Since my last blog a few things have happened...
On Thursday, Madilyn woke up with a low grade fever... I gave her some motrin and called the dr. because she had been exposed to strep and hand/foot/mouth, and had been in the nursery, etc. over the last couple of weeks, and I was concerned. The dr. said to wait and see if her temp gets over 102... well, I gave her motrin throughout the day, and then around 3:30 laid her down for her nap. By 6:15p she still hadn't gotten up, and I wanted her to go to bed well that night, so I went in and woke her up (Motrin was starting to wear off around this time) and she felt SOOO warm. I took her temp and it said 102 (under the arm)... so I gave her more meds and took her clothes off and gave her some water. She was so flushed, I was wondering if the thermometer
was right, she just felt so warm. Well, I needed to run to the store quick, so John said he'd feed her dinner. I stepped outside to leave, and my neighbor, Marilyn, from across the street asked if she could go with me to pick some stuff up. I said sure.. (she shouldn't be driving, she's on all sorts of medications, is in her 70's, and has had trouble with falling lately). She said she needed to get her wig and would be right back out... :) I stood there waiting for a bit, and then stepped back inside to tell John I hadn't left yet, but I was taking Marilyn w/me to the store. As I stepped back in John started yelling that something was wrong and to "come here NOW"... I walked over to the table and Madilyn was slumped over in her high chair with her eyes open, but looking up to the right and "water" was coming out of the side of her mouth. I guess she had tipped her head back to take a drink... kind of glitched, and then just slumped to the side. I now know it was a febrile seizure. It was not the kind called a "tonic-clonic", meaning she just went limp, instead of convulsing. It was terrifying. She didn't respond to anything, she just laid there, then her lips started turning blue... I panicked, and Johns started the car, he got in the back (since I was crying uncontrollably, and I couldn't figure out how to buckle her in the carseat), and I drove to the hospital (honking with my flashers on, going WAY over the speed limit) and pulled into the ER and John ran in and I parked. I don't know all of the details of how she was doing on the way to the hospital, and don't remember, but I know she was making scary sounds... (I now know that next time, I can just walk the 1/2 block to the fire station by my house, and they have first responders there 24/7 and will call an ambulance, instead of me endangering our lives to get to the ER... I wasn't thinking straight though... :( ) By the time I walked in, she was in the first room in the ER vomiting, but actually crying and responding... I was SO relieved! Her temp was 104.5 ON motrin. (What had happened, was while taking a nap, when the motrin started to wear off, her fever spiked very rapidly, which caused the seizure.) So, we were admitted, and she was given tylenol (which she vomited up 20 minutes later). Since she couldn't keep anything down to reduce her fever, she was given an i.v.. Then, they ran a battery of tests, inserted a cath (just to get a urine sample), took blood, etc. She was just SCREAMING every time a nurse came in. They gave her anti-nausea medicine in her i.v., so she was finally able to keep tylenol down, thank GOD! They gave her a dose of a very strong antibiotic, just in case the fever was caused by something bacterial. Around 1:30 a.m. after Madilyn had been woken up so many times by getting a rectal temp taken, poked and prodded I had had enough. She wouldn't go to sleep as long as we were there since she started screaming any time a nurse or doctor walked in. Her temp was normal, and they gave us instructions and let us go home. I have not slept well since that night, just waking up in the night to go check on her... etc. I was so scared that something would happen in the night and I wouldn't know it. She had been on a motrin/tylenol regiment where we switched off every 4 hours since about 9:45p on Thursday. Last night I gave her a dose of Motrin @ 11 p, and then nothing else till morning... and I was sooo scared, but she was just fine. Judging by how she's acting, most likely she doesn't need anything, but I am still a little too skittish. ;) I'll get over it, but it's gonna take me a while. She's happy and giggling and running around again, my sweet happy baby... but I am still so scared that she'll get another virus and I won't keep on it and something will happen, but I have to trust in our Mighty Lord that He will protect her and us. I know he will, it's just so scary to let go of something like this. I mean, she's my baby, you know? How do you ever completely let go of control of your child? I mean, yes, she is in the Lord's hands, but we are humans, and sometimes God allows things, so I am struggling right now. God is bigger than me and my fears though!
On a more positive note! My sweet girl has been doing new things!
She says balloon, no no no, bath, ball, bubble, boo boo (learned this one @ the hospital :( ), please, yes, and she responds with an affirmative uh-huh (implying yes) when she wants something or if you ask her a question. It's so cute!
She LOVES baths, and asks for one every night, sometimes morning and night.
She LOVES to brush her teeth, and if I would let her, she would carry her tooth brush around all day and just suck on it and brush it back and forth! LOL! Last night I told her that she couldn't stand on the couch... She looked at me, and stood up! So, I told her no, and put her in a time out... she CRIED and ran to daddy, took his hand and led him over to the couch as if to say, "will you let me stand on it daddy?". Oh man, it starts early!!!! Luckily we have a deal already where we ask what the other says and we go with that. We are a team... but the whole standing on the couch thing is an obvious one. :)
Here's some pictures as of late... I finally found my camera! YAY! I found it with my mom's lost camera (lol) in the stroller @ her house in her garage. We must have been @ the zoo, or on a walk or something where we both felt we needed our camera. At least now we both have ours back! Thanks for your prayers for Madilyn, they were definitely needed, felt and appreciated!
Above is Madilyn standing on the floor during our flight to MN a couple months ago...
Her new friend Emma. Emma's mom and I are friends from 6th grade. We visited them because Michelle (Emma's mom) had her baby while we were there.
This is visiting my aunt & uncle in MN, and Madilyn got to go on her first boat ride! She loved it at first, then got mad that she couldn't take off the life jacket! :)
This is MN for you... the above picture is the same day as the boating pic above that. Swimming in the day, sweat shirts at night (until July). Madilyn had a blast in the pool!
This is my mom's sister and her kids ( my cousins) during our trip to the Mall of America! Madilyn didn't know what to think of all of the rides!
The three cousins taking a stroll in the Nickelodeon Universe in the MOA
Poor Ethan, I tried to get Madilyn to look, but she was too enthralled w/the roller coaster going by... :)
This is during our recent trip to Riverbanks Zoo. Madilyn has learned to smile when I say "say cheese" for the camera! :)
Madilyn felt she was old enough to wander away from me to look @ the monkeys. She learned to say "ooo ooo ooo" for what monkey's say during this trip! :)
My cute little bug! :)So, that's it for now! I'll give more updates after I take her to her 15 month appt later this week.
