Preparing for Quinn ,however, took a lot of effort and I am not talking about a lot of trips to Babies R Us. I am talking about being physically, mentally and environmentally prepared for Quinn to join us. Because I already had Kai who has an autism spectrum diagnosis, I had to take as many preparations as possible to ensure that the things I could control were taken care of. This meant my body and the environment Quinn would come live in. This was important because Kai's current blood test and urine toxic metals test showed elevated levels of mercury, thallium, tin, aluminum and arsenic. This means that Kai's body cannot naturally detox itself from all of these chemicals we all come into contact with daily. If there was any chance Quinn's would be the same, we were going to take every precaution to make sure his exposure was significantly minimized.
I visited a DAN (Defeat Autism Now) doctor who was then treating Kai. I tested myself for toxic metals and even did several rounds of chelation. My levels were normal or as the doctor put it " as many metals as any human being who had been walking on this earth for thirty something years had". We slowly changed our way of living to exclude harsh chemicals from our daily lives and get used to doing things differently. We started in the kitchen. We reduced the use of the microwave, stopped storing things in plastic, got rid of aluminum foil , started using glass and wax paper and most importantly greatly increased our diet to consist of mostly organic foods and Quinn would have glass bottles and everything else was to be BPA free and free of anything else that would be considered toxic.
His room was painted in a zero voc Sherwin Williams paint. We allowed daily periods with the window open to air out anything left in his room and invested in several air purifiers to put in his nursery and throughout the house. We invested in a crib that was made of solid wood and only had non toxic paint used on it. We passed on any area rugs for his room because those tend to be highly toxic to any environment.
Once that was done we found fitted sheets, crib mattress, the swing , bassinet , bassinet sheets and the bassinet mattress ALL ORGANIC! Phew! that was a pain in the butt to search and choose! It's not that we don't want him to live in the real world. He is going to already be exposed to all of the crap in our environment so why add even more environmental insult to a potential genetic predisposition when we can control some of it?
As for me, I took my prenatals, avoided ALL fish (no matter just how low the mercury levels were) and stayed as healthy as I could. I had a fantastic pregnancy with no complications and somehow only gained 13 pounds (maybe the extra 10 I had going into this was a factor?).
When it came time to the delivery (which will be detailed in a separate post) I knew I would be a planned c- section. I made arrangements to refuse the eye ointment and hepatitis B shots at birth. Quinn will also not be vaccinated. Yes, I opened that can of worms. This is the right decision for us which I stand by 120% I will spare you my religious beliefs for now. I am sure at some point I will address them in a post.
One of my very good friends held a baby shower for us. It was absolutely gorgeous, a glorious green themed shower and that set the tone; We were now officially ready to meet Quinn . Will he beat the odds and escape autism? I don't know. I do know that I will do my damn very best to try! This is where I will journal his journey in this world, his quest, against all odds.
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