Saturday, March 15, 2008

"Breathholding" spells?

Jackson and Daddy
Afternoon snack at her playhouse








Madeline wanted to be a kitty at my party. This was her Halloween costume. She loves to dress up.




When my daughter was about 15 months she had her first spell. Doctors call them breathholding spells or bhs, because the child loses consciousness from not breathing. Now, I do know that a lot of these spells are temper tantrums and done on purpose but this is not the case with Madeline. She is pretty tempermental and dramatic, but it is very obvious to anyone who has witnessed her spells that they happen when she is suddenly scared or hurt. Following the injury/fearful moment, she opens her mouth to cry and nothing comes out and then she just fall out. It is sooooo scary, even now that I know it is supposedly normal and she will outgrow it by around age 6. When she passes out, her lips start to look purple and her eyes roll back and she will jerk some like she is having a seizure, which they have ruled out. She will sometimes have accidents because she loses all control of her body. When she comes back to, after what seems like an eternity, she is very lethargic. I bring this up because she had her 7th one in front of my grandma yesterday. I was starting to think that we were done with these because it had been 7 months. I am constantly fearful that she will have one while up high or something. The preschool knows not to perform cpr and just to make sure she does not hit her head. My grandma was so freaked out. The worst thing you can do is give oodles of attention following one because they say that the child will start to do it on purpose. Madeline's are just a reaction and not intentional, but how can you not love on your child after an experience like that? Anyways, I am just curious if anyone else out in the blogging world has experienced this because the doctors told me that like 5% of kids have them but I have not met one yet.
I would also like to vent that I am extremely exhausted from lack of sleep, especially this past month. Jackson has been waking up every 2 hours or so for about a month because of a bad ear infection, followed by stomach issues caused by the antibiotics, followed by his first tooth. Poor baby. But he still smiles constantly. He is my little trooper.
Something cute that I have noticed recently is how much Madeline looks to Stephen for answers on "life', like what to do when someone at school is mean to you and whatnot. I could tell her something over and over but when he tells her something, she just looks at him and nods her head like "I finally understand". I love that her daddy is her hero. She just says and does the sweetest things sometimes, like she went to the school of how to steal hearts. Come to think of it, it seems like a lot of kids that I know have gone to that school........




On a happier note, my birthday was yesterday and family came over to celebrate. I had a lot of fun and am posting a couple of pics and some random pics of the kids. I am the big 3-0 now, so no more excuses for acting childish-haha.










No comments: