So... This is my first post in this blogg, and I'm sure it will slightly make your heartrate raise as this is going to be a rather shaky one...
It was Friday, the day I'd been waiting for all week long, and everything seemed perfect. I got up on time, and I even had to wait for the train, which is very unusual in my case since I always have to run to catch them... The same goes for the busses, not a good combination...
Everything seemed perfect, sunshine and tea with the girls in Z. I'd better also mention that I'm currently an Au-Pair in the Netherlands, and went to visit some friends in Z.. We biked to E's house together with another girl and H's au-pair kid. We met up with some other au-pairs and had tea in the garden while the children were playing. N, H's au-pair kid, didnt have a fever anymore so it all seemed perfect.
When we got home he refused to eat though, but luckily he drank enough. While he took a 3h nap, we sat outside, absorbing as much sunshine as we could with another cup of tea in the small but very Dutch garden. I could almost feel the freckles "florishing" on my cheeks. When N woke up, he was hot as a stove, and we mesured the fever... And yes, he had gotten a high fever, again, like 39.2'c! He wouldnt eat, and only had a few sips of his roce vice... His head started hanging and his eyes were sort of rolling, and he looked dead tired... We decided we'd better get him to bed again, since he rejected all toys or any attention we tried to give him. So, he had another 50min of sleeping...
But, as everything, it had a turning point. And this is when things started to go bad, it more seemed like the Friday 13th from hell, eventhough it wasnt...
We got him out of bed and H sat down with him on the sofa, while I was telling her a funny story I got reminded of while I was looking in a lieflet... All of a sudden H says with a hint of panic in her voice: "Silje! What's wrong with N??" I didnt quite see what she meant, and thought he'd throw up. H handed the baby over to me and ran a few meters... I still didnt know why she was so panicked, and assumed she was afraid that he'd throw up on her as it looked like he'd have to... Then Im lifting him up a bit looking at him, and then I start to realize why she had reacted so strongly. His body was cramping abruptly and I saw his face and lips turning dark blue! I felt my eyes widenen and a "OH MY GOD" slipped out my moth! I felt the panick cravling up my spine, while H grabbed the phone and asked if we should call 112 (emergency nr in Europe) or the parents first! We decided that we'd better call 112 first. By then foam started to come out of his mouth!!!
Thing's started to look up worse. When we reached someone on the other end he only spoke Dutch, which made H panick even more. NO SERVICE IN ENGLISH?!?!!!? We dont have time to wait!! She handed me the phone, since I speak the language pretty well! By then we were both in such a shock and could almost not think or act properly, it was like our brains froze!? I started with hello? hello? HELLOOO?? freezing as the line seemed dead. But as I was about to hang up and call again I heard someone. I started, as good as I could, to explain the problem.. My words came in a confusing mess and I only remember black... And I begged for an ambulance, and at the very same moment N had a major cramp, went unconscious and stopped breathing! H screamed "He's NOT BREATHING SILJEEE WHAT SHALL WE DO???" She burst out the door to get the neighbours to drive us to the hospital. But nobody was home. Eventually I got her back into the house, the man on the phone was going to help us. So there we were, two freaked out 19 year old girls with a baby, not breading, in the hallway of the house. We were told to undress the boy, to cool him down. He also told me to take a towel with like bodytemperature warm water on it to put on his chest.
That did the trick and he started breathing. While I was doing the "operation" H was still in major chock and she didnt really understand what I was doing running around getting stuff. When I felt that I was about to have a great freak out I told myself : "eff you Silje, you need to consentrate now!! Else you wont do any good here"... We managed with a spaghetti like body to everything the man said, and we got him breathing again before the ambulance came. People on the street were stearing like hell, and just passing my without even asking if we needed help! I could they not? H managed to call the dad, when Im not 100% sure...
It turns out that this is called "Fever Cramp", and is something children at the age of 0-6 can have... Only like 1 out of 20 gets it though.. So it is not really usual... We had never heard about it, nor have any of the other parents and grownups Ive told this story to. The parents came home as fast as they could, but it was all over when they got there... They went with N to the house doctor to make sure everything else is alright with him. She descovered that he has a bad infection in this throat...
This is a situation you can never imagine, or retell... I totally lost track of time and when I try to imagine it again I can only remember parts of it... Even the invrionment is a blurr though I know perfectly what the house looks like... I also have to idea on how long I was on the phone with the man, or how long it took before the ambulance came... I only remember that H asked me when the ambulance is coming, and he said in like 5 or 6 min, but then I had already been on the phone for a while doing what he was saying... The surroundings seem black somehow, with everything rushing or spinning around me... And the feeling in the body maked me shudder for what ever reason... I've never experinced something like this, and hope I'll never again... Believing that the child you are holding in your hands is about to die, and just a few minutes (?) later is dead, is something of the most terrifying I can ever think of, and have experienced... I can tell you that no sport or other action has ever gotten my adrenaline pumping so fast, and I rather not have it doing it again... Please!
I guess I didnt succeed in trying to repicture this for you guys... But this is something You need to experience to know what it feels like... Furthermore I cant remeber everything clearly and in which order it happened.. But I think I got it pretty right... This is how I remeber it... It's amazing though, how your body can function in that kind of state, even your language skills... I didnt even think of until later that we handled everything in another language than our mothertongue...
Thanks!
Have a nice evening/day!
-S
