my traumatic weekend

as always, i was SO looking forward to the long weekend last week to be with baby nia & hubz unfortunately i spent saturday to tuesday in the hospital instead. Nia woke up with mild fever, her temp was 37.8ºC, we decided to take her to the GP and get her checked. She did not have any flu or runny nose just sudden temperature. At the GP's however, her temp dropped a few points, but we still got some liquid paarcetamol in case the temp rises again. So we got home, rolled around, ate, fed her meds, slept for a bit, woke up, went to Cold Storage in 1U to get some groceries and got home. I checked her temp again soon as we got back (which was close to 6pm), her temp was 37.5ºC, my hubz ate first then went to roll around with the baby while i ate. All of a sudden he shouted "she's shivering" and carried her off into the car and started the engine. I ran to the car while my sis opened the gate so that we could back out of the porch.

I plonked in at the back seat and reached to get her from my husband and only then I realised that she was awfully light and her body was hard. I was carrying her in my arms and trying to make eye contact but she seem to be staring into space, I kept calling her name, when suddenly her face turned blue! At this time we were pulling out of the porch and I was screaming uncontrollably "She's turning blue! She's turning blue" (oh God, writing this down is harder than i thought it would be!). My hubz thought she was choking and asked me to check her mouth, I propped her up on my lap and tried to open her mouth but it was clasped shut and her eyes were shut too and her head lolled to one side with her face all blue!

I put her on my thigh and was tapping her back (as I thought she was choking) and all the while crying and wailing, "Stay with me, honey, stay with mummy, you're gonna be alright, you're gonna be alright". I lifted her up from my thigh and she gave one loud sigh and started to cry! And the colour returned to her face! But my God, within that 1 minute I thought I had died, but at the same time I wanted to keep her alive, I felt this pain in my guts that I had not felt before, the whole episode of my labour was running on FastForward in my head and I kept seeing her blue face with the blank eye staring into space. My baby! My precious little baby.

My hubz to dropped me off at accident & emergency entrance to DSH (which is nearer than going from the front) and I ran carrying her into the emergency area and asked, in the midst of tears and suppresed sob, to see a doctor. A medical officer took her to the treatment area, checked her, asked me to describe exactly what happened and diagnosed it as "febrile fits/seizures" caused by high temperature. He suggested that we admit her so that her temp can be monitored and called her paed to inform that we're admitting her. By this time, her temp dropped again to under 38ºC.

It DID NOT accur to me that she was actually having a 'febrile convulsions' or fever related fits/seizure until the doctor said it! I know what it is, I've heard about it a thousand times how when I was 11 months old I've had that same bloody fits and my folks frantically took me to the hospital as mine lasted for some time and I was also foaming in the mouth! But when it happened to my baby, I just wasn't prepared and it just didn't register! The strangest thing is that, from the time I took her temp (37.5ºC) to the time she had the fits it was probably less than half an hour, and within that time, the temp must have risen to a minimum of 39ºC which has caused the fits.

The less-than-4-minutes trip to DSH from our home was an excruciating journey for me. But through all of this, I must say that I now have greater admiration for my hubz who stayed calm throughout the ordeal, otherwise we may not even have gotten to the hospital!

For the benefit all new parents, here is an excerpt on febrile convulsions from www. netdoctor.co.uk. Although sometimes no matter how much knowledge you may have you may just black out at the crucial times, nevertheless, it's no harm to know.

What is a febrile convulsion?
Rapid temperature increases can cause febrile convulsions.
Febrile convulsions occur in young children when there is a rapid increase in their body temperature. It affects up to 1 in 20 children between the ages of one and four but can affect children between six months and about five years old. Children who are at risk may naturally have a lower resistance to febrile convulsion than others.

What is the risk of suffering a febrile convulsion?
Children may inherit the tendency to suffer febrile convulsion from their parents.

• If either parent suffered a febrile convulsion as a child, the risk of the child getting it rises 10 to 20 per cent.
• If both parents and their child have at some point suffered a febrile convulsion, the risk of another child getting it rises 20 to 30 per cent.

Nevertheless, the child's susceptibility also depends on whether the child frequently gets infections. About 4 out of 10 children who have had febrile convulsions will get them again at some stage, although the risk differs greatly from child to child. The child's risk of febrile convulsion rises if:

• they are genetically predisposed to it
• they suffer frequent illnesses, which include high temperatures
• the first attack of febrile convulsion was accompanied by a relatively low body temperature - below 39ºC.

One in a thousand children may suffer a febrile convulsion after receiving the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine. In these cases it occurs 8 to 10 days after the vaccination and is caused by the the measles component of the vaccine. However, this causes only about one tenth of cases of febrile convulsion compared with measles itself. Children who are prone to febrile convulsions should follow the same programme of vaccination as all other children.

What are the symptoms?

• The attack often begins with the child losing consciousness, and shortly afterwards the body, legs and arms go stiff.
• The head is thrown backwards and the legs and arms begins to jerk.
• The skin goes pale and may even turn blue briefly.
• The attack ends after a few minutes and the shaking stops. The child goes limp, and then normal colour and consciousness slowly return.
• Some children regain consciousness faster than others

What to do if your child suffers an attack of febrile convulsion

Do not intervene while the attack is taking place except in the circumstance outlined below.Carefully turn the child's head to one side to prevent choking. In the past, it was common to place a stick in the child's mouth to prevent bites to the tongue or lips. This should never be attempted, as it may result in lasting damage to the teeth.When the fit subsides, keep the child in the recovery position, ie lying on its side. If fits are prolonged or follow each other rapidly, call an ambulance. The first time a child suffers febrile convulsions they should be admitted to hospital. If the child has suffered attacks on earlier occasions, hospitalisation is not always necessary. However, it is always important, for example, to determine whether the convulsions are only due to a harmless viral infection. For this reason, a doctor should always be consulted following an attack.