these last few days. As you saw from the last posting, Marisa has been running some record fevers. We knew that she had some kind of infection and after talking to an on-call nurse, figured we'd watch her closely and keep giving her Motrin until Monday. I was going to make her an appointment with her doctor first thing Monday morning.
Well, Marisa's little body decided that waiting for the doctor on Monday was too long and we ended up calling 911 and taking her to the ER late Sunday night. Some of you may already know how the story unfolds, but here goes...
Marisa was due for another dose of Motrin at 11:30, so, I decided to just stay up until then and give her the medicine. Around 11:05, I could hear her voice coming from her room. It's actually quite normal for Marisa to wake up and talk or call out for me and then just turn over and go back to sleep. So, I didn't think much of it. After standing at her door for a few minutes, I figured it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and go in and just hold her until it was time for her medicine. I went in and she was still murmuring/moaning but didn't respond when I called out to her. It's very uncharacteristic of her to not pop up and say "Hi Momma!" as soon as she heard my voice. So, I called her again...no response from her. When I picked her up she was burning up and her little body was completely limp. She was completely unresponsive and was murmuring to herself. I took her to Josh and said something's wrong!! She's not responding. When we took her temperature it was 107!!! Josh jumped up and ran to the shower with her telling me we need to warm up the water so that her body didn't go into shock from the cold. We stripped her down and held water over her for the next 10 minutes and Josh called 911. The next 20 minutes were the scariest moments of my life.
All she would do was moan and every now and then she'd say mommy. I tried calling out to her and talking to her but I couldn't tell if she heard me or me not. Her eyes had rolled into the back of her head. I had no idea how long she'd been like this before I found her so, fears of brain damage were shooting through my mind. The last thing she had said to me that night was, "bye, momma. night, night - i wuv you, too." I kept thinking - were those the last words that she would ever speak to me? I can't even begin to list all of the fears that were going through my mind. Luckily Josh was still on the phone with the 911 dispatcher and an ambulance was on the way.
They finally arrived...I'm not even sure how much time had passed during all of this. They had us lay Marisa on the floor so that they could look at her but decided to just take us to the ER. On the way to the ER, she continued to murmur and occasionally call out for mommy, but there was still no response and she even opened her eyes for a split second. Her axillary temperature was 103.9 which was taken in the ambulance. The minute they wheeled us out of the ambulance, Marisa opened her eyes and looked around and she was finally out of her unresponsive state. Although, relieved, I still didn't know what was going to happen to her.
While in the ER, they took a rectal temperature which read 105.3 and they started giving her motrin and tylenol to reduce the fever. She had to have a catheter put in to obtain a urine sample, an IV put in for fluids, her nose had to be swabbed to test for the flu virus, and she had chest x-rays. The nurse told us that she had a febrile seizure based on the condition we found her in and how she was acting when she finally came out of it. The next hour was the longest hour, Josh and I had to live through. Marisa slept for the next hour and a half and during this time, the doctor finally came in and said...well, we know what's wrong - "ALL" it is, is a urinary tract infection. ALL?!?!?! Our life has been hell for the last 3 hours!!!! But, once we were able to think about it...we realized that it could have been so much worse and a urinary tract infection is easy to treat. At least, she didn't have to stay overnight for observations.
At 2:00AM, Marisa rolled over and opened her eyes and plainly said..."hi momma, where's dadda?" "Wook at my hand," she said "a bandaid! wow." I asked her to count her fingers and she started counting only to count 3 fingers. WHEW!!! Josh and I looked at her and realized that this was our Marisa, again...that she was out of the danger we found her in early that night. Once she started talking, she stopped only when the nurse came in to give her the antibiotics and to remove her IV. Her temperature had reduced to 100.2.
Our discharge instructions, included giving her alternating doses of motrin and tylenol (every 3-4 hours) and keeping her cool at night by only covering her with a thin sheet and letting her sleep only in her diaper. Having her sleep with almost nothing on was by far the hardest thing to follow. First of all, it's always freezing in our house and secondly, how much sleep can one get without snuggling up under the covers. She did sleep with shorts on but no shirt and she slept with a thin sheet. We woke her up at 6am to find that her temperature as only 97. So, we put her in more clothes to bring her temp back up to normal.
Marisa's temperature continued to climb and got as high as 104.8 on Monday, but today she's been maintaining a temperature between 99.2 and 102. I suppose this means that her antibiotics have kicked in and her body isn't the only thing left to fight off the infection. She's slowly regaining her strength and is starting to eat again. She's been really good about keeping up her fluid intake.
So, she's finally on the path to recovery. The last few days have been a true test for us as parents. I've always known that together Josh and I can handle anything that comes our way and these last few days have really brought that to light. This won't be the last time that we are tested, but at least I know that we will always have each other to get us through it. He is my rock and I couldn't do it without him. Thank you to all who have kept us in your prayers!
A note for first time parents:
1. Although your instinct is to cover up a child when the baby is running a fever, do the opposite. The covers cause them to overheat and causes their temperature to increase.
2. Don't put the child in cold water to reduce fever. It can induce shock by introducing a feverish baby to water that is too cold, instead strip them of their clothes.
3. When all else fails and you have no idea what to do, call 911 or take the child to the ER.
We are by no means doctors, but had we followed the first note, Marisa's temperature may not have spiked to 107. With the second note, we could have put her into shock but it was all we could think of that might help her.
