My Story Thus Far

My Story……thus far

Greetings! I am Mindy, mother to the CuddleBugs, JuneBug and LoveBug. My oldest, JuneBug, is my ASD child. Our journey didn’t start right at the start with an ASD diagnosis. It started with a Developmentally Delayed diagnosis around the age of 18 months. I had a feeling that something was up with his speech due to all the ear infections he had suffered. What I didn’t know was how much more it was than delayed speech. This is my story…….thus far.

My JuneBug was born June 11, 2004 via C-section. This was an emergency, due to the fact that he was transverse (sideways) and had the cord around his neck twice (this was discovered at the time of birth). I had also been laboring for 24 hours, 12 of which were induced with Pitocin. He was cyanotic (blue), though once they got the cord off his neck he started to “pink-up”. His apgar scores were average (thank god). I had a bit of a problem with post-surgery bleeding, but was brought under control with the help of Pitocin. After 3 days in the hospital we were both released to go home.

Our first medical condition started with JuneBug being diagnosed with Colic. His upper lip was tethered and was unable to form a tight “seal” around the bottle nipple or breast. I started to bottle feed exclusively due to the fact that he had to be feed 2 oz. every 2 hours. At 8 weeks of age he had his first surgery to release his lip, once he recovered from that feedings were normal. But he still wasn’t sleeping for long stretches of time.

Around 6 months he started to get ear infections, sometimes in both ears at once. He was on a revolving door of antibiotics. During all of this I noticed that he wasn’t talking, not even babbling, just grunting or screaming. I told this to the doctor who then referred me to an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist). This ENT said that JuneBug wasn’t talking due to the fact that he needed tubes to help drain the fluid in his ears. So in went the first set of tubes. Infections still continued and so did the antibiotics and so did the not talking. We were referred to a different ENT who told us that the first set of tubes put in were too small, one was completely blocked and one had already fallen out. So another surgery was scheduled. That brings us to 3 surgeries all before JuneBug turned two.
At his 18 month check up I mentioned that he still wasn’t talking, just grunting and screaming. I was giving the wait and see answer.
6 longs months later and it was time for the 2 year check up. He still wasn’t talking. We were referred to the school district for assessment. JuneBug was found to be Developmentally Delayed. It was Global Delay, due to the fact that not only was his speech delayed, but also his fine motor skills and social skills.

Well to make a long story short after a long road we finally have our diagnose of PDD. JuneBug is on two meds and doing great at school.

I will be sharing more detail of my story as time goes on.

My first tip: Pick your battles.