A Year Later...

I can't believe it's been an entire year since I posted. Time just goes by and by. Well, I figured that now that I have all this unwanted time, I could try to get caught up on the blog. I am actually pregnant with our 4th child right now. This pregnancy has been full of unexpectedness. Surprisingly with all my other kids I had all the yucky "normal" stuff, but no complications. Even my pregnancy with Evan was completely "normal". I had no indication that anything was wrong, until he failed his hearing test at the hospital as a newborn. Anyway, this pregnancy has me in the hospital on bed rest until I deliver. I've made it to 27 weeks, and plan to have a c-section at 34 weeks. I ruptured early on (before my 20 week ultrasound), so the lack of amniotic fluid could mean that the baby could be born with lung issues and other complications. I started a blog about my bed rest adventures at www.liftupourhands.blogspot.com.

Evan is in 2nd grade now. He is doing good in school, I mean considering all the challenges he has had to face and that he is still mainstreamed with peers of the same age for most of the day. If you ask the teacher, they seem to just focus on all he "can't" do or the areas where he struggles more than all the "normal" kids. I'm so tired of explaining everything to everyone and have them still not "get" it. I'm actually very impressed and proud that he has come so far and has been able to keep up as much as he has. I know it can't be easy for him.

He is having some hearing issues, so we will have to check into that and see if he will need additional ear surgeries to widen the ear canals again. The Dr. did mention that he would probably have to have other surgeries to refine things a bit. It should be a quicker surgery this time, instead of the hour surgery that ended up being 3+ hours.

We also need to get him in to get his eyes re-checked. They have been checking every year without issue, but the school noted in the vision screen that he needed a follow-up.

Our biggest issues right now are ADHD and Autism related behaviors. For ADHD, until December we had him on Guanfacine (1/2 of a 5 mg tablet, once a day) for the 7+ months. Before that we had tried Methelyn (1/2 of a 5 mg tablet in morning and one at lunch). The Methelyn seemed to have helped him focus better at school, but then it would wear off right after school and we were having a ton of behavior issues with him as soon as he would get home. The Guanfacine seemed to work better, although the "focus" that helped him in the classroom, would not be so great at home. We have had to deal with a lot of behaviors that seem like tantrums again. I was so relieved to be finally done with them after years and years, It's so frustrating to see them happening again.

He still does his little happy dance when he gets excited over the silliest little things. I want him to fit in and have friends and not get made fun of, but I can't seem to get him to stop doing this. I wish I had more answers. I try to research therapies for autism behaviors and I read a lot, but don't find exactly what I'm looking for.

He is also having a problem with dealing with his emotions lately. When he is angry or upset about anything, he tenses up and has this look (almost as if he's going to hurt you or do something). It's scary, but I can tell it's scary for him too. We need to continue to work with him on understanding his emotions and in appropriate ways of expressing his emotions.

That's all for now, my thoughts are kind of a jumble anyway...