The Things We Do For Suckers

This afternoon, Eddie and I had a scary experience. We went to the neighborhood park to play on the slide. The jungle gym in this park is set up so that the slides are on one side, then on the back side, there is an open ledge. Usually, Eddie will climb up the stairs and go straight for the slide. If I let him go down the slide unassisted, he shoots off the end, so I usually wait by the slide and slow him down as he slides. Today, he climbed up onto the platform and started coming for the slide, where I was waiting. Then he said, "no!" and started backing up the other way - towards the open ledge. I yelled "stop!" which generally makes him stop what he is doing. Unfortunately, I was too slow. By the time I ran around to the other side, he had fallen about 4 feet to the ground and landed flat on his back.

His eyes were open and he let out one little cry, so I scooped him up. Then he stopped breathing like he was preparing for an extra loud scream... except he was silent for longer than ever before. I started saying, "breathe, Eddie, breathe!" Then he arched his back and gasped, then started shaking like he was having a seizure.

Obviously by this point, I was freaking out. I hurried home to find my phone to call the pediatrician, all the while trying to get Eddie to look at me or to respond in any way. I couldn't find my phone (I learned later that Eddie had hidden it inside his shape sorter), so I had to run to the neighbor's house to call Dave. By the time I found my phone to call the doctor, Eddie was acting perfectly normal. The pediatrician told me to bring him right over, so as soon as Dave got home, we went to the doctor.

The doctor checked out his reflexes and his pupils and asked me all sorts of questions. She toyed with the idea of sending us to Primary Children's to get a CT scan, but luckily let us decide what we wanted to do. She was fairly confident that if something were seriously wrong, Eddie would have more symptoms occurring within a couple of hours. So with that assurance, we decided to keep an eye on him and then if anything more happened, then to take him to the E.R.

The doctor told us that she suspected he had a "breath-holding spell," which happens a lot with toddlers. I guess a kid can get really mad or hurt and will involuntarily hold their breath long enough that it makes them pass out, or in some cases, have a seizure. She told us that if that is what it was, it will probably happen again, but if it starts happening too often, we'll have to have him tested for anemia (which can cause seizures, too, I guess).

Now, it is two hours later and Eddie seems to be doing perfectly fine. He didn't have much fun at the doctor's office, but he came out of the ordeal with a sucker which, apparently, he likes so much that he doesn't want to ruin. He just likes to hold it.