July 16th, 2008

I went to Adrian’s school to watch him participate in the special olympics play day at school. It was a lot of fun. They do all kinds of sports. Adrian was really good at the basketball and running. He was so cute on the ball toss they had to stick the balls to a point board and instead of throwing the balls Adrian just walked up and stuck them to the board. I am kicking myself for not grabbing my camera! Another little girl in his class kept telling me she wanted to hold my hand so I hung out with her too, she was adorable. Everytime they would take Adrian to do another activity he would say “Bye!” to me and I would proceed to tell him that I wasn’t leaving yet then when I actually was leaving he wouldn’t say bye to me! I’m glad I was able to go and be with him, he was really excited to have me there.

Posted in My Family's Autism Experiences | 1 Comment »

A Few Pictures to Share

July 14th, 2008

I can’t seem to get any good ones of Adrian recently but I’m going to share a few of the other kids and get Adrian’s on here soon.

Here is Sanura, she is way too pretty!

And here is Nevaeh, I love this chubby cheeked toddler phase.

And here is another of Link. You can see his jaundice in this picture and I believe he was 4 or 5 days old here.

Posted in Baby #4, Nevaeh, Sanura | 3 Comments »

A Few Random Things…

July 9th, 2008

Lincoln had his two week check up yesterday. He’s doing good. His cord fell off mostly but a little piece stayed on and they had to put some silver nitrate on it to dry it up, if it doesn’t fall off by next Tuesday I have to take him back in for another treatment. It’s fairly common though and not a big deal, Sanura had to have this done too.

When the nurse asked me about things he was doing she made me really paranoid. She asked if Link was following people with his eyes (he is sort of, sometimes) and she asked if he was cooing and smiling and acted weird when I said no. He’s only 2 weeks old, from what I’ve read kids aren’t even supposed to start that yet. I doubt she remembered that I have a child with autism and how much her reaction might have disturbed me. So the rest of the day that’s all I thought about and I pretty much had myself in a mental uproar that “I just know Link is going to have autism” mode…I don’t want to rush his babyhood away but I just want to know one way or the other is he has autism and I’m going to be paranoid and obsessed until I know.

Adrian has took to a new gross habit, he now enjoys licking his hands and occasionally smearing the spit on me. Oh yay…at least he’s wearing underwear a little more often! He’s doing great in school, he’s gotten a sticker for being good every day of school thus far. I am very proud of him, he’s doing great.

Posted in Baby #4, My Family's Autism Experiences | 2 Comments »

Adrian’s Summer School

July 5th, 2008

I sort of dread Adrian’s time at summer school for a couple of reasons. Like I said before, I was looking forward to him starting summer school to keep him in routine and give myself a break but there are a couple of reasons I haven’t liked summer school. Firstly, Adrian’s bus ride during the summer season is a long ride. Adrian spends about an hour on the bus. Adrian is the first one picked up and the last one dropped off so he’s the kid on the bus for the longest length of time. Another reason I hate it is because, last year, they sent home no drawings or work that he did, and they never sent home a single note saying how he was doing.Luckily last year one of his teacher aides was a paraprofessional who worked with Adrian in the birth-3 program and she spent a lot of time at our house and she would call me about once a week and let me know how things were going.

A special ed teacher should understand the importance of letting the parents know how the child is doing in class. I can’t just ask my son how his day was, what he did during his day….well I can try but he never responds to  me when I do ask him.

This year I knew he wouldn’t be with that paraprofessional who was so informative last year. I was surprised when the first day of school Adrian came home with a folder that had a note from his teacher, saying who she was, who her aides were, a calendar where she would put stickers if they had good days, and letting us know her plan for the (summer) school year. I was actually in labor on Adrian’s first day of school and once I got him off the bus that day we headed to the hospital so it was kind of shoved out of mind until I got home from the hospital.

I was happy when I saw the letter from the new teacher that stated that one of her aides was someone he had during the regular school year. I was incredibly happy to see a familiar name and I trust that lady with him and it made me feel 1000% better about him being there. I hate seeing my son in the care of people I’ve never really met and I just have to trust that the school is hiring good people. It’s really scary, Adrian can’t tell me if something is wrong. So  seeing that someone I trust is in the classroom really helps. I guess this is all part of letting them grow up.

Posted in My Family's Autism Experiences | 4 Comments »

Family Update

July 1st, 2008

The baby is doing really well. Link developed jaundice so we’ve been dealing with that but his bilirubin numbers are coming down nicely and he’s starting to gain some weight now so hopefully things continue to be on the upswing with that, we have another weight check/bilirubin check on Thursday.

Breastfeeding is going well but I had forgotten how badly it hurts during these first couple of weeks. It’s pretty excruciating and I can’t wait until it doesn’t hurt anymore. I know we’ll get there and I’m no where near giving up or anything like that, I know with Adrian I was so ready to quit nursing during that first week.

Sanura is doing pretty good, she’s enjoying playing in the backyard and I’ve been trying to keep things as normal as possible for her. I am going to call and schedule her a play therapy appointment tomorrow. She hasn’t been in a while because we had the floods and couldn’t get there and then I had the baby so it’s time to get back to that now. I’m sure she’ll be really excited to get back to that.

Adrian is doing good too, summer school is going really well for him. I will probably make a more detailed post about that later. I will say though that he really enjoys going and they give a sticker for every day that he is good and he’s gotten one every day so far!

