When I was a toddler there were many times that I would fall or something would happen that would make me cry so hard that I would faint. I'm not sure how often this happened, but from talking to my parents it sounds like it happened fairly often and it was quite scary, but nothing was found to be medically "wrong." Because of my history I noticed that both Alexis and Faith get hysterical quite quickly and they seem to do the "silent cry" extra long when they get upset or hurt, and there have been several times that I have been nervous about them passing out as they didn't seem to be breathing. I Googled what to do when this happens and one person said to blow on your child's face as that will automatically make her breathe. Well, I don't think this actually works because on Saturday after dinner the kids were playing and Faith got knocked to the ground really hard, and she started crying so hard that she passed out.
The kids were all hugging each other and, of course, it was adorable so I grabbed my phone and started taking photos. Now I feel silly for doing this as if I wasn't snapping photos I may have been able to catch Jack and Faith as they fell onto the kitchen floor. As soon as they fell I could tell that Faith fell harder than Jack, so I scooped her up immediately. She did her silent cry where it looks like she is trying to catch a breath for maybe 10-15 seconds, and then her eyes rolled back and her head flopped back. I pulled her in close to me and rubbed her back vigorously, and after a few seconds she started stirring and then trying to cry again. At first her cry was weak like she was still trying to catch her breath, and then it evened out and I could tell she was super scared and upset. Of course I was home alone with all three kids at this time, and Jack and Alexis didn't know what was going on so they tried to get on the couch with us and Alexis was crying loudly, probably because she was terrified since I was screaming at Faith as she passed out.
Throughout all of this I contemplated what to do. Should I call 911 or is that overreacting? Is there really such thing as overreacting when your child is injured? What would I do if the situation started to get worse and I was alone with three 20 month olds? In my panic during the minute of Faith fainting and regaining consciousness I dialed 911. I told the woman on the phone that I wasn't sure if I was really having an emergency, but she could hear the screaming kids and obviously had no idea what happened to help me assess whether or not it was a true "emergency," so she took down the details of my address and what was going on, and she sent an emergency team.
The police officer arrived first, probably five minutes after I got off of the phone with 911. By that time Faith seemed okay but she was still lying in my arms so it was hard to tell. He took down the details of the incident and we made awkward small talk while we waited for the EMTs. It seemed like forever before they arrived (maybe 5 more minutes?) and then they took down the same details of the incident, took Faith's oxygen level and heart rate, and looked for any bumps on her head (there weren't any). By this time I felt like an idiot for calling 911, but my Mama Bear instincts had taken over and I wanted to do whatever I could to help Faith. They assured me that I did the right thing, and they offered an ambulance to take her to the ER. Being that it was Saturday night in ABQ I knew that was the last place I wanted to be, so I politely declined but agreed that I would watch her closely and take her in if I had concerns (and I lined up a friend to come watch the other two if I needed to take her in).
Luckily this happened around 6:00, the EMTs were gone by 6:25, and I don't usually put the kids to bed until 7:30 so I had some time to monitor Faith and make sure she was okay. She was perfectly fine and acting normal, so I felt fairly confident that she didn't need a head scan (especially since I knew she fainted from crying too hard and not from hitting her head).
Definitely NOT my best moment since the kids were born, but honestly I am thankful that we made it 1.5 years at home with three babes before we had an emergency. I say it often but it is the truth, the main floor where the kids spend most of their time is very childproof, but it is hard to protect them from each other.
Tonight I was super anxious as the kids had so much energy after dinner and I was afraid someone would get hurt. It had been too cold and windy to play outside after their nap, so they had energy to burn. I was terrified that someone was going to get hurt, cry too hard, and faint. I changed activities at least five times in hopes that they would calm down, but even looking at books had me on pins and needles as Jack loves to throw the books over his shoulder, everyone wants to sit in the book box, and they slip on the books as they walk over them. I thought the infant stage was rough, but these three toddlers are going to give me a panic attack.
I plan to call the doctor tomorrow just so we can go in and discuss what happened and make a game plan for how to handle it in the future. Plus, it could be related to iron deficiency anemia (which we have never checked the kids for) so that could solve the problem! If you are curious about this condition you can click on this link: http://www.webmd.com/children/tc/breath-holding-spells-topic-overview
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| Jack and Faith hugging right before the fall. It's a cute photo, but definitely not worth the consequences! |
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