Who knew..

I have always liked the fact that I was so independent. It's a source of pride for me. Working for myself, being a stay at home mom; this all gave me the ability to make my own schedule, so that I could always be available for my family and friends.

In the early years with my husband, when he was just making his way and working a ton of hours, I could throw myself into my business and the business community around me, without feeling like he was being neglected.

When we got pregnant, I closed the store. First, 75 hours a week at work was no way to do a pregnancy. Secondly, everyone, and I do mean everyone, knew that I would not stop climbing on the ladders to get to top shelves, or stop moving furniture to redo displays in the store. For safety reasons, I needed to slow down. One week before the store closed for good, I had a mis-carriage. No one could tell me why.

I hadn't even known I wanted children up until I got pregnant. Now I knew I did. It took three more tries, two more mis-carriages, but I finally had my boy. He was ten (10) weeks early and weighted a little over 3 lbs, but he was here. You know how I knew he was mine? He was a fighter. He was healthy and just had to learn how to eat. Do you know how rare that is of a baby that small. He did not like the feeding tube and pulled it out several times. Yes....he was mine.

The day before we went home from the hospital, just 28 days later and weighing a little over 4 lbs, they ran a whole battery of test. The thing they do before any NICU baby goes home. A brain scan indicated a shadow. My baby had Cerebral Palsy. How was that possible. He looked completely normal. I went home having no idea what that meant. I pretended not to hear it......until we went to the doctors office 2 weeks later.

I have the best pediatrician. He works on my level. Just tell me. When I said the words Cerebral Palsy, I guess I looked terrified. He said I did. He proceeded to tell me how many versions of CP there are. Jeffrey had what was called spastic diaplagia. It would effect the muscles in his arms and legs. They would be very tight. We contacted Birth to 3 and started physical therapy and occupational therapy. Jeffrey would be fine. But, I decided I would be a stay at home mom.

I took care of my girlfriends daughter who was 2mths older than Jeffrey and they just grew up together. It was the best thing for him, and me. They spent just about every day together for 3 years. It was like having twins.

Our life was a little different than most. We had physical and occupational therapy once a week, every week until he was 3, through the Birth to 3 program. We saw a neurologist every 3 months during that time and an orthopedic about the same amount. In the mean time, he was happy, healthy and extremely smart. I know all moms say that, but, he was. He was speaking at 9 mths and by 18mths he was saying 10 word sentences. We joked and said the only reason I had to go to the doctor with him was to be a chauffeur. He had no trouble communicating with them.

Yes....he was mine. And this was just the beginning.