It’s Happened Again! - The Third Febrile Seizure We Have Experienced With Our Children - Why We Decided Not To Admit Our Son Into The Hospital Once It Passed!

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This is exactly how our 17 month old son looked once his seizure started to calm. This was his second febrile seizure. A febrile seizure happens when there is a sudden spike or sudden drop in your babies body temperature. He had his first one when he was only 6 months old and it’s very terrifying to go through. It is not known for a febrile seizure to be life threatening but when you see your baby convulsing and seeming to be unconscious it feels life threatening.

The medics told us we did everything we were supposed to do. Our son has been fighting an air virus the last several days. Yesterday was the first day he strikes a fever. We were instantly on it because we know a spike in temperature can cause such a seizure. If you have been following my blog for awhile you know that we are a family of Natural Remedies. But when we have witnessed this more than once (once in my 6 year old son when he was 2 and now twice for our baby) we can’t take any chances with temperature. Yes we can try Natural ways to keep his fever down but sometimes that takes too long and before you know it it’s too late. So we opted to give him infant Tylenol throughout the day to be safe.

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Here’s where febrile seizures get tricky. You can give your child Tylenol and plenty of fluids but it’s hard to catch when their temperature rises or drops quickly. It had been three hours after his last Tylenol dose and my husband was holding him in his arms. I was upstairs napping because oh yes I too am sick and needed rest. This virus has got most of my family down right now. I wake up to hear my husband yelling,

Babe wake up, it’s happening again. Call 9-1-1!!!

Of course my heart sunk into my stomach because I already knew what was happening. I get up immediately and get help on the way. When this happened the last time, we told ourselves we would not panic and we would be able to get through this on our own. We know that we should:

• PRAY CONTINUOUSLY
• Lay him on his side (in case he drools you do not want him on his back)
• Make sure nothing is in his mouth during the seizure
• Clear all hard objects from around him
• Do not try to move his body during the seizure
• Rub his body down gently with alcohol to try and cool his body
• Put a cool rag on his forehead
• Watch to make sure he keeps breathing
• Stay with him until it passes

But when it’s actually happening all confidence goes out the window that we can do this without medical assistance because it looks so terrifying. My husband admitted he did panic and later on realized we shouldn’t have called for help. This seizure didn’t last as long as the first one (this one was 5 minutes and the first one was almost 15 minutes long) and it wasn’t as severe (meaning he wasn’t convulsing as much). Yet we still were afraid to take a chance so we opted for help.

Because this was his second seizure the paramedic team insisted we take him into Pediatric Emergency. We agreed and my husband rode with the baby in the ambulance and I drove behind them. At this point they were checking his vitals to make sure he was okay. Once we got to the hospital my husband saw that he was coming to, our son started to open his eyes and look around. This was a good sign that he was okay and the seizure was fully over. My husband explained to me we should just take him home instead of checking him in. Those three times we have called for an ambulance stays on our records. We knew that we would have to answer tons of questions and there would be further write up on our children and their seizures. Even though we were told we did the right things, somehow this could backfire on us and we could be listed for a visit from health services.

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Now let me tell you about health services if you are unfamiliar. My neighbor has 3 sons that all have very severe asthma attacks. They are allergic to peanuts mainly and some other things. She told me after her middle son had his 3rd asthma attack, she was visited by a health service employee. The lady stated she needed to come into her home to “check” and make sure things were safe and everyone was okay. My neighbor knew she was being investigated for abuse and the department wanted to check their living conditions. She complied and let her in and since then she has visited her 3 times. If this lady from the health department found anything she thought was abuse she could have easily reported the parents to CPS. Thank God this never happened and as of today it seems she has stopped visiting them.

So if you have a child with a health condition and have to call for an ambulance more than once, it seems you will automatically be targeted for someone to come and check for abuse or maltreatment. It’s sad the way it is, knowing we want the best for our children and try to make the best health decisions for them. If you have asked for help you may just be targeted. This was one of the reasons we decided to continue to care for him at home. We feel the more you stay around the hospital the more risky it is. Especially for my family that homeschools and does not vaccinate. We would really be at the top of their hit list.

Of course people may think we’re crazy for not letting him get checked in but we knew he was okay. We knew at that point he was back with us and just needed more fluids and rest. This happened yesterday and today his temperature has stayed down and he is playing like normal. I don’t let him out of my sight just in case but we know he’s okay now. Unfortunately a child can have a febrile seizure up to age 4. We’re just hoping this was his last one. Lord forbid it happens again, but if it does we have made the decision to do what we were taught to do (by the medical teams and from our own experience) and see to it that he gets through it and comes out safely from it.

Have you ever heard of these child seizures? I pray none of your children EVER experience one.