How it happened...

With their permission, this entry is reposted from Jennifer and Randy's blog (JennandRandyEkins.blogspot.com). 

On August 2, 2010, Jennifer wrote:

This is a blog post that I never wanted to type... But I know that we have so many wonderful friends and family who love us and our little Katiebug and I am sure that everyone wants to know the full story... So, here goes. (Please bare with me and know that I will try to make this post easy to understand. The past 48 hours have been a complete blur for all of us and Randy and I have not gotten much sleep.)

It all started on Saturday morning when we woke up. We had made some fun plans to go boating with our wonderful friends, The Ayosos, and were preparing a picnic lunch and dinner.(We also have Jamee and her 3 kids staying with us. She so kindly flew out to take care of our girls so I could make it to girls camp!) Katie woke up feeling a little warm that morning. I took her temperature and she had a fever of 102 with no coughing. Something like this isn't out of the ordinary for her. So, we did what we always do and gave her some Motrin. We decided to wait around to make sure that when the Motrin kicked in she would be happier. While we were waiting for her meds to start working, Randy and I discussed having him go to the lake with the big girls and Jamee's two oldest boys and Me and Jamee staying home with Katie and the little girls. Once the Motrin started working and Katie's fever went down, we decided to stay together and all go to the lake as planned. We figured that with all of the adults that were going, it wouldn't matter if Katie were home or at the lake... We would be holding her on our lap either way and she would be getting the attention she needed. Especially since it was going to be a beautiful day with a high in the low 70's. We knew she wouldn't be too hot or too cold... the weather was just right.

When we got to the lake Katie was pretty much back to her normal self. She interacted with me while I lathered her with sunscreen and even looked at me. She wasn't full of HUGE smiles but she was still happy with no fever. Randy helped me place her in her wagon and we headed to the beach to start making every one's sandwiches. As time went by we noticed that Katie was looking tired but that wasn't something that was unusual either. We weren't concerned because she wasn't having respiratory problems and that was always her biggest threat. She slept off and on while we fed our kids and got everything set up. I made my plate and sat in my camp chair by Randy while Katie slept in her wagon in between us. I was talking with my friend Christina when Randy got my attention and had me look at Katie. She had spit up some of her food(her food pump was going)but we noticed that it was mixed with a brownish color. Randy and I looked at each other and started to get very concerned. Randy placed Katie on my lap so we could talk to her and see what was going on. As I held Katie, we realized that she was not taking deep enough breaths and her hands were blue. Her eyes were closed and she was non-responsive. We vigorously patted her back and tried to get her to cough or take a deep breath. As we did that she opened her eyes and had what we think to be a seizure. Her pupils dilated and she made a straining sound. That lasted for about 5 seconds and then she dropped her head for about 5 seconds. (This is a type of seizure called a "drop seizure" and can actually cause a person to go unconscious. This is the type of seizure we knew she had the potential to develop. We had talked with a neurologist about medicating her for these but because she hadn't shown signs of them yet we held off. The medication itself has a side effect on the package that says "may cause unexpected death".) She repeated that seizure pattern 5 time all within a period of 20 seconds or so. After the last time she raised her head, all of her food that was being pumped into her stomach just poured out of her nose. It was also filled with blood. Once that happened she never breathed again.(Thank goodness we had not split up that day...) While that was going on, I was on the phone with 911 and Randy began CPR. It took the paramedics about 12 minutes to get to us. Randy continued CPR with chest compressions as the paramedics were setting everything up. Randy was the only one that knew her anatomy well enough to actually get air to go into her lungs. Her heart stopped beating almost immediately but they continued doing what they could. They loaded her and Randy up into the ambulance and I followed them in Randy's truck. It was about a 10 minute drive to the hospital and I didn't lose them even once. I figured the truck was big enough that if someone hit me THEY would be sorry and that was not my problem! I had to park the truck and run into the hospital to find them. They had continued chest compressions the whole way there and given her all of the meds they could to get her heart beating again. They called time of death as I walked into the room.

We all experienced so many feelings that afternoon. As soon as the medical staff stepped away from our daughter, we ran to her and hugged her and held her. We knew that her spirit had already been released from her body and she was running freely to her Father in Heaven as He welcomed her with open arms. We knew that she could see, hear, talk, laugh and RUN! We often talked about what that day would be like for her... How she would be free from the restrictions her earthly body gave her and how it would be a happy day. But it doesn't matter how much knowledge one has about the Plan of Salvation or the Atonement... it still hurts. We are so thankful for the blessings we have from the Temple and comforted that we are an eternal family sealed together forever.

Randy and I took turn holding our little Katiebug. We cried together and cried some more. It took about an hour before we decided to have the girls brought up to say goodbye. Emily was so strong but when saw Randy crying they wept together. Maddie lost it at hello. Ellie was okay until we left. We had to lay our child down one last time, tuck her in, and leave her there. Ellie cried when we had to leave without Katie. There are so many thoughts that I want to share but it would make for the worlds longest blog post. So, I will leave you with this and continue on as I have time. There will be a lot of blogging about my feelings and what is going on. Maybe not many pictures but definitely lots of rambling. When I started this blog it was to keep our friends and family close by sharing our experiences, especially ones about Katiebug. Please feel free to follow us on this journey.

Katie's funeral is set for Saturday, August 7Th at our church building. There will be a viewing at 9-9:45 in the Relief Society room with the memorial services at 10am in the chapel. We will then go to the cemetery where we will dedicate her grave. We are so happy to say that she will be buried right next to Grandma Hewson. Everything is falling into place perfectly and we are surrounded by loving friends and family who are helping us out in ways we never knew could be possible. We are so blessed. We also know that there are going to be many people who are close to us that are not going to be able to attend and that is okay! Please do not feel bad. We appreciate your kind words, thoughts and prayers. It is just so amazing to see how many people have been touched by this perfect little girl!