Febril seizure

Elizabeth, 9 months, has been teething with some pretty serious teeth, fever, congestion, the works but still really good natured. Today she ran a fever and we took a few naps with some cuddling in between, very sweet. Silly me didn't check to see what her temperature was, she's only teething after all. Long about 8 pm after nursing we were having another cuddling session. She put her head back and looked like she was looking at to ceiling for something. Something didn't feel right. She seemed to be zoning, wouldn't look at me when I called her name, and then started convulsing. Panicking I start carrying her out of the bedroom calling my husband for help. We meet in the hallway with all the children gathering in as well. I state she is convulsing, he finds a phone to call 911 (good thing he keeps his wits about him!). I try to remember my infant cpr from before Joe was born but I think my brain went into I'm losing my baby mode. All that kept running though my mind was "there was no sign anything was wrong. She can't be dying, I don't want to let her go right now!" Her lips were turning blue and I kept tapping on her chest lightly. I don't know how long she convulsed, or how long she went without breathing. When I could tell she was breathing again I just held her. The paramedics didn't take long to get there! Maybe I lost track of time. We were whisked off to the emergency room just to make sure she was alright.

They say it is common for a child to have a "fit" or "convulsion" that occurs when there is a spike in the fever. Gosh, I never knew that! It is common for them to be brief, lasting less than 10 minutes. One minute, ten minutes, the time doesn't matter to me, it is very scary, common or not! Most children who have febrile seizures will outgrow them by four or five years of age. Probably a good thing or the mom would probably not live too long with her heart constantly stopping each time they convulsed.

So, here's what I did wrong (although they never told me I did anything wrong...)
I assumed it was teething. She has a little virus, the doctor said.
I didn't check her temperature. Her fever was 103.3 at the hospital (who knows what it was when it spiked enough to send her into convulsions).
I was giving her 1/3 the amount of fever reducing medicine she should have been getting. I was erring on the side of caution, which didn't reduce anything!!

I don't know what I could have done about the other children seeing the baby convulse. I think we are all scarred for life! They picked up on my stress and worry plus witnessed everything. Joe kept saying "But, I don't want her to die, I love her too much." Brianna was the only one who was obedient and went to sit on the couch when told to do so, with worry in her eyes and tears running down her face. Kaitlyn was obedient getting ready, Brianna went to the hospital with just a shirt and underwear (I only noticed after Elizabeth was released, much to my chagrin). When they came back to visit Joe felt it necessary to bring a toy for Elizabeth, very smart thinking for a worry worn brother.

Needless to say, I am thankful we were blessed that it was something common that nothing really bad happened. Sometimes a little scary experience helps to jostle us back into appreciation mode, and remind us how short life can be...we shouldn't take any of life for granted.