PJ is my third baby.  I had a complicated pregnancy and aftermath with this one.  I ended up in preterm labor from week 29 until he was born.  I had gestational diabetes, requiring daily shots up to three times a day of insulin.  I had to prick my finger multiple times a day to check my blood sugar.  Ongoing bedrest due to the preterm labor.  The birth itself was quick and painful.  He was born not breathing and had to be bagged at birth.  I had the most painful experience of my life, as my uterus kept releasing the clots and then re-clotting so I almost bled to death. 

PJ was breast fed until he was 10 weeks old.  I would have gone longer but we had some major issues with it.  Mainly, that he was starving to death.  I had been calling the doctor and bringing him in because I felt something was wrong.  The doctor on call, not our regular pediatrician, kept telling me it was colic and not to worry.  I had him in there at least three times.  The idiot doctor even gave me an opiate (at the time I didn't know what it was) to give to the baby every four hours for "stomach spasms".  At his two month check up with his regular doctor we discovered that he had only gained a total of 6 ounces in four weeks (since the last time he was weighed by her.)  I went home from that appointment a wreck, and gave him his first bottle of formula.  He drank 8 ounces and wanted more!  My baby was so hungry!  I felt guilty, and angry!

We also had an ongoing battle with Thrush.  Of the ten weeks we breastfed, 8 of them were spent on some sort of medication to get rid of thrush.  At one point I even had a walk-in care doctor tell me that it was impossible for a woman to catch yeast in her breast from her child's mouth.  *rolls eyes*  So, on the morning of Thanksgiving 2003, when we woke up with thrush, again, I decided that was it. I had breastfed his sister for 16 months and didn't have any issues, but this was just too much. 
Phoenix John
September 16, 2003
We overcame all of the issues of his first few months with flying colors.  But when babies three months younger than him started sitting up on their own, while PJ still couldn't, I started to get worried.  I called Early Intervention, a free program available nationally, to come and evaluate him.  They will come and ask you a bunch of questions while testing your child to see where they are developmentally.  PJ tested out at less than an eight month old leve, even though he was over a year old.  There had been a few things 'different' about PJ that we just never put together.  He could sit upright on his own, but only if you put him in that position.  He was crawling, but he was dragging his left leg behind him and holding his left arm and hand in a clenched fist position while pulling himself with his right side.  These things, combined with him not showing any interest in pulling himself up, got me worried.  His pediatrician recommended Early Intervention (which had already started working with him, giving him weekly physical therapy appointments) and a referral to the pediatric neurologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH.  We had that appointment in December of 2004. 

We saw Dr. Morse, a wonderful young doctor who I had heard raves about.  He asked us a bunch of questions and then did a physical exam on PJ.  He concluded, putting all of the information together regarding my preterm labor, diabetes, trauma at birth, the low birth wieight for a GD baby, and the medication I take even through out pregnancy for my heart condition, that PJ 'most likely experienced some sort of brain trauma in utero, probably around the 29 week mark'.  What that trauma was, where it's located in his brain and how much it effects/affects isn't known yet.  We could put PJ under anesthesia and have an MRI done of his brain to find out if it was a stroke or just a general hypoxia (lack of oxygen) but that wouldn't change his treatment as it is.  So, we continue with the physical therapy until he doesn't need it.  We don't worry about what will happen or where he'll go.  He's already caught up to his age, he's started walking, and is a happy baby.  His PT lady is a bit concerned with his left foot during his steps, but he is coming out of that as well.  He will probably always show a bit of hesitency on his left side, especially during trauma or stress.  But there is no reason to believe that he won't be normal in every way.