The Best Jack, Jack Can Be!

Things are busy here in our new home. I am almost half way through my pregnancy and we find out in less then a week what God will be blessing us with. I think we finally have the names picked out, Oliver Joseph for a boy and Grace Lee for a girl. I think Jack will really enjoy having someone so close in age to him. He will be 22 months when this baby is born.

There have been many concerns with Jack over the past 17 months of his life. The first year was very hard, to say the least, because of his gastroesophageal reflux. It was hard to take him places. It was hard to feel normal, when we had to accommodate such a difficult situation for him. He slowly got better over the first year, but I had some unsettling concerns. The type of concerns that you get when your a mother and something just is not quite right. He is now 17 months old and has not said a word yet. He does not babble. He does not respond to his name. Our pediatrician referred us to a very good center where the doctor could evaluate him and see if she feels there are any concerns. After seeing him and going over his history, the doctor feels he has "features" of autism. Although, they are not willing to make that diagnosis just yet. She wanted him to have an evaluation to see if he needs developmental therapy and to go dairy free. She also suggested giving him cod liver oil to help heal his stomach. So far dairy free has been going well and we have seen some improvements in his responding to us. It has been hard to change our menu, but only a little. Today, he had a developmental evaluation and our concerns were validated as far as speech and development, he is fine in some areas and very behind in others. I was happy that the ladies that came to evaluate him validated my concerns. I was surprised when they said that a lot of parents don't want to deal with the issues their child may have. My response to that was "I want Jack to be the best Jack, Jack can be"...whatever that might be. If he has autism, we will give him the best so he can be the best he can be with autism. If he has a speech problem, we will deal with helping him be the best he can be at speaking. With God all things are possible. God put Jack here with the issues Jack has, knowing we would be Jack's parents, placing him with us...that is an exciting thought that he felt we were capable to handle these things. I won't lie and say I have never been sorrowful. It was hard when I first acknowledged this over a year ago. It was also hard not to think I was nuts or just seeing things. I mean, who wants to think there is something wrong with their child. It has been a very hard 17 months and I am sure it will not get any easier after having another child, but I just keep trying to remember that God only gives you as much as you can handle...and I also think about the Duggar family and think...I gotta be nuts to complain...ha ha. It also helps to have a wonderful 18 year old who has such a servant heart and asks for nothing in return for helping out with her younger brother. What memories Jack will have of their relationship someday. I will be praying for God to light the way for us on treatments or diets or whatever will help Jack be the person God intended him to be.....if you would, I ask that you might too :)

Blessings,