On Tuesday we had a family bbq, since my brothers, my sister in law, my niece and my mother in law was here to visit from New Jersey and Denmark.
About nine o clock, I was going to drive my husband's aunt and mother home. I left my sons with my husband, including my 18 month old, whom I am rarely separated from as I am a stay at home mom.
As I am driving, I all of a sudden gets a terrible feeling that something is wrong, and the thought hits me that my youngest son has gone out into our street. It is not very trafficked, but there is traffic, my son is small and it was dark. I worry for a few minutes, my hearts beath faster, and I rush our guests home. Then the worries dissappear, and I return to our house.
The first thing I hear, when I get to the house is that my husband couldn't find our 18 month old, and that he had found him in the street. Wow, I sighed of relief when my husband told me, I gave my son a big hug and told him not to scare his father like this. I could tell that my husband was rather upset, even though he tried to disguise it.
I really find it amazing that I can be so closely connected to my child that I just know when he is in danger.
The incident made my mind wander back to this summer, when my sons and I were in Europe. My youngest son had been sick and he had a fever, but he was otherwise running around with his brother. I had this feeling though that something was wrong, or that something was going to happen. I cannot really explain the feeling, but it made me very uneasy. I was alone at the farm with my boys, but I knew that my older brother, his girlfriend (who is a nurse) and their baby daughter was coming by.
Ten minutes after they arrived, I am sitting with my son in my lap talking to my brother, who is sitting with his daughter on the other couch. All of a sudden my son starts shaking, trembling and my brother and I get really scared. I say, "This must be what they call fever seizures", but I almost don't finish my sentence, as my son starts cramping more and more. My brother says to bring him to the kitchen where his girlfriend (who is a nurse) is. She takes one look at my son and calls 911, as this is the first time it has ever happened. She reassures me that this is probably fever seizures, but then my son stops breathing, and she looks very very scared. She hands the phone to my brother, so that he can talk to the operator and tell them what is going on. Meanwhile, I am sitting on a chair with my lifeless son, the seizures has stopped but so has his breathing. My son is racially mixed and when we see his face and his lips turning blue ,we get really scared, as he is not pale like us. The color was very distinctive. We gave him asthma medicine just in case there are some link, and my sister in law starts giving him mouth to mouth.
None of us has any sense of time, but my son does start breathing again, but he falls asleep immediately after regaining consciousness. The paramedics arrive, and they start giving him oxygen, as there numbers suggest that he needs it. Some of it is a blur, some of it is very clear, but the thing that is the most clear to me, is looking at my sister in law and seeing the same thoughts that I had.
My son spend one night at the hospital while being monitored, but he was release the next day with medicine in case this should ever happen again.
This really made me realize that I should always trust my instincts, and Tuesday's incident really just emphasized to me how strong the bond between a mother and a child can be.
The doctors told us, that even when the breathing stops during fever seizures, the child will always begin to breathe on its own again. Apparently it is some sort of reflex that the child has. Neither my sister in law nor I was aware of this, but we had heard about fever cramps.
To read more about fever seizures click here
Did you ever feel this kind of connection, or fear of danger to you child, when something bad was happening?
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Comments: 48
As a person who has seizures you still have to be aware of a person's breathing. Also the sleep after a seizure is normal.
My sister-in-law asked me if he had a seizure during the high temp, as both of her children would seize whenever they had a high temp, and both of them used to get temps well over 100 at the drop of a hat. I hope that I don't experience that with my son, but at least now I know about it.
I know a Mom who took her 13 month old daughter to the hospital because she didn't feel "right" to her. The doctor said - nothing is wrong. Next day, same story. Day three, Mom says: "I am staying until you find out what is wrong!"
They discovered a rare kidney infection. The little girl was in the hospital for a couple of weeks, but she got well. If it had been left for a few more days there would have been irreparable damage...
yes i get strange feeling if something is wrong with my child
My mother had one of the premonitions... she called the only name she remembered me mentioning - a guy I was friends with, but never involved with. He didn't even know I was there.
We were both embarrassed and there was NOTHING wrong - either at the time or the whole way home!
Sometimes the connection is TOO close - I was either 19 or 20 at the time!
I really hope I'll be able to connect like you did/do.
Trust your instincts. You never know when they might save your life or the life of someone you love!
That must have been sooo scary.
When a child or anyone is having a seizure- some say, put them on their stomach due to them swallowing their tongue, so forth, but a good Amish men told me when my friend was almost about to go into one - to put her on her side and breath in this herb mint smell. She never went into her seizure and putting her on her side helped for some reason.
Good luck ... take any of this serious at all times.
Jill, I think you might be right about it being a combination. The strange thing is that both of these episodes happened after I lost my mother less than a year ago. Since then it feels as if her presence is here somehow, and I really do think she is keeping an eye on all of us.