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Mia has had a runny nose on and off for the best part of a month and a cough for a last week or so. She hadn’t seemed too miserable with it and wasn’t running a fever but on Saturday morning, seemingly out of the blue, she had her second full-blown seizure. It followed exactly the same pattern as the previous one, in that it started off with her zoning out, followed by vomiting, unresponsiveness and twitching. By their very nature there can never be a ‘good’ time for these things, but this happened to be the morning after my work Christmas party, so I was somewhat worse for wear and Vicki had nipped out to the shops (without her phone).

So, as per our action plan, I tried not to panic, called for an ambulance, put Mia into the recovery position and administered her Midazolam – which seemed to help slightly. The paramedics were with us in 6 minutes but, as anyone who has been in this situation will know, it felt like an eternity. They got Mia into the ambulance and I left a scribbled note on the front door to let Vicki know what had happened. A ten minute blur of flashing lights and sirens later we were in the, all too familiar, resuscitation room at Yorkhill Children’s Hospital. Mia had been given Diazepam in the ambulance and this, along with the Midazolam, seemed to have a reasonable effect in controlling the seizure, although she was still struggling with her breathing. At this point the doctor tested Mia for RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and it came back positive – apparently not surprising given how common it is. She explained it can be potentially more serious in small babies, especially those already in high-risk groups and that it was more than likely the virus that brought on the seizure. The radiographer then came in and took a chest x-ray, which showed slight clouding around the lungs but thankfully nothing for major concern.

About an hour or so after the whole episode kicked off Vicki finally arrived at the hospital. As you can imagine her nerves were in tatters, having got my message and driven on her own through busy traffic to reach us. I knew from having to tail the ambulance the last time the only thing worse than knowing your child is not well is not being able to be by their side throughout their ordeal, and I really felt for her because of this. Thankfully, by this point Mia was doing well enough on just oxygen that Vicki was able to hold her, which clearly helped them both.

Three days later and Mia was off the oxygen and being discharged, surpassing all the doctors expectations in terms of how long it would take for her to recover. One of the doctors actually commented that her immune system appears to be consistent with her age rather than her size, which is very reassuring. Although she is still bunged up with mucus, and has a cough that would break your heart we are just over the moon to have Mia home in time for her first Christmas.