I Just Want You to Know_ Letters to My Kids on Love, Faith, and Family - Kate Gosselin [40]
I had no idea these could be so scary, and I fought to keep my emotions at bay. It didn’t work though, as my mother-mode quickly overtook my nurse-mode. I frantically tried to call Jon back home, and when I couldn’t reach him, I then called a friend who wasn’t available. When panic took over completely, I ended up calling 9-1-1. I knew there was nothing they could do—I could only put her in a lukewarm bath to get her fever down—but I needed reassurance that I was doing everything I could do. Alexis was limp between her intermittent jerking as I sat on the floor rocking her. When I saw the whites of her eyes as they were rolling back into her head, I was completely terrified and started sobbing.
In the end, I was able to cool Alexis down gradually in the bathtub so her seizure stopped, and I knew it was now safe to give her Motrin to help ensure that her temperature would return to normal. She was much better by the time the emergency crew arrived and Jon got home. This truly was one of the scariest times I’ve experienced as a mom.
I recall another health concern when Hannah started getting headaches when she was two. Every so often she would come down the stairs in the morning complaining of a stomachache and headache. At first I didn’t know what was really happening, but when her headaches persisted, I took her to the pediatrician, who ordered a CAT scan and confirmed Hannah was having migraines. The doctor explained that a migraine could be triggered by getting woken up too early. Hannah has always slept in later than Alexis and Leah, and they would often wake her up in the morning, which sometimes triggered the migraines. When the migraines came, we figured out a routine: I would give her Tylenol, which she promptly threw up; she would then fall asleep for an hour or two and wake up completely better.
Her headaches continue every so often but at least now I know what to do.
I have to confess that I didn’t handle all this chaos well all the time. One infamous Friday in October, we started out with the usual stuff: diaper changes, breakfast, playtime in the basement, and lunch. Then I put the little kids in their cribs for naps, got the girls off to school, cleaned up, and ate my own lunch while watching a cooking show on TV. The awful part came after the nap.
I went up to get the little kids at 3:30 as usual. Hannah and Leah were still sleeping so I let them sleep while I got the other four and we went downstairs to wait for the school bus. The girls were still asleep when I went back up at 4:30, but I decided to wake them up anyway. I went over to Leah and I couldn’t believe my eyes! She was asleep with poop from head to toe and all over her crib! Poop was mashed into the bottoms of both feet and on her sheet, blankets, a book in her crib—some was even flung to the edge of Alexis’ crib.
I was so mad and woke her up with my angry voice. I put her in the bathtub and stood her in an inch of water to soak her feet and showered her. Poor little Leah was shaking, as I cleaned her up. Then I had to clean up her crib. All this happened after the other four had gotten into the tissue box on Grandma’s desk (again!), and Alexis had gotten into the baby wipes in the bathroom and was trying to flush them down the toilet, which was completely clogged at this point.
As soon as I had Leah’s mess cleaned up, I realized I didn’t know where Alexis was, again. When I called her, she came running into the room, soaking wet. She had made a pool of water on the kitchen floor with the waterspout from the freezer door. I seriously lost it, so I put her in her crib until Jon got home and told