My week last week!
Aston has the pox, his case is a lot worse than Amalias was, his face, head and nappy area are covered, and his temp has been consistantly high. Yesterday when I was at my grandmas, I felt his temp go up, so gave him some more pamol and headed home (less than 15 mins away) when we got home Aston had been sick in the car seat and was shivering (he was wearing an all in one and singlet) so I knew his temp was up. Got inside and started running the bath, stripped him off and checked his temp which was 39.1 under his arm. Put Aston in the bath, called P and told him he should come home cos his temp was so high and rang Lou to ask what a scary temp was cos I couldnt remember.
Got Aston out of the bath and dried him, put a nappy on and covered him with a sheet cos he was shivering again. Checked his temp and it had gone down to 38.4, he went to sleep so I laid him in the bouncer, Pierre came home and Aston woke up grizzling so Pierre just had him on his lap, where he fell asleep. Was drifting in an out, grizzling. I put Britney Spears on (his fav song) and he started dancing and zonked out again. Checked his temp again and it had gone back up to 38.6, so I gave it another 10 mins and checked again and it had gone up to 38.7 so we decided to take him to the white cross 10 mins away. Got stuff organised, put a singlet on Aston, changed his nappy, and piled the kids into the car.
Less than 2 minutes down the road, Pierre said Aston what are you doing, and then said oh doodle ball he is seizing, so I slammed on the brakes and pulled over, got out and ran around to Astons side of the car, managed to get him out of the carseat (not an easy feat when he is jerking and stiff) and held him on his side and threw myself on the ground, unfortunately landing on the edge of someones driveway, so I had an extremely sore tailbone.
I yelled at Pierre to call an ambulance, poor amalia was crying in the back seat cos she wanted to be let out. I couldnt stop crying and yelling at him to stop, it was the most horrifying experience I have ever had happen to me, his eyes were so vacant, and he was grunting, and jerking, his arms were up in front of his body locked, I could barely tell if he was getting any oxygen, I was pleading with him to stop and saying his name, I kept thinking about him dying or being severely brain damaged and the last thing he would have heard was me yelling at Amalia in the car, or that I had been grumpy all day yesterday. At one point his lips started going blue, so the ambulance dispatcher, told P to give him some mouth to mouth. Thankfully he didnt need to do more than 1-2 breathes, I couldnt stop pleading for him to stop which pissed Pierre off and he yelled at me to shut up cos he couldnt hear what the dispatcher was saying. I kept saying that they need to hurry up. They seemed to be taking forever...
I stood up with him in my arms and sat on the front seat of the car, he was still seizing (so however long P was on the phone to the ambulance at least 2 minutes although I am sure it was much longer) and I just kept talking to him, the seizure finally started to slow down, but his breathing had changed. It finally stopped but he wasnt there at all, his eyes were so vacant, and he was making a horrible sound, and his breathing was very very grunty. I remember saying to Pierre that the seizure had stopped but Aston wasnt here, he didnt recognise me, just looked straight through me. I asked P to let Amalia out as she was really distressed, and she came to the front of the car and we just sat there talking to Aston, telling him I loved him, and Amalia was patting his head. A lady came out from her house, and asked what was wrong, and I said that he had just had a seizure and it had just stopped we were waiting for the ambulance. She was really awesome, reassured me that it was normal after this sort of thing for them to take ages to come around, that he was probably still seizing slightly. He was still making an odd sound with his mouth, and dribbling heaps, his breathing was still grunty and he kept closing his eyes. All I could think about was my baby dying in my arms and what they fidget I would do Sad
The ambulance finally arrived, and thankfully just as they pulled up, Aston started screaming, I have never been so relieved to hear my baby scream his head off in my whole entire life. We got in the ambulance, and establised we would go to NSH because starship was further away, and it was 6pm so traffic would be nasty.. .The ambulance ride took forever, Aston just screamed the whole time, he would stop, and then a minute or so later start screaming again, his temp was 39.1 in his ear, and his heart rate was around 170+
Got to the hospital, and walked into the entrance, he had stopped screaming by then but still hadnt opened his eyes. Amalia and P were there (the were right behind the ambulance the whole time) and Amalia was absolutely awesome, patting Astons head and telling him it would be ok. We walked through to resus, and Aston was still crying, but was starting to open his eyes, I just stood there rocking back and forth telling him I loved him... I noticed that he had started tracking with his eyes again, but he still didnt notice that I was even there, he didnt register my face at all. Finally he started to come too and notice us thankfully.
The doctors came in, took a brief history and put monitors on him and checked his temp. His temp rectally was 39.9, heartrate was around 170-200+ he still kept having screaming fits which didnt help the heart rate. Thankfully Josh and Leila arrived so Leila took Amalia out to the waiting room. They had to draw some blood, which is no easy feat in a screaming 13 month old, the eventually got the lure in (2nd try), took the blood but as the doctor was taking the syringe off it, she pulled it out but they decided not to try and do another one, as we were managing to get Aston to take a bottle. He finally stopped screaming and even smiled at Josh, which was the most amazing feeling ever, because it meant he was going back to normal. His heart rate started to go down and was now around the 130-140 range which was so much nicer to see, and the alarms had stopped going off.
The course of action was get the temp down (which meant panadol rectally poor little man) and get fluids into him, keep an eye on him, get a urine sample (which took forever) and then hopefully go home. If the temp didnt go down, then they would transfer us to starship to stay overnight.
Josh and Leila took Amalia home, and Aston fell asleep on Pierre, we then got moved down to the very small paeds area, and got to sit in lazy boys thankfully as my pelvis was killing me, and we just waited. Aston slept tons, we kept giving him paedialtye, and we waited some more... The doctor came and chatted to us, his temp had come down and was now 38.2 which is a lot nicer of a number. His heart rate was back down. We asked about the long term affects of the seizure and she said that there wouldnt be any, and gave us a print out about febrile seizures.
His blood tests all came back normal, well within normal for having chickenpox (except for one result, but we can go to the GP to get that retested in a couple of weeks) which was really reassuring because I have been stressing that he hasnt been getting enough due to weaning and not having formula, just rice milk. And he didnt have a UTI either thank god.
I was freaking out a little though because I was having regular painful contractions every 3-5 minutes lasting between 40-50seconds, which had been building up since we were there, thankfully they seem to have stopped now, so it was just stress and dehydration I think.
We were going to be discharged (this was around 1230am) but they took his temp again, and his pulse and it was back up to 39.1, and his heart rate was in the 170s. I was very relucatant to go home with his temp being high again, as I was terrified he would have another seizure. Thankfully they were really nice about it, and asked me what I wanted to do, they said we could transfer to Starship if I was really unsure about going home (or stay there for awhile longer). So thats what we did!
By the time we got there his temp was down to 38. The doctor came and saw us, and explained what we could do, and gave us our options. Now that his temp had come down, we opted to have some phenergan (to help the itching and for him to sleep) and we would go home.
We got home about 4.30, put Aston to bed, had a drink and went to sleep ourselves. I woke a couple of times and gave Aston more pamol, but he slept reasonably well.
His temp is still up and down today, very grizlly, and we are only keeping the temp down with Pamol, so cant forget to give it to him. There are still a few pox that havent burst yet, but I am hoping he isnt going to get anymore and that yesterday was the worst day.
I am still very terrified of another seizure, and have to keep stopping and looking at him to make sure he is still breathing. I cant get the picture of him seizing out of my head, I cant believe how much I freaked out, even though rationally I knew what was causing it, and that he would be ok, ive never been so terrified in my whole entire life :(
Got Aston out of the bath and dried him, put a nappy on and covered him with a sheet cos he was shivering again. Checked his temp and it had gone down to 38.4, he went to sleep so I laid him in the bouncer, Pierre came home and Aston woke up grizzling so Pierre just had him on his lap, where he fell asleep. Was drifting in an out, grizzling. I put Britney Spears on (his fav song) and he started dancing and zonked out again. Checked his temp again and it had gone back up to 38.6, so I gave it another 10 mins and checked again and it had gone up to 38.7 so we decided to take him to the white cross 10 mins away. Got stuff organised, put a singlet on Aston, changed his nappy, and piled the kids into the car.
Less than 2 minutes down the road, Pierre said Aston what are you doing, and then said oh doodle ball he is seizing, so I slammed on the brakes and pulled over, got out and ran around to Astons side of the car, managed to get him out of the carseat (not an easy feat when he is jerking and stiff) and held him on his side and threw myself on the ground, unfortunately landing on the edge of someones driveway, so I had an extremely sore tailbone.
I yelled at Pierre to call an ambulance, poor amalia was crying in the back seat cos she wanted to be let out. I couldnt stop crying and yelling at him to stop, it was the most horrifying experience I have ever had happen to me, his eyes were so vacant, and he was grunting, and jerking, his arms were up in front of his body locked, I could barely tell if he was getting any oxygen, I was pleading with him to stop and saying his name, I kept thinking about him dying or being severely brain damaged and the last thing he would have heard was me yelling at Amalia in the car, or that I had been grumpy all day yesterday. At one point his lips started going blue, so the ambulance dispatcher, told P to give him some mouth to mouth. Thankfully he didnt need to do more than 1-2 breathes, I couldnt stop pleading for him to stop which pissed Pierre off and he yelled at me to shut up cos he couldnt hear what the dispatcher was saying. I kept saying that they need to hurry up. They seemed to be taking forever...
