A Voice For My Children

I have contemplated a blog for about three years now. Originally it started after the birth of my son Boog (no that isn’t his name, but a nickname). He was born at 37 weeks and weighed just 3 pounds 15 ounces which lead to spending 10 days in the NICU. The term for what caused his small birth weight is IUGR (Intro Uterine Growth Restriction), a condition accruing during pregnancy. I was very scared for my son and felt lost as a mother, so I decided to look into some Internet mommy support groups to know what others were going through. All the chats, blogs, and support groups that I found where filled with negative stories and I was left feeling sad and helpless. So I stopped going to them and told myself that I would start a blog of my own telling not only the struggles in my life as a mother and in my children’s lives, but the up lifting parts, the parts that make being a mother the greatest gift and happiest moments I have ever experienced

I am a mother of two, my son Boog who just turned three and my daughter Littles ( another nickname) who is 15 months old. I stay at home with my children during the day and then after my husband gets home from work, I leave for work myself. It makes for a very long day, 5am when my son wakes up until 12am when I get home from work, but I wouldn’t change a thing. Staying home has given me the opportunity to spend time with them and watch them grow into new little people each day. Plus it has made it possible for me to help my son.

 Because of his low birth weight he has had home visits since he was one month old. At first the visits were to monitor his weight and development with a Registered Nurse. We were so lucky to qualify for a program through the county that monitors infants born at risk. She came twice a month until the program ended (age 2 the services stop). At 15 months old there was a question if Boog had a speech delay. He wasn’t saying any words at that point, not even Mama or Dada. So I had him tested for the speech delay through another program called Early Start.  They require 50 % delay in one area or 25% delay in two areas of development. And since Boog had no other issues in his development but speech and at that point was only delayed 25% he didn’t qualify. Three months before his second birthday I had him tested again. This time he was more than 50 % delayed in speech, so we start Early Start.

Once in the program he had home visits three days a week and one play group held at the Early Start center to interact and play with other children with speech delays. I can’t say enough wonderful stuff about Oakley’s Early Start program. The group of teachers and the speech therapist are more than a mother could dream for her child! (Because of all the hard work and time these wonderful women spent with Boog he is now speaking on a regular basis and in the last two months has started to speak in two word phrases. )

Then about six months ago I got Boog into another program run by the state called Regional Center (this was a lot of work and very frustrating. I will talk more about that another day) to add another home visit to the week. Finally after many letters and phone conversations Boog was eligible for the extra service. So we where up to five days a week doing some form of speech therapy. Both of these programs end at age three.

We are now in the process of transitioning into the school system for Preschool. Boog was tested once again and qualified for speech therapy once a week for thirty minutes and two days a week in a preschool class focused on speech. We are very excited. Boog loves his first backpack he got just for school and I am excited that he will continue to receive services to help improve his speech and his life.

 Please join me in the wild ride of being a mother of two children!