Last night we had a bit of a scare as parents! I walked in the door from a young womans leadership meeting to find daddy and Brenna fresh out of the shower. Brenna was laying on our bed all wrapped up in a towel, so I went to her and said hi and she smiled and reached for me! Nothing out of the ordinary there, and I was glad to be home and ready for bed! Then I looked at Jeremy and saw the relief in his face and wondered why. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Then he explained that he had just been about to rush Brenna to the ER before I came in. I guess while they were in the shower, Jeremy put her head under the water to get her hair wet (nothing weird, we do this ALL the time) but this time when she came out from under the water, something was wrong. As he describes it, she went totally crosseyed and he said "Brenna, are you ok?" and then she kept trying to refocus, but couldn't seem to. By this time he noticed that her arms were sort of stiff and in a weird position with her wrists pointing down and she didn't seem to have any control over them. Also, her mouth was just hanging open and it was like she was trying to talk but couldn't do it. Then he said she just sort of dropped her head and stared right through him. So he gave her a blessing right there in the shower to be healed (he said he was sure that somehow he'd twisted her wrong while he was holding her and paralyzed her or something and was close to hysteria, which if you know him is scary, because he really doesn't get worked up about anything), then after the blessing he got out of the shower and laid her on the bed and then I walked in and I guess that's the exact time she snapped out of it, and why Jeremy looked so relieved that she popped up and wanted mommy.
So, we called a few nurses, and all of them agreed that we should take her to the hospital ASAP. One even thought we should call an ambulance instead of driving her ourselves, but since she was alone in that opinion, we just drove her ourselves. Anyway, after a bit of a wait, and just after Brenna finally drifted off to sleep (it's about midnight by now) the doctor came in and eventually decided that she had had a "breath holding spell that caused a small seizure". She said that it was very minor and not really anything to worry about, although very scary for parents, she said it will most likely happen again, and if we freak out every time then by the time she's 1 and a half or 2 she will start to do it for the attention. It apparently happened because she was startled by the water on her head, and so she held her breath to avoid getting water up her nose and stuff. She said it happens in about 25% of babies and will last till somewhere between two or three most likely. She said the reason it didn't happen until now even though we do this in the shower all the time is because it's really rare for children under 1 to do it because it is a conscious decision she made to hold her breath initially.
Sufficeth to say we were scared, and we had a long night in the ER making sure everything is alright with our baby. We are very glad that she is ok, and hoping that we don't have to do this again, but that if we do we'll be better prepared and not freak out! On a lighter note, she said it usually happens in babies who get a lot of attention... Brenna doesn't get that much attention... does she? Ok, but give me a break, she's my first child, I'm allowed, right?
2 comments:
Hi Lana,
What a scary experience for parents. Glad to hear that Brenna is doing well. I watched her walking video. She's so adorable. I remember when Frazer was learning how to walk...now he's graduating! Take care, Dana Sloan
of course you are allowed! give her all the attention you want to :) i'm soooo glad she's ok and that nothing was out of the ordinary or wrong and thank goodness for the priesthood and that it can be used anywhere eh? so lucky for us and good decision by jeremy! glad you guys are ok down there and cute blog chickee!
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