My son, Andy, is almost 10 years old and has CP along with microcephaly, seizures, GERD, PEG feedings, severe developmental disabilitie (politically correct term). Andy will never be able to function above the level of a 3-4 month old physically or mentally.

    Andy was born full term, weighing at a whopping 10.5 pounds with excellent Apgar scores. We didn't notice anything particular different about him, but a warning light should have gone off when the nurses from the hospital nursery asked us if we had a baby swing at home because that was the only thing that got him to stop crying and sleep in the nursery.
    As soon as we got home, it was obvious he was not happy with his world or us. He cried nonstop, refused to breast feed and then bottle feed and promptly threw up everything he did mange to eat. At first he was diagnosed with "nervous mother syndrome", reflux and colic. At 9 months we got the real diagnoses.

    His may not talk, but his smiles, and other facial expresses say a lot to anyone who takes the time to pay attention and see past the CP. As bad as Andy's problems were, for 3 years we were greatly relieved that at least he didn't have seizures as so many other CP children did. Well, that didn't last long. We noticed that Andy seemed to laugh a lot, when he wasn't screaming, but thought this was cute. We thought he always knew a joke that he couldn't tell us. Eventually we clued in to the fact that these laughing spells were really a form of seizures.

    I am very interested in communicating with other mother's who have a child with similar problems. I am a stay at home mom, I do medical transcription from home for our local hospital (never have to leave the house except to pick up my check). I am married, and yes the man is a saint (when I am not threatening to kill him). We have 2 older children. The oldest is a daughter who recently got married and is moving to Germany soon. I am learning all kind of new coping skills to deal with her being gone for so long. Don't even ask what it took to arrange respite for the wedding events. Our second oldest child is a son 19 years old, our rock start. He is a college student, part-time parks and recreation employee and most of importantly a member of a band. He also recently moved out of our home, although only 15 minutes away (close enought to drop of laundry and pick up money). Our 2 older children think Andy is the greatest, the most spoiled, cutest, badest (?), sweetest, most exasperating little brother ever.

    Due to recurrent aspiration pneumonias, problems with oral secretions requiring suctioning, etc, Andy is homebound for school, PT and OT. He has a personal care aide 8 hours a day, 5 days a week so I can work. My office is only 20 feet from the room Andy and his PCA are in so I can be a part of day even while I work.  Our family has found that a sense of humor goes a long way in helping us cope with the stress of Andy's problems.

Thanks for listening and again I would love to hear from other mother's with similar situations and viewpoints.

Melanie
Andy's mom
Andy's mom Melanie can be reach by e-mailing her at :