I hope this answers some of your questions regarding my daughter's health issues. My daughter Blakeley is very similar to Santana in this story, she's had a lot to deal with as well due to her twin Everleigh. I'd like to think as a mother who has four children and works that managing schedules comes naturally however, you'd be surprised how much you forget to do when dealing with a sick child. This happened, enjoy my failure at the end of the chapter.

"Is her heart is going to slow down or stop completely each time she has a seizure?" Shelby questioned, feeling like she was going to be sick and pass out at the same time.

"Ictal bradycardia, yes. I believe with the medication we're giving her, we can prevent asystole," Dr. Othot assured, and Paul wondered if he really thought that was helpful.

"Are you f—"

Dr. Stratton cut Shelby off knowing she was about to lose it on his colleague. He couldn't blame her, he just wanted to answer the question without stressing the mother out more than she already was. He explained the medications they started Rachel on and what each of them was for, then answered the other questions she had for him. Rachel would most likely grow out of the seizures in 2-4 years because they caught it, something most doctors don't.

1 percent of children present with Panayiotopoulos and gastaut which leads to benign occipital epilepsy with cardiac issues, but only 0.3 percent of those cases are caught in time. Truth be told, neither doctor could explain why Rachel's heart responded when they shocked her because it shouldn't have. Shelby chalked it up to Juan not letting their baby give up seeing as there was no medical reason, only what the doctors were calling a medical miracle.

"I don't get it, mama."

Shelby and Will had taken Santana aside to explain things to her in a way she'd understand, however, it wasn't going as planned...at all. When Santana was overtired or feeling anxious, she had a hard time taking in new information which is why Shelby had the twins go to bed earlier than their friends—Shelby knew all children would benefit from more sleep however, she could only control the bedtime for her babies and their friends when they stayed over.

"Look at mommy, babe," Shelby said, taking Santana's hands in her own. She explained things again so she could figure out the exact moment her daughter got confused. "No, this is different," Shelby said, confusing Will because Santana hadn't even said anything.

"Promise?" Santana whispered.

"I promise, baby," Shelby assured.

One of the symptoms of occipital epilepsy is visual hallucinations, although the doctors weren't sure which symptoms Rachel was having yet because she was still sedated. The dreams of Juan weren't considered visual hallucination though, especially because her test and Santana's were clear.

That being said, Shelby and Dr. Stratton were confident the headaches/migraines she's continued to have are one of the symptoms. Other symptoms may include partial blindness, seeing colorful lights, rhythmic body jerks, eye deviation, dilated pupils, sweating, and drooling from the mouth.

"What else is confusing you?" the mother asked.

"Umm, I dunno. Well, umm, why is it happening at all?"

"The doctors aren't sure, babe. We may never know."

"Are they gonna happen a lot?"

"Hopefully not. They've already started your sister on some new medicine that will help her. Daddy and I will also do everything we can to help her as well."

"Like what?"

"We'll make sure she takes her medicine, make sure both of you get plenty of sleep, m—"

"What about…?" Santana interrupted. "Wait, how umm, what's like, uhh…" she tipped her head back in frustration, unable to think of the word she was looking for. "Help mama!"

Shelby was at a loss. She could oftentimes figure out what the girls wanted or were trying to say however, there were too many questions Santana could want answered right now. She was going to have to guess. "How often will she have seizures?" she saw her daughter shaking her head no and tried again. "How common are—" seeing the head shake again she knew she was off track and continued. "How—"

"Not how," Santana said, still mad she couldn't think of the word.

"Okay. What do—what pre, babe it's hard to help you if you keep cutting me off."

"Uhh, just…please help," she cried.

"Take a breath babe, I'm trying to help you. How about this, can you give me an example?"

"Umm, like when you take a bite of ice cream but it's too big so then your head like hurts but if you don't than it doesn't."

Will watched the scene unfold feeling a bit helpless seeing as he was unable to do anything—the example didn't help get him closer to figuring out what his daughter was asking. This surprisingly happens quite often when the twins are learning about something new or trying to figure out something they can't remember the answer to.

"A trigger," Shelby supplied and watched a light go off.

"Yes, that's it! Why or what are the seizures triggered from?"

"When your sister comes out of her sedation Dr. Stratton is going to run a few more tests to see if he can pinpoint a few of them. Others include missing a dose of medication, stress, lack of sleep or a restless night, dehydration, low blood sugar, ge—"

"But how the heck are we gonna prevent that?" Santana interrupted again, caught up on the stress trigger because it's September.

Shelby didn't need to ask her daughter for specifics because she knew the second Santana hyper focused on the word stress. She could help prevent a lot of triggers for Rachel, but some were harder to help her with. Stress was specifically hard this month, it was hard to keep the twins from getting sick because school was full of germs, hormonal changes such as her period was unavoidable…

Other triggers were easy to prevent. Shelby could easily make sure Rachel had juice with meals for additional healthy sugar, make sure she carried a water bottle to stay hydrated, got plenty of sleep, took her medication, and obviously stayed away from alcohol. Seeing as the girls never slept at anyone else's home meant no parties where alcohol would be served, not to mention they are practically still babies, so they won't be drinking.

