The Beginning

What's a better place to start, than at the beginning, right?  Amanda's challenges started well before she was even born.  A lot of people I speak with tell me of uneventful pregnancies while they were expecting their autistic child.  This is definitely not the case for me. 

Amanda was conceived shortly after having a miscarriage.  I don't know if that's relevant, but it's part of the story.  Kristopher (Jake) was just two years old, and one happy go lucky little boy I might add!  Anywho, problems with the pregnancy came early in the first trimester.  I woke up one morning to get ready to work, and was bleeding pretty heavily.  I was scared to death.  As I mentioned, I had already had one miscarriage, and did NOT want to go through that again.  So off to the hospital I went.  Thank God, the bleeding stopped and I was diagnosed with one KILLER bladder infection.  I would carry this bladder infection pretty much throughout the pregnancy.  As if you don't pee enough when you're pregnant, right?

Stress was awful during the pregnancy as well.  When I was about three months pregnant, her father and I separated, and he moved out of the house.  I was now a single expectant mother.  Thank God my Mom lived with me and Jake, or I don't know how I would have made it.  I was working full time, and never really felt great during the whole pregnancy, but hey, that's pregnancy!

Aside from the stress, fatigue, and the chronic UTI, things were pretty normal for a while.  My body just doesn't do pregnancy well, as my pregnancy with Jake was not uneventful either, and I had some complications that hospitalized me with him as well, so my doc keeping a close eye on me was just something to be expected.  Given my history, I was considered a high risk pregnancy.  At about 24 weeks gestation, my doc noticed that my womb was measuring very small for how far along I was.  He took me off work for one week to see if my measurements would catch up.  Now, not working was not an option for me, as I was raising a two year old on my own, so the stress from this was awful.  I worked anyway despite his orders, and when I went to see him a week later, my measurements had caught up.  All looked good except for the reaming I got from him for working.  :)  I was scheduled for my next appointment just one week later, and he wanted to keep that appointment too.  I did not understand why, but I'm very glad we kept that appointment..

At 26 weeks, I reluctantly went to see my doc because I felt like I lived at that office, but off I went.  My measurements were good, but I complained of some cramping.  I thought maybe braxton hicks contractions, but my doc being who he is did not want to take any chances with me.  I don't think he trusted me.  LOL.  Anywho he did a pelvic exam and found me to be 2 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced.  He told me "Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, go directly to the hospital".  When I got there, they hooked me up to monitors and what I thought were just cramps, were pretty regular contractions.  They start and IV of Magnesium Sulfate to stop my contractions.  Let me tell ya, that stuff is no fun, and it burns like crazy!!!  Thankfully, they were able to stop the contractions, kept me a couple of days, then sent me home.  I was given strict orders not to work, and was out of luck this time, as I would have needed his permission to get back to work since I was gone for three days.  So no work, no money.  That was fun.  I was given Brethene, a pill, that I was to take every four hours to keep my contractions at bay.  To say that stuff makes you jittery is an understatement!  I didn't mention that I have a heart murmur caused by mitral valve prolapse.  99% of the time it causes no problems, but when you're given a medicine that makes you so jittery your teeth chatter, and causes your heart to feel like it's pumping out of your throat, it's not a good combination.  I called the doc and explained what was going on, so he told me to take the Brethene every 6 hours instead.  That helped immensely with the jitters, but was not enough to stop the contractions.  So I was sent back to the hospital.  Again with the Magnesium Sulfate IV and another two night stay.

So now they tell me that not only can I not work, they don't want me out of bed when I get home.  Yeah, right, with a two year old, that's gonna happen.  So they introduce me to the Trebutaline Pump.  This is a neat little gadget that is jabbed into your thigh and delivers a muscle relaxer right into your muscles.  I'm shown how to administer this to myself, and stab myself in a different spot every other day to move the site.  Fun times.  I'm also sent home with a home monitor that I have to hook myself up to twice a day for an hour at a time to monitor any contractions I may have.  I was allowed 4 contractions an hour, otherwise it was back to the hospital for another wonderful Magnesium Sulfate IV.  I also had to go back to the hospital to receive steroid shots to help speed up Amanda's lung development.  So from 28 weeks on, this was our fun little life.  But it worked out!  Amanda somewhat cooperated and stayed in-utero until 36 weeks.  I thought "thank God that's all over".  Little did I know that our journey with Autism had officially begun at 1:10 P.M. on September 7, 1995.