all better

katelyn has never really been a kid to get sick very often. we've been pretty lucky that way. tyler would say it was because of the hedin genes. he's always saying that his immune system is like a rock. so i was a little surprised when i went to get katelyn out of bed one morning, brushed the back of her neck, and it was hot! we took her temperature and sure enough, she had a slight fever. we didn't really think much of it. i grabbed some tylenol, gave her some and let her rest in front of a movie that morning. her fever went down quickly, and she seemed to be feeling better. i put her down for a nap that afternoon, and when she woke up, her fever had crept back up. i made sure to give her some more medicine and kept waiting for the fever to go down again, but it never did. by that evening she was looking and feeling pretty miserable. she didn't want much to eat. all she wanted to do was lay around and have her daddy hold her while watching a movie. every time we felt her forehead, she was hotter and hotter, and the medicine was doing nothing to relieve her from the discomfort.

this was the look on katelyn's face throughout the whole week

tyler and i were definitely concerned about katelyn that evening. we just weren't sure what to do to help her. we tried getting her in the bath, but she just cried. we tried a damp cloth on her forehead, but she cringed when we set it down on her head. we tried cooler drinks, but she wasn't interested. finally, we just had to put her to bed. we were constantly checking on her. at about 10:00 that night, we heard katelyn cry out and went into her room to see what was the matter. we immedietly noticed that she was regularly twitching her body and was quite stiff. i had read on the internet that young children can have febrile seizures from fevers that spike too quickly, and knew that she was having one of these. she snapped out of it very quickly, so we weren't too concerened about it. we got her a cold drink of water and i layed with her for a little bit longer. while i was laying with her i noticed that every minute or so she continued to involuntarily twitch. i thought that was a little strange but brushed it off thinking she was sleeping unfitfully from the fever. eventually i left the room, but felt that i really needed to leave the door open that night just in case katelyn needed us. i also left our bedroom door open too for the same reason.

as soon as my head hit the pillow, i was out. we had gone to bed much later than normal out of our concern for little katelyn. tyler, on the other hand, could not get to sleep and lay awake in bed. 45 minutes later, katelyn let out a small cry from her bedroom. it was such a tiny cry that i didn't even hear it. tyler happened to hear it because he was awake, and he hurried into katelyn's room. he came to our bedroom carrying katelyn telling me to get up because we needed to take katelyn to the hospital. i got up and took a look at katelyn and realized that something was wrong. she was having another febrile seizure, but this time, it was much stronger. tyler gently layed katelyn on the ground as i watched. this time the seizure was far more severe. katelyn's head was cocked to one side, and we could hear her swallowing rhythmically. she had her left arm bent at the elbow with her hand in a fist, and she was twitching more violently this time. and her body was extremely stiff. it was definitely the scariest thing both tyler and i have ever witnessed. we both kept saying her name in hopes that she would respond, but her seizure continued. you'd think after reading about febrile seizures and knowing that they aren't harmful, that you would be prepared to experience one. but as you are watching your child, who isn't responding, experience something like that, you can't help but feel a sense of fear. especially because the seizure seemed to go on and on. finally, out of desperation, we woke up our downstairs neighbors for help. they held katelyn while tyler called 911 and while i gathered up every last thing that we might need. katelyn kept seizing that whole time.

finally, the ambulance arrived and katelyn's seizure stopped. i guess it is pretty typical for kids to black out for a bit after a febrile seizure because katelyn was quite still and lifeless. tyler and i were just relieved that her body was relaxed again. the ambulance took us to the hospital where they filled katelyn up with more medicine. they spent quite a bit of time talking about febrile seizures and how to respond if it were to happen again. katelyn's fever managed to go down after more medicine at the hospital, and katelyn even woke up and was able to respond to the doctor, so they sent us home at about 4:00 a.m. when we got home we were all pretty beat. we decided to have katelyn sleep in our bed with us the rest of the morning so we could keep an eye on her. thankfully, she didn't have any more seizures. her fever stayed pretty high for the 3-4 days and eventually broke, which was such a relief. the day after the fever broke, she started to develop some bumps on her face and body. it turns out that she had roseola. it really isn't anything serious at all, but febril seizures are known to be common with roseola because the fever will usually spike quickly.

in the end, we were just so grateful to see katelyn playing and acting normal again. we felt truly blessed through the whole thing. we feel as if Heavenly Father was with us that evening as we felt the need to keep our doors open and the fact that tyler could not get to sleep that night. it made it possible for him to hear katelyn's tiny cry. otherwise, she would have experienced that seizure on her own and we would have been unaware that anything was wrong. it really made us think more about how things don't happen out of coincidence. things happen for a reason and a purpose, no matter how small they may seem!