My Children

I haven't been feeling all that great about anything lately, so I decided to post something about my children. I love my 3 children with all of my heart and I am so thankful they are in my life right now. I need to write about them and tell you what they are dealing with right now. My family and some friends know what they have to go through, but I mostly wanted to right this down for me. This is going to be long, so please bare with me.

Ethan has diabetes and he was diagnosed at the end of March of 1998. He was almost 16 months old when we learned he had this. At the beginning of March of 1998, we just moved into the 1oth Ward in Cedar City Utah and so we didn't know many people in this ward, but we have lived in Cedar City, since the end of 1994. Ethan, just went to the doctor and everything was fine. Then about 3 weeks later, we noticed something about him. He was only drinking liquids, we had to change his clothes several times a day, he wasn't eatting anything and it looked like he lost some weight. Now, for a 15 month old child, you can tell he has lost weight. He also wasn't interested in doing anything. Then a Sunday night came and Will was worried, so he took a drive and so I was home alone with Ethan, when he threw up and I was scared. Will came home a few minutes later and we decided to go to the ER. We were going to wait till morning, to take Ethan to the doctor, but it couldn't wait. We got to the ER and several nurses had to hold him down, so they could get an IV in them. They finally got one in, which was good and they called his doctor. They checked his blood sugar and it was 540, which is not good. His doctor told us, he has diabetes and I am like what, cause no one in the family has diabetes, but way back in my mind, I thought Ethan might have diabetes. Anyway, Ethan had to stay in the hospital for 5 days and during that 5 days, we had to learn all about diabetes. Then when the lab results came back, his blood sugar was over 800. If we would of waited to take him to the doctor in the morning, we probably would of lost him, so we are grateful that he threw up that Sunday night in March of 1998. Now, Ethan is doing pretty good. He is 11 years old and in the 6th grade and he will be 12 next month. He has really great friends, that knows what to look for, when his blood sugar runs low.

Zach has Muscular Dystrophy and mild Autism. When I was a senior in high school, I found out I was a carrier of Duchene Muscular Dystrophy and that when I had a son, they had 50% of having Muscular Dystrophy. Now, there all over 100 forms of Muscular Dystrophy and the kind my son has, only boys get it and girls would be carriers. I have a 26 year old brother who has Duchene Muscular Dystrophy and a 10 year old nephew who has it. Well, I wanted to have peace of mind and know if Zach had it. Well, to know if he has it, he just takes a blood test and I had Zach take this test, at the age of 8 months. Zach tested positive for having Muscular Dystrophy and I was very upset and I didn't know what to do anymore. He has been doing okay, he still walks okay, but he needs help with stairs. Then this past Feb. 2008, we found out he also has mild Autism and again I was upset to hear about this. Zach doesn't need anymore, so I am hoping that this is it, that nothing else is wrong with him, cause this is enough. To help him at school with his Autism and Muscular Dystrophy, he has 2 teacher aides that help him, 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon and he also does Physical Therapy at school. He is 6 years old and he is in first grade right now.

Connor, has PDD-NOS, which is Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not otherwise specified. It is all the Autism Spectrum, but on the lower end of it. So, he has been slow at talking, but he is getting better at talking. I love to hear him talk and I get this smile on my face when he does it. He is 4 years old and he goes to the preschool through the district and I am so grateful that there is a preschool here, that can help me and they have helped him quite a lot I might add.

So, as you can see I guess you can say I have my hands full with all of this, but I have a wonderful husband, who helps me out the best that he can. I do love my kids and I will always love them, no matter what challenges they face throughout their lifetime. Now, of course there are days, that well I get very emotional about having children with challenges, but there is really nothing I can do, except love them.