I stood up with him in my arms and sat on the front seat of the car, he was still seizing (so however long P was on the phone to the ambulance at least 2 minutes although I am sure it was much longer) and I just kept talking to him, the seizure finally started to slow down, but his breathing had changed. It finally stopped but he wasnt there at all, his eyes were so vacant, and he was making a horrible sound, and his breathing was very very grunty. I remember saying to Pierre that the seizure had stopped but Aston wasnt here, he didnt recognise me, just looked straight through me. I asked P to let Amalia out as she was really distressed, and she came to the front of the car and we just sat there talking to Aston, telling him I loved him, and Amalia was patting his head. A lady came out from her house, and asked what was wrong, and I said that he had just had a seizure and it had just stopped we were waiting for the ambulance. She was really awesome, reassured me that it was normal after this sort of thing for them to take ages to come around, that he was probably still seizing slightly. He was still making an odd sound with his mouth, and dribbling heaps, his breathing was still grunty and he kept closing his eyes. All I could think about was my baby dying in my arms and what they fidget I would do Sad
The ambulance finally arrived, and thankfully just as they pulled up, Aston started screaming, I have never been so relieved to hear my baby scream his head off in my whole entire life. We got in the ambulance, and establised we would go to NSH because starship was further away, and it was 6pm so traffic would be nasty.. .The ambulance ride took forever, Aston just screamed the whole time, he would stop, and then a minute or so later start screaming again, his temp was 39.1 in his ear, and his heart rate was around 170+
Got to the hospital, and walked into the entrance, he had stopped screaming by then but still hadnt opened his eyes. Amalia and P were there (the were right behind the ambulance the whole time) and Amalia was absolutely awesome, patting Astons head and telling him it would be ok. We walked through to resus, and Aston was still crying, but was starting to open his eyes, I just stood there rocking back and forth telling him I loved him... I noticed that he had started tracking with his eyes again, but he still didnt notice that I was even there, he didnt register my face at all. Finally he started to come too and notice us thankfully.
The doctors came in, took a brief history and put monitors on him and checked his temp. His temp rectally was 39.9, heartrate was around 170-200+ he still kept having screaming fits which didnt help the heart rate. Thankfully Josh and Leila arrived so Leila took Amalia out to the waiting room. They had to draw some blood, which is no easy feat in a screaming 13 month old, the eventually got the lure in (2nd try), took the blood but as the doctor was taking the syringe off it, she pulled it out but they decided not to try and do another one, as we were managing to get Aston to take a bottle. He finally stopped screaming and even smiled at Josh, which was the most amazing feeling ever, because it meant he was going back to normal. His heart rate started to go down and was now around the 130-140 range which was so much nicer to see, and the alarms had stopped going off.
The course of action was get the temp down (which meant panadol rectally poor little man) and get fluids into him, keep an eye on him, get a urine sample (which took forever) and then hopefully go home. If the temp didnt go down, then they would transfer us to starship to stay overnight.
Josh and Leila took Amalia home, and Aston fell asleep on Pierre, we then got moved down to the very small paeds area, and got to sit in lazy boys thankfully as my pelvis was killing me, and we just waited. Aston slept tons, we kept giving him paedialtye, and we waited some more... The doctor came and chatted to us, his temp had come down and was now 38.2 which is a lot nicer of a number. His heart rate was back down. We asked about the long term affects of the seizure and she said that there wouldnt be any, and gave us a print out about febrile seizures.
His blood tests all came back normal, well within normal for having chickenpox (except for one result, but we can go to the GP to get that retested in a couple of weeks) which was really reassuring because I have been stressing that he hasnt been getting enough due to weaning and not having formula, just rice milk. And he didnt have a UTI either thank god.
I was freaking out a little though because I was having regular painful contractions every 3-5 minutes lasting between 40-50seconds, which had been building up since we were there, thankfully they seem to have stopped now, so it was just stress and dehydration I think.
We were going to be discharged (this was around 1230am) but they took his temp again, and his pulse and it was back up to 39.1, and his heart rate was in the 170s. I was very relucatant to go home with his temp being high again, as I was terrified he would have another seizure. Thankfully they were really nice about it, and asked me what I wanted to do, they said we could transfer to Starship if I was really unsure about going home (or stay there for awhile longer). So thats what we did!
By the time we got there his temp was down to 38. The doctor came and saw us, and explained what we could do, and gave us our options. Now that his temp had come down, we opted to have some phenergan (to help the itching and for him to sleep) and we would go home.
We got home about 4.30, put Aston to bed, had a drink and went to sleep ourselves. I woke a couple of times and gave Aston more pamol, but he slept reasonably well.
His temp is still up and down today, very grizlly, and we are only keeping the temp down with Pamol, so cant forget to give it to him. There are still a few pox that havent burst yet, but I am hoping he isnt going to get anymore and that yesterday was the worst day.
I am still very terrified of another seizure, and have to keep stopping and looking at him to make sure he is still breathing. I cant get the picture of him seizing out of my head, I cant believe how much I freaked out, even though rationally I knew what was causing it, and that he would be ok, ive never been so terrified in my whole entire life :(