes of each call. They were calm, gave us all the information we needed and even spoke to our other 2 kids to let them know that their sister was going to be ok.
- Both our moms were able to be at our house in 15 minutes and help us out with whatever we needed.
- Not all 3 kids were all sick at the same time and they were all well so we could attend my Grandpa's 80th birthday party.
- We were able to find a good new home for our dog with in 2 days on the incident.
- My wonderful friend gave me so much help and insight on what to do for my son. I have deemed her "My Personal On-Call Nurse"
- I was able to get an appointment with our doctor the same day I called and didn't have to spend extra time or money at the ER or Urgent Care.
Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me; Your rod and your staff they comfort me.
