Hayden's First Trip to the ER

Sunday, July 26, we suffered the most frightening moment of our lives when Hayden suffered a febrile seizure.
She had been fighting a virus, throwing up Saturday night and Sunday morning. Finally, she was able to keep a cracker and water down before she took a nap around 1pm. She woke up around 2 pm and wanted another cracker. So Lauren gave her one. Aaron had poked his head in from outside and she laughed at him and was fine. Hayden did not eat the cracker and Lauren gave her a fingernail-size bite of something else. As she was closing it up, she looked at Hayden (on her hip) and her eyes were rolling in the back of her head. Immediately, Lauren started screaming for Aaron to come in. She thought Hayden was choking. She tried to get her finger into her mouth but her jaw was locked. Aaron took Hayden and told Lauren to call 911. Lauren called 911 while Aaron put Hayden over his knee and patted her back to dislodge anything since we thought she was choking. Her body was like a doll - tense but sort of lifeless. When it was over, she whimpered, and sort of passed out. She was breathing, though. The man on the phone tried to soothe Lauren and the emergency rescues were there really fast. At some point, all the hysteria woke Jordyn up from her nap and she came out of her room and just stood watching. Lauren was still on the phone, crying, but took her hand and told her it would be okay. All told the seizure probably lasted 1 to 2 minutes and 3 minutes for emergency to arrive.
First the police came in and took Hayden. No sooner had she changed hands than the firemen and paramedics arrived. When the paramedic took Hayden he remarked she felt really hot. They gave her oxygen. She was sleeping, and they put her on the couch. After we explained what happened they told us that she probably suffered from a febrile seizure, which is caused from a spike in temperature. The entire time Jordyn was not even scared by all the people in our house, Lauren held her and she was great.
Aaron called Lauren's mom to come over to watch Jordyn as Lauren rode in the ambulance with Hayden, Aaron followed. Hayden slept the whole ride and had the oxygen blowing on her face. Her levels were all good (heart rate, etc.) She was transported in her infant carrier since that was what Aaron could get the quickest and it was weird seeing her back in it.
When we arrived at the ER we were given a room. Hayden was awake in her carrier and looking around, but her eyes did not look right. She was not crying which made Lauren worried. The doctor came in and Lauren had taken her out of the carrier. Once the doctor started examing her she started crying and got really mad which was what they wanted to see. She was diagnosed with the febrile seizure and they wanted to keep her for observation for a few hours. These are not epilepsy, they are the result of a temperature spike, should not leave lasting damage, and the child should grow out of them. We were to give her pedialyte to make sure she could keep it down, to keep her hydrated, and to make sure she did not have another one. She slept most of the time we were there but we did manage to get the fluids in her and by the time we left she was asking for a cracker, walking around the room, playing on the doctor's stool and laughing and flirting with the doctor. The doctor said that her reactions afterward were completely normal and she was doing everything she was supposed to be doing. Once we got home she was very hungry. She ate well and had a pretty good night. She was on Tylenol for the first 24 hours. Since then she has been her normal self, though of course we are monitoring her very carefully and are painfully aware of anything that seems out of place.
From what the doctors told us, the literature, and a little bit of research, we have found that febrile seizures affect about 1 in 25 kids, usually toddlers. 98% grow out of them by the time they are 5 or 6. Most of the kids who don't grow out of them have other indicators, like an especially long seizure or other things Hayden does not seem to have. They are scary, but we have been told how to deal with one should it occur again. At any sign of a cold we are to put her on Tylenol for the first few days. There is not a whole lot known about them, but the seizure is caused by a spike in temperature, either on the way up or the way down.
We are so thankful for the paramedics, ER staff, police and firemen who helped us. They were there so fast. We are so thankful Hayden is all right, and while we are shaken up, we are okay, too.

Here is Hayden eating her cracker while the doctor talks to us before she was discharged.