I will start by saying that everyone is alright. Those of you who follow me on Facebook know part of this story already. And I will warn you this is long.
Last week was full of good days for Jenn, Lyz and I. Jenn’s been feeling blue and was quite proud of herself when she got so much accomplished on Thursday and Friday. I just had good days where I didn’t have any freakouts, meltdowns or panic attacks. Lyz had an awesome day on Friday! She ran an entire mile on the treadmill without stopping!! She called me in happy tears to tell me all about it! I am s
At 8:35pm my phone rang again, it was Lyz. I figured she was calling me to tell me that they girls were all excited about the new clothes she had picked up for them. I was soooo wrong. In the calmest voice I’ve ever heard from Lyz’s mouth, she said “I need you to meet me at Lancaster General Hospital.” My first reaction was that Chris had been shot at work.
“What’s wrong?” I screamed.
“Delaney” her voice broke “She wasn’t, she is fine right now, she wasn’t breathing, was not reacting, wasn’t moving. Blue, no purple lips, gray skin. She is breathing now. We are in the ambulance.”
“We’re leaving right now, I love you, kiss Delaney”
I nearly passed out. Jenn and I jumped up and got dressed. We ran out the front door, me still partially undressed. Our neighbors looked at us out their window and I got at text right away asking what was wrong. Then Joni called. I screamed “We’re on our way” into the phone before I even had it up to my ear. Then I calmed down. I am usually quite calm in cases of emergency, as long as the person I need to worry about is in my sight. Once I heard Joni’s voice, and Avery’s in the background, I calmed right down. I asked Joni what happened. Joni had given them a bath and was getting them out of the tub when Lyz got home. They got Delaney dried off and Joni went back to her room. She heard a strange noise out of Delaney, like a painful scream and went to go see what happened. Lyz was holding Delaney, her lips were turning purple (Lyz later told me that she thought D had gotten into a purple marker they were so dark) and then D’s eyes rolled back into her head and she went rigid, then limp.
Lyz normally keeps her phones (personal and work) in her bra. Since she was getting the girls out of the tub she had removed them. She handed D to Joni and went running around the upstairs looking for a phone. She told me she remembers standing in the corner of her bedroom and thinking “What do I do?” She found one and called 911. An ambulance was sent, but they wouldn’t let Lyz off the phone. Lyz had decided it was time to start cpr (a minute had passed at this point, I know it seems like longer, but Joni and Lyz were watching the clock also). Just as she laid Delaney down, Delaney started to whimper. Lyz told the 911 operator that if she couldn’t get off the phone then they would have to inform Chris.
County pages Chris and he calls back.
“Do you live in W___ H____?”
“Yes”
“Do you have a baby?”
“YES”
“Is your wife’s name Elyzabeth?”
“Tell me what is going on…”
“The baby is unresponsive…” Click. Chris hung up, turned his lights and sirens on and flew home.
He beat the ambulance. He was standing on the front porch and watched as the ambulance went the wrong way and then took an extra 5-6 minutes finding their house. Had Delaney not started breathing again…
They got Lyz and Delaney into the ambulance, and Lyz called us. It only took us 14 minutes from phone call, to standing in the emergency room lobby waiting. We turned on our flashers and drove like maniacs. We beat the ambulance. By a lot. Jenn gave our info to the information desk and proceeded to ask every 30 seconds if they were there yet. We decided we would go wait at the ambulance bay. We called Chris to see where they were and saw the ambulance pull in, so we just ran back inside. Longest 5 minutes right there. The clerk kept typing in D’s name…not checked in yet. Lather, rinse, repeat. Finally she was in and they escorted us back.
Lyz was sitting on the gurney with Delaney on her lap. Now, Delaney is a very VERY active little girl. The Delaney we saw right then was not our Delaney. She looked sad, just laid there all still on her Mommy and put her hand up when she saw us. Doctors were in and out, asking Lyz to repeat the story over and over. Then one ordered bloodwork.
