Just when I thought things were getting "back to normal"

I've been craving some kind of regular routine lately, and it's just not happening for me. Pretty much since December, we just can't seem to have a normal week.

(...perhaps that is your normal week, Kate?)

Well, after the stomach bug and the New York trip (no complaints about that) stuff started to settle down, I thought this week would be our first real shot at it. Yesterday, Khan went to work, and Lily and I stayed home to play all day. That's what we're supposed to do on Mondays. We had a great day, Tere came over for awhile, everything was great.

Then Lily felt a little warm. No biggie, the girl has had plenty of fevers. I gave her some ibuprofen, her fever started to come down, and then she fell asleep.

I sat down with the computer and started to write a Monday post to report my progress on my personal goals, and I was making some plans for what I would post on Tuesday and Wednesday. But I heard Lily make a noise, and mid-sentence, I got up to check on her.

Her eyes were half open and she was breathing heavy and somewhat erratic. I tried to wake her up, but she was semi-conscious at best. She was completely droopy and limp, she didn’t respond to her name; she didn't respond to anything, she just kept breathing hard and I felt some body tremors.

I started to get scared, took her outside to see if that would get her to wake up or respond or something. Her eyes were open, but she wasn’t looking at me, she wasn’t responding to me, I don’t know where she was, but she couldn't focus and she was sort of fading in and out.

I called Khan. Poor Khan. Can you imagine? I called him while he was in rush hour traffic and told him that Lily was not responsive, not breathing well, I was scared and please come right home. He told me to call 911. I quickly called my dad at his desk first just to make sure, and he didn't tell me not to call 911, so I did.

The EMTs were at our house in no time, probably less time than it took the 911 operator to understand that I don't live on Firetruck Court. (Does anyone know if it's possible to have your street name changed?) They were so awesome; they were calm, confident, and knew all the right things to say and do. Her temp had gone up to 104, which made me panic because it's never been above 102, but they reassured me that it wasn't as scary as it sounded. They also reassured me that her heart rate was OK and her breathing was OK.

All of this happened at around 5:30, you know right around the time when all my neighbors were getting home from work. Only a couple of minutes after the EMTs were in my house, a couple of my neighbors were there, too. They were also wonderful, helping me find the stuff I needed to leave, and reassuring me as mothers themselves.

Once Lily and I were loaded into the ambulance, she threw up all over me. Not that I minded, but I'm pretty sure I'll never eat peaches again. The EMT told Khan to go get a shirt for me to change into. He came back with two outfits for Lily. Poor guy.

After Lily threw up, she started to improve a lot. When she saw Khan, she smiled and said "Daddy?" And I was starting to come around, too, but even the feeling of relief made me fall apart. What a sight I must have been - shoes half on, vomit all over me, tears streaming down my face.

When we got to the hospital, Lily was given Tylenol and fell asleep on her Daddy's shoulder while I put my shoes on and traded my vomit shirt for a I heart NY tee-shirt. Our neighbors gave Khan a ride and were outside waiting in the ER room of horrors.

A pediatric ER doctor came to see us, and I wish I caught her name because she was such a great doctor. She confirmed what the EMTs suspected, Lily had a febrile seizure. Apparently, about 1 in 20 kids get these, and it happens between 6 months of age and 6 years, but it is most common in 12-18 month-olds. The doctor told me she might have one every time she has a high fever, and she might never have one again. There’s no long-term damage or concern; it’s just the way her body reacted. She wanted us to stay a bit longer to make sure Lily's fever was down.

So Khan went out to get Doug and Patti, and then we all entertained Lily for awhile. She was getting much better by the minute. Before long she had us all singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and she made sure we all did the hand motions too. Yup. If one of us tried to cheat, she took our hands to show us how to do it. And when we were done, she clapped for us and signed "more."

Fast forward to now, and Lily is back to her energetic, mischief-seeking self. She had a follow-up visit with her regular doctor, who ran a couple of additional tests, but basically gave us the same news. She may have these seizures every time she spikes a high fever. She may never have one again.

I, for one, hope it's the latter.