Shelby knew college was in the distant future, but she was prepared to have the girls wait if Rachel's seizures were still bad come time for them to apply because there was no way she could let her babies leave home if that was the case. Shelby wouldn't make it being a plane ride away if they needed her with something as serious as Rachel seizing. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn't prepared for them to leave, ever.

"Let's not focus on that right now, babe."

"But."

"No. You trust me, right?" Shelby asked and Santana nodded. There was no one she and Rachel trusted more than their mom. "Trust I'm always going to keep you and your sisters safe. I promise."

Shelby has never broken her promises to the twins, and she will always do everything in her power to never have to break one, ever. Santana was looking into her mothers' green eyes and suddenly heard her father's voice—when Rachel was in surgery, Juan had said something to Santana that she heard once again now: 'Mommy will always keep you and your sister safe like she did today; mommy saved Rachel's life.'

"I believe you, mama," Santana said, crashing into her arms.

"I love you, baby," Shelby said, kissing her daughters head.

"I love you, too."

"Rach, can you open your eyes for mommy baby?" Shelby said softly, gently cupping her daughter's cheek.

Shelby was in Rachel's room with Dr. Stratton, Dr. Othot, and three nurses who were standing off to the side—they were there in case things went sideways. Will was with Santana, Beth and the family who were waiting patiently to see the tiny brunette.

Rachel's eyes fluttered and when she saw how bright the lights were, she squeezed her eyes shut again. Shelby whispered to Paul, and he lowered the lights then she tried to get Rachel to open her eyes again. Rachel smiled seeing her mom and reached her arm to the left expecting to find her sister in bed with her, assuming Shelby was there to wake her for school.

"Sssoo," Rachel said, then made a face.

"It's okay baby. Mommy is here with you."

"Tttttaaaaa."

"Rachel, do you know who this is?" Dr. Stratton asked, pointing to Shelby. Rachel blinked a few times trying to clear her head, she didn't understand why Dr. Stratton was in her bedroom. "Rachel, blink twice if you can understand me."

Shelby held her breath waiting for Rachel to blink, breathing a sigh of relief when she did. "Do you know who this is?" he asked again, signaling to Shelby.

"Mmmaaa."

"That's right, Rachel. This is your mom. Are you in pain? Blink once for no, twice for yes."

Rachel blinked twice and then heard the doctor ask Shelby to step outside with him. She didn't want that to happen, but she didn't know how to stop it. Rachel couldn't understand what the heck was going on, she had so many questions. Why couldn't she speak, where were they, did they already go to school, was this some weird dream? She then realized by asking herself all those questions, she missed the conversation her mom and doctor were having. To stop her mom from leaving, she tried to squeeze her mom's hand.

"Mommy will be right back, baby," Shelby said, kissing the top of Rachel's head.

"Nnnnn—"

Dr. Stratton paused at the door watching the monitors begin to fluctuate and made his way back to Rachel, Dr. Othot on the other side of the girl screaming at the nurses to go get medication and the crash cart. Shelby wasted no time in running back to her daughter, holding her head steady while giving the doctors space to work. She wouldn't be kicked out this time.

"Mommy's here baby, mommy's here."

Everything faded for Shelby in that moment, which is one of the reasons doctors prefer to work without their patients' parents in the room. Gosh forbid Rachel coded again, Shelby wouldn't hear them yelling clear before shocking her because she couldn't hear anything that was being said.

Shelby came out of her daze when Rachel gasped. Dr. Stratton moved out of the way and let the mother in on his side so Shelby's face could be what her daughter first saw. Rachel's eyes fluttered once again then she saw her mom and smiled.

"Hi baby."

"Mommy."

Nobody could explain it. Dr. Othot assumed Rachel was suffering from neurological damage when she couldn't properly formulate a word, but they may have caught a symptom of her seizures instead.

Shelby cupped Rachel's cheek, the word mommy has never sounded so nice to hear before. She knew the doctors needed to perform more tests, but she wasn't quite ready to leave Rachel yet. "I love you, baby girl."

"I love you, mommy. Where's Tana?"

Shelby briefly looked up at Dr. Stratton who was now on the other side of the bed out of Rachel's line of sight then back at her daughter. "Rach, do you know where we are baby?"

"Hom—wait," Rachel said, realizing once her mom slightly moved that they weren't at home like she thought they were. "Me?" she asked, looking around. "Why?"

"Hey, hey now. Take some deep breaths for mommy," Shelby said, seeing her daughter starting to get worked up. "You're okay baby."

"Damn, she's good," Dr. Othot whispered to his colleague seeing Rachel's heart rate begin to skyrocket then go back to normal faster than he had ever seen.

