All about my kiddo and Autism

“I know of nobody who is purely autistic, or purely neurotypical. Even God has some autistic moments, which is why the planets spin.”
 ― Jerry Newport, Your Life is Not a Label

February 9th, 2012, I found out I was pregnant. I had an amazing pregnancy. 32 weeks, I went into pre-term labor. It was stopped and I was put on bed rest.
September 28th, 2012, I entered the hospital to finally meet my handsome prince.
September 29, 2012 5:41 pm, we welcomed a beautiful baby boy into this world.

I can remember it like it was just five minutes ago. He had a head full of hair and the most beautiful gray eyes I had ever seen. He was perfect. They rushed him into their care due to his low temperature. 30 minutes later, I was able to hold my beautiful son in my arms. I didn't sleep for 4 days. I couldn't stop staring at this amazing child that I brought into this world. He changed my life. I just didn't have any clue how much he would change it over the years.

Hunter spoke his first word at just three months old. He told the cat HEY! He said it a few more times that day and it was officially his first word. By 6 months old, he had upwards of ten words. I knew that he was so smart already. Things changed after that.

At 9 months old, we began to notice Hunter wasn't the happy baby we had had all this time. He began to cry more than laugh. He began to lose words. Things began to get harder. He never slept through the night. I was exhausted. I couldn't understand what was going on. We took him to his baby well check-up. The pediatrician was a little concerned. Hunter's head had went from 50 percentile to 100 percentile within 3 months.

At 12 months, Hunter no longer spoke. He grunted and flapped. He couldn't tell us if he was hungry or thirsty. He still never slept through the night. In fact, it was so hard to get him to sleep at all. We celebrated his birthday with friends and family. I was a nervous wreck. We had our 1 year check-up the next day. We went and found out that Hunter's head was still growing at an alarming rate and was now above 125 percentile. We were told that we must see a Pediatric Neurologist. I was terrified. This was our turning point.

Hunter was now seen by a Pediatric Neurologist. She asked a million questions and we were sent straight over to have a CT scan done immediately in Savannah. In December, we were also sent to have an MRI completed on Hunter's head. We found out that nothing was found by either tests.

13 months old, Hunter had gotten "sillier". He began stimming constantly. He was constantly hand flapping, spinning, and rocking. I can remember him sitting in the floor staring at his fingers and going in a circle while sitting on his butt. He also began walking at 13 months old. He stood up and walked like he had been walking his entire life. We still had no words. We had no eye contact.

January, we started with Babies Can't Wait which is Early Intervention. We were blessed with an amazing speech therapist. She came once a week to "play" with Hunter and try to get him to talk.

18 months old, we had another appointment with his Pediatric Neurologist. I was prepared. I had videos, pictures, and a list of things he did. I knew by this point that Hunter had Autism. We walked out of the office with two diagnoses: Autism and Macrocephaly (enlarged head). We immediately signed him up for private OT and ST through Bacon County Rehab Center.

My beautiful baby boy has Autism. I have struggled with this many times. I have seen him struggle. I have seen him fight so hard. Hunter is a MIRACLE. This blog is about my beautiful miracle. It's about our daily fight.








“Autism, is part of my child, it's not everything he is. My child is so much more than a diagnosis.” 
― S.L. Coelho, The World According to August - One Good Friend