Colby's Trip to the ER

Last Wednesday night, we experienced what we hope will be the worst thing we ever have to go through as parents.

Now a confident little walker, Colby had been chasing Carter all around the tv room, trying to catch up and snag a few of her toys that looked so fun. She paused at the edge of the couch and was standing there when Aaron got up to answer a phone call. As he walked by, we think she attempted to follow him with her eyes and ended up falling flat on her back and bumping her head on the floor. She immediately began screaming and I was there to pick her up within seconds.

As she continued to wail, I noticed she wasn't taking in that big breath to let out another bellow. I began blowing in her face, trying to force the breath and she then collapsed on my shoulder. My first thought was that she had finally calmed down and was snuggling up to feel better... then, her entire body began convulsing in my arms. All I could do was hold her tight and repeat to Aaron "she's shaking, she's shaking, she's shaking!" He grabbed her from arms and told me to call his parents. For those of you who don't know, Aaron's Dad is an EMT and drives the ambulance for our town, so 911 would have gotten him anyway. Unfortunately, I was too freaked out and, while tripping over the baby gate, couldn't find the phone.

Aaron handed Colby back to me, now finally crying again, and told me to get in the car. I kicked the baby gate from the top of the stairs and ran outside with Colby in my arms, while Aaron called his parents. He put the dogs out, grabbed Carter and met me in the car to drive the couple of blocks to their house. The whole way, Colby cried in a way we had never heard before. She also wouldn't or couldn't hold her head up and kept leaning back away from my body.

After a few minutes at the Dille's, we finally got her to stop crying, but something was still definitely wrong. She couldn't stand up without falling down to her bottom and that jarring would make her cry all over again. While her pupils did react to light properly, her eyes were just glazed over and she was having trouble focusing on things. She couldn't take a single step and kept grabbing the side of her neck.

It was decided that we would definitely make the hour trip into town to Children's Hospital, but we opted not to take the ambulance. Mark and Ann kept Carter while Aaron drove and I rode in back next to Colby. Along the way, she fell asleep (Mark said that was OK as long as I was able to wake her about every 20 minutes) and it did her a world of good. However, I was so nervous about not being able to wake her that I kept blowing on her and poking at her the whole way just to make sure she reacted. We also called ahead to Children's and told them what had happened and that we were on our way.

When we finally arrived, Colby woke up just fine and we were seen almost immediately. A complete examination showed no trauma to her head (not even a bump) and all vital signs back to normal. We learned that she had suffered a "breath-holding incident" which resulted in her passing out. The fall had not caused the loss of consciousness, but most likely just scared her and hurt enough to elicit the intense crying. Her inability to catch her breath led to her passing out. While some children are actually prone to doing this repeatedly, this incident does not predispose her to doing it again.

We are so thankful that our precious little girl is OK! I have to say that having her little body shake uncontrollably in my arms was the worst feeling in the entire world. At that moment, I wondered if she had suffered head trauma that would mean she would never be the same again. What an awful thought that her tiny little life could change in an instant.

Thank you to everyone who has expressed concern for her and most of all to Mark and Ann for being there, staying calm and helping us through that night. We knew Carter was in good hands, which made the ER visit much easier.