Minnesota Autism Mom

Hi everyone! After months of pretty much baby/pregnancy entries…I can finally tell you that my baby boy has joined us : ) I was induced last Tues and had him on Weds, June 13 at 9:13 am. Wow, labor…hmmm…I think I will leave at that. I think being induced is not paticularly easy. I also think that my sensitivity for pain is really low. For example, I threw up some times. My mom (who was there every minute) said she never got sick. I get sick in cars, so of course I get sick in labor.
I also had an epideral. I wasn’t going to, but as the pain got insane, I finally said let’s do this. I actually wished I would have done it earlier. The pain immediately went away and I was finally able to sleep. When the pushing stage started, the feelings came right back. It was hard, but at least it’s over. It is all worth it as everyone kept saying. Ok, I said I wouldn’t get into it, so I will leave it at that.
He was 6 pds 2 oz at birth and 20 inches long. None of the clothes we had fit him. He is such a little man. He can wear preemie clothes otherwise he is swimming in his onesie.
My health and his health have not exactly been rock solid since he arrived. Yesterday I went on blood pressure meds. My bp was dangerously high yesterday. It was like 165/110 or worse. I can’t remember. That is why some of you aren’t hearing from me. It’s been something every day. We came home from the hospital on Friday. Had in home nurses for 2 days because he had jaundice. That was really hard for dad and me keeping him on a light table. Then his temp dipped down too low and he had to go back to the hospital. Now I think he’s all better and putting on weight fine, but I need to get my bp down. I could easily have had a stroke or a seizure yesterday. Thank God for the fact that I have an at home bp montior. I just used it yesterday to make sure my bp was still low. Well, it wasn’t but, I am thinking the meds should help. Hopefully I will be back to good health soon.
Thanks for everyones support the last 8+ months. I never imagined that my health and his would be like this. Of course, you don’t want to think the worse, but I think the PIH really took me off guard. It con’ts to surprise me that this is still an issue (most moms go back to normal once the baby comes out).
Lastly, life has changed so much now. I keep wondering when things will slow down, but I suppose seeing nurses and dr’s daily is what is absorbing so much of any free time I would have. I have a dr’s appt for myself Friday to see if the meds are working and one for him Monday.
Now back to pumping, feeding, changing diapers!!

June 23rd, 2007

Today G met with a pysch and at 1:30 my husband and I sat down 3 specialists who announced that G is in fact autistic. At this point they can say it’s moderate that he needs much more therapy, as much as we can give him. I have been able to stop crying and have only told my parents since they were watching G for us. My dad seems in denial, my mom had that look of empathy and like she already knew it was coming (since she is with him daily). It wasn’t shocking, just so utterly disappointing. At least we know what we are dealing with now and he isn’t 2. They told us we have done a lot and so we shouldn’t feel badly that we haven’t done enough. I just need to do so much more.