When my son, whom on here I'll call "R", was born my husband said immediately that something wasn't right. I was a first time mom giving birth to my beautiful son after suffering a devastating miscarriage and praying for THREE long years for a child. I thought he was perfect. He was so precious. And so tiny. Ten little fingers and toes. Everything right where it was supposed to be and he was the picture of health. He's never had many health issues. In fact I can probably count on less than 5 fingers how many times the child has been on antibiotics. He is rarely sick. However, the night he was born he cried all night long. Hear me here:
ALL.
NIGHT.
LONG. He was born via emergency C-section after about 14 hours of labor AFTER an induction. I needed, HAD to have, some rest. My mom came down the second night and sat in the rocking chair and held him all night so that I could sleep a little. He woke and would nurse and then return to sleep. As long as he was held. This continued for the first 6 weeks of his life. I could not put him down. He would sleep on my chest each night. If I attempted to lie him down he would scream bloody murder. He slept. I did not. I worried constantly about him falling off of my chest or being unable to breathe. At about 6 weeks of age we discovered that he had severe acid reflux and he began to have some cereal in his bottles. We also discovered that he was not getting enough breast milk and he was switched to formula. My poor little guy was on about 6 different formulas in just about 3-4 weeks. I thought for sure once we got the tummy troubles straightened out the crying would be better. Not so.
This was our first clue that something was amiss.
"R" was an extremely good child. I never had to put things out of his reach. I could tell him "no" firmly one time not to touch something that would harm him and he would never go near it again. He was always extremely active. Hyper. Bounced off the walls. I don't have any brothers so I just assumed that he was being a typical boy. I had nothing to compare it to. He was, and still is, the sweetest, most loving child. His behaviors sort of balanced each other out. I thought he would outgrow the hyper-activity. He did not. When he would watch TV, "R" would literally, read: LITERALLY!!!!!!, sit on his head and bounce around the couch. He never missed a word of the show he was watching. Not once. To eat a meal with him can make you crazy. He will take a bite of food and then walk around the table, go in another room and do something, climb under his chair or the table and then come back and take another bite. This is every single meal, every single day. Even in restaurants. He cannot physically sit still. He is not physically able to do so. I cannot imagine how he feels in school, trapped behind a desk, each and every day. It must be suffocating for him. And he talks.....ALL the time....without taking a breath. So much so that at times I have to go in the bathroom and close the door to give my ears a break. He even talks in his sleep. He always has
These were some of our first clues that something was not quite right. I finally realized that his behaviors were much more than him just being a boy. He did wonderful in kindergarten but he also had an amazing teacher that is a very dear friend of our family and she knew him outside of school as well. He was also not stuck at a desk all day long either which helped I'm sure. First grade we started getting reports that he would have to go to the hall to finish up work. He never got in trouble and he was never a behavior problem. His teacher recognized that something was going on but he is very social and will talk to anyone about anything. (He comes by that honestly! :)) Towards the end of the year we had his teacher and classroom aide complete the Connor's scale and we did the same. This was in May, very close to the end of the year so we attributed the increase in hyperactivity to the fast approaching summer break. Second grade started off well. He adored his teacher and was in class with many of his friends and was doing well. A few weeks in we noticed that he was having incomplete work once again. We had a conference with his teacher and discovered that he was having trouble remaining in his seat and that he was often blurting out in class as well. We discussed completing the Connor's scale the year before and it was decided that maybe it was time to explore more in depth testing. His second grade teacher has twin daughters with ADHD and was extremely helpful with the whole process.
We found a wonderful psychologist in our area and I had it pre-approved thorough our insurance. The testing came back that he did indeed have ADHD. He was also diagnosed with Anxiety Disorder NOS (No Other Symptoms) as well as a sleep disturbance (DUH!). I have worked in mental health for the past few years with children who have severe emotional disabilities. I told the psychologist going in what I thought it was. I was right. Dead. ON. (
Mom's always know! Never doubt your intuition when it comes to your children!!!) After trying several different approaches we have decided to try medication. We are currently on our fifth (I believe) medication and it's not looking like this one is going to work either. We will press on. I've learned patience if nothing else from all of this. And believe me, patience is not a virtue that I possess on my own!
XO,
One Southern Mama
