An Emergency Thanksgiving

I knew this Thanksgiving was going to be a special one but I wasn’t quite prepared for the way it turned out. This year is my son Julian’s first Thanksgiving; he’s 10 months old.

A couple days ago he came with a cough then the night before last he spiked a fever of 102.1. His temperament didn’t change much besides wanting to sleep more than normal. We gave him Tylenol and Motrin to control the fever and planned on letting it run it’s course.

Last night everything changed when around 9:30 p.m. he woke up screaming. Now my wife Jenn and I were very diligent early in training him how to sleep on his own. He always goes down awake on his own when he’s ready and sleeps soundly until he’s ready to get up. So as soon as we heard the screaming start we knew something was wrong. We rushed up to his room and I pulled him out of the crib. By this time he was already hysterical but it seemed as though he was still in sleep. He was screaming and gasping for air but he wouldn’t actually wake up. We continued trying to wake him up for what seemed like many minutes while the gasping for air worsened. With a trembling voice and tears in my eyes I immediately called 911 and they showed up about 10 minutes later.

After several more minutes he finally woke up and calmed down but occasionally the gasping returned. We rode in the back of the ambulance to the ER where we spent the next several hours taking turns holding our child and reflecting on what had just happened. The doctors said his lungs sounded fine but he did test positive for Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

The thing I was most puzzled about was why it was so hard to wake Julian up. It was like he was having a very extreme nightmare. Whether it was a nightmare, blockage due to mucus or a combination of both, our first Thanksgiving together as a family will not easily be forgotten.

Despite making a scary trip to the ER, I found myself feeling extremely thankful for just how healthy our child is. This is the first time he’s ever been sick and even though it sucks its pretty much just a normal cold.

So here’s to family.