Now who in the hell sends in a student to take a 15 month old’s blood? Yes, I understand they have to learn somehow but seriously??? It was torture. Absolute torture. All four of us were crying when it was over.
Once that was done we got her a bottle, put cartoons on and let her go to sleep. They came in and took Lyz and Delaney for a CT scan, so Jenn and I ran out to call and update Chris and Joni. When we got back in there were two doctors and a student talking to Lyz, who was telling the story for the millionth time.
Then the one doctor said “Oh!! You know what this is?” We all leaned in, holding our breath and waiting to hear what he would say. “She was holding her breath to get something she wanted. A temper tantrum.” Um, no. She didn’t want anything. She was standing next to Lyz, who had just set D’s feet on the floor. She didn’t cry, just that one painful scream. When Lyz explained that she really didn’t think that was the case HE ROLLED HIS EYES AT HER. He then basically said we were all over reacting and that they would keep her overnight, but she was just having a temper tantrum, and left the room.
Other doctor apologized to Lyz and said that he doesn’t have the best bedside manner. Really? I didn’t notice that. She said that it could have been a minor seizure, it could have really been anything. But all of the tests they ran on Delaney showed nothing. If it happens again, they might have a better idea.
We were escorted up to a room on the pediatrics floor. Madagascar 2 was put on the tv and…we found Delaney. She was up, moving around the crib, climbing all over Lyz (who had climbed into the crib with her of course), playing with the remote, squirting us with milk from her bottle, stealing Jenn’s hat, VERY CLEARLY SAYING JENN JENN!!!, and being her rather normal self.
Jenn and I stayed a little while longer, and when it looked like Delaney was ready to go to sleep, we left. It took us forever to fall asleep. Lyz said Delaney didn’t fall asleep for awhile either.
Delaney was released in the morning, and told to follow up with her pediatrician on Monday. (She is actually at the peds right now while I am typing this, but you won’t read it until Tuesday lol).
Jenn had loaded up the car with stuff to take to DIR, and called and said “I want to go visit Lyz and the girls”. Go for it. She stopped and bought them both some SpongeBob goodies and went and spent the day with them.
Avery was such a super star through all of this. While Lyz called 911 she got herself dried and dressed. When Lyz and D were at the hospital she played with Joni. We got to talk to her on the phone while we were in the ER and you could just tell she was scared, but being so brave! We are all so proud of her for being such a wonderful big sister.
Lyz and I have been researching different monitors to keep an eye on Delaney’s breathing at night. This will make Lyz feel just a hair better. If anyone has any ideas, please let us know. At this point Lyz is going to get an Angelcare Baby Monitor. If it doesn’t work right (meaning Delaney rolls away from it falsely setting off the alarm, sending Lyz into unnecessary panic), we will order a type of monitor that clips onto Delaney’s diaper. Either way, we need to help Lyz feel more comfortable.
Chris, Jenn and Avery came to pick me up at work Saturday afternoon and we went over and had dinner with CLAD+J. Delaney was her normal self, getting into trouble, climbing everywhere, and running over to give you a hug just because. She may be calling me Ha, not sure. But twice I would walk out of the bathroom and she was standing there waiting for me and she said “Ha”. Not sure if that is Hi, or her way of saying Heidi…
So, if you could keep Delaney, and the rest of CLAD, in your thoughts, in hopes that this was just a fluke, we would all be thankful. It was such a terrifying experience. I don’t wish that on anyone. I know how I still feel, two and a half days later. I cannot imagine what Lyz is still going through. I’ve told Lyz I will let her do all of the worrying about Delaney, Lyz is mine to worry about.
Those of you who are friends on Facebook and were there with us holding our hands in the ER, thank you. We could feel your love and concern. Thank you for the Facebook comments and the text messages (so many that my phone died!!) I know all of my readers would have been there, but I don’t know how to blog on this phone!!
Thinking Miracles 