New girl on the block

               Please bear with me as I'm new to blogging and new to the world of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)  My 23month old son was officially diagnosed on Wednesday and I think for my own sanity and perhaps to give others a glimpse into the world that some many children these days are experiencing; I will try to maintain a blog about our ups, downs and in between.  I will start by warning you that I am a God fearing woman and I have become so much closer with God through this journey but I have days of weakness (as all sinners do) when I ask how, why, and play the "it's not fair" card.  I dont want anyone reading this to judge that I 'claim' to be a Christian and still may make mention of feeling alone, or being scared.  Christian's are still sinners, we just accept the gift that Jesus gave by dying on the cross for those sins and make a diligent effort to live our lifes more appealing to him.
                To get you caught up to speed I will give a very brief synapses of the last 23months with my youngest son Alden.  Pregnancy and delivery were uneventful.  He was a breast fed baby with no complications other than some occasional abundance of 'spit up' after feedings that was been treated as acid reflux.  At 10weeks Alden had a fever of 104 F that wasn't going anywhere.  He was evaluated in our ER and sent by ambulance to Toledo Children's Hospital where after a 6 day stay he was finally fever free and discharged with a diagnosis of viral infection and milk protein allergy.  Shortly after the ear infections started.  After 10 in his first year of life he was placed with tubes and passed a post surgical hearing test.  By 6months I noticed that although Alden laughed out loud and made high pitched noises, he wasn't babbling at all.  I mentioned my concern to the pediatrician and I was told to "give him more time".  By our 9 month check up we still weren't crawling and had just started making some vowel sounds but still no babble.  I was told by the ped.  "he's a second child, and he's a boy.  Give him more time" By 10 months he was finally crawling but still no babble.  He didn't point to things he wanted, he didn't shake his head yes or no.  He had NO communication and had notably poor eye contact. I mentioned again that I was concerned and asked about Early On, my ped. once again said that they thought it was too early for concern.  "Lets take a look at it at his 1yr visit"  I was done waiting.  I called Early On myself and before his 1yr ped. visit he was being seen regularly and was testing 4-6months behind in milestones.  Through the summer he was handed over to the ISD and qualified for special ed due to a significant speech delay.  We saw the neurologist in July and we were told it's too early to know anything "see you in 6 months"  We started a Toddler group through the ISD in September that meets 2x a week.  His eye contact and babble was improving.  A few months ago we decided to give gluten free a try and our family and his teachers all noticed a big change.  He is finally "in the same room" as us.  He's beginning to interact with his brother, comes to me when he's got a boo-boo, he's using some pop-out words and is just a much happier little boy.
                   Wednesday this week we returned to the Neurologist and my gut was worried we would hear ASD, but my heart was thrilled with the progress we have made, and my brain was thinking this would be another waste of time visit where we were told once again that it was too early to make any decisions and to come back in 6 months.  WRONG!  I heard the words "severely delayed" "clearly concerning" "he definitely falls on spectrum" and something about Jenny McCarthy (I'll admit by then all I could hear was the sound of myself swallowing so hard trying to hold back the tears, that I was sure the Doc could hear too) 1,000 questions flooded my brain and yet I couldn't ask a single one for fear that the moment I opened my mouth all that would come out was a scream.  How, after all the blood, sweat and tears....all the progress, could he tell me now that he's autistic?  My gut has known since he was 6months old; but it was so easy to make it all go away by excusing it with "he's been so sick for so long" "it's just a speech delay" "he's got last baby syndrome and we've spoiled him too much" ect. but now it's official.  My almost two year old son, Alden, is autistic.

                       So now what?  Now I get on the internet, the phone, the blow horn whatever it is I need to do to make sure that he's getting all the help he can possibly get.  I tap into the momma bear and dont take no for an answer.  I pray, cry and then pray some more.  I enlist the prayers of all of my family, friends, and church family.  I blog and pray that sharing Alden's journey will help make anothers a little easier.