Counting Blessings

With a very scary and traumatic experience this past week we have so much to be grateful for. Wednesday night Gavin had a Febrile Seizure (had never even heard of this before), stopped breathing and turned blue for several minutes. We called 911 and he and I were rushed to a hospital. I was actually holding him taking his temperature when it happened. A Febrile Seizure is caused by a sudden spike in a body's temperature, not how high the temperature is but how fast it gets there. Gavin is doing great now, no long term effects, but it was the scariest night of my life. I was still really shaken the next day. Bret and I both thought we were losing him. But there are so many blessings to be grateful for during this horrifying experience.

• Obviously Gavin. We are so grateful that he is OK, with us, and there are no long term effects from the seizure. We knew the source of his fever was a double ear infection (I had been to the pediatrician earlier in the day.) That saved us from doing unpleasant tests such as a spinal tap. His fever broke yesterday and he is starting to feel better. In the future Bret and I really need to watch his fevers and start treating them even at 99. Febrile Seizures happen to 3% of children. Even though he has had this one doesn't mean he will have any more, but he could be more prone to them. That is something the doctors just don't know.
• We were home from our trip. I am SO grateful that this happened when we were home from our trip and here with him.
• He was with us and I was holding him when it happened. He is normally in bed at 7:30 at the latest every night. But he wasn't feeling well and Bret and I just had him with us. He had been sleeping on Bret's chest when we were watching a little T.V. Bret passed him to me to go put him in his bed and that's when I felt how warm he was. I went downstairs, gave him some medicine and brought the thermometer to take his temperature. I am so grateful I was holding him and he wasn't asleep in his crib.
• The other three kids did not wake up. Nothing less then a miracle. With Bret and I running past their open bedroom doors, me screaming and hysterical, sirens from about 5 emergency vehicles and 9 paramedics coming into our homes our children slept through the whole thing. I am so grateful for that because seeing Gavin as he was would have been very traumatic for them.

Life is so precious. Nothing like an experience like this to put everything else into perspective. Gavin we love you. You will always hold a very special place in our hearts.