Wow, I don't even know where to start. Baylor was a sweet "planned" joy that was given to us to borrow starting November 19, 2009. She was 4 days late and showed up 3 exact hours after my first contraction. I had a little complication of merconium and she was immediately taken to NICU for about 6 hours. She seemed to have no problems except for latching for the next 2 months. However, researchers are linking complications at birth with developmental delays and autism.
Poor little thing, she was a colicky baby. She fussed a lot. Around 5 months when we started her on solid food, she started to be a little bit happier. Baylor smiled, and played and she loved her baby food. Crawling started around 8 months and she started walking before her 1st birthday. Around 11 months she started talking and even singing songs with us. Right around 13 months or so, she really started to attach to me. We also noticed she couldn't tolerate dairy, so we opted for goat's milk. We were assured by doctors that her bowel problems were fine and to be expected on goat's milk. Okay, keep on trucking.
Around 14-15 months, we started to notice her not picking up new words and not really progressing in much else. This was subtle, so by 18 months I had recognized this wasn't quite right. I asked the office about it and they told me her language was fine for her age and I should worry around 2.5 years. That didn't work for me.
By 21 months she had stopped talking and wouldn't pay any attention to anybody. I had called the early intervention system for Tennessee but they are about as slow as any other government agency is. It took 3 months from my first call to get Baylor started in school and 4 months to get her in speech and occupational therapy. Right before she turned 2, we got her in to see her new doctor.
What a great story her doctor is. We moved our whole family over to this practice before we ever even realized Baylor was somewhere on the autism spectrum. The practice treats people with an integrative approach to medicine. A mix of homeopathic and pharmaceutical approaches. The other medical professionals in the group have helped the rest of our family out. Baylor's doctor SPECIALIZES in autism and lyme's disease. If you try to see our doctor now, he's not taking new patients. God orchestrated this. Absolutely no doubt.
We didn't have a diagnosis, still don't, but our doctor didn't care. We started her on some supplements anyway. We took her off dairy/casein/soy and within 2 weeks noticed a difference. She wasn't waking up laughing for hours, she was sleeping through the night! She started saying some of her old words again....in 2 weeks! How amazing is our God?
Which brings us to now. Her appointment was in October, she started school the end of November and started Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at the beginning of December and we should be done with that in a week or two. We just began speech and occupational therapy the first week of this month. Monday and Wednesday are therapy days, Tuesday and Thursday are school days. We are a little busy. Every bit is worth it. The therapy is one piece of the puzzle.
Baylor started a supplement called Methyl-B-12 and oxygen therapy at the same time. She has shown more independence, better bowel movements, eye contact, receptive speech, new words and ability to tolerate other people in general. She's doing so well in school, repeating things at circle time and giving her therapists a run for their money.
We are working on getting an evaluation at Vanderbilt, but we have no idea how long that will take to get. The ball is set to roll on that this week. However, the rules are changing for diagnosis, so who knows if she'll fall under the only one thing they are about to diagnose now: autism spectrum disorder or if she'll still get the diagnosis the majority believe she has. Honestly, almost all her teachers, therapists, and her doctor think as it is now she would most likely be diagnosed PDD-NOS. Pervasive Developmental Delay - Not Otherwise Specified. That doesn't mean she may not be diagnosed autistic when Vanderbilt does her evaluation. We will soon find out. However, no matter what her diagnosis is, my God is above all else and we believe Baylor is going to be just fine.
Autism isn't this totally elusive mental disorder once thought. I'm not going to get into all the details because that would take a really long time. I will say that there seems to be a common link between the environment, vaccinations and genetic predispositions. Almost all kids on the spectrum have gut issues. When the gut can't detox as it should, the brain suffers. That's what you see in autism. The poor immune systems of children can't detox effectively and the toxins free radical in the body and affect their brains. A recent update on statistics, 1 in 91 kids in America are diagnosed with autism. That's pretty hard core. This is widespread and needs to have the light on it that it deserves. Detoxing is key, and that's what we're working on with Baylor right now.
We had our second appointment this past week and are excited about what we are about to do! We were given two pills to get Baylor to swallow (that should be a blast) and then we collect her urine for the following 8 hours. The pills are a chelating agent that will be able to tell us what her heavy metal load in her body is. Then we will be able to proceed from there in detoxing as the protocol for heavy metal toxicity treatment suggests. We will also be checking her blood for any extra food sensitivities as well as certain mineral levels. We were told of a new supplement called Speak, that parents so far have loved! Their kids showed huge progress in their language, and we look forward to seeing how God uses it for Baylor. Also, the Methyl-B-12 mentioned earlier comes in a subcutaneous shots that are proven to be more effective. I had no idea I was going to have to be a nurse :) We are looking forward to seeing the results of this, as well.
For those of you who don't know Baylor's personality, she's a fireball. She is headstrong, super mischievous, loves her momma, enjoys only fully flavored foods and can hang like a rock star. I need to mention that she loves to climb....anything and everything. Her goal is the highest point in the room. Every time. She is a beautiful young woman.
I'll end there for today. Please keep our sweet Baylor in your prayers, as Jehovah-Rophi (God Who Heals) will bless her through our petitions. I will keep this updated when it's called for and I can guarantee it probably won't be this long. I want to chronicle her journey so when Our Healer heals her, she can see how He did it.