Because he didn't work with children all day long, he didn't see parents calming their kids down constantly the way Dr. Stratton did. He agreed though, Shelby was one of the best parents he has ever had the privilege of working with. Unfortunately, a lot of Dr. Stratton's patients didn't have the best parents and the nurses were very used to pushing sedatives to calm children down who freaked out even with their parents in the room. Rachel though, Shelby could calm her each and every time just by looking her in the eyes.

Shelby knew from Rachel's reaction she had no idea what happened. Rachel didn't even remember seeing Juan. Looking at the doctors, Shelby knew they wanted to know what Rachel does remember and asked her before they could because she was kinder about it.

"Umm, me and Tana put our cheerios uniforms out like you told us to, then watched a movie, but I don't think we finished it."

Shelby smiled envisioning the twins cuddled up in the movie room together the night before. She had put Beth to bed and then snuggled up with Will in one of the chairs they had in the movie room—it was a tradition they started the year the twin's started kindergarten. They watched a movie as a family to celebrate the last night of summer, but the twins had fallen asleep halfway through it.

"That's so good, babe," Shelby said, keeping the room positive. "So good. Do you remember what we had for dinner last night?"

"Gazpacho and paella!" Rachel said, licking her lips.

Shelby laughed because Santana and Rachel licked their lips anytime they asked for or had Spanish food for dinner. The doctors looked at one another, Dr. Othot clearly confused whereas Dr. Stratton was impressed. "Spanish food?" he whispered.

"Lopez-Corcoran," Dr. Stratton supplied.

"Your favorites," Shelby said, continuing the conversation with her daughter. Clearly the only lapse in memory was from today which made them all feel better.

"Necesitas aprender a hacer mas platos por favor, mama," Rachel said with a smile.

"Solo si me ayudas, babe."

"No way!" Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Oh, we're back to English," Dr. Othot commented, impressed the girl and her mother were bilingual. There was much more to the Lopez-Corocran family than he thought.

Shelby smiled. It didn't matter what language her daughter spoke in, she was just happy to have her back and see those beautiful brown eyes. She could handle most anything, she couldn't lose her baby though. Shelby briefly looked up and said a silent thank you to Juan for bringing Rachel back to her again.

"Are we going to be late for school," Rachel asked.

Shelby realized then and there they hadn't called in sick and pinched the bridge of her nose. Dr. Othot didn't understand the reaction and told Rachel the time assuming that would suffice. Paul honestly didn't know what the heck was wrong with the man next to him, he was oblivious at reading a room.

"Mommy?"

"I'm sorry, babe. I was thinking about something else," Shelby said, not wanting her daughter to worry about school. She knows why she left the house without her phone, Will was harder to explain—she hadn't seen him use his phone since arriving at the hospital, Santana either for that matter.

"Coach Sue is gonna be so mad at us," Rachel said, knowing the cheer coach hated it when they missed practice. Sue knew Rachel and Santana had a valid excuse for missing practice however, according to her, nobody else did, ever.

"I can handle, Sue," Shelby commented, not afraid of the woman the way others were. "Don't you worry your pretty little head, babe."

Rachel smiled knowing her mom never turned down an opportunity to yell at the woman when necessary. They spoke for a little while longer and then the doctors took Rachel for more testing while Shelby went to make the phone call to Figgins. Luckily for the parents, a total idiot ran the school, and he wouldn't fire them for this—he wouldn't even give them a warning. Shelby did know Emma and Shannon would be worried about them though which made her feel badly however, it's not as if this was something planned.

When Shelby made her way out into the waiting room, she pulled Will aside and was pleasantly surprised to learn he had called Figgins—even if it was around 10am, it was better than waiting the entire day like she did.

"MAMA!" Beth squealed, happy to see her mother.

She did not like this place because there was nothing to play with, and she wasn't allowed to run out the door like her big sister did. The family members had taken turns most of the day bringing Beth outside to run around on the grass but then it started to rain so they let her run in the empty hallways. It wasn't the same as being at home, at her grandparents, or playgroup and she didn't like it—she also made sure to make it known to anyone who would listen how unhappy she truly was by screaming her head off. The last time she screamed, Beth found herself hanging upside down in her uncles' arms, which only made her giggle.

"Can I see her yet?" Santana asked, not giving her mom a chance to pick up Beth or start a conversation with anyone else. "Please, please, please?"

"Once she gets back from her tests, babe."

"Ughh, we don't even have this many tests in school!"

"Lo se, nieta. Estas pruebas mantienen a tu hermana en la tierra contigo," Carlos chimed in while Shelby took a deep breath. He could only imagine what the mother had been through today. "Pensamientos?"

"Shelby?" Dr. Stratton said to get the mother's attention while Santana answered her grandfather. The doctor gave her a slight nod and she turned back around to face her daughter who was now looking at her expectantly.

"Ready to go see your sister?" Shelby asked.