A Scary Night

A few days ago we had quite the scare with our little baby Camden.  Wednesday afternoon he woke up from his nap burning up with a fever. I took his temp and it was 103.7. I gave him Tylenol and called my doctor who said to watch him and if it didn't come down to call her. An hour later his temperature was the same. I called back and they told me to bring him in. After a thorough examination the doctor determined it was a virus and told me to wait it out and keep layering Tylenol and Motrin to control the fever.

When I brought him home I gave him some Motrin and put him to bed but he was so hot and uncomfortable he couldn't sleep. I was supposed to go to a Relief Society presidency meeting that evening for church but I had a strong feeling I should stay home with Cam. He was very fussy and irritable but finally went down again around 8pm. He woke up an hour later still fussy and burning up. I gave him some Tylenol and passed him to Taber to soothe him. 

Shortly after I handed him to Taber he started vomiting like I've never seen a baby vomit. It was thick and streaming out of his mouth and nose. We brought him upstairs to clean him and give him a bath. 

Taber held him and I started to get him undressed. Suddenly his body started to spasm and after two violent jerks my heart froze and I looked at Taber and said, "what was that?"  right then Cam jerked backwards one more time, his eyes rolled back into his head and his body folded over like a rag doll. 

Looking back there are probably a million things we could've or should've done different. Most of all I wish we had been able to stay calm, but watching his body go lifeless like that was so horrifying we couldn't help but panic. Taber tried flipping him over and moving him around but he was completely unresponsive. His body was lifeless, his lips started turning blue and we realized he wasn't breathing.  Taber told me to call 9-1-1 and  I frantically dialed it on my cellphone. I just kept thinking, I don't know how to do CPR on a baby.

The dispatcher came on the phone and asked what was happening.

"My baby stopped breathing! " I told her. "please help me, he's not breathing!"

She asked me my name and told me to try to calm down. I ran upstairs and saw Taber trying to suction him with a bulb. I looked at Cam's limp body and his blue lips and saw the fear on Taber's face.

"Get Mary! GO GET MARY!" he said.  

Mary is our neighbor across the street who is an RN.  As I ran back downstairs I heard Taber yelling, "Help Me! Help Me!" I started to sob hysterically and began pleading out loud with God. "Please God! Please help my son!"

I ran out into the night in bare feet still clutching the phone with the 9-1-1 dispatcher but was so panicked I couldn't hear what she was saying. I rang Mary's doorbell over and over but she was watching TV and couldn't hear it. The 9-1-1 dispatcher was asking me questions but I couldn't answer coherently. I saw Taber run out of the house with Cam's limp body. His face was turning gray and he still wasn't breathing. I wondered how much time had gone by. How much longer did we have?

"Mary's not home!" I said.

"Get Beth!" he yelled. Beth is our other neighbor who is also an RN. I was about to run to her house when I heard the dispatcher say sternly, 

"Becca, I need you to calm down so you can help your son. You need to listen to me and do what I say so we can help him."

"Okay." I sobbed. "What should I do?"

"You need to lay him flat on the ground."

 We were outside and didn't want to lay him on the driveway so we ran in the house and laid him down. Taber still had the bulb and was trying to suction his airways. Every second that passed without a breath was filled with agony. It had been at least 3 minutes since he stopped breathing. I felt like he was slipping away from me and there was nothing I could do about it. I cried and cried, begging for help over and over again, praying someone could fix him.

Taber grabbed the phone from me and put it on speaker. The dispatcher directed him to clear Cam's airways. He tilted his head back and swept his airways. I saw Cam's chest rise and fall. It was the tiniest gulp of air but it was a breath.

"Is he breathing?" The dispatcher asked.

"Yes!" I said. "Yes, I saw him take a breath!"

"I want you to put your head right next to his mouth and every time you feel him take a breath a want you to say, "breath."

I did as she told me and again Cam took a tiny gulp of air.

"Breath!" I said.

 Again his chest rose and fell

"Breath!" I sobbed. "Breath!" Fear and anxiety started to leave my body in heaving sobs.

"You're doing great Becca, just stay calm, you're doing great."

Seeing his breaths relieved some of my anxiety but his body was still limp and his eyes were glazed over. Taber told me to get Beth and he continued to follow instructions from the dispatcher. I ran to Beth's house and rang her doorbell. She was still in her scrubs and when she saw me bawling on her porch she ran right out. "Cam stopped breathing!" I told her. "He's breathing now but he doesn't look good." She ran across the lawn with me back into our house.  At this point I could hear the sirens and a minute after Beth got there a fire truck, police car and ambulance showed up. Paramedics and officers streamed into our house and started tending to Cam. He was awake now and very lethargic but the color was returning to his face and he seemed to be improving with every minute. My neighbors started showing up at the house. Mary came in and I fell into her arms and sobbed and sobbed. 

In all that chaos and noise, with Taber and I yelling and the sirens and the house full of people, somehow the girls stayed asleep. I feel like that was a tender blessing because if they had seen me so unhinged and seen Cam the way he was I can only imagine what that would've done to them.

As the paramedics were assessing Camden everyone assured me that he looked much better and told me it was going to be okay. Cam was interacting with the officers and pulling the oxygen mask off his face. Mary said she'd stay with the kids so we could both go to the hospital. I rode in the ambulance and Taber followed behind.

At the ER Cam was still running a high fever so they gave him Tylenol and put him through a battery of tests to try and figure out what was going on. They determined that he had a febrile seizure caused by his high fever and believed he had aspirated some of his vomit which is why he stopped breathing. They thought the fever was caused by a virus, possibly hand foot and mouth disease, but gave him a shot of antibiotics just in case it was bacterial.  

Cam was in a miserable state from all the tests and the trauma of the evening but finally around 2:30am he drifted off to sleep. 

They admitted us to the hospital to observe him and make sure he didn't have another seizure. In the morning his fever hadn't improved with the medication, so they decided to keep him one more night. He was so sick he slept for 24 hours straight in the hospital, only waking up to nurse every few hours. 

I stayed in his room, watching him sleep, watching his heart and lungs on the monitor, not wanting to leave his side. Despite a continued high fever he didn't seize again so after 2 nights in the hospital they let us take him home.

It was an exhausting experience but we had such a great outpouring of love and support from our neighbors, friends from church and Taber's work, as well as many kind messages from concerned friends and family on Facebook. I can't tell you how much those messages lifted our spirits during that scary time. Every time my phone buzzed with another text or voicemail or Facebook alert it was like a little electronic hug to help get us through. : ) We also felt the many prayers that were being offered on Cam's behalf and were so uplifted by the spiritual strength we received. I know Heavenly Father was watching over us and have a testimony of the power of prayer, especially when so many prayers are being said for one person.

This experience has taught me to be grateful for every minute we have with our loved ones. I look at Cam differently now. My heart swells with gratitude for each little laugh, each little cry, each little spit bubble and toothy grin. : ) I'm so happy he's still here with us and know that angels were watching over him on that very scary night.