After 3 hours of labor, my “perfect” baby boy was born at a bouncing 7lbs and 4ozs with just a mild case of jaundice.  He was full term and my delivery was without any problems.  He started breastfeeding 10 minutes after he was born, unlike his older sister who took forever to get the hang of “latching on”.   How was I suppose to know that my perfect baby boy would not be so “perfect” a year later?

He achieved all of his physical milestones at the appropriate time, but he didn’t quite achieve his emotional and language milestones at the appropriate time.  But who cares?  He was a boy, right?  Boys are slower that girls.  Well, that is what I was told by family and friends (including his primary pediatrician).   I knew that my older daughter achieved all of her milestones early, but it comforted me to know that “boys were slower than girls” and he would achieve his milestones eventually.

After 3 years of doctor’s appointments (including one psychiatrist that told me that I need to stop giving him so much juice and put him to bed earlier),  I finally got a diagnosis from the Georgetown Autism and Communications Disorders Clinic saying that he had Autism and Dsypraxia with oromotor dysfunction.

From that day on I knew my world would change for the rest of my life.