Nevaeh is adjusting really well to the new baby. I had no idea how she would handle it but she hasn’t been jealous at all. She wants to be a little mommy (so is Sanura) and is constantly bringing me diapers, wipes, and pacifiers whether I need them or not. She’ll also rub Link’s little head and say “awww cute” and she says “winkin” or “wink” instead of Lincoln. It’s adorable to watch her with him.

So that’s what we have been up to around here. I will try to keep up with my blog posts but things are pretty crazy around here with four kids so we’ll see how it goes.

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Introducing Lincoln Edward…

June 26th, 2008

Lincoln Edward was born on June 24th at 6:10PM. Link weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and is a long baby at 21 inches long. He’s gorgeous and perfect. Here is my birth story:

On Monday night, June 23rd I was having contractions about every ten minutes and I was really disappointed when they stopped around 2AM. I finally went to sleep and Glen let me sleep in because we thought it might happen on Tuesday. Once I got up I started cleaning up around the house and going about my business but was having some fairly strong contractions by 11AM or so. I would just tell Glen when I was having a contraction and he was timing them and I was sort of surprised to hear him say they were coming every 4 to 6 minutes. Glen got all worked up and wanted to leave for the hospital and I argued and wasn’t convinced that I was really in labor. In hindsight that was silly but I didn’t want to go to the hospital and get sent home. Well, he won the argument and we headed to labor and delivery. She checked me and said “well you’re staying, you’re at 8CM” So we got admitted and got an IV going, just for fluids, and we waited. The contractions continued to come but they weren’t too bad, I had to breath through them but not too bad. I was still laughing and hanging out with Glen in between them. We were watching the game show channel and Glen thought it was pretty cool that I could be in labor and still kick butt on weakest link :lol

The doctor was debating breaking my water because he had a tubal surgery that he had to perform and they figured I would go really quick if they broke my water. So they opted to wait. They contractions every 2 or 3 minutes continued and did get a little more intense but I don’ t think I ever got more than 8 until they broke my water. He came in and broke the water, I think around 5:00 and then the contractions got serious. I was breathing through them and squeezing Glen’s hand. I started to feel a little pressure after about an hour of those so I yelled out that I felt pressure. They came and checked me and started getting the room in order for the birth. I was still 9CM, I ended up sort of getting stuck at 9 for a little bit and it was really frustrating. The nurse kept checking my cervix and it was almost unbearable every time she would check it. I was basically screaming and crying and just wanted it to be over at this point.

Finally they told me I could start some pushing even though there was a tiny rim of cervix left.  So I started pushing. This delivery was a little different in that usually I have an uncontrollable urge to push and this time I didn’t really have that at first, maybe because there was that bit of cervix left. I’m not sure how long it took to push but it felt like forever to me and Glen had said it looked like I wasn’t breathing and he was worried I was going to pass out or just get too exhausted to keep pushing but I just kept thinking that the harder I push the sooner I could be done so I gave what I thought would be the last big push and was not happy when I had to push yet again…so they said “push” and I said ” I can’t” but proceeded to give one last push and he was out.

I tore a bit so they sewed me up and he was perfect. I am feeling very overwhelmed but happy. Nursing is going well but I am very sore on my chest (and all my muscles in my whole body are sore) I am really happy to be home.

So my more intense labor started around noon and he was born at 6:10 so another 6 hour labor, just like the other 3.

Here he is!….

Posted in Baby #4 | 5 Comments »

Still Pregnant

June 23rd, 2008

Can you believe it, still no baby! I had an appointment this morning and I was dilated to…get this…5CM! Unreal! I have never gotten that far without being in active labor. I’m sure it will happen any time now. We opted not to schedule an induction date as I prefer not to have pitocin and in the doctors words “let’s just wait, this is going to happen” so here I am…waiting….still…..

I can’t wait to meet my little guy and Glen (and extended family) are all getting really excited for Link’s arrival. I think he’s just trying to build up the anticipation.

Posted in Baby #4 | 3 Comments »

Today is my Due Date

June 21st, 2008

And I’m still pregnant! I’m not that surprised, Sanura was 3 days late and so was Nevaeh but man it’s hard to go past your due date. I am totally ready to be done with this and the anticipation of having the baby is making it difficult to get anything done, including sleeping. I am trying my best to get rest, I know I will regret it if I don’t since when Link comes the restful times will probably be few and far between. Glen and I are really excited and can’t wait to meet our little guy. I just wanted to check in for those who may be wondering what is going on. I doubt I will go into labor before my appointment on Monday morning but I will keep updating.

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Summer School

June 19th, 2008

Adrian will start summer school on Tuesday, June 24th. Not to sound bad but I am really excited for him to start. Right now with the pregnancy (yes, I’m still pregnant) and then after I have the brand new baby…we’re just not doing as much park time and swimming time this summer and Adrian is not a happy camper about being in the house so much. The summer school will be good for me and good for him. I’m sure he’s going to be really excited to get back to school. It goes for one month, so he’ll be at school until the end of July and then he’ll be off school from the end of July until they go back to school in August. His school hours are from about 8AM-12PM. I’m hoping I have the baby before the 24th so I can get home and get him off to school on his first days. I’m having my doubts about having the baby before then though…

Posted in My Family's Autism Experiences | 2 Comments »

Almost Done Baking

June 17th, 2008

The baby that is. At my appointment yesterday I was dilated to 3CM and he is way down and in the right position for birth so it really could be any time now. I’m hoping it will happen like…today. So if I’m not around for a few days I’m probably having a baby!

Posted in Baby #4 | 1 